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What is amazing to me that as an instructional designer, I see so many of the skills transferring and overlapping into other areas. For example, I'm learning how to create instructional videos and edit. Video editing tools are needed for my department's marketing videos. Another example is I used Canva to design video thumbnails and infographics. I'm also using it to market department events.

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Instructional designers are jack of all trades. I've seen instructional design jobs in higher education and medical institutions like LVHN. I'm doing an internship this summer with learning development specialist team with HR, with a commitment to employee professional development and teaching people how to navigate institution specific softwares/tools. The contexts and the jobs themselves seem to change. I think this goes back to my first sticky note I posted. The theme is change. But I think that's why it's important to have the ID toolkit because the necessary tools are needed to handle all the rapid change.

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We're at the end! I think instructional design is broad, varied, ever changing, eternally fluctuating. Yes, there are learning theories, domains, motivation to learn, knowledge transfer, etc. But when actually building a project, the target audience changes its mind, the equipment fails, all kinds of things can happen! But I think that's one of the most amazing things, is the constant growth and evolution.

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My ideas about instructional design have been rapidly changing over the last 6 months. In addition to starting the Instructional Tech program at Lehigh, I also moved from teacher to curriculum supervisor in a large district. I originally thought the tech drove the process but as my experience grew I came to view the tech more as a tool upon the experience was built (and rebuilt) with all stakeholders and their needs in mind. The choosing of the tool follows the assessment of needs and wants for a specific audience.

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The scope of an instructional designer's influence is wide and fluid. We see the effects of good and bad design in every facet of life. The larger the disconnect between user and designer, the more the experience and subsequent learning falters. Although, there are many definitions of ID, they all agree on the importance of connecting and defining the audience.

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According to Christy Tucker- They design and develop learning experiences. I think one of the best ways to describe a "regular" day for an instructional designer is to look up synonyms for the verb design- They create, transform, develop, imagine, support, interact, and the list goes on. To create an experience one must "touch" on all of a learner's senses to transfer and embed the knowledge or skill into a student's educational tool kit.

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According to the International Society of Educational Technology:

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So I think it is, as many have mentioned kind of challenging to peg down. Essentially they create or design and implement learning strategies, objectives and content delivery, but there is also this piece that not one size fits all. That piece fits inside another piece that deals with modality of delivery, that fits inside another piece with team and collaborators, that fits inside of another piece which is essentially the goal of the business, institution or establishment. I kind of look at the position of the instructional designer in the sense of the larger scheme of the system.

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I found a posting for Thomas Jefferson Hospital and they seem to be looking for an individual that wears many hats.  Responsibilities include hard skills such as navigating technology and Learning Managment Systems (Canvas or BlackBoard), OER (Open Educational Resource), directing effect design for face to face as well as hybrid and virtual learning environments.

Essentially looking at these post this is kind of a melting point between instructor and technologist.

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Instructional Design is the process of using our knowledge of how people learn to guide our choices of instructional sequences and strategies to meet the needs of the learners and desired learning outcomes.

Instructional Design can be applied to anything that involves Human Performance Improvement. The Instructional Designer is a learning expert who can use their knowledge of the principles of learning and instruction to find the optimal method of instruction. This means finding the most effective, appealing and cost-effective solution. T

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So when I think of instructional design, I think of many of the things listed here.  The process of looking at resources, choosing learning paths and strategies that activate prior knowledge "fix" content into memory, create a real-world simulation for students to construct and create their own meaning of the content.

When I also think of instructional design it not just the content, delivery, and strategy but also the use of assessment (purposefully selected...because well...designer) and the use of the feedback as Dale mentions to gauge learner understanding or focus content based on interest.

Lastly instructional designers need to consider how learners are going to access the content and course so that they can create equity for all learners or adjust their design to function for all learners (UD).

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Summary/ reflection
Instructional design involves the process of planning, creating, and designing. Likes you want to build a website, you need to have a comprehensive plan what is the topic of the website, then design the best way to put raw materials together, and finally create the website. Via this course, we should prepare ourselves with a solid background in ID.

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To combine the official sources and my understanding. There are several aspects that instructional designer might do:

Professional Foundations: Effective communication skills in visual, oral, and written form to understand what their customers need. To have solid theories of ID and the research skills for a potential ID project.

Planning and Analysis: Have a clear target and a creative strategy of what you’re going to design for. Collect relevant resources and information in order to analyze the characteristics of the environment and the characteristics of existing and emerging technologies and their use in an instructional environment.

Design and Development: Select existing instructional materials and proper techniques to define designing strategies. Using selected sources to modify or create a design and development model appropriate for a given project. Try to adjust the issue on time if there are any existing problems during the design. Finally, evaluate the project and have a reflection.

Implementation and Management: Providing the effective implementation of instructional products and programs is necessary. Establishing collaboration, partnerships, and relationships among the participants in a design project will be beneficial to the ID project developing.

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What is instructional design?

Instructional design involves the process of identifying the performance, skills and attitude gaps of a targeted audience and creating or selecting learning experiences that close this gap. The best instructional designers use evidence-based learning theories and best practices from the field.

Ideally, workplace learning improves employee value and work or educational performance. As a range of resources are increasingly available for learning, instructional designers are now able to offer different types of blended learning experiences rather than only individual courses. See A Look into the Future below for more on this.

What is the instructional design process?

Although the approaches people use to design and develop online instructional events vary widely, the common denominator is that the process is systematic and iterative. The process typically starts with some type of analysis to define the requirements and specifications. It goes through a design and prototyping phase to communicate and/or test out one's ideas.

Following this, comes some sort of development, such as writing storyboards, test items, manuals, discussion questions, etc. In eLearning, there is a time for production that involves creating multimedia and programming running lessons with authoring tools. Prior to going live with any course, good designers and developers follow a Quality Assurance process. They also use a continuous evaluation process to assess the effectiveness of the learning experiences.

Generally, the instructional design process results in a set of one or more learning events or experiences. Design and development are more of an iterative than a linear process. For more detail on this process, see A Framework for Developing Online Learning and Best Practices for Blended Learning.

The standard instructional design process can be enriched by including design thinking. Design thinking is a process used by people who need to be creative on demand.

What does an instructional designer do?

The tasks that an eLearning designer conducts are so varied that it would be difficult to list them all. Instead, I'd like to list the Instructional Design competencies identified by the IBSPI (International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction). These competencies are brief and obviously do not include everything, but it will give you a sense of what instructional designers might do. Not every instructional designer performs all of these tasks, as some are for those who are more advanced in their career.
Professional Foundations

Communicate effectively in visual, oral and written form.

Apply current research and theory to the practice of instructional design.

Update and improve one's knowledge, skills and attitudes pertaining to instructional design and related fields.

Apply fundamental research skills to instructional design projects.

Identify and resolve ethical and legal implications of design in the workplace.

Planning and Analysis

Conduct a needs assessment.

Design a curriculum or program.

Select and use a variety of techniques for determining instructional content.

Identify and describe target population characteristics.

Analyze the characteristics of the environment.

Analyze the characteristics of existing and emerging technologies and their use in an instructional environment.

Reflect upon the elements of a situation before finalizing design solutions and strategies.

Design and Development

Select, modify, or create a design and development model appropriate for a given project.

Select and use a variety of techniques to define and sequence the instructional content and strategies.

Select or modify existing instructional materials.

Develop instructional materials.

Design instruction that reflects an understanding of the diversity of learners and groups of learners.

Evaluate and assess instruction and its impact.

Implementation and Management

Plan and manage instructional design projects.

Promote collaboration, partnerships and relationships among the participants in a design project.

Apply business skills to managing instructional design.

Design instructional management systems.

Provide for the effective implementation of instructional products and programs.

A Look into the Future

There is now a trend toward greater acceptance of alternative forms of learning in the workplace. Thus, the role of some instructional designers is beginning to change. In addition to creating the structured types of courses described above, instructional designers will be asked to enable learning by creating supportive environments. This might include online community management, promoting collaboration and discussion through social media technologies, curating content and teaching experts how to generate and share their own content.

Some practitioners currently think that the label, "instructional designer" is too narrow a title. Rather, they describe themselves as "learning experience designers." Instructional designers who keep up with the rapid pace of change have an exciting career to look forward to.

If you're interested in learning the skills needed to design learning experiences, check out my private membership community, Mastering Instructional Design. You'll find courses, a vibrant community, bimonthly Zoom calls and an instructional design toolkit with job aids.

If you want to find out more about a career in instructional design, download my quick read eBook below.

SEND EBOOK NOW

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Instructional design involves the process of identifying the performance, skills and attitude gaps of a targeted audience and creating or selecting learning experiences that close this gap. The best instructional designers use evidence-based learning theories and best practices from the field. Ideally, workplace learning improves employee value and work or educational performance.

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In my own opinion, The instructional design is the process of planning courses which adapt to students’ needs at different levels. It helps to create an effective teaching and learning environment that can better combine instructors and learners for promoting quality in education for both classroom instruction and an e-learning course.

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Reiser & Dempsey (2007) defined instructional design as a “systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion” (pg. 11).

According to Berkeley lab training: “In short, instructional design (ID) is a systematic process for designing effective and efficient instruction. Instructional Designers follow a systematic process that
(1) determines what the need is – the performance gap,
(2) determines if the gap can be solved through training – or if it is the result of other factors,
(3) if training is a solution, produces instruction, performance support and other “aids” that help learners perform effectively (close the gap).”

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What is Instructional Design?

What is Instructional Design?
In short, instructional design (ID) is a systematic process for designing effective and efficient instruction. Instructional Designers follow a systematic process that (1) determines what the need is - the performance gap, (2) determines if the gap can be solved through training - or if it is the result of other factors, (3) if training is a solution, produces instruction, performance support and other "aids" that help learners perform effectively (close the gap).

