What is Instructional Design?

Instructional Design assists with course development initiatives. It includes designing and building courses, helps maintain and update courses, designs and develops course support materials. It also designs and develops training and support materials for students and parents. Ideal instructional designers have a background in course design, technology, Learning Management Systems, and a passion for supporting the ongoing development of academic or training courses.

Designing an Active Learning Platform

This description shows what happens behind the scenes of the polished modules that of an e-learning module. Educators and learners alike know that to learn effectively, and efficiently learners need to interact with the material if they want to learn it well. Active learning trumps passive learning.

The Instructional Designer’s (ID) Job

Most students have little idea of what kind of planning goes into teaching a classroom lesson, and the same applies to e-learning. Both venues involve an intricate design that builds the foundation for student learning. How we design an e-learning platform doesn’t matter to the average learner because they are, and should be, more concerned with its delivery. How many of us think about the coding that goes on our Facebook page, for example? Most of us are more interested in reading and creating posts than the back-end process of how it gets there. Some of may feel the same way about cars. How the engine runs and the pistons fire are a mechanic’s job. Designing a learning platform is an instructional designer’s job.

Insight

Insight into the impact that instructional design has on student learning is worth considering if you want to find a program that meets the high standards of learning. Instructional design falls under the guise of administering, coordinating, and managing factors that promote learning including content, and learning pathways. Also, the ID maintains courses, projects, experiences, and learning teams in HTML and various learning management systems. The ID gathers the learning material provided by the team and presents it so that a student can experience learning on his or her own, or with a teacher’s guidance.

Learning Pathways

Designing and developing material that supports learning pathways has an impact on student learning because alternative learning opportunities must align with the standards of the nation, the state, and the public-school system. The instructional design of a course allows the student to earn a credit that is in line with the subject material that all other students are expected to master.

The instructional foundation

Instructional design provides students with a seamless alternative to classroom learning. It engages learners without distracting them with the details of how to use the platform. It involves the learner with the learning material through games, discussion boards, multiple choice, or simulations. Instructional design is the foundation of learning whether it is in the traditional classroom or online. When an instructional design is built on standards, creativity, interactivity, and direct and instant feedback, students will learn. Not only will they learn the content, but they will also learn how to interact with it and make it meaningful.

The Challenge

Effective educators meet the standards of education by engaging and connecting their students with the material. We remember best when we learn by doing. Instructional design allows learners to do this seamlessly.  Students don’t need to understand the backdrop of the design of a module that challenges them to learn.