September 9, 2008

What is Instructional Design to Me?

Instructional technology and design is a vast field that utilizes an array of media, software, and technological abilities to enhance and develop educational material. Through using and incorporating technology, education and instruction can become more interactive; students will become involved in their learning. In order to design and develop interactive instructional material, a designer needs to know how to use various software applications, and be interested in keeping up with the latest technological developments. Instructional Design and Technology is not only used for education, but is also used in training and development. In business, new processes and new machines are sometimes used, and material needs to be developed in order to see that employees fully understand the new processes or machines.

There is a myriad of different software applications that can be used to develop instructional material, for instance designers use video editing software to photo manipulation software. An instructional technologist needs to be up to date with the latest trends and resources in instructional design; they need to be on the cutting edge of technology. Nevertheless, instructional technology and design in not just about learning software applications, nor is it just about technology.

In order to educate or train an instructor needs to understand the educational process and how human beings interpret information. To correctly assemble instructional material designers follow a process by first establishing the instructional objective, researching the audience and subject matter, and creating a framework for the design. Once this is complete, the designer can form the material to fit the audiences’ needs. Instructional design and technology has many applications and a designer needs to stay on the forefront of technology to be successful.

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