If it is decided that training is the "right fit" Berkeley Lab Training instructional designers work with the client (often the SME), stakeholders, and the target audience (customers) as part of the process. We follow the ADDIE process (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate), or the SAM model (Successive Approximation Model) depebnding on the project needs. We design instruction using the CCAF model (Context, Challenge, Activity, Feedback) that was pioneered by Michael Allen and is a "learn by doing" model.

We highly recommend reading Michael Allen's Guide to eLearning. and The science of instruction, or evidence-based training methods by Ruth Colvin Clark.

ADDIE Process explained:

1: Needs Analysis: This first phase of the instructional design process is to determine what the deficiencies or problems are. It can be thought of as the process of identifying gaps between what should be happening and what is happening, and accounting for the causes of these gaps. In this way, it is a systematic search for identifying deficiencies between actual and desired job performance and the factors that prevent desired job performance as presented in the following steps:

What are the performance expectations (desired state)?

What is the current state of performance?

What are the gaps to performance (Needs) and causes?

What are the solutions to bridge the gap?

The process is often an eye-opener for clients, because often the client has already decided that training is the solution and has already put toggether content to solve the problem (inform). There is often a strong tebdency to see training as delivering information "Telling as teaching." The needs analysis looks to uncover what type of "intervention" will produce the desired results.

A useful model we use to help clients uncover whether training is a useful "intervention" is the "six boxes" model. IN short, this breaks down performance issues (causes) into the following:

What causes performance gaps?

Lack of clear expectations and/or effective feedback

Lack of tools and resources?

Lack of consequences or incentives?

Lack of knowledge and skill? (training)

Lack of capacity? (selection and alignment)

Misaligned motives or preferences? (attitudes)
By the way, it can be a combination of the above, so training may be a useful component, or a component to a larger pursuit.

2: Design:
The design phase translates the knowledge, skills or performance requirements, identified in the analysis phase, into performance ( learning objectives). Learning objectives represent the measurable performance behaviors that learners will be able to demonstrate when successfully completing a learning activity.
We utilize behavior-based objectives as the foundation for being able to evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction.

Design also involves consideration of appropriate modality of instruction (e.g, web-based, classroom, hands-on, practical training, or a mix of modalities sometimes referred to as blended or mixed mode learning). The type of instruction is aligned to the skills needed. For example, online instruction cannot evaluate how skillfully someone performs tactile skills, but can be effective at cognitive behaviors (problem solving, decision-making and human performance skills).

3: Development:
The development phase is where we develop the instruction. We take the Storyboard created in the design phase and create the activities, exercises, graphics, instructional materials, evaluation etc. We utilize "rapid development" because we want the client to "see" and "experience" the instruction as it is developed. We also involve users during this process. It makes for a more efficient iterative process. We have our own media lab to produce videos, graphics, animations, interactive assemsnets, etc based on the needs of the instruction we are developing.

4: Evaluation:
If training doesn't yield the desired results we need to know. Training can be costly so if it is not effective it is a waste of time and resources. We follow Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation. There is a separate guide using a risk-based, or value-based model. For courses where there is a high risk-to-error we go through to level 3. All courses go through level 1 and level 2, and the level 1 data is available online (here).

What do instructional Designers do?
Overall an instructional designer identifies the skills, knowledge and the attitude gaps of a targeted audience and helps create select and suggest learning experiences that close this gap.
Here are are some of the things instructional designers do during the course of a project:

Work with Subject Matter Experts to identify what students need to learn

Develop objectives and ensure content matches/supports the objectives

Revise and rewrite content to shape it for learning needs

Analyze audience to determine if they "need" training or of other factors effect desired performance

Design and structure content and activities for student learning

Develop assessments (not just tests, but performance-assesments, etc)

Create media to support learning (images, visual aids, audio, video, activities, handourts, job aids etc.)

Design the course's look and feel (information design)

Adapt instructional materials created for one format to another format (usually this is adapting materials from face-to-face to e-learning)

Develop the course in an authoring tool

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What is Instructional Design? In short, instructional design (ID) is a systematic process for designing effective and efficient instruction. Instructional Designers follow a systematic process that (1) determines what the need is - the performance gap, (2) determines if the gap can be solved through training - or if it is the result of other factors, (3) if training is a solution, produces instruction, performance support and other "aids" that help learners perform effectively (close the gap).

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Sarah--

I'm so new to ID, I tend to envision it as "everything" although I'm starting to form more concrete ideas. I've heard more than one colleague mention ID's are taking on more and more job responsibilities. Your point is interesting that ID's are not in charge of curriculum design, the focus is heavily on implementation. I also like that you mentioned ID's don't always work in education field since I'm curious about ID application in other fields.

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ID is an amorphous field and speciality.  Some folks can have more media production skills while others could be more versed in theory and design all the while, both being really good IDs.
Many times KSABs will be raw and position(s) may dictate how one grows as an ID.  However for me, it's all about making accessible and inclusive optimal learning experiences.  There's a ton below the tip of that iceberg summary (e.g., motivation, budgets, UDL, scope, industry, etc).
But ultimately, we as designers are trying to ensure learners have the best experience possible...and learn how we can do better if they do no.

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So ID positions, in my opinion, have become a catch all, for many job functions.  Especially in higher education.  Blow is a chunk from my resume...none of that stuff listed is on my Job Description.

And, here's a job from reddit that I would like to be doing!

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One site's idea of the role of IDs in higher education.

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One site's idea of the role of IDs in higher education.

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What do they [IDs in HE] do?

The survey found that instructional designers divide their time between 4 key areas.

Design – Author content. Design new or redesign old courses for online delivery. Provide quality assurance testing.

Manage – Provide project management for teams working to develop and deploy online courses. Serve as advocate for online learning with faculty and administration.

Train – Train faculty to leverage technology and apply pedagogy to online environment.

Support – Assist faculty and staff to implement online courses.

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Profile of Instructional Designers in Higher Education Course Design -

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The demand for instructional designers is growing and so is their changing role. Today's instructional designers are required to be adept at several skills.

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Well, before I got into the field like 20 years ago, I thought I knew was ID was.  However, the longer I work in the field, the more confused I have become. In fact, my definition of ID changes with the clients I work for and with.  For example, If I am working with a faculty member, I am usually trying to convince them of the need to be learner-centered.  However, if I am working with someone in industry, the conversation revolves around how do we make learning MORE accessible.
Anyway, having said all that, to put it simply, I think ID is an iterative process steeped in learning theory that utilizes available resources to make learning more accessible and effective.

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It seems that the term "Instructional Design" can be thought of from several different perspectives. And the job postings are just as nebulous - 'teach people things, in the most appropriate way, because you already know what that is..' Maybe audience matters when considering a definition - are you guiding K-12 learners, higher-ed learners, employees within a company, or providing training information to someone who just bought a product? In all cases, delivery matters as well - in-person, fully online, synchronous remote learning. In TLT401, we were explored how people learn. So learning design must consider how people learn, the content to be shared, and the method of sharing that information, while providing individualized attention to guide learners toward successful incorporation of new knowledge, skills, and behaviors.

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From Indeed.com, a job at Gwynedd Mercy University: "The Senior Instructional Designer will provide instructional design expertise and support to projects as well as consultations with faculty and staff. This position will assist the Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies in exploring and implementing new technology and instructional strategies to benefit the university and its programs. This position will be responsible for working collaboratively and creatively with faculty to build and enhance the university’s programs."

I was surprised how many of the job postings include project management skills, or experience with project management software. I understand this, particularly within academia, where I haven't seen many dedicated project managers. And the idea is that you may be involved in working on multiple courses at the same time, not just focused upon building out one course.

I found some recognition of continuous improvement - responsible for latest trends, changes in technology or learning methodologies, and basically just the concept that courses are not one-and-done. So you might just need to update or re-skin an existing course.

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I found an essay by Ellen Wagner (2011) called "In Search Of The Secret Handshakes of ID", which shared the following definition from Reiser & Dempsey (2007): a "systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion" (pg. 11). [I believe this is from a book by these authors from this year, titled "Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology", but the essay doesn't show the list of references.] The essay also describes four different points of reference for Instructional Design: Process, Discipline, Science, and Reality.

The essay can be found at: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/c9b0ce_4c5d961291de41e58e08576d3c9ee868.pdf

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I think of Instructional Design as structuring information to share with learners, in order to create a flow toward a goal. The design needs to consider and link to prior knowledge the learners may have. The process needs to be flexible, accommodating different levels of challenges and engagement. The design should also promote the use of timely feedback to help maintain engagement and adjust the experience dynamically. Some physical aspects of the design may be dictated (online course), but technology could still be employed (or not - hands-on labs) across modalities.

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Instructional design is multi-faceted, and it also depends on the resources available for students. It does no good to design course content in digital format for students how lack the technology. On the other hand, often the technology challenges the designer. With the potency of technology, comes a wide latitude of platforms to produce instructional material. I gravitate back to the idea that instructional design must also acknowledge that users need to be comfortable with the way the ID is deployed. When the system has a deep skillset necessary, spin up can take time or cause disenchantment. Those are also aspects designers need to be cognizant of. Ultimately, I think great designers understand how students think, process, and learn and use diversity (tactile, visual, audio, etc.) to reach the learners. Engagement is key and they need designs that invoke curiosity. They also need to be equitable and set pacing momentum by the student, not the class at whole. They need to generate interest and a compulsory drive to interact. They need to highlight success and build tactfully around failures and they need to grow and develop, just as the learner does.

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I used ziprecruiter.com to search jobs
In a Dental Office:
Job Summary: Responsible for coordinating all aspects of classroom and online training for the associates and management team; ensuring development programs are continually evolving to provide associates with personal and professional development; preparing our leaders for current and future challenges so that Benco’s family is equipped to support our culture of continuous improvement.

