The Instructional Design Process:  A Creative, Collaborative, Malleable, Techno-savvy, Puzzle.

Instructional design is a collaborative process in which stakeholders develop, implement, evaluate and assess materials and activities that serve as catalysts to achieving measurable learning outcomes. It is an organically fluid process, where the goal is achieved through interactive, rich educational experiences. The result is measurable, empirical data gleaned from formative and summative assessment. Wagner (2011) credited Reiser and Dempsey with suggesting that instructional design is dynamic and cybernetic, meaning that the elements can be changed and communicate or work together easily. Instructional design is a puzzle: effective design is creative, flexible, and malleable. My favorite phrase is malleable: a material’s capacity to be shaped. I’ve certainly had to remain malleable and flexible in my instructional designs: pivoting due to school shutdowns, illness, and the need for online instruction.

The onslaught of eLearning opportunities and online educational platforms have been crucial for our student populations to remain engaged in instruction and participatory the last three years.  Despite my reservations and admitted technology-use shortcomings, Google Suite (specifically Classroom), Edgenuity, Flipgrid, social media accounts, YouTube, ELMOs, and even an old-fashioned projector have become standard in my classroom instructional design. Being able to collaborate with NASA in real time online, or have a Zoom meeting with an astrophysicist is an indelible opportunity for any learning community. The flexibility of learners to move back and forth synchronously and asynchronously: creatively using technological tools in the classroom is exciting.....and still a bit puzzling.

      Wagner, E. (2018). What Is This Thing Called Instructional Design?. In R. E. West, Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: The Past, Present, and Future of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/what_is_instructional_design

clipart-library.com

The image I've chosen shows 4 puzzle pieces. Each piece represents the following: learning design, creativity, flexibility and malleability. The 4 pieces can be shifted, rotated or replaced and the entire design still holds the basic shape. That is similar to my thoughts on instructional design; each component can be manipulated to achieve the desired outcome without the purpose becoming distorted.