Instructional Design in Practice

1 Preparation
2 Implementation
3 Wrap-up
Imprint

Instructional Design in Practice

What is Instructional Design (ID)?

ID comprises the entire conception of a course or learning package. Therefore, an

instructional designer is a connecting node between authors, tutors and trainers amongst each
other, but also their link to management or contractors.

Instructional designers see their task primarily in perceiving an order for an educational
package in its entirety and to describe the learning product as specifically as possible.

Instructional
Design in Preparation Implementation Wrap-up
Practice
Design Ask questions: Be creative:
Which content? Choose a method
Which learning objective? Work out and change curricula
Which target group? Which Define learning activities
methods? Be specific:
Which didactic elements? Work out a course concept for
Which resources? content developers
Work out a course concept for tutors
and trainers
Be exact:
Formative evaluation
Implementation Course management:
Evaluation:
Draft a schedule
Evaluation of the course
Put tutors and trainers on it

The information that goes to the instructional designer will be presented in the part "preparation;" the products resulting from this information are
part of the chapter "implementation." "Wrap-up" will tell you about the information management and evaluation activities of instructional
designers.

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1 Preparation

Ask questions!

An instructional designer needs to start his work by asking a lot of questions. Each answer he gets will make his mental image of the learning
package he's working on a little more concrete. The best source for answers to your questions is the contractor or manager - he should have
the necessary information!

On the following screens, you will learn more about the kind of questions that should be asked.

Learning Objectives

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After working through this chapter, you'll be able to...

... list the most important questions an instructional designer has to ask.

... understand content and scope of these questions.

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Content and Objective

Which content should be taught with which objective?

Not each problem can be solved with more education!

As an instructional designer, you have to keep this in mind. Make a very close assessment whether an educational program is the solution to the
problem and whether the content will help the learners reach their objectives.

Learning content Learning objectives

formal knowledge describe skills
defined special field can be tested
found in textbooks found in curricula
take you closer to your objective show you the way

Curriculum
A curriculum describes the relation between content and objective. If you already decided on a curriculum for your course, use it to answer the
question about content and objective. In the chapter "implementation," we'll deal with this topic once more.

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Target Group

Who am I planning for?

Education programs should be focused on the learner. Only if you know your target group, you can tailor your learning program to their
individual needs.

The better the learning program fits, the easier it will be accepted.

Gallery

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 Susanne, 25, student -
Michael, 55, worker - doesn't
requires flexible learning
know how to work with a Julia, 38, manager - uses
times since a lot of her time
computer and needs a lot of the computer to handle her
is spent on her university
time to study e-mail and travels a lot
studies
Click on the people in these pictures and learn more about your target groups and their needs.

The following points can be relevant for the definition of your target group:

• Age or age groups

• Prior knowledge of the target group

• Infrastructure the target group live in (e.g., traffic, internet access...)

• Homogeneity of the target group (Is it easy to define the target group, or is it necessary to deal with widely differing, maybe even
opposing, needs?)

• Study habits (Are members of the target group used to studying? How do they study?)

• ...

Please note
A clear defined target group is the key to an efficient learning opportunity.

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Resources

Instructional designers also have to think about the resources they have at their disposal, since they set limits to the learning program. You
should be especially clear about the following four main resources. You'll get this information from your contractor or manager.

To get a better overview, we suggest you put it all into a resource plan (e.g., on an excel spreadsheet).

Human Resources
How many staff do you have for this project?

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How much time can the participants spare for the project?
What are their qualifications?

Crate a table to illustrate the human resources planning. Don't forget to put yourself on the table!

Employee Allotted time Qalification

Alex K. 13 h/week author, specialist, trainer
Michaela F. 7 h/week programmer, IT, multi-media expert

Financial Resources
How much money can be spent on the project?

• Staff / material / production budget

• Total

Do you have a financial cushion?

• Reallocation (e.g., less expenses for staff, more for production)

What do I need to calculate?

• Overhead cost

• Rent for rooms

• ...

Real Estate Resources

What kind of rooms do you have at your disposal?
What is their equipment and infrastructure like?
At what times can they be used?

Space can be allocated very differently, please have a look at the examples below:

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Time Resources
When is the course supposed to start?
How long can it take?
Are there any deadlines?

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Methods and Learning Activities

What methods are there?

partial eLearning
Pure seminar / classroom training pure eLearning
(Blended Learning)

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What learning activities are there?

Learning activities are part of a course program, the smallest unit of learning, so to speak. They can occur in any form. Below, you can see
some learning activities from different training situations:

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Face-to-face training:

eLearning:
If you want to integrate eLearning elements in your course program, you need to be aware of the following, eLearning-specific learning
activities:

Communication Resources Checking

Chat
HTML-Content
Forum
PDF Tests
Mail
Wikis Tasks
Voice over IP
Glossary
Video over IP

Which of those can I use?

Try to start by excluding the methods and elements that either don't fit your target group or can't be implemented due to a lack of resources.

Some possible reasons to exclude activities:

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 Method / Learning activity Reason: Target Group Reason: Resources
scattered participants,
Face-to-face teaching no classrooms
can't travel
eLearning no computer access no IT infrastructure
intricate production budget
no internet access
online - simulations too low
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Instructional Design in Practice
1 Preparation
Content and Objective
Target Group
Resources
Methods and Learning Activities
Self-Assessment
2 Implementation
3 Wrap-up
Imprint

Self-Assessment

Checklist Instructional Design 1

Here, you can download and print a checklist on the content of this chapter:

Checklist Instructional Design (doc, 32 kB)

Who can answer the questions of the instructional designer?

Only someone who has a good overview over the whole project can give answers like this.

the contractor / manager

the content designer

the tutor

the trainer
Yes, that's right!
Sorry, that's wrong, it's the content designers themselves who need these answers.
Sorry, that's not correct, the tutors needs some of these answers themselves.
Sorry, that's incorrect, trainers need some of these answers themselves.

What questions does the instructional designer need to ask?

Which content is to be taught?

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 What is the learning objective?

Who is the target group?

Which resources are at my disposal?

Which learning activities and methods can be used?

True/false questions
Please rate the following statement true or false:

Every problem of an organization can be solved with a customized and well-planned education package.

True False
Think about whether more education can solve everything...
A lack of knowledge isn't always the reason for problems within and organization. Therefore, some problems can't be solved by providing more
knowledge.
A lack of knowledge isn't always the reason for problems within and organization. Therefore, some problems can't be solved by providing more
knowledge.
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2 Implementation

The tasks of the implementation phase can be illustrated nicely in a diagram:

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The tasks will be described in detail on the next screens.

Learning Objectives

After working through this chapter, you'll be able to...

... list the main tasks of an instructional designer.

... explain the basics of these tasks.

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Be Creative

This image shows you what the following page is about.

Click to zoom.

Selecting Methods

You learned about some methods in the preliminary chapter. Relying on resources and target group, you might have excluded some of the
methods to start with. As instructional designer, you need to be creative now, mentally playing through some options and finally selecting an
option. To start with, you can stick to the three options you already heard about:

Blended Learning
Pure seminar / face-to-face training pure eLearning
(with eLearning stages)
Advantages:
Advantages: - Personal interaction Advantages:
- Personal interaction - Multimedia aided - Multimedia rendering
- No IT - somewhat independent of time and - independent of time and place
place

Working out and Changing a Curriculum

If you already have a curriculum for your course, you simply take it and check whether it fits the learning content, objectives and methods you
selected. You probably will have to effect minor changes.

If your curriculum is still in the making, you need contents, objectives and the method you just picked. With these basic pieces of information,
you can work out your curriculum.
A complete curriculum should comprise the following elements:

Time Content Objectives Learning activities

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This field describes This field describes Objectives need to be clearly defined for each In this field, you'll find the clues to which
the average time which defined learning content. They have to be verifiable and instructional elements are fitting for the
frame of an easily content we are reflect the skills the learner is supposed to have instructional design of this content. The more
definable content. talking about. acquired during the course. Examples of such specific you are here, the less authors, content
objectives can be found in this course, too, at the developers, trainers and tutors need to interpret
beginning of each chapter. (and possibly err) themselves.

Here is a curriculum for a first aid course:

Curriculum First Aid (.doc, 28 kB)

Defining Learning Activities

In the curriculum, learning activities are already planned down to the details. You can find examples of such learning activities on the following
images:

Presentations: Give learners input, Chat: Foster communication in the online Group tasks: Self-discovery content,
present content phase; tutoring exchange with other participants

After working out the curriculum in this way, you have to think of a chronological order of the contents. This order can be displayed graphically
(e.g., as a time line) and gives you an image of the entire course. This image will show you very clearly: where are the face-to-face phases,
where does eLearning take place, where are practical tasks...

The graphic rendering of the First Aid Course looks like this:

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Be Specific

This image shows you what the following page is about.

Click to zoom.

Course Concept for Content Developers

The course concept for content developers is a document that needs to contain the
following information:

• Curriculum

• Kind of instructional design

• Guidelines for the writing of text

• Guidelines for the creation of media

• Timetable

• Members of the content developing team (specialists, trainers, programmers ...)

• Content resources (e.g., books or textbooks)

This document should enable the content developer to create content for the respective course. If more than one person are involved in this
phase, the contents need to fit together, and each content developer has to be clear about which part they are responsible for.

Have a look at the course concept for content developers of a first aid course:

Course Concept Content Developer (.doc, 32 kB)

Course handbook for tutors and trainers

The course handbook for tutors and trainers is a document that needs to contain the following information:

• Curriculum

• Schedule

• Order of learning content

• Special instructions, e.g., welcome mail (optional)

• Course books (classic and eLearning)

Trainers and tutors need to be able to teach a course on the basis of this document.

Why don't you have a look at the course concept for tutors and trainers of a first aid course:

Handbook for Tutors (.doc, 84 kB)

Please note

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Even though it is your responsibility to create a course concept and a course handbook, you should include authors, content developers, trainers
and tutors in this process. Thereby, you can ensure that the handbook will contain all relevant information.