In telecommunications:
CommScope is seeking an Instructional Designer to join the technical training team at its Horsham, PA location. The Instructional Designer analyzes learning needs and partners with subject matter experts to define learning content. This role uses a variety of development tools to create high-impact learning solutions in various modalities. The Instructional Designer works with business partners and customers to ensure learning solutions are pertinent and effective, and that they are aligned with CommScope's vision, purpose and values.

At Chewy:
Assesses and reports results. Ensure effective... impact of our learning solutions by gathering feedback from participants Ensure learning solutions are as engaging as possible Partner with key stakeholders to deliver customized learning solutions as appropriate Help ensure consistent learning methodologies are designed and scaled across our geographically dispersed workforce Facilitate training programs to support development of lead, manager, and specialty team roles in Customer Service Build training plans and curriculum road-maps and determine project milestones, forecasts completion dates; identify project risks and issues, devise contingency plans to mitigate risks, informs management of accomplishments, plans and deliver project summaries Benchmark best practices and emerging trends to make recommendations on curriculum design, development, tools and technologies Consult with business units to assess learning needs including scope; identify and propose appropriate delivery methods for new and existing training programs.

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What do some official sources say ID is?

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What do some official sources say ID is?

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from: Instructionaldesign.org
Instructional design (or instructional systems design) combines the art of creating engaging learning experiences with the science of how the brain works. This site is designed to support students, teachers, instructional designers, learning engineers, and anyone interested in creating more effective learning experiences. Resources on this site were created by Greg Kearsley and Richard Culatta.

from: https://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/is-this-instructional-design/
Instructional design involves the process of identifying the performance, skills and attitude gaps of a targeted audience and creating or selecting learning experiences that close this gap. The best instructional designers use evidence-based learning theories and best practices from the field.

Ideally, workplace learning improves employee value and work or educational performance. As a range of resources are increasingly available for learning, instructional designers are now able to offer different types of blended learning experiences rather than only individual courses.

from: https://rossier.usc.edu/what-is-an-instructional-designer/
Instructional designers help organizations create innovative learning solutions that can be used to empower their workforce, or in the case of schools, faculty and students.

For example, if a hospital wants to train incoming residents to perform a particular type of surgery, they may consult with instructional designers to create an explicit sequence of activities to develop the necessary knowledge and skills, and identify effective media or other training tools.

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What do you think Instructional Design is?

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What do you think Instructional Design is?

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Instructional Design is essentially the creation of learning tools and environments. The definition isn't the most important component. What drives excellent instructional design is how well it lends itself to natural learning processes. It requires tremendous feedback from learners and strong understanding of the variability of learning strategies. It must employ the goals that need to be met for the learner and the content and it must be designed around curiosity and application. As we learned, instructional design cannot simply create a template of the analog world. It must integrate challenges, strategies, and alternative approaches for learning, as we understand not every student learns the same way or at the same pace. Great designs are built around the framework of understanding the learner's style for cognition, retrieval, application and demonstration and it should task on all those concepts.

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Brad, I like this definition. It makes so much sense to me whether it's K-12 education, higher ed OR the business world. Art and Science!

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What does this all mean? - Sarah Rodzewich

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What does this all mean? - Sarah Rodzewich

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Like Dr. Vallera said, there is not one simple way to sum up instructional design. It is a process that requires a number of factors to be considered. It is a process where collaboration is necessary. It is a process that MUST have flexibility and an openness to unconventional strategies. It is a process that is constantly changing and evolving and that, I believe, is what makes it so successful.

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Daria, I agree with your use of "agile" here. I think that's why it's been so hard to figure out what ID really is!

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Instructional Designers are collaborators, thinkers and designers. In short, they are the support behind it all. They don't come up with the curriculum and are often not the ones teaching it either. They work directly with all parts of the education systems to help implement successful instruction. Their jobs also don't have to be related to education and schools. Graphic designers, business analysts, and developers are just a few jobs that require instructional design.

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I looked through higheredjobs.com under "Instructional Technology and Design"

Many of the jobs expect an instructional designer to serve in a supporting role for faculty.  This looks to mostly done by helping the instructor to set up remote learning.  Being proficient with online learning platforms, such as Blackboard looks to be essential.  I see very few posts that list the job of the ID as more than just digitizing the learning already going on.

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Instructional Design is

The creation of instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more effieicent, effective, and appealing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch/w0iQgStGND4

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The definition I found, which is similar to my classmates was that from Purdue: "instructional design is the creation of instructional materials. Though, this field goes beyond simply creating teaching materials, it carefully considers how students learn and what materials and methods will most effectively help individuals achieve their academic goals."

When researching this, I tend to search for images or charts to better explain what instructional design includes; and as I anticipated, there are MANY models for what instructional design looks like (ADDIE, SAM GAGNE, etc.). For the purpose of our current state of learning, I chose a model that related to our digital/online learning environment. This model was developed by NC State Board of Education and I felt encompassed a majority of what needs to be considered when designing instruction.

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I like things simple. To me instructional design is the window between the teacher and the learner.

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My original thoughts are that instructional design is similar to the Domain 1 of the Danielson Framework (my fellow teachers will know what I am referring to). In order to prepare instruction, all things need to be considered:

our audience (culture, interests, background knowledge, readiness, learning abilities, etc.)

our resources (tech., tools, interactive materials, etc.)

our goals or objectives for the instruction

Our content (understanding of the content being taught)

Our readiness for flexibility and to adapt if needed.

ID is the preparation to create a meaningful discovery learning experience that will meet the needs of all students in the classroom, that will reach your intended objective or goal.

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In reviewing what designers do, I need to work on my writing skills and provide more comprehensive details with regard to content and instructions.   I also need to learn and understand various learning models and frameworks.  Over time I hope to develop a style of my own, but that will take time to practice and to learn from my failures.  Researching new innovations seems to me to be a never ending thing due to technology is always changing.  When I get a chance to design a learning site for a program, I find myself getting lost in the time while working on the project; I really enjoy myself.  One of my weaknesses is I do not think fast on my feet.  I need time to process.  Since ID requires time for planning, it actually appeals to my weakness.

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Instructional designers need to possess a versatile skillset in order to create effective learning courses and materials to meet their intended goals. These professionals not only need to have a mastery of learning design but technology as well, given that they:

Design instructional management systems

Evaluate new eLearning materials

Create educational podcasts, videos and content

Design and revamp both new and established learning models

Implement feedback from program reviews

Train others on how to deliver learning material

Research new innovations in both learning design and education

Source: https://online.purdue.edu/blog/education/what-do-instructional-designers-do

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Simply put, instructional design is the creation of instructional materials. Though, this field goes beyond simply creating teaching materials, it carefully considers how students learn and what materials and methods will most effectively help individuals achieve their academic goals. The principles of instructional design consider how educational tools should be designed, created and delivered to any learning group, from grade school students to adult employees across all industry sectors.

Source: https://online.purdue.edu/blog/education/what-is-instructional-design learning and how they learn.

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I feel that instructional design focuses on building a learning experience using whatever technologies are best suited to each individual project. No one approach is best. The content, style, and delivery methods need to accommodate the target audience and convey the information in a way that is meaningful and of value. The end goal is to make an impact on the learner and communicate the material effectively.

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To me, instructional design is creating virtual learning spaces using various technology tools and teaching/learning methods to meet the students where they are at in their learning styles.

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Growing up in an era where the use of "drill and kill" was the norm, I often saw so many students struggling to catch up. I thought that there should be different ways to teach students in varied environments. Some students were truly hands-on learners and others fit well into this "memorize it" model. I often was frustrated that I would "memorize" this material and then after a short amount of time it would be lost unless we used that information toward a targeted goal. I truly see how the use of instructional design can help learners of all abilities. Not only will this help in the successful acquisition of knowledge, it will allow all learners to be part of an environment where they are successful in their learning goals but also makes them feel better about who they are and in their own abilities.

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The role of the instructional designer can be very diverse depending upon the environment. According to Purdue University Instructional Designers work in a wide variety of professions ranging from student instruction in schools to business, government and the military. They work in 1. Designing instructional management systems
2.Evaluate eLearning materials
3. Create educational podcasts, videos and content
4. Design and reconstruct both new and established learning models
5. Implement feedback
6. Train others on how to deliver eLearning material
7. Research new innovations in both learning design and education

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The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) defines instructional design as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning" (Reiser, 2002, p.1). This resource goes on to say that the true end goal of instructional design is not the production of technology rich materials but for the use of technological materials to be used in order to enhance and enrich the learning experience. The end goal the creation of instructional experiences that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge that is effective and interesting to the end learner.(Reiser, Dempsey, 2002)

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This is my first course learning about Instructional Design. After thinking and learning what I have so far, ID really looks at the goals and needs of the learner and then addresses how to design methods/strategies for that learner to be able to understand  and then use that newly found information toward whatever goal has been targeted. The use of technologies in many forms is a key construct to Instructional Design.

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Instructional design is the process of creating, developing, and continuously enhancing a source at which information is obtained by others.  Someone who is an instructional designer has to develop a source that is appealing to others and considerate of the users/learners.  They have to keep in mind the "gaps" that the users might have and address those to create a clear and engaging source.

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• Supports all elements of training strategy, planning, design, development and delivery/implementation for designated application(s).
• Responsible for development of detailed, workflow-based curriculum and for building, testing and maintaining the training environment for designated application(s).
• Ensures deliverables are approved by the appropriate members of the project team and are completed in accordance with the training strategy.
• Develops appropriate assessment and evaluation tools for training.
• Determines the appropriate training modality (time, delivery method) for each user in designated application(s).

