TechEduTrain

Instructional Design and the Web

I've worked as an instructional designer for over 20 years. After receiving an M.Ed. in human development (aka, ed psych) from the Univeristy of Maryland and having decided to leave public school teaching, I met a man named Len Nadler, a professor at George Washington Univeristy in DC who encouraged me to enroll in a program of which he is widely known as the "grandaddy," Human Resource Development or HRD. HRD was and is a combination of training (for proficiency in ones current job), of which instructional design is a subset, eduction (for a specific future job such as management), and development (for trends affecting existing and future jobs such as government compliance requirements). There are various new terms more popular today. Despite much criticism, ISD is still in vogue in most organizations, particularly the federal government.

In all my years as an ISD professional, I have never been part of a project that gave more than lip service to delivering a full "ADDIE" (analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) ISD process due to limited time and money. Since competition has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, training companies--particularly government contractors--are scurrying more than ever to win government contracts that still require a "thorough ISD process." In order to win those contracts, those bidding on them have got to be creative and adapt the ISD process to current organizational realities.

Doing so boils down to a creative way to redefine ISD using modern methods and technologies, and a unique approach to developing training using the redefined methods. In the past, for example, the designer often sat down with one or two "subject matter experts" to define the body of content to be covered in the training and, in some cases, define the instructional objectives. This process usually involved days, weeks, or even months, plenty of travel, and face-to-face meetings. The widespread use of the Internet and related technologies such as videoconferencing, however, opens up new streamlined possibilities for determining course content. The savvy training company will take a careful look at ways the ISD process can be implemented to save time, labor, and money to make that company more competitve.

In addition, new technologies open up the means for delivering training. New knowledge in cognition, emotions and brain research suggests new learning paradigms. The clever training company will combine this knowledge and technologies in creative new ways so they can stand out from the crowd of competitors.

While I realize that some examples would be helpful to illustrate these points, since I'm still looking for gainful employment, someone's going to have to hire me to hear more about them. However, if you've got some intriguing cases, approaches, or thoughts that you'd like to share, I and any readers who may happen along, will surely welcome them.

Digital Color

While switching from a laptop to an older desktop, I realized to my horror, that the colors I'd selected for this blog were not the ones I was seeing on the desktop and that you, poor reader, likely saw (unless you're on a laptop, too). Even though the color bit depth was the same, the colors weren't. And I thought I knew how this worked. Apparently, not. Point is, it's important to test, test, test. However, in my own defense, I only have one computer with one monitor which makes all needed testing virtually impossible.

I have tried to fix the offending colors but since this monitor, even at full brightness, is still quite dark, I can't be sure I succeeded.

What I'm going for is a very pale yellow/cream background in the main colum and a lightish rust (NOT orange) in the right column. Since I don't have the ability to test the color, won't you do me a favor and let me know via a comment if that's what you're seeing?

Thanks in advance!