Contributed by John Raible

What does an Instructional Designer Do?

Figure 1 Instructional Designer Mind Map

In one word: everything!

2020 has brought a renewed emphasis on the field of instructional design and those who practice it, especially in distance education. The sudden shift from face-to-face to remote instruction has dramatically increased the workload for instructional designers and sent organizations without them into a hiring or outsourcing frenzy. Informal networks, such as The Instructional Design Emergency Response Network, quickly formed to support each other in the field and to offer assistance to those without normal access to instructional design services.

The literature often has a hard time defining the job tasks of an instructional designer. Magruder, Edwards, & Moore (2019) examined the literature in this area and found mentions of sixteen core competencies for instructional designers ranging from leadership, faculty development, to research. Their own survey data suggest that evaluating academic programs and incorporating learning theories are the most critical competencies for the profession (Magruder, Edwards, & Moore, 2019). 

You are probably thinking why is this important? Instructional designers can be viewed by others at an institution as merely technical support. It is important to understand the value and skill sets of instructional designers and the unique perspective they can provide. Including an instructional designer on any OER project will pay huge dividends.

Framing OER through Dick, Carey, and Carey Model of Instructional Design 

Figure 2 Dick, Carey, and Carey Instructional Design Model

Instructional designers are in a unique position to influence the adoption or creation of OER in education. The collaboration with teachers and faculty is a special relationship and oftentimes the only interaction to look critically at a course during the initial design or in a redesign. Instructional designers tend to work in defined processes or models. One of the most recognized instruction design models was developed by Walter Dick, Lou Carey, and James Carey. Using a systems approach, the Dick, Carey, and Carey model emphasizes front end analysis from instructional planning, setting learning objectives, to analyzing learners. This point is critical for OER adoption or creation as the learner analysis should emphasize the ability of a learner to procure the instructional materials that are selected later on in the model. Making the decision early to adopt or create OER can create a mindset of openness throughout and greatly impact instructional strategies, hopefully leading to the use of open pedagogical instructional strategies. Notice that OER does not require a complete redesign or adaptation of the model. The inclusion of a financial component in the learner analysis can create a course culture of openness.

“You’re Not Thinking 4th Dimensionally”

One of my favorite movie franchises is Back to the Future. A running gag throughout the series is Doctor Emmitt Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd) proclaiming to Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) that you are not thinking 4th dimensionally! In the movie context, the characters are referring to time as the 4th dimension and the inclusion of 4th dimensional thinking is used to overcome specific challenges.

From an instructional design perspective, I consider openness as my 4th dimension. How can I use openness throughout an instructional design model to solve course challenges? Try this approach in the future and heed Doc Brown’s advice; “the future is what you make of it!”

References:

Magruder, O., Arnold, D., Edwards, M., & Moore, S. (2019). What is an ID? Online Learning, 23(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i3.1546

Attributions 

Dick, Carey, and Carey Model by Tonia Dousay, Robert Brach, and AECT is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

“Instructional Design Mind Map” by Rich_James is used under Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike Non-commercial 2.0 license. 

This post is by John Raible and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, except where otherwise indicated. Please reference OER and Beyond and use this URL when attributing this work; for more information on licensing, see our Open Access Policy.