Have you ever wondered, what is the difference between an instructional designer (ID) and a learning experience designer (LXD)? I’ve been grappling with that question for a while now.  Recently, I came across a website that offered a decent explanation. The LXD.org website stated to think about an ID as a scientist and an LXD as an artist. I created the figure below to help me better understand their differences and I thought I’d share it with you. So, IDs focus on the methods of instruction, based on learner needs and the desired learning outcomes. LXDs focus on the experience of the le ..read more

Have you often wondered, what instructional design is? Well wonder no more. In this month’s post, I provide the answer to that question with additional insights into the field. Simply stated, the instructional design provides learning solutions to instructional problems. One of my favorite books, Teaching Naked Techniques, suggested that “education is ultimately a design problem: the goal is to create structures and processes that will encourage [learners] to engage in the behaviors that lead to learning” (Bowen and Watson, 2017, xxiii). Hence, instructional designers are not merely content c ..read more

I recently learned about a new tool called Video Ask. It’s an interactive video chatbot that allows you to get realtime feedback in a more personalized way. In this video, I discuss the tool and how I use it in my e-learning instructional designs ..read more

I got the privilege to chat with Angela Powers about Freelancing in Instructional Design. Check out the interview ..read more

The instructional stance is always determined by the learner and the learning goal. Subsequently, the instructional stance will, in turn, determine which tools to use within the various instructional designs. One instructional stance is pedagogy. Pedagogy has a  strong connection to behaviorism.  It is heavily instructor-centered and bases learning on environmental conditioning and stimuli. Another instructional stance is andragogy. Andragogy has a powerful connection to cognitive constructivism, as it is more learner-centered and accepted as an instructional approach for mature lear ..read more

I recently got the opportunity to do some freelance work as a subject matter expert. It was exciting to be a freelance subject matter expert, even though it was a short-lived opportunity. Hence, this experience taught me a big lesson… Practice what you preach.   Reference: Hodell, C., & ProQuest. (2015). ISD from the Ground up, 4th Edition. Alexandria: American Society for Training & Development ..read more

According to Maslow, there is a hierarchy of needs that are necessary for learning to occur. Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, I believe that there is a hierarchy of needs for instructional designers.  Maslow has five levels of hierarchical needs. They are as follows: Physiological needs Safety needs Belongingness and love Esteem and accomplishment Self-actualization/Achieving one’s potential   Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, I’ve decided to tweak his theory for instructional designers who design learning experiences.  Assuming that Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs have alrea ..read more

Today’s world has “turbo-speed changes created by technology” (Marquardt, Banks, Cauweiler, and Ng, 2018, p. 18). And with these turbo-speed changes come the constant need for learning and creativity. As conditions change, instructional designs that can be adapted to various learners and conditions become more prevalent than ever before. Hence, instructional designers have to “learn their way into the creation of something that does not yet exist” (p. 40). Complex problems require complex solutions and complex solutions come with creative thinking. Michalko (2011) submitted that one cannot wi ..read more

Functioning in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) conditions creates a sense of infinite urgency.   Furthermore, ubiquitous exigencies make learning more difficult as the pressure to work seems to never cease. In such conditions, what is the learner to do? “Although we need more and more learning and training, the irony is that we have less time to acquire it” (Marquardt, Banks, Cauweiler, and Ng, 2018, p. 19). Gagne (1985) proposed nine instructional events that provide a framework for creating optimal learning conditions. However, each instructional event requires ..read more

I had the pleasure of presenting at the Virginia Society for Technology in Education 2018 Conference. I shared my ideas on Content Creation and Calibration with learners and I took feedback from the audience regarding the topic. Some of the key questions were: How do I engage dormant learners in the design process? How do I provide support to dependent learners? How do I educate parents on student content creation and calibration? I don’t claim to have the answers to these questions. Nonetheless, take a look at the presentation and provide your feedback. Is it really possible to have student ..read more