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I also did not realize that ID spans across so many different fields. I definitely limited its scope to K-12 and college education in the sense of it being what a teacher does to create instruction. In exploring job postings, I realized that instructional designers are behind the scenes of creating learning materials for employees, who are also considered the "learners" in many cases. It was cool to see that it is even part of the medical field, as a few hospitals were hiring Instructional Designers.

As discussed in chapter 1 of our text, effective ID is both identifying and bridging the gaps that learners may have. You have to start with knowing the gaps that learners have before a successful solution can be designed. I laughed at Dirksen's example of a company wanting to "fix" a high turnover rate with trainings on the history of the company. It seems like Professional Development and trainings are often the go to solutions by employers, but designing effective and worthwhile ones makes the real difference.

When that is accomplished, it seems like ID is using a variety of resources to create an engaging, comprehensive, relevant, and meaningful learning experience that keeps in mind the specific needs and goals of the learner. It should be student/learner centered instead of based on what the instructor wants/needs.

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The University of Memphis stated this quote from Instructional Design Central, "In short, instructional design is the systematic process by which instructional materials are designed, developed, and delivered. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, educational technology, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are often used interchangeably" (Instructional Design Central).

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I think ID is constantly changing and evolving...especially in the last year! As a teacher, it's what I do, but it is much more than just designing instruction/lessons/unit/using technology effectively. It is also not limited to something only teachers do, although that is what I first thought of.

I REALLY like Julie Dirksen's explanation in the introduction of our text that the goal of ID is "for learners to emerge from the learning experience with new or improved capabilities that they can take back to the real world and that help them do the things they need or want to do."

I think ID is designing relevant and meaningful, instruction no matter who the learner is.

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What do Instructional Designers DO? - Melissa Smith

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What do Instructional Designers DO? - Melissa Smith

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From a Job Posting for an ID Position at the University of Maryland (https://g.co/kgs/tPnYGD)

My Key Takeaways from this posting:
Instructional designers...
- work with other faculty members to develop courses and eLearning modules (synchronous and asynchronous)
- coach faculty on effective learning strategies
- need to be highly motivated, passionate, and creative
- have knowledge and skills in TONS of different technology
- "explore cutting-edge instructional design approaches for developing effective learning experiences for our students."

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Source:
ASCD Published Book by Anne Reeves, "Where Great Teaching Begins" (http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/111023/chapters/Instructional-Design@-Who-and-What-Is-It-For%C2%A2.aspx )

This excerpt was very classroom teacher oriented (which is why I chose it in my search for an official definition of ID in the world of K-12 education). It describes the "deep work" of teaching: designing student/learning centered instructional as opposed to teacher/classroom centered design. Basically, it says that effective ID is rooted in the needs and learning goals of the students/learners.

"Even more to the point, a lesson plan or unit plan is not a schedule of events or an agenda for a teacher to follow. Its purpose is not to document what must be done, minute by minute, class period by class period, but to document what students must achieve. In other words, the goal of effective instructional design is to record the designer's conceptual plan for student learning and, as such, it answers certain key questions:

What will students learn?

To what degree will they learn? To what depth and breadth?

How will they acquire this learning?

How will they demonstrate this learning?"

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Before today, I didn't know that the ID field is so large and crosses over into different disciplines and fields. I traditionally keep ID in the education field (k-12) but now appreciate how necessary it is for companies, firms, etc. to use ID so that employees are trained in the correct way. I also think back to job trainings I have and remember feeling totally useless after the trainings because my brain was crammed full of information and expected to remember it all. It goes to show how companies need to start incorporating better methods of learning for their employees.

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I used LinkedIn Jobs:
Instructional Designers are prevalent in a range of field and occupy the roles of managers, specialists, and associates. They can be found in Higher Ed, Healthcare, 401(k), IT, and various companies looking to train employees. They need experience in web-based systems and it appears marketing and graphic design skills are necessary.

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464 Instructional Design jobs in New York City Metropolitan Area (25 new)

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Today's top 464 Instructional Design jobs in New York City Metropolitan Area. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. New Instructional Design jobs added daily.

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Sources: Google Scholar:
ID is...
Human cognitive architecture; derivation and application of methods; comparative analysis of design models; chronological account of ID

nwlink.com:

Gagné's Nine Steps of Instruction.

Merrill's First Principles of Instruction.

John Keller's ARCS model.

Merrill's Component Display Theory.

Reigeluth's Elaboration Theory.

Constructivism.

van Merriënboer's 4C/ID Model.

Rapid Instructional Design.

elearningindustry.com:
examples of ID (e-learning):
Story-based learning (linear narrative); Story-based learning (with branching scenarios); Story-based learning (with scenarios); Performance Support Tools (to complement and supplement primarily eLearning courses but focused on knowledge application at work); Performance Support Tools (to complement and supplement primarily eLearning courses but focused on knowledge application at work); Scenario-based learning; Guided exploration (featuring the Q&A approach); Micro learning (with a gamified activity)

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I echo my classmates emphasis on ID being theories behind the processes and systems used to teach someone a skill or increase their knowledge in a subject area.  To me, ID is the burden of the instructor/teacher/professor etc. to work with individuals bringing in competing skills, personalities, motivations, knowledge, disabilities, etc.  I've always appreciated student-centric models of instruction as I believe they have the flexibility and empathy to meet students where they are at and help them across learning gaps.  Additionally, they build curriculums, lesson plans, activities, etc. starting with what does the individual know, what skills do they have, and who are they.

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It’s interesting to look at instructional design in a broader context. As a classroom teacher, I have always thought about ID as a more thoughtful form of writing lesson plans but this week I have started to realize it goes beyond that and can be used in almost endless contexts.

One idea that I found really interesting while reading the paper “Reclaiming Instructional Design” is the idea that instructional design isn’t a natural process. The authors state, “the technology of instructional design, like other technologies, is not a natural phenomenon. It is man made, designed to serve our needs,” and since it is man made ID is consistently developing and changing to better serve the needs of learners. The definition and duties for instructional design with continue to change long into the future.

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According to Glassdoor (which provides insights about jobs and companies) some responsibilities for an instructional designer include:

Develop and edit online learning material and content

Assess learning needs

Analyze existing instructional material

Develop and design online material and assessment tools

Oversee implementation of online learning programs

Train educators and students to use online learning system

Troubleshoot technical problems via reported user issues

Maintain currency in the field of online learning

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Job Overview

XYZ Inc. is a leading company in our industry in the region. We're proud of our 4.2 Glassdoor rating from our employees. We're now hiring a Instructional Designer to help us keep growing. If you're excited to be part of a winning team, XYZ Inc. is a perfect place to get ahead. You'll be glad you applied to XYZ Inc.

Responsibilities for Instructional Designer

Develop and edit online learning material and content

Assess learning needs

Analyze existing instructional material

Develop and design online material and assessment tools

Oversee implementation of online learning programs

Train educators and students to use online learning system

Troubleshoot technical problems via reported user issues

Maintain currency in the field of online learning

Qualifications for Instructional Designer

Master's degree in educational technology or related field, preferred

State Educator or Administrator license, preferred

3+ years of experience using course authoring tools

Proficiency with Blackboard, Canvas, Camtasia, Captivate, Moodle or proprietary LMS

Experience teaching K-12

Familiar with website design, video technology and editing

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Understanding of varied learning styles

Knowledge of assessment and evaluation methods

Ready to Hire an Instructional Designer?
Try Job Postings

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XYZ Inc. is a leading company in our industry in the region. We're proud of our 4.2 Glassdoor rating from our employees. We're now hiring a Instructional Designer to help us keep growing. If you're excited to be part of a winning team, XYZ Inc. is a perfect place to get ahead.

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“Instructional design is a technology for the development of learning experiences and environments which promote the acquisition of specific knowledge and skill by students” (Merrill et al 1996)

“Instructional Design is the art and science of creating an instructional environment and materials that will bring the learner from the state of not being able to accomplish certain tasks to the state of being able to accomplish those tasks. Instructional Design is based on theoretical and practical research in the areas of cognition, educational psychology, and problem solving” (Siemens 2002)

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Like it was discussed in our reading, everyone is going to approach the definition of instructional design a little bit differently especially if we are all designing for different contexts. Essentially, instructional design boils down to the process of creating engaging and effective learning materials. I think that an important idea we discussed this week is the idea that a big part of instructional design is “selling” our content to our learners.

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Reading jobs postings that I found and that my classmates posted here, I believe there's a disconnect between what ID should be/what it is believed to be, and what it amounts to in some environments. Just about all of the definitions we came up with include considerations from many angles that will help instructional designers provide the best education ever; job postings like the one at DeSales make half of the job seem like being a tech person who gets the call when the internet is out.

That combines for me to believe that instructional design is a methodology for...designing instruction...but professional instructional designers (at least, professionals with that official title) are unfortunately not always used to accomplish that.

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DeSales University is hiring! (-Doug Leeson)

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DeSales University is hiring! (-Doug Leeson)

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Their job listing says, "The Instructional Designer consults with faculty to help faculty members design effective technology-enhanced courses, especially online and hybrid courses. The Instructional Designer develops multi-media instructional assets, learning objects, and training resources for use in courses taught by DeSales faculty or in CERT training materials. Under the direction of the Director of Instructional Design & Technology and as a part of the CERT team, the Instructional Designer designs processes, procedures, and training programs to improve the practice of teaching with technology at the university. In addition, the Instructional Designer provides general support and assistance to the faculty in order to address online and classroom instructional technology issues and problems.

As backup to other CERT staff, the Instructional Designer is expected to respond to classroom technology emergencies as necessary. This task involves going to the affected classroom to troubleshoot technology issues."

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It seems from what I can tell that the term "instructional designer" has a very fluid definition. Depending on who you ask, you may get different definitions. However, it appears that most of the definitions differ in the details, but agree that instructional designers are creators of learning products and experiences, whether that is online, printed curriculum, or something else. I noticed that it also seemed to change depending on what field the design was for and what age groups.

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"Simply put, instructional design is the creation of instructional materials. Though, this field goes beyond simply creating teaching materials, it carefully considers how students learn and what materials and methods will most effectively help individuals achieve their academic goals. The principles of instructional design consider how educational tools should be designed, created and delivered to any learning group, from grade school students to adult employees across all industry sectors." (link)

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JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Supports all elements of training strategy, planning, design, development and delivery/implementation for designated application(s).
• Responsible for development of detailed, workflow-based curriculum and for building, testing and maintaining the training environment for designated application(s).
• Attends change control meetings and other meetings as required, including status meetings.
• Ensures deliverables are approved by the appropriate members of the project team and are completed in accordance with the training strategy.
• Develops appropriate assessment and evaluation tools for training.
• Determines the appropriate training modality (time, delivery method) for each user in designated application(s).
• Trains and supports a team of supplemental (credentialed) trainers in their designated application(s).
• Delivers instructor-led training for super user and end user audiences.
• Maintains training curriculum, training environment, and delivers ongoing education post go- live.
• Develops supports and maintains documentation and procedures as needed.

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According to Instructional Design Central: "What is instructional design? In short, instructional design is the process by which learning products and experiences are designed, developed, and delivered. These learning products include online courses, instructional manuals, video tutorials, learning simulations, etc. Instructional designers are the 'architects' of the learning experience and the 'directors' of the Instructional Systems Design ISD process. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are sometimes used interchangeably."

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Instructional Design Definitions

What is Instructional Design?

What is instructional design? In short, instructional design is the process by which learning products and experiences are designed, developed, and delivered. These learning products include online courses, instructional manuals, video tutorials, learning simulations, etc. Instructional designers are the 'architects' of the learning experience and the 'directors' of the Instructional Systems Design ISD process. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are sometimes used interchangeably. Below are a few instructional design definitions from various sources:

Instructional Design Definitions

"Instructional Design is defined as "a systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion" (Reiser, Dempsey, 2007). In addition, it may be thought of as a framework for developing modules or lessons that (Merrill, Drake, Lacy, Pratt, 1996)"

"Instructional Design is the systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction. It is the entire process of analysis of learning needs and goals and the development of a delivery system to meet those needs. It includes development of instructional materials and activities; and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner activities."

What is an Instructional Designer?

What exactly is an instructional designer and what do they do? Instructional designers create and deliver learning products for business, K-12, higher education, and government organizations. Instructional designers are the 'architects' of the learning experience and the 'directors' of the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) process. Instructional designers are in high demand worldwide (particularly in North America, Asia and Europe), as organizations are turning towards instructional designers to solve business performance problems through the delivery of effective learning experiences. Below are a few instructional designer definitions from various sources:

"Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources."

"Educational technology, sometimes termed EdTech, is the study and ethical practice of facilitating e-learning, which is the learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. The term educational technology is often associated with, and encompasses, instructional theory and learning theory. While instructional technology is 'the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning,' according to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definitions and Terminology Committee, educational technology includes other systems used in the process of developing human capability."
Source: www.edtech.wikia.com

Instructional Design

Educational Technology

Learning Experience (LX)

"An emerging discipline, learning experience design (LX) draws from other disciplines including experiential learning, cognitive psychology, interaction design, user experience design, instructional design and design thinking." Source: www.learningexperiencedesign.com

Instructional Designer

"An instructional designer is somebody who applies a systematic methodology based on instructional theory to create content for learning events." Source: www.eng.wayne.edu

Instructional Technologist

"What does an instructional technologist do...

Evaluate new technologies to discover new and better ways to enhance instruction

Assist faculty in discovering methods of improving their instruction with and without technology

Conduct training sessions teaching faculty and staff how to use new technologies

Conduct research studies evaluating the use of technologies and their impact on student learning outcomes

Create training materials to accommodate the self-learners and provide resources for our "customers"

Manage the implementation of new technologies on-campus for the use of instruction."
Source: www.instructtech.wordpress.com

Educational Technologist

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View definitions for instructional design, educational technology, educational psychology, instructional technology, curriculum design, & instructional systems

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Instructional design is the process of creating the avenue for learning to take place. Effective instructional design involves complex considerations for the teacher's audience's needs at every step of the learning process, including considerations for engagement, accessibility, equity, and more.

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From what I understand from many sources, instructional design is the development of course materials from a design and functionality standpoint, rather than learning design, which is focused more on content.

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Instructional Design is the process of creating a source of information that will be given to others with a goal in mind for it to be accommodating to all needs while making it engaging and appealing to the learner.

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I liked this no-frills explanation "Instructional designers use art/science to make things make sense.

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Knowledge Direct Learning Management System

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I want to apologize. I write about instructional design (ID) all the time but I've never stopped to explain what Instructional Designers really do. There are numerous definitions for it and many of them are somewhat wordy and technical. So, here's my personal definition instead:

Instructional design is the art/science of making things make sense.

That's it in a nutshell. Every aspect of ID is intended to make learning experiences as effective as possible. That's true whether someone is designing a job aid, an online course, or an instructor-led training session.
With that said, there's a lot packed into that nutshell. Some of this overlaps a bit, but I think it gets the idea across:

* Learning and instructional theories
* Needs analysis/root cause analysis
* Problem solving
* How memory works
* Motivation techniques
* How to include context
* Writing
* Creativity
* Basic visual design
* Formatting consistency
* Ability to see the big picture
* Ability to see details
* Technology awareness
* User experience (UX) awareness

Many instructional designers also help build eLearning courses, so they also need programming or rapid content authoring tool skills. Others take on the role of project manager, which requires lots of organization, time management, and people skills.

To keep it brief, here's the gist of what an instructional designer often does when they're brought onto a project. (Please note that there can be variation depending on a number of factors).

They're told, "Hey, we have this project." Then they find out who it's for and what it's about. Then they gather, or are given, the information that needs to be included. At this point, it's a matter of learning everything they can so they can explain it to others through the training materials. If they don't already know something about the topic they need to start from scratch. It involves a lot of question asking. It's also important for them to ask about the learners and dig to find the best possible solution.

Then they come up with different ideas for how the training could be structured and delivered. An idea is chosen. The instructional designer then drafts whatever is needed: job aids, video scripts, eLearning storyboards, facilitator guides, etc. They go back and forth through several rounds of review and revision with the subject matter experts (SMEs) to make sure everything is accurate. Once the revised documents are approved, the project moves into the production phase.

Some instructional designers bow out around this point. Others help with production. Those who are also project managers are in from start to finish.

Once production is over, however, it's best practice to make sure any changes that had to take place during production are accounted for in the documentation. That way the documents and the finished product match. Instructional designers can also conduct an evaluation after training's roll-out. This focuses on whether the learners benefited from the training and how well it was received.

There are definitely a lot of parts to instructional design. As far as I'm concerned though, the goal is simple. Make things make sense.

If you'd like to learn about custom course creation from Digitec Interactive, visit our eLearning page.

If you'd like to read more about instructional design best practices, check out the rest of this author's blogs.

Ready to find out what Digitec can do for you?

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What Instructional Designers Really Do - Knowledge Direct Learning Management System

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I want to apologize. I write about instructional design (ID) all the time but I've never stopped to explain what Instructional Designers really do. There are numerous definitions for it and many of them are somewhat wordy and technical. So, here's my personal definition instead: Instructional design is the art/science of making things make sense.

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What do some "official" sources say ID is?

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What do some "official" sources say ID is?

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You may have heard the term instructional design but not know exactly what it is. The reality is that it's something most teachers already do. When we make decisions about how we are going to go about our business (aka the business of teaching), we are practicing instructional design. So what exactly is it? What does it look like when it is done well? And, what impact does it have on our students?

Take a look at how instructional design works in language learning by hitting the play button below. Then read on to get more tips on how to incorporate good design into your teaching.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pMrys9bA0g[/embedyt]

Instructional design is a systematic approach.

The keyword in describing instructional design is systematic . You can watch the video above to get a better idea of what this looks like in practice.

There are many different instructional design systems and models. You might not know them by name necessarily, but chances are you'll probably recognize the methods and steps. And as you take a closer look, you'll probably see that you've probably already done some of the steps.

For instance, you likely already analyze your learners' needs, design lesson plans, develop materials to teach the lesson, and evaluate the lesson's effectiveness. This is instructional design! Good teachers do it every single day.

Do a little prep for a good student experience.

The best instructional design practices suggest teachers learn about students' lives and cultures. Knowing some obvious things is helpful, like if they're a language learner or have a learning challenge. But the next step is really getting to know them.

What are their beliefs, traditions, favorite foods, or extracurricular activities? When you get to know your students on a more personal level, it definitely makes a difference in your instructional design and classroom culture. Students relate to this personal connection.

To understand our students, we teachers are constantly analyzing them. We have to find the context that will get them learning; when it comes to students, there is no universal answer.

It starts with curriculum, though. So the first step is to find out what they already know through formative assessments. Can they add? Subtract? How is their phonemic awareness? Whole-word knowledge? What will make them want to learn these concepts? Often, the answer is exciting instructional design.

Once you have all the intel, personalize your lesson plans.

Think about this part like a flow chart. Sometimes we begin with what we want students to know at the end of the lesson. Often, this is dictated by standards. But, students are not driven by standards! They think more about what they have to do, and how it relates to their lives, than what they need to know. This is where it's so important to personalize.

This is something you can easily do when you get to know your students. In fact, this is one of the best parts about being a teacher. You get to decide! Use this opportunity to tweak what you do to make it work for YOUR students.

