INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: WHAT IT REALLY IS?

There is evidence that instructional design methods existed as far back as the 1940s, when, during World War II, their principles were used by the military to conduct training for service members. Even though these techniques are decades old, the discipline is now becoming increasingly popular due to the rise of online training.

However, instructional design is not yet widely known or applied around the world. The term “instructional designer” may be clearly defined in some countries, yet it remains unfamiliar in others. Instead, job titles such as training specialist, curriculum developer, instructional designer, or even project manager are commonly used, even though these people are often handling the responsibilities of an instructional designer.

This phenomenon is happening in my home country, Vietnam, where not many people have a clear idea of what instructional design is. As a result, the role of an instructional designer is not recognized, is misunderstood, or is mistaken for that of a mini-SME who, in their opinion, must have industry experience in a specific field.

So, what is instructional design really, and why does it matter? In one of the books I read, it was mentioned that the purpose of instructional design is simply to help people learn. Personally, I think learning is a natural process, and therefore, even without instruction, learning can occur. As human beings, we learn constantly from all sorts of positive and negative experiences. Nowadays, with the advantages of the internet and technology, learning experiences can occur with just a click. However, for this reason, it is not surprising that many learners get stuck in the flood of information, struggling to figure out exactly what they need to learn and often having difficulty making use of it. The same applies to employees who feel overwhelmed with workplace training that is supposed to improve productivity but fails to address learners’ needs. Often, this kind of training ends up wasting time and money without bringing any real benefit to employees. And this is where instructional design comes in—it not only helps people learn but facilitates intentional learning.

As Connie Malamed, an experienced e-learning coach, explains, the purpose of instructional design is to “identify the skill, knowledge, and attitude gaps of a targeted audience and to create, select, and suggest learning experiences that close this gap.” In fact, instructional design can be defined as the systematic planning of instruction to facilitate learning, characterized by a process that starts with analysis to define requirements and specifications, goes through a design/prototype phase, continues with development, and ends with evaluation. Simply put, it is a process that helps you ask the right questions, make the right decisions, and produce a product that is appropriate to the situation’s requirements.

Of course, there’s much more to say about instructional design, but one of its most critical aspects is that the process ensures learners have the opportunity to access the information they truly need. With instructional design, designers help learners cut through irrelevant information and focus on what is most important. As Tom Kuhlmann—a well-known blogger in the instructional design and e-learning field—has said, instructional designers provide value in the complex process of learning when they are able to pull content together to craft courses that are focused and meaningful.

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