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Be Exact

This image shows you what the following page is about.

Click to zoom.

Formative Evaluation of the Content

When the content developers are done with their work, they have to check the
developed content. This is called formative evaluation, since the creative process is
not yet finished and the evaluation shows a temporary situation. In your case, text,
media and all other produced content should fit the objectives chosen in the
curriculum and the course concept.
If this isn't the case, it's back to the planning table for content developers.

Please Note

Check whether the created content fits the

• objectives,

• concept and

• target group

of the course!

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Course Management

This image shows you what the following page is about.

Click to zoom.

Creating a Schedule
Can you still remember the graphic illustration of the course on the "be creative"
screen?
Here it is once more to refresh your memory:

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 This image is the basis for our schedule. Put a time grid (days and time) on each of the sections and divide
them according to the trainers and tutors you have at hand.

The complete schedule could look like this:

Time Content Trainer / Tutor

22.10.07
mouth-to-mouth Alexander Kurucz
9.00-9.25
23.10.07
cardiac massage Alexander Kurucz
9.35-10.00
24.10.07
reanimation Alexander Kurucz
10.10-11.00
25.10.07-
cardiac standstill Julia Jäger
30.10.07

Allocating Tutors and Trainers

Once the schedule is worked out, it will be put in the course manual for trainers and tutors. Inform your teaching staff about this step and give
them the course concept. Don't forget to also pass on the content created by the content developers.
The tutors and trainers need to prepare for eLearning content as conscientiously as they would for a face-to-face course with a textbook.

After this step, you, the instructional designer, are done with your main tasks. Lean back and let the trainers and tutors teach the course.

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Instructional Design in Practice
1 Preparation
2 Implementation
Be Creative
Be Specific
Be Exact
Course Management
Self-assessment
3 Wrap-up
Imprint

Self-assessment

Checklist Instructional Design 2

Here, you can download and print a checklist for the content of this chapter:

Checklist Instructional Design (.doc, 40 kB)

Multiple Choice
Which three methods of carrying out a course did this chapter tell you about?

pure face-to-face

pure eLearning

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 university studies

blended learning

Multiple Choice
What does the curriculum contain?

content and time frame of a course

resources and price of a course

objectives and learning activities of a course

tutors and trainers of a course

Multiple Choice
What does the instructional designer need to evaluate in the implementation phase?

It has to do with the work of the content developer!

the content created by the content developer

whether the course remains within the budget

This is correct!
No, the budget is the manager's business.

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3 Wrap-up

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you'll be able to...

... name the tasks of an instructional designer during the wrap-up phase.
... name reason and objective of the evaluation.

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Evaluation
The course is completed now. This is the right time to conduct a so-called summative evaluation.

You can collect information from:

• Participants (feedback and test results)

• Trainers

• Tutors

At a later point in time, you can check whether all objectives were reached - in other words, whether the knowledge that was conveyed got
applied correctly (transfer evaluation).
This evaluation will give you a good idea where you can improve your courses. Forward the results from the evaluation to your manager or
contractor.
There are standardized feedbacks for eLearning. One of them is:
COLLES - Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey
Colles contains 24 statements, broken down in 6 categories. Each of these helps us gauge the quality of an online learning environment:

How important is online

Meaning learning for the professional
practice of the learner?

Does online learning

Reflection stimulate critical-reflective
thinking?

To what extent do learners

Interactivity engage in educational
dialogues?

Trainers, To what extent do trainers

facilitating facilitate the learning?

Do other participants give

Group support tactful and inspiring
support?
Feedbacktool von InWent
Do participants have a good
feeling for how to
Interpretation
communicate with each
other online?

Please note
After implementing a course, always ask for feedback from your participants, trainers and tutors. This is the only way to improve your courses!

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Instructional Design in Practice
1 Preparation
2 Implementation
16
3 Wrap-up
Self-assessment
Imprint

Self-assessment

Checklist Insructional Design 3

Here, you can download and print a checklist for the content of this chapter:

Checklist Instructional Design (.doc, 36 kB)

Multiple Choice

Which tasks should the instructional designer realize during the wrap-up phase of a course?

tidy up the classroom

evaluate the course

delete the content

Multiple Choice
Why does it make sense to do an evaluation?

The evaluation of a course helps improve and adapt your education program.

The evaluation tells you a lot about the learning time of the participants.

The only reason for evaluation is to let participants feel empowered.

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 Imprint

This course was developed by

common sense - eLearning & training consultants

Riesgasse 5/14, A-1030 Wien
E-Mail: office@common-sense.at | www.common-sense.at

on behalf of InWEnt, Capacity Building International, Germany (www.inwent.org ) organising and funding the course program on behalf of the
German Federal Foreign Office.

© InWEnt 2007

About the Author:

The author of this module, Alexander Kurucz, has been working as a trainer since 2001. He has participated in the creation of a number of
projects that included eLearning, usually assuming responsibility for the eLearning part. Since 2007, he has been working as project manager
and consultant for common sense|eLearning & training consultants GmbH in Vienna, Austria.

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