What is it?
The process of applying the understanding of how people learn to drive our choices of instructional sequences and tactics to meet the requirements of learners and achieve desired learning outcomes is known as instructional design.
Instructional Design can be used to improve human performance in a variety of situations. The Instructional Designer is a learning specialist who can apply their understanding of learning and instruction concepts to determine the best way of education. This entails identifying the most efficient, appealing, and cost-effective solution possible. The instructional designer looks at the problem, task, learning needs, and learning environment, by clearly stating the learning goal. These decisions are based on both knowledge of proven learning strategies and practical experience.
According to research, certain methods of conveying instructions are more effective than others. Different types of learning objectives necessitate different instructional methodologies. The optimal instructional conditions or approaches for delivering learning outcomes can be determined by the Instructional Designer. The instructional designer creates instructional tactics that are specific to the learners’ requirements and learning objectives.
The Aim of Instructional Design
The goal of instructional design is to develop instructions that are effective, efficient, appealing, and affordable. To improve learning and meet learning objectives, the instructional designer use a variety of interactive media. Innovative e-learning technologies can supplement or even replace traditional face-to-face education methods. The instructional designer is an expert at identifying the appropriate technologies to assist effective paedagogy.
The Information Age places new demands on all of us. Education must devise new approaches to meet these new difficulties. Learners can no longer be thought of as empty vessels waiting to be filled with information. The knowledge is now out there, dispersed across a large network and accessible to everyone. The task now is to assist individuals in securely, responsibly, and efficiently utilising this information as they adjust to a quickly changing world. “Students must be prepared to learn, work, and live successfully in a knowledge-based, global society,” says the report (Newhouse, 2002). In this new age, The Knowledge Age, the Instructional Designer’s job is to make learning easier.
We sat down with Instructional Design Australia (IDA) , an eLearning course specialist in Australia and asked to put it simply, what do instructional designers do and is it effective? They mentioned ‘Adult learning concepts are used by instructional designers to build and construct effective learning programmes. This includes a diverse set of tasks that will vary depending on the learning solution’.