Blog: Plan For
ID Success

Instructional design is about more than creating training materials and providing them to learners. And materials cannot be created in a vacuum. By integrating consistent processes and documents into your work, you will be less likely to get sidetracked by an unimportant detail or overlook a significant disconnect between goals and content, as just a couple of examples.

Initially, I was a self-taught instructional designer – building on graphic design experience, computer software mastery, an eye for layout, and technical writing skills to create software training. Now in my third semester in the BSU OPWL program, I now understand ID theories, better understand specific details that need to be addressed in projects, believe an LMS is almost critical to educational efforts, and have increased my software acumen considerably.

There is a lot of research support for the “plan for success” mindset (Boise State OPWL (2017); OPWL 537 Course Instructors (2021); Rothwell, et al. (2016); Verzuh (2015)). The regular use of tried and proven templates is also encouraged to help make sure all of the i’s are dotted and the t’s crossed (OPWL 537 Course Instructors (2021); Rothwell, et al. (2016); Verzuh (2015)).

Whether you’re working with proposals, TRAs, LAs, TAs, or a variety of other documents, the effective use of these documents will work to keep you on task, focused, and consistent in your final products. The documents that are meant to be shared with your client are meant to ensure everyone is of the same understanding, working toward the same goals, and working along the same timeline. These documents provide backup to everyone’s beliefs about how the project will go.

Some of the documents/templates that you will use are for your eyes only – full of notes that are your random thoughts and not meant for the client’s use. Other documents are meant to be shared with the client. This facilitates communication, records decisions, increases creativity, keeps everyone on the same page, and helps limit scope creep and other challenges that can arise.

Figure 1: ideas + planning + strategy = success

When I prepared software eLearning materials for the USDA Forest Service, I put together an outline of what information I needed from an SME when they had a new task that needed to be trained on. By having an “intake” form, I knew I always asked people for the same information to get started with. I’m using the same process in my work with the Jefferson County (CO) Library – they did not have a documented system before, so am currently creating a job aid so that everyone who creates these materials for the library will be able to create “matching” materials.

A basic outline for an instructional design project follows (Boise State OPWL (2017); OPWL 537 Course Instructors (2021); Rothwell, et al. (2016); Verzuh (2015)):

  1. Analyze the situation and desired outcomes – who, what, when, where, why, how, desired end result

  2. Gather as much information as you can about the project – who is the audience, is the functionality new or updated or infrequently used, what are the specific tasks to be included, etc.

  3. Use the information gathered to create a step-by-step plan of action and identify any known specific requirements or “gotchas”

  4. Practice the scenario before creating the specific materials; this makes sure that all steps are identified, explained, and incorporated into the materials

  5. Revise the plan as necessary after reviewing the scenario; incorporating anything you learned

  6. Identify any graphics that are needed for the project – logos, screen shots, videos, etc.

  7. Create the course materials – be user to integrate graphics, optional closed captions, and interactivity to keep learners engaged

  8. Test, test, test – send to others to review, don’t rely solely on your own experiences

  9. Edit as needed to resolve any non-working parts of the course

  10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 as necessary until ready to present for final sign-off.

  11. Present for final sign-off – knowing that you may be entering another round of edits (there should be a section in your proposal about these limitations…more on that in another post)

There are always more detailed steps that can be integrated into this basic outline. In future posts we will look at some of those additional things to do to help keep you on a path to ID success.

References

Boise State OPWL. (2017). [Video] Light Socket Task Analysis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQFBlhAR6Dw.

OPWL 537 Course Instructors. (2021). Instructional Design Course Handbook. Boise, ID: Boise State department of Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning.

Rothwell, W., Benscoter, B., King, M., & King, S. B. (2016). Mastering the Instructional Design Process: A Systematic Approach (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Verzuh, E. (2015). Write the rules. In The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management (5th ed.) (pp. 116-134). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay