Throughout my years working on contract instructional design projects, I believed that I had cultivated a strong foundation for design and development work. Although my experience was a solid starting point, the work I completed for the sub-badges within the Design and Development supra-badge illuminated growth areas and strengths alike.

 

The first sub-badge focuses on the instructional design process at a holistic level, considering the nature of the project (“Instructional Design and Development Process”). The idea of selecting a process this way (which was one of the challenges I completed) was an important growth area for me. Careful examination of what the project requires and identifying a process or model that addresses key components or factors is a critical skill in corporate instructional design. As evidence of this competency, I selected the full evaluation plan (a partner project) that followed the Kirkpatrick model of evaluation. Although the course was dedicated to the Kirkpatrick model, it was eye-opening to understand the model in the context of an actual training program. In fact, the training program evaluated with the Kirkpatrick model was an eLearning series I personally created for a former client (used with permission, as my legal and ethical standards require). Not only was my understanding of the evaluation process deepened, but so was my understanding of the earlier design process. I was able to identify specific areas, for example, the learning assessment (Kirkpatrick’s Level 2), that could be strengthened and improved with modification. The modifications I identified upon reflection would have contributed to greater alignment between the stated goals of the program, key learning assessments, and the overall viability of program.

 

Another characteristic of effective instruction is the proper identification and sequencing of instructional goals. I made great strides in this area earlier in the program when I designed a realistic pencil drawing workshop for preteens. During this project, I was entirely reliant on the process and data, as I was designing in a content area and for an audience that were completely outside of my professional experience. What I learned about identifying and sequencing instructional goals, however, made my eLearning project (focused on effective communication strategies for new business initiatives) stronger, more cohesive, and more effective in closing the skills gap for learners. It is the eLearning project that I offer as evidence of my competence in the sub-badge “Systematic Design.”  

 

Focused and intentional identification and sequencing of instructional goals is critically important, when we consider that the instructional strategies we use to deliver the content must be aligned with the goals and anticipated outcomes (a challenge that falls under the sub-badge “Design Instructional Interventions”). In the preteen drawing workshop, identifying the appropriate instructional strategies became a major growth area for me. I needed to refer back to the learner and training context analysis I did to guide me through selecting effective strategies. For example, my target audience was preteens. The preteens in the pilot group were from four families, all life-long friends. My analysis research told me that this population of learners places a very high level of importance on the social aspects of life, including education and learning experiences. Because of this, I used peer modeling to help encourage self-efficacy and learning. I also designed group discussions, to provide low-risk environments for encouraging feedback from the instructor (me) and the learners’ peers. Lastly, as my research and personal knowledge of the target population informed me: this group of learners responds well to autonomy. To foster a sense of autonomy and control, I started the workshop with an group activity in which the learners named a model skull, which was referenced throughout the workshop. Their sense of ownership was further enhanced by the provision of numerous styles of pencils, graphite sticks, erasers, blending tools, etc. The selection ranged from basic household craft items (such as a classic #2 school pencil) to professional-grade drawing pencils from my personal collection. These options gave learners the opportunity to control their tools, as well as made it possible to replicate the tools learners would likely have at home (the performance context), which was another intentional strategy informed by the analysis and instructional goals.

 

Efficiently producing instructional materials sometimes means incorporating existing instructional materials into the development process. This time- and cost-saving strategy can be used to expand the knowledge of learners with new ideas, new formats, and additional voices and perspectives. For the sub-badge “Select or Modify Existing Instructional Materials,” I return to the preteen drawing workshop. I incorporated a short tutorial video from a professional artist. In keeping with legal and ethical standards, I asked her for and was granted permission to use her tutorial in my workshop. From the practical perspective, not having to develop a video independently allowed me to focus on other aspects of the workshop and preparation. However, it is more important to recognize the instructional impact: I found a video which met very important criteria: length (short enough to attain and sustain the learners’ attention), quality (the video was professionally made by an artist who focuses on art and drawing instruction), and most importantly, expertise (the maker’s ability to properly explain and demonstrate the particular technique far surpassed my own, making the learners view her as a competent model and authority on the topic).

 

With goals and strategies identified, we come to the development phase. In the sub-badge “Develop Instructional Materials,” I selected the storyboard for the communication eLearning project as evidence of my growth and learning. Although storyboarding was not in and of itself a new skill for me, the cohesive alignment of the storyboard to analyses, technology, delivery, and strategies was a developing skill. The project was authored in Articulate Rise, so when I started developing my storyboard, I made a shell of the course in Rise, using placeholder text and images. This allowed me to immediately identify development limitations and nimbly make modifications, before a great deal of time was invested in the development process. Creating the storyboard was a part of the process that started to knit together all the design work into a robust finished product.

 

A key component to creating effective instructional is designing effective assessment. Well-designed assessment gives a clear picture of the resulting level of learning. For the sub-badge “Design Learning Assessment,” I consider the assessment rubrics I created for the pre-teen drawing workshop. These rubrics assessed the learners in all content areas covered in the workshop. True mastery of realistic pencil drawing was not going to be possible in one workshop, so I established this definition of mastery for the workshop: improvement in drawing a self-portrait. As such, the rubric was designed to evaluate first the “pre-test,” which was a short drawing activity in which the participants drew a self-portrait with no instruction. Then, after the workshop, the new self-portraits were evaluated in a side-by-side column with the pre-test portrait. Learners were able to immediately identify areas of improvement. The criterion-referenced assessment was designed this way to be a source of encouragement and growth.

 

This collection of sub-badges reflects not only my previous experience, but my growth. I applied structured analysis strategies, identified and sequenced instructional goals, selected aligned strategies, and developed assets and assessments that targeted those areas. These sub-badges do not represent discrete accomplishments, but instead, a continuous progression of skill and focused application that can be generalized across any field or industry. The area in which I feel I grew the most during these projects was with assessments. The assessment component touches so many other instructional design activities: how evaluation is conducted, determining the content retention and learning of the target audience, and improving feelings of self-efficacy and growth.

 

My plan, post-program completion, is to return to corporate training. Often, corporate training programs require a minimum summative assessment score to verify successful completion. My growth in designing and developing assessments will be an asset as I continue to apply these skills. To further develop this skill, I plan to continue reading about and researching effective and instructionally sound assessment methods, strategies, and applications. I look forward to helping transform the end-of-course assessment from being viewed as a “test” to being viewed as its own learning opportunity.