You likely know what has worked (and what hasn't) before, so personalize for more effective understanding overall. For instance, in elementary school science, students study the life cycle of a plant. You need to teach kids each stage, like seed, seedling, flower, and fruit. This also includes learning key vocabulary words.

But it doesn't have be a boring vocabulary lesson. You can easily adjust how you teach it by adjusting what type of plant you show or reference. There are many ways to make things more personalized and culturally relevant to your students. You can still get in your vocabulary lesson and make it interesting for students at the same time. This variation is good instructional design! Plus, students can tell when their teachers have tailored a lesson to their interests, and it makes them much more eager to learn.

Plan in place? Use materials students will love.

The development of materials is distinct from the lesson plan design in that it is intended for student use. Innovative, immersive, and interesting materials bring the instructional design to life. Students get tired of the same ol' stuff.

Materials include manipulatives, media, technology tools, worksheets, and anything else you can create or find to help you teach the curriculum. The more relevant and interactive, the more motivating it is for students.

For geography or history, you might create a map. Depending on your learners' prior experience and preferred learning style, these maps might be made of felt and Velcro for a tactile, reusable experience.

Like the video from above explains, a lesson with language learning could also include media that allow learners to hear and see new vocabulary through the eyes of characters. Media-rich lessons capture and retain student interest, especially when the context is right. This doesn't mean you have to search far and wide to find good material. You probably already have some excellent resources right at your fingertips. Find those good materials that students will respond to and put them to work.

After the lesson, make sure it worked.

This step is important for so many reasons. First, we can tell if the students have achieved synthesis! Have they, can they, put it all together? Did they truly learn and assimilate the information into their lives?

Assessing students lets us know not only if they learned but if we effectively taught! In addition to analyzing student data, we should reflect on our own experiences and revise our plans and materials to make it better.

In teaching upper high-school writing and research, I always check for proper citations to determine if I explained both when AND how to cite. If I notice a consistent mistake, I may add a deductive lesson based on that idea. When you take time to reflect on what does and doesn't work, it makes you a better teacher.

But what if it didn't or isn't working?

Good instructional design is never complete. If a lesson is floundering, determine if it is the lesson itself or the materials causing the difficulty. Use a variety of resources on a topic and make sure they align with your desired outcomes of students' cultural context. Don't give up and keep evolving your approach. Your classroom and your students will excel.
Vista Higher Learning uses instructional design in all of their books and curriculum. To learn more about their approach, check out their website.

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You may have heard the term instructional design but not know exactly what it is. The reality is that it's something most teachers already do. When we make decisions about how we are going to go about our business (aka the business of teaching), we are practicing instructional design.

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Instructional design uses various tools and materials to create engaging and informative experiences which can impact a diverse set of learners.

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See all the wonderful things Daria Kotelnikova has made

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ID is not tied to any particular field (which took me a year or more to understand). I was really surprised to see that all sorts of companies suddenly hire Instructional designers and that education has spread to all fields (thanks, technology).

I would say instructional designers should be agile and have a set of working strategies in order to perform well (and in a rush, what usually happens in the corporate environment).  I came to the conclusion, it is to the advantage to know a bit of graphic design, psychology, sociology, project management and have a bit of empathy and imagination. A bit overwhelming.

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*design training courses based on human learning principles and the needs of stakeholders.
*coordinate rollout to stakeholders all over the world.
*evaluate training opportunities, participant satisfaction and program stability to make sure that Google's technical development programs are teaching skills that are truly valuable while reaching as many Googlers as possible.

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JavaScript must be enabled in order for you to use Google Careers. However, it seems JavaScript is either disabled or not supported by your browser. To view the site, please enable JavaScript by changing your browser options, then try again.

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Careers at Google - find a job at Google. Look inside engineering jobs at Google.

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“instructional design (ID) is a systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion” (Gustafson and Branch 2007, p. 11).

Gustafson, K.L., and Branch, R. (2007). What is instructional design? pp. 11-16. In R.A. Reiser and J.V. Dempsey (eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill, Prentice Hall.

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For me, ID is a clear organization of information.

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Instructional design is a field comprising bits of education, graphic design, communications, technical know how, and more in the corporate world. But at the end of the day it can eventually be boiled down simply to the idea of how do we best package ideas, skills, content, and outcomes in the most efficient and engaging manner for the audience we are creating for.

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Responsibilities and Duties:

Design and develop effective learning solutions for CommScope customers, channel partners, and employees.

Perform audience and task analyses.

Write effective learning objectives and design appropriate evaluation strategies.

Collaborate with product management, product development, technical trainers and technical support teams.

Produce blended learning programs comprising self-paced, web-based, virtual and/or classroom-based elements.

Communicate project status with stakeholders.

Manage projects with shifting requirements and timelines.

Maintain proficiency with existing learning technologies and best practices.

Investigate opportunities to leverage next generation learning technologies.

Leverage knowledge of, and share knowledge with, other instructional designers and technical trainers.

Qualifications and Skills

Demonstrated skills implementing Instructional Systems Design models.

Experience with, or willing to learn, Articulate Storyline, Articulate Presenter, Adobe Captivate and similar development tools.

Excellent written and oral communications skills.

Strong Microsoft Office skills.

Knowledge of distance learning tools, virtual classroom platforms, and learning management systems.

Adapt to shifting priorities.

Strong organization, analytical and project management skills.

Problem-solving initiative.

Able to work well both in team settings and independently.

Basic graphic design skills.

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Everyone communicates. It's the essence of the human experience. How we communicate is evolving. Technology is reshaping the way we live, learn and thrive. The epicenter of this transformation is the network-our passion. Our experts are rethinking the purpose, role and usage of networks to help our customers increase bandwidth, expand capacity, enhance efficiency, speed deployment and simplify migration. From remote cell sites to massive sports arenas, from busy airports to state-of-the-art data centers- we provide the essential expertise and vital infrastructure your business needs to succeed. The world's most advanced networks rely on CommScope connectivity.
Why CommScope?
Our work environment attracts forward-thinking, hardworking people who strive to build what's next. We provide our employees with opportunities where they can innovate and build, while growing and developing their careers. We thrive with change and know the value diversity plays in bringing forth new insights and generating better solutions.

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

CommScope is seeking an Instructional Designer to join the technical training team at its Horsham, PA location. The Instructional Designer analyzes learning needs and partners with subject matter experts to define learning content. This role uses a variety of development tools to create high-impact learning solutions in various modalities. The Instructional Designer works with business partners and customers to ensure learning solutions are pertinent and effective, and that they are aligned with CommScope's vision, purpose and values.

At CommScope we push the boundaries of communications technology to create the world's most advanced networks. Across the globe, our people and solutions are redefining connectivity, solving today's challenges and driving the innovation that will meet the needs of what's next.
Responsibilities and Duties:

Design and develop effective learning solutions for CommScope customers, channel partners, and employees.

Perform audience and task analyses.

Write effective learning objectives and design appropriate evaluation strategies.

Collaborate with product management, product development, technical trainers and technical support teams.

Produce blended learning programs comprising self-paced, web-based, virtual and/or classroom-based elements.

Communicate project status with stakeholders.

Manage projects with shifting requirements and timelines.

Maintain proficiency with existing learning technologies and best practices.

Investigate opportunities to leverage next generation learning technologies.

Leverage knowledge of, and share knowledge with, other instructional designers and technical trainers.

Qualifications and Skills

Demonstrated skills implementing Instructional Systems Design models.

Experience with, or willing to learn, Articulate Storyline, Articulate Presenter, Adobe Captivate and similar development tools.

Excellent written and oral communications skills.

Strong Microsoft Office skills.

Knowledge of distance learning tools, virtual classroom platforms, and learning management systems.

Adapt to shifting priorities.

Strong organization, analytical and project management skills.

Problem-solving initiative.

Able to work well both in team settings and independently.

Basic graphic design skills.

Desired Qualifications:

Master's degree in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology or Education.

Familiarity with DOCSIS, CMTS, IPTV or Video distribution preferred.

0-2 years of Experience in Instructional Design

It is the policy of CommScope to provide Equal Employment Opportunities to all individuals based on merit, qualifications and abilities. CommScope does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy), national origin, age or any other characteristics as protected by law. Furthermore, this contractor and subcontractor shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified protected veterans and qualified individuals on the basis of disability, and require affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified protected veterans and qualified individuals with disabilities.

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Instructional Designer - New Graduate Job in Horsham, PA at ADC Telecommunications

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Everyone communicates. It's the essence of the human experience. How we communicate is evolving. Technology is reshaping the way we live, learn and thrive. The epicenter of this transformation is the network-our passion. Our experts are rethinking the purpose, role and usage of networks to help our customers increase bandwidth, expand capacity, enhance efficiency, speed deployment and simplify migration.

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"In short, instructional design is the systematic process by which instructional materials are designed, developed, and delivered. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, educational technology, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are often used interchangeably" (Instructional Design Central).

Instructional Systems Design is the theoretical underpinning of the field, while cognition and learning theory also contribute to the theoretical base. IDT is a systematic field, focusing on product, process, and environment.

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"In short, instructional design is the systematic process by which instructional materials are designed, developed, and delivered. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, educational technology, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are often used interchangeably" (Instructional Design Central).

Instructional Systems Design is the theoretical underpinning of the field, while cognition and learning theory also contribute to the theoretical base. IDT is a systematic field, focusing on product, process, and environment.

The following short video, What Does an Instructional Designer Do?, provides further insights into the professional life of an instructional designer.

What Does IDT Mean?

