Instructional Design in the Real World: A View from the Trenches

Enterprise Networks & Servers, May 2004

Dr. Anne-Marie Armstrong is an instructional designer and online professor who is also a student in the Museum Studies program at George Washington University in Washington D.C. She received her PhD in Instructional Design from the University of South Alabama in 1998 and has published and presented papers in a variety of journals.

Armstrong is an instructional design consultant at the Government Printing Office in Washington. Formerly she worked as an instructional designer and training manager for various organizations and companies including CSG Systems, Lucent, Raytheon, the FAA, Aera, and Amerind. In the last 10 years, she has been involved in all phases of the instructional design process with a special emphasis on needs analysis, formative and summative evaluation, and web-based courseware.

The Idea Group conducted an interview with her regarding instructional design.

Idea Group: How does the real world affect ADDIE, the instructional design process?

Anne-Marie Armstrong: When the instructional design process, ADDIE, is applied in the real world it takes place within a unique working system. Some of the ways that each unique system affects the analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation of instruction is by compressing and expanding the steps. Also, the system forces the designer to review assumptions, re-interpret basic learning goals in light of the system's goals, and to re-order and reprioritize the steps as needed.

IG: How do system's goals influence the learning goals of a training program?

AMA: Basically, in the real world, the instruction's goals for the learner must also meet the system's goals. For example, in a business system, the learning goals must be in line with the mission and values of the business. This might mean using a delivery system that is less costly even though another method might have provided more richness. It might also mean that more levels of understanding would have to be built into the product. In many military and government cultures, security issues might affect end product's delivery, implementation and evaluation. In industry, health and safety regulations and union cooperation influence place, time, and student selection processes.

IG: Does the system also affect the instructional designer's roles and responsibilities?

AMA: Definitely. The role of the instructional designer has broadened beyond the provision of training products. The lines that in the past separated instructional design from training delivery, human performance interventions, human resource planning and career development no longer exist in most systems. In fact the expertise of instructional designers is being used to analyze and implement solutions for both performance problems and organizational problems.

IG: How else does the real world affect the instructional design process?

AMA: Timelines, resource distribution, company priorities, administrative processes, workloads of subject matter experts and students, rules and regulations all impose constraints on the instructional design process and influence the design and development of instruction. In many cases the instructional designer may be asked to design and development performance improvement solutions that have little to do with instruction and more to do with job redesign or better lines of communication.

Also a shortage of time and resources forces many designers to adapt guerrilla tactics in order to complete the evaluation phase of the ADDIE process. Some designers might be tempted to skip this step because at the time it has no priority and managers might not fully appreciate its value but that would be a mistake. Formative and summative evaluation will in the long run save time and resources.

IG: Anything else that the designer needs to know about working within the system?

AMA: Yes, vocabulary and system culture. An instructional designer in the real world uses the system's unique vocabulary and culture at all steps of the ADDIE process. You cannot interview workers, manager, and subject matter experts about their jobs or performance if you cannot speak to them in ways that are clear and understandable. No educationese, please! The same advice goes for the presentation of the project and the instruction itself. Learning the system's vocabulary also gives the designer more insight into the actual needed learning objectives.

IG: Are you saying then that academic theories, discipline and courses required for preparation as an instructional designer no longer apply in the real world?

AMA: No, knowledge of theory is crucial to design. Theory is the basis for making the needed adaptations to the instructional design process and needed changes in the final product. You need to know basic learning, systems, and communication theories before you can decide where best to adjust strategies or process. What needs to be emphasized in the preparation of instructional designers is the fact that they must pick and choose among various learning theories and instructional and evaluation strategies according to the situation and environment.