To fully understand the field of Instructional Design, it is essential to return to its history. Reiser (2001) recalls the first beginnings of instructional design and pinpoints it to the 1940s in World War II where psychologists and other specialists created training materials and tested soldiers’ learning abilities. Since then, throughout the years, there have been useful developments that have added to the field, making the field of Instructional Design diverse and complex. Such complexities lead to misconceptions, so let’s start with what Instructional Design is not.

Watch the video by selecting the link that follows or the video player at the bottom of this page in order to find out more. Review my bullet points for the most salient points from the video:

Video link: Instructional Design is not

Instructional Design is not:

• Solely about training employees

Instructional Designers conduct a Needs Assessment to find out if the problem is performance related or learning. To learn more about my knowledge and skills on needs assessments, visit my content on the course’ EDID 6507: Needs Assessment for Learning and Performance.

• placing content online and dubbing it e-learning course

E-learning content can be the new hype and rave; however, good Instructional Designers avoid jumping on the latest trends and innovations. Refer to my discussion on Garner’s Hype Cycle Model in the course ‘EDID 6506: Issues, Trends, Innovations and Research in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology and Distance Education’ for more information. E-learning design must be systematically diagnosed and planned for. Select here to visit my content on learning and knowledge management systems.

• Working alone

Whilst an Instructional Designer performs multiple roles, he or she seldom works alone.

• Using technology as a magic pill to fix all learning and performance problems

Technology can assist with that but it should not be the main goal of instruction. This was drilled home for me in EDID 6509: Designing Learning and Performance Solutions when designing simple but effective solutions were the goal.

• Subscribing to beliefs about learner preferences and learner styles

An Instructional Designer does not believe that learners acquire knowledge solely by looking at visuals or only by doing a task. Select here on some heuristics on how to design instruction effectively.

Reference

Reiser, R. A. (2001). ETR&D. A history of instructional design and technology: Part II, 57-69.