Instruction \in-ˈstrək-shən\ noun : the action or process of teaching : the act of instructing someone

Design \di-ˈzīn\ noun : the process of planning how something will look, happen, be made, etc. : the process of designing something

Technology \tek-ˈnä-lə-jē\ noun : a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge

From Merriam-Webster

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"In short, instructional design is the systematic process by which instructional materials are designed, developed, and delivered. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, educational technology, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are often used interchangeably" (Instructional Design Central).

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Instructional design is the way we choose to package learning into a holistic, accessible, hopefully aesthetically engaging experience from which students may construct the experience of their learning.

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Brett--I like the job posting you found because the ones I looked at I felt were a little more general. Amazon seems specific in really needing someone who can teach others how to use cloud services. It was interesting to read about what seems like a clear target goal.

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Lara--I like this definition includes training. I think the training piece is important to include. I'm currently thinking at work how can I create training materials to make the overall training process of learning certain workflows more engaging and practical?

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Jessie--I really like your summary and your point that learners need to be engaged. I think this speaks to the importance of reiteration. Because sometimes I feel like I make a good design and learners may be interested in the beginning, but do they remain interested? Do I need to tweak? Another component of learner engagement also seems to be feedback.

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Liza--I am definitely seeing the theme of flexibility and like your point that ID is a process. I picture ID as waves sometimes. We go forward, we go back, we go forward again. We tweak, change, experiment at any (all?) points in the design and learning processes

Image credit Pixabay open source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/beach-sea-wave-water-ocean-4161593/

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Kristi--you make a good point about the budget component since it's definitely a finite constraint. That's why I like the saying from this program: "if it's free, it's for me." Not necessarily everything we want to do as an ID can be accomplished with free tools, but I think the free tools helps broaden the ID toolkit and provides additional options.

*image credit Pixabay open source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/piggy-bank-money-finance-banking-2889042/

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It seems to me that instructional design is something performed? used? done? (I'm not sure what the proper word would be here) by teachers every day, whether intentionally (hopefully) or unintentionally. By actually being an instructional designer you take on more of an "expert" and consulting role, but ID is used by pretty much anyone who teaches.

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These are some of the responsibilities and duties listed for a job at Montclair University:
•Provide guidance to the University community on instructional design methodologies, processes and best practices for designing and teaching online, blended/hybrid courses or in person courses.
• Coordinate the development and implementation of online instructional programs.
• Assist faculty with the design, development, and teaching of online, blended/hybrid and in-person courses.
• Work with course developing faculty to ensure alignment between instructional content, learning activities and learning assessments with the identified course goals and objectives.
• Develop and facilitate seminars and workshops that introduce faculty to new instructional design methods and technologies that can enhance the teaching and learning environment.

It seems to me like an instructional designer is primarily a consultant.

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Here is what the University of Central Florida says "Instructional Design & Technology is the science and art of designing innovative, effective, and engaging training and educational programs in business and industry, K-12, and Higher Education. This interdisciplinary field focuses on the systematic design of training and educational environments."

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College of Community Innovation and Education

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Instructional Design & Technology Home | College of Community Innovation and Education

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Elevating human learning and performance through innovations, interactions, and partnerships. Instructional Design & Technology is the science and art of designing innovative, effective, and engaging training and educational programs in business and industry, K-12, and Higher Education. This interdisciplinary field focuses on the systematic design of training and educational environments.

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From my very limited understanding I think that Instructional Design is the process of planning every aspect of the learner's experience, from beginning to end.

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I think I have to refer back to my original definition.  Most of the sources that I read were similar, but in fancier terms — “ID’s create learning experience based on unique needs”, “they use instructional design technique and the most appropriate methodologies / technologies to maximize the learning experience”.  What’s really important, in my opinion, is that the instructional designer has the knowledge and experience to choose and keep the appropriate techniques and methodologies in mind while designing with style (whether that be aesthetically or by using different technology, etc.). Instructional designers should be able to move around to different industries without too much of a hassle, because they are great at re-imagining instructional materials that others have already developed.

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My boss is currently hiring one!  Here are the highlights -- 

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My boss is currently hiring one!  Here are the highlights -- 

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This job analyzes, designs, develops and evaluates complex learning solutions to support business and performance objectives.Analyzes and selects the most appropriate strategy, methodologies and technologies to maximize the learning experience and impact.   Applies instructional design techniques to build the conceptual detailed design plans for complex learning initiatives with responsibility for the overall design integrity of the learning solution.

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Gateway Health Llc

Job Description :
JOB SUMMARY
This job analyzes, designs, develops and evaluates complex learning solutions to support business and performance objectives. The incumbent conducts complex detailed job and task analysis, identifying skill gaps based on learning objectives which are aligned to the business and performance objectives. Analyzes and selects the most appropriate strategy, methodologies and technologies to maximize the learning experience and impact. Applies instructional design techniques to build the conceptual detailed design plans for complex learning initiatives with responsibility for the overall design integrity of the learning solution. Gathers data to answer specific questions regarding the value or impact of learning and performance solutions; focuses on the impact of learning solutions and creates overall measures of system effectiveness leverages findings to increase effectiveness and provide recommendations for change.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Design and develop learning solutions. Design and develop on-line training using a variety of development tools. Create job aids, manuals, simulations, case studies, role plays to achieve desired learning objectives. Publish learning solution content to various sites ensuring targeted audience access. Review output from training vendor to ensure courses are addressing defined learning objectives

Conduct evaluation of learning solutions. Evaluate new instructional strategies, methods, technologies and tools related to instructional design, development and delivery. Measure results of learning solution to ensure solution met learning objectives and performance goals.

Communicate effectively. Lead, influence or negotiate others to achieve desired work results; utilize excellent client interaction and advisory skills. Work effectively with others to achieve common goals and exercises effective interpersonal influence. Facilitate process and project meetings and influence at various levels in the organization.

Lead complex training related projects ensuring projects remain on time and within budget. Identify and manage all resources. Develop and manage project plans and time lines utilizing project management standards. Identify risks and puts into place contingency plans. Tracks and reports progress. Function as the liaison between vendors, internal team and customers.

Other duties as assigned or requested.

EDUCATION Required

High School Diploma or GED equivalent
Substitutions Preferred

Bachelor's Degree with major coursework Instructional Design or Training & Development

Master's Degree with major coursework in Instructional Design or Training & Development

EXPERIENCE Required

5 years Employee training, including training or performance analysis

5 years Instructional design, training methodologies, delivery, and/or training technology

5 years Creating requirement documents, training proposals, learning objectives, and other training-related recommendations.

Preferred

Experience using Captivate

7 years Employee training, including training or performance analysis

7 years Instructional design, training methodologies, delivery, and/or training technology

7 years Creating requirement documents, training proposals, learning objectives, and other training-related recommendations

Licenses or Certifications

ASTD or other certifications in needs analysis, instructional design, performance consulting, measurement and evaluation
SKILLS PHYSICAL, MENTAL DEMANDS and WORKING CONDITIONS Position Location
Office-based

Teaches / trains others regularly

Occasionally

Travel regularly from the office to various work sites or from site-to-site

Rarely

Works primarily out-of-the office selling products/services (sales employees)

Never

Physical work site required

Yes

Lifting: up to 10 pounds

Frequently

Lifting: 10 to 25 pounds

Occasionally

Lifting: 25 to 50 pounds

Rarely
Disclaimer: The job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and essential duties and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this job title. It may not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to do this job.
Compliance Requirement: This job adheres to the ethical and legal standards and behavioral expectations as set forth in the code of business conduct and company policies

Highmark Health and its affiliates prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation/gender identity or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local law. Highmark Health and its affiliates take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation/gender identity, protected veteran status or disability.

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Equal Opportunity Employer Orientation/Gender Identity ()

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Senior Instructional Designer job at Highmark Health in Pittsburgh, PA

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Gateway Health Llc JOB SUMMARY This job analyzes, designs, develops and evaluates complex learning solutions to support business and performance objectives. The incumbent conducts complex detailed job and task analysis, identifying skill gaps based on learning objectives which are aligned to the business and performance objectives.

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"Instructional design involves creating learning experiences based on the unique needs of a specific audience or topic. "

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Individuals across the globe are impacted by the work of instructional designers every day-though many don't even know it. Anyone who has ever been taught in a classroom, watched a workplace instruction video, taken a driver's education course, or participated in any kind of professional training, has, in fact, been exposed to instructional design.

But what exactly does the work of an instructional designer entail? Read on for an in-depth look at the key responsibilities and skill sets of these professionals, and learn how you can kick start your career in this field today.

What is Instructional Design?

Instructional design involves creating learning experiences based on the unique needs of a specific audience or topic.

While this practice sounds simple enough on paper, Elizabeth Mahler -associate teaching professor and faculty lead for Northeastern's Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional Design program-explains that instructional design is actually "a really misunderstood profession."

This confusion is often due, in large part, to the many different forms that the output of an instructional designer's work can take, as well as the array of unique skill sets these individuals must possess in order to meet the needs of each situation.

For Example: An instructional designer may be tasked with creating a one-hour workshop on the health risks of smoking for an audience of teenagers one day, and a six-week-long course on grant writing for a group of mid-career, corporate professionals the next. While the unique needs of each project require a different approach, the core responsibilities of the instructional designer remain more or less the same: they must design a learning experience that will effectively engage and inform each audience in order to generate the desired learning outcomes.

Instructional designers accomplish this by expertly combining principles of art and science with an understanding of disciplines like psychology, sociology, and education. "There's a lot of creativity involved [in the design process]," Mahler says, "but underlying that creative process is learning science. It really is an interdisciplinary foundation."

What Does an Instructional Designer Do?

With a focus on "creating learning experiences as a whole, as opposed to just developing instruction," Mahler explains that instructional designers may have a hand in every aspect of a design process. These professionals must be prepared to facilitate the needs of each project and build learning experiences that are applicable across age groups, demographics, and industries, while simultaneously adapting those experiences to fit the required timelines and goals. To accomplish all of this, instructional designers follow steps outlined in various design models, which break the creation process into stages.

