Instructional Design Practice

Design Practitioner Role and Characteristics

ID practitioners are change agents altering knowledge, skill, or the performance of the learner and work in numerous social and cultural contexts. The process begins with an ill-structured problem. The practitioner’s ability to clearly identify the right problem distinguishes good from adequate design. Novice designers tend to attempt to develop a solution before fully understanding the problem, but experienced designers often use experience and further investigation to clarify the problem before developing a solution. Regardless of his or her level of experience, the ID practitioner should be able to tolerate uncertainty and risk and exhibit self-confidence and design judgment.

ID practice is a complex activity, and design practitioners exhibit characteristics including the ability to maintain periods of intense activity along with periods of reflective contemplation. During design, they become deeply involved and dedicated to the task at hand. Practitioners most often approach design in an individual, iterative, and context-driven manner, exhibiting a strong commitment to their chosen field, and are prepared to work obsessively at the given problem and solution. Because ID practitioners often work in teams, they must also employ good people skills, be organized, manage time and money, and understand the big picture while comprehending the critical details.

Instructional Design Practice Activities

ID practice encompasses a broad range of activities, beginning with identifying a problem or innovation to solve or create. This process begins with a holistic, systems view of the problem to be solved, which may or may not be the same as the problem given by the client. The process of designing almost always includes the problem and the solutions emerging together.

Although numerous ID models illustrate different ID practice activities, these models may not necessarily reflect the approach designers actually follow while designing solutions. There are some general principles that ID practitioners do or should follow. The identification and exploration of the problem and goals are often the starting point in design practice. Activities during this [Page 390]phase may include analysis of the learner and system (organization) while framing the problem and initial solution criteria. The problem and solution are continuously refined while design practitioners use relevant first principles to generate, refine, and select solution concepts. ID practitioners often design the solutions while developing the physical materials the end users will employ to learn and improve their performance. These materials may include technology-rich media interfaces, instructional guides, job aids, and reference materials. ID practitioners also design the assessment tools to determine if learning and performance have been intentionally changed while evaluating the effectiveness and impact of their design measured against the initial goal. Overarching activities in ID practice may include the initial planning steps in the project, managing the project during all phases of design, and the creation of the necessary process to ensure the continued operation of the intervention if necessary. Specific activities are often unique, determined by the particular design situation, so examples of ID practice are helpful in illustrating ID practice.

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