THEME 3: Instructional Design
Instructional Design Professionals |
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Instructional Designer Interview EAC 580 Submitted March 4, 2012
Instructional Design Theme |
Trainers and Developers: Analyzing Two Halves of One Dept.
EAC 583 Submitted June 16, 2014 Instructional Design Theme |
Instructional Design is an integral skill for anyone pursuing a career in the training and development field. To demonstrate this I begin the exploration of the instructional design theme with two assignments. As an adult learner and as a practicing training and development professional, valuable lessons can be learned through the exploration of other people’s experiences in the field. Both assignments focus on interviews with practicing professionals. Each professional employs instructional design models and techniques in their work.
The first interview is from EAC 580: Designing instructional systems. The assignment was timed well in my studies, during my second semester in, while I was still digesting the basic themes and skills of a training and development professional. At this point in my career, I was a training department of one. I did not have other learning professionals to learn from or provide guidance. This assignment was an opportunity to see how T&D was practiced in a more formal environment. We discussed instructional design models and their formal use in training departments. We discussed the use of a design and analysis team, consisting of subject matter experts, designers and eLearning developers. The discussion also included topics of learning technology and the practical use of it and topics like learner overload and project management. The interview was a first step into connecting the theory and skills from class to real world practice.
The second assignment is from EAC 583: Needs Assessment. The assignment was a task analysis of two training and development professionals. The assignment was intended to give an opportunity to employ data collection methods. In reality it is a great opportunity to compare my progress from the beginning of my graduate studies to the end. In the first interview, I was just beginning to become familiar with the vocabulary of training and development. At the end, the vocabulary stopped being buzzwords and was more meaningful. In the last interviews I was able to discuss theory and how it applied to job skills and effectiveness. In the task analysis, I compared and contrasted two job descriptions, trainer and developer.
These interviews were important because they provide real life examples of the theory studied in graduate classes. They provide the all-important link from theory to practice.
Access a PDF copy of the assignment by clicking the link below
The first interview is from EAC 580: Designing instructional systems. The assignment was timed well in my studies, during my second semester in, while I was still digesting the basic themes and skills of a training and development professional. At this point in my career, I was a training department of one. I did not have other learning professionals to learn from or provide guidance. This assignment was an opportunity to see how T&D was practiced in a more formal environment. We discussed instructional design models and their formal use in training departments. We discussed the use of a design and analysis team, consisting of subject matter experts, designers and eLearning developers. The discussion also included topics of learning technology and the practical use of it and topics like learner overload and project management. The interview was a first step into connecting the theory and skills from class to real world practice.
The second assignment is from EAC 583: Needs Assessment. The assignment was a task analysis of two training and development professionals. The assignment was intended to give an opportunity to employ data collection methods. In reality it is a great opportunity to compare my progress from the beginning of my graduate studies to the end. In the first interview, I was just beginning to become familiar with the vocabulary of training and development. At the end, the vocabulary stopped being buzzwords and was more meaningful. In the last interviews I was able to discuss theory and how it applied to job skills and effectiveness. In the task analysis, I compared and contrasted two job descriptions, trainer and developer.
These interviews were important because they provide real life examples of the theory studied in graduate classes. They provide the all-important link from theory to practice.
Access a PDF copy of the assignment by clicking the link below
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