To properly prepare professionals to master the instructional design process, top instructional design programs , like Northeastern's, expose students to each step of this process both in the classroom and in the real world through various experiential learning opportunities .

Below, we outline the steps of the design process that fall within the ADDIE model-one of the most well-known and traditional instructional design models -and the tasks an instructional designer must complete within each phase.

Phase 1: Analysis

A needs assessment begins by identifying and evaluating the issue to decide whether or not it is something that can be solved with instruction. "You've got to analyze whatever the problem is...to determine if the solution to these needs has anything to do with instruction," Mahler says. "Sometimes people think training is the only answer, but [the solution] could be as simple as shifting a process so that people do it better."

In order to draw these vital conclusions, instructional designers must do their research, including collecting data and conducting interviews with various stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs). Through this process, the designer should be able to develop a firm grasp of the situation and how instruction can be used strategically to address it.

Interested in a Career in Instructional Design?

Northeastern's Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional Design can prepare you to embark on any role in this evolving field.

Phase 2: Design

The design phase, some may argue, is the most robust of the instructional development process. During this phase, designers must look at the big picture of the instruction, determine the goals, and ensure that the means for reaching those goals are all set in place prior to embarking on development.

Though each of these aspects requires their own set of tasks, the results of one are often crucial to defining the next. Below, we explore three internal steps within the overall design phase.

Step 1. Set an Instructional Goal

Step 2. Establish Key Learning Objectives

Did You Know: This focus on the learner, as opposed to the value of the instruction itself, has been a recent industry-wide shift born of a need to make the learning process more flexible, adaptable, and empathetic. "We're now looking at it from the learner's perspective as opposed to what 'I want to teach you' or what 'I think you should learn,'" Mahler says. This practice is considered the fourth generation of instructional design, and is becoming known industry-wide as "Learning Design."

As Mahler sees it, "it's important that you design the instruction to meet the needs that have been identified. You are the designer, and you understand how to take the content and develop something that is learner-centered from it."

Step 3. Work With SMEs to Identify Relevant Content

Alongside content recommendations, SMEs often have vital insights into an audience's needs and learning style. They may also be able to inform what media and delivery modes should be used for this instruction, help weigh assessment opportunities, and more.

Phase 3: Development

One important development decision is the kinds of materials that are needed to complete the learning experience instruction. Is there a need for custom books, worksheets, handouts, or faculty guides? How will the information best be communicated to the audience?

Keep In Mind: The instructional designer will need to make most of these decisions based, again, on the audience and instructional goals. For instance, Mahler explains that "in K-12 environments, you may have to provide something to a teacher [which tends to take the form of] a curriculum guide, so the teacher knows what to cover with their students in the classroom." In other cases, such as the higher education sector, the use of a master course design document might help align the learning strategies and assessments with the course objectives.

The kind of technology, if any, that will be used in this instruction should also be considered during the development phase. Will the instruction be delivered via video, will it involve the use of a Learning Management System (LMS), will it require a digital assessment? These types of decisions are important across instruction projects, and in some cases, the conclusions reached at this stage also inform whether or not a technology specialist needs to be brought in.

Mahler also suggests that the designer keep a focus on how the learning will be evaluated throughout the entire design process, and begin building out that evaluation system during the development phase. "You really have to figure out, as you're developing, how you're going to evaluate the worthiness, the success of what you've designed," Mahler says. "Then, that evaluation system should be [considered] throughout the [rest of] the process."

Phase 4: Implementation

Educators and presenters are also trained during the implementation stage. The educators who will administer the instruction to the audiences will review the instructional delivery and presentation methods, any specific guidance, and, sometimes, the material itself. Similarly, the learners will be provided with the procedures to sign up or register for this learning experience and get familiar with the tools and systems they will use throughout the learning process.

Phase 5: Evaluation

Although evaluation should be considered throughout the process, it becomes the focus of an instructional designer's work in the final phase. There are two forms of evaluation: formative evaluation and summative evaluation.

Formative evaluation occurs during the overall instructional design process and utilizes multiple check-ins along the way. This includes reviewing internally how the design process went, both on a stage-by-stage basis and as a whole. Instructional designers use this type of assessment to hone design procedures and improve future processes.

Preparing For a Career in Instructional Design

Individuals embark on the field of instructional design from a variety of backgrounds. Some are educators who want to take their teaching skills and apply them more broadly to the development of instruction outside of the classroom. Others come from the corporate world-in positions such as human resources or project management-and capitalize on the abilities they've garnered from their previous profession in a brand new industry. And others still may approach this career without any relevant background, but with a passion for "designing learning experiences that are engaging, rigorous, and of the highest quality," Mahler says.

No matter what background they come from, however, one of the fastest and most direct routes to breaking into the field of instructional design is through the pursuit of a master's degree or graduate certificate from a top university like Northeastern.

Much like the practice of instructional design itself, Northeastern's master's in eLearning and Instructional Design has been developed with the needs of the learner in mind. The program provides a personalized approach for students looking to hone these skill sets and jump-start their careers. Participants will learn from industry professionals in the classroom, while also being presented with authentic opportunities for real-world, hands-on application of their skills through experiential learning . These opportunities allow students to graduate with a portfolio of their work in place-a key component to landing a role in this lucrative field.
Explore our program page today to learn more about how Northeastern's Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional Design can set you on a path toward success.

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Individuals across the globe are impacted by the work of instructional designers every day-though many don't even know it. Anyone who has ever been taught in a classroom, watched a workplace instruction video, taken a driver's education course, or participated in any kind of professional training, has, in fact, been exposed to instructional design.

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This is how I would explain instructional design based on my experience -- ID is the process of conducting research on a specific topic or other topics, and synthesizing that information into a way that can be communicated effectively to a group of individuals based on what we know about the way that audience learns and needs to be taught. We also try to take into consideration design principles in order to keep the learners engaged.

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This is how I would explain instructional design based on my experience - ID is the process of conducting research on a specific topic or topics, and synthesizing that information into a way that can be communicated effectively to a group of individuals based on what we know about the way that audience learns and needs to be taught. We also try to take into consideration design principles in order to keep the learners engaged.

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Instructional designers use materials to create an engaging and interesting learning experience.  Time is put into asking the questions of what is expected for the learner.  What knowledge and skills are expected at the end of the learning experience?  The designer takes the student in mind when creating the experience.

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That transform technical information into engaging instructional materials.

5+ years experience conducting quality analysis reviews of instructional materials.

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"Instructional Design is the systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction. It is the entire process of analysis of learning needs and goals and the development of a delivery system to meet those needs.

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Instructional Design Definitions

What is Instructional Design?

What is instructional design? In short, instructional design is the process by which learning products and experiences are designed, developed, and delivered. These learning products include online courses, instructional manuals, video tutorials, learning simulations, etc. Instructional designers are the 'architects' of the learning experience and the 'directors' of the Instructional Systems Design ISD process. The terms instructional design, instructional technology, learning experience (LX) design, curriculum design, and instructional systems design (ISD), are sometimes used interchangeably. Below are a few instructional design definitions from various sources:

Instructional Design Definitions

"Instructional Design is defined as "a systematic process that is employed to develop education and training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion" (Reiser, Dempsey, 2007). In addition, it may be thought of as a framework for developing modules or lessons that (Merrill, Drake, Lacy, Pratt, 1996)" Source: www.nwlink.com

"Instructional Design is the systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction. It is the entire process of analysis of learning needs and goals and the development of a delivery system to meet those needs. It includes development of instructional materials and activities; and tryout and evaluation of all instruction and learner activities." Source: www.umich.edu

"Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources." Source: www.cjlt.ca

What is an Instructional Designer?

What exactly is an instructional designer and what do they do? Instructional designers create and deliver learning products for business, K-12, higher education, and government organizations. Instructional designers are the 'architects' of the learning experience and the 'directors' of the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) process. Instructional designers are in high demand worldwide (particularly in North America, Asia and Europe), as organizations are turning towards instructional designers to solve business performance problems through the delivery of effective learning experiences. Below are a few instructional designer definitions from various sources:

"Educational technology, sometimes termed EdTech, is the study and ethical practice of facilitating e-learning, which is the learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. The term educational technology is often associated with, and encompasses, instructional theory and learning theory. While instructional technology is 'the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning,' according to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definitions and Terminology Committee, educational technology includes other systems used in the process of developing human capability."
Source: www.edtech.wikia.com

Instructional Design

Educational Technology

Learning Experience (LX)

"An emerging discipline, learning experience design (LX) draws from other disciplines including experiential learning, cognitive psychology, interaction design, user experience design, instructional design and design thinking." Source: www.learningexperiencedesign.com

Instructional Designer

"An instructional designer is somebody who applies a systematic methodology based on instructional theory to create content for learning events." Source: www.eng.wayne.edu

Instructional Technologist

"What does an instructional technologist do...

Evaluate new technologies to discover new and better ways to enhance instruction

Assist faculty in discovering methods of improving their instruction with and without technology

Conduct training sessions teaching faculty and staff how to use new technologies

Conduct research studies evaluating the use of technologies and their impact on student learning outcomes

Create training materials to accommodate the self-learners and provide resources for our "customers"

Manage the implementation of new technologies on-campus for the use of instruction."
Source: www.instructtech.wordpress.com

Educational Technologist

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Instructional Design Definitions What is instructional design? In short, instructional design is the process by which learning products and experiences are designed, developed, and delivered. These learning products include online courses, instructional manuals, video tutorials, learning simulations, etc. Instructional designers are the 'architects' of the learning experience and the 'directors' of the Instructional Systems Design ISD process.