Objective 1: Use Instructional Design Strategies
Instructional design is an important part of many industries. In many jobs, employees have to learn new skills and apply them on their job. Instructional designers help companies train those employees. If that training doesn’t work, employees may not be able to complete their job correctly. That can cost companies money.
The military is another area that relies on instructional designers. Most people who enter the military have a lot to learn. They can go through drills, simulations, and other instruction that is designed to help them and their unit be successful. Consider what would happen if people in the military did not learn to do their jobs successfully. It’s literally a matter of life or death!
The stakes aren’t that high for the Digital Ambassadors. You can use some strategies to design learning for your participants. This section of the module will cover a handful of commonly accepted instructional design principles.
These instructional design principles are:
- Know your audience;
- Determine what the learner should know and be able to do. (objectives);
- Assess learning;
- Consider your visual design; and
- Deliver your instruction.
Your goal as an instructional designer is to help your learner be successful. That's what instructional designers Kathy Cennamo and Debbie Kalk mean in the quote from their instructional design textbook. You want them to be successful. You need to shape what you know and can do into learning activities that meet the needs of the people you are working with.
“Instructional designers are advocates for the learner.”
- Cennamo & Kalk, 2005