Did I just finish my first Instructional Design project? I think I did. When I check the files in my computer and the coursework I created online, it looks as though I accomplished a goal that had seemed unattainable as recently as two weeks ago. A global pandemic had something to do with that. So what did I learn? What was successful and what fell flat? Where were my strengths, and what instructional design muscles do I need to further train? How will this experience impact my next project?
In the beginning…
I was very careful when I initially approached my client back in September about a prospective project. I wanted to work on something purposeful, something that would help someone, and something that would be actually used. I chose to create a formal online training for our high school student lab assistants. Up until this point, our lab assistants have just been mentored one-on-one by the teacher that they are assigned to. However, such mentoring can be repetitive and take up considerable time. Furthermore, supervising teachers are often tasked with instructing a true class or meeting with curriculum teams during the same class periods that the student lab assistants are working. My project seemed very straightforward and exciting to me. It checked off all of my necessary criteria.
I began slowly – – – as dictated by the analysis-heavy ADDIE process. The first weeks seemed to have quite a bit of overlap and redundancy. Although I sometimes struggled to tease out each step’s essential purpose, I believe that my analysis was ultimately strong. I found new insight in working for a client rather than seeing instruction only through my own lens.
My design portion also began with much momentum. As an experienced high school teacher, I felt very comfortable narrowing down objectives and choosing instructional pieces to accompany them. I was looking forward to creating fun, relevant videos after school in our science prep rooms. I then intended to digitally edit them to embed review questions and create a true learning experience for our lab assistants.
And then…
Life changed. Even before COVID-19.
The first problem that I encountered was that as I followed the analysis and planning process as scheduled on my college class syllabus, I noticed that our student lab assistants (i.e. my audience) were no longer in need of training. They had already been trained on-the-job by the lab supervisors. Implementation of my course would simply take up valuable work time and no longer serve a necessary purpose. I worked around that first problem by planning to use an alternative focus group instead of my intended audience to provide feedback. Knowing that my training could be used next school year, I still found value in my project.
And then my client was taken away from me for a period of time due to her personal needs and additional work-related demands. I was so thankful that she had agreed to work with me in the first place given how time is never a surplus in K-12 education. When I saw the huge personal and professional challenges that she was facing, I chose to give her space. I told myself that I would have more time to speak with her “next week,” once things clear up a bit. We could do the videos then.
And then that “next week” arrived, but I was sick at home with a fever. Very sick. I lost yet more time on my instructional design project. Then it was Spring Break, and I lost another week. And then coronavirus and news of coronavirus dominated the lives of us all. Everything had spiraled out of control. Other than a half-day during my “sick week” (where I was sent home) and two separate rushed mornings to claim first my instructional technology and then my aquarium from my classroom, I have not been physically-in-the-building-at-work since February 28. That is five weeks ago. As a teacher, I have shifted to supporting a canned online curriculum for the past two weeks. Establishing communication with my students has become my chief pursuit. My instructional design project lost steam.
Try, try again…
But after many false starts, I managed to pick my instructional design project back up and see it to its conclusion. Throughout the process, I learned more than anything that I have to truly become flexible yet persistent. Sometimes I became so sold on one of my ideas that I lacked the flexibility to develop an alternative method when necessitated. That stubbornness on my part will be something I will need to overcome if working for a client. Additionally, I sometimes lacked the daily persistence needed to stick to a schedule. Although my distractions were caused by some truly exceptional occurrences, I still need to cultivate a more timely and professional approach. However, I do believe that this second problem will be overcome if instructional design is my confirmed career and no longer just an educational pursuit.
The takeaway
So what can I apply to my future instructional design projects? For projects that I will be able to select (i.e. for graduate coursework), I plan to limit as many variables as I can. Given the instructional approach chosen by my K-12 employer, I am not allowed to design and present true online educational programs for our students. Instead, I am tasked with supporting the electronic curriculum chosen at the district level. Unfortunately, that decision effectively eliminates my use of a client or audience selected through my job. So after experiencing the upheaval from this global pandemic, I plan to choose a client that has nothing to do with public education. Fortunately, instructional design is applicable to ALL arenas of education. There is work to be done.
Grrowing Ideas 