What is Design?

What is Design?
According to Webster...

de·sign (d-zn)
v. de·signed, de·sign·ing, de·signs.
v. tr.

1. To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent.
2. To formulate a plan for; devise.
3. To create or contrive for a particular purpose or effect.
4. To have as a goal or purpose; intend.
5. To create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner.
6. The purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details.
7. A basic scheme or pattern that affects and controls function or development.
8. A plan; a project. A reasoned purpose; an intent.

What exactly is an instructional designer?

Sugar and Betrus (2002) stated “To tell you the truth, even we as instructors ask ourselves this question, and often encounter the same question from our colleagues, and even from our families” (p. 45). To better understand what it means to be an “instructional designer,” they proposed five instructional designer archetypes in the design of a card game: The Many Hats of an Instructional Designer (Prototype). You can play this game online - let me know what you think.

References: Sugar, W. & Betrus, A. (2002). The many hats of an instructional designer: The development of an instructional card game. Educational Technology, 42(1), 45-51.

What skills are necessary to be considered competent in the instructional design field?

There are various types of positions, roles, or competency areas within the ID profession. Some of these roles* include:

1. A project director who is responsible for managing through leadership and guidance;
2. Client representatives who present the client’s desires and requirements;
3. An instructional designer who performs the analysis and design of the project, then supervises the implementation of the field test;
4. A subject matter expert (SME) who provides content support;
5. An instructional developer who is in charge of developing the product;
6. A quality control expert who reviews each of the products throughout the project;
7. A teacher or trainer who presents the instructional material;
8. Support staff who help in each of the areas; and
9. An evaluator who evaluates the product.

* References: Reiser R. A. & Dempsey, J. V. (2002), Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.

In addition to the instructional design team, the following roles* are typically included in the production team of mediated instruction (e.g., CBI, multimedia, etc.):

1. Technical Writers. In some teams, the instructional designer is responsible for the higher-level design issues, whereas the content is produced by a technical writer. This person writes well and is familiar with the issues surrounding computer delivery of content. Technical writers are involved in the creation and use of storyboards and scripts, the latter being text that will be spoken in audio or video segments.
2. Programmers. The programmer is responsible for taking the design document/storyboard and implementing it on the computer, typically using an authoring system, such as Authorware or ToolBook, or a programming language, such as Java, HTML, or C++. It is common to have more than one programmer on a project taking care of different aspects of the program, such as displays, interactions, databases, and data collection. Programmers require access to the most detailed versions of storyboards, flowcharts, and prototypes.
3. Graphic Artists. The graphic artist is an essential person on most production teams and is responsible for creating the overall look and feel of the project, as well as the production of individual backgrounds, buttons, graphics, and most visual information other than the text. They need access to, and are often the creators of storyboards and prototypes.

* References: Alessi, S. M. & Trollip S. R. (2001). Multimedia for Learning: Methods and Development. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
The Many Hats of an Instructional Designer

One laptop per child? The $100 Laptop developed by the MIT Media Lab: