What is Instructional Design?

          While reading the first chapter of the text, Streamlined ID: A Practical Guide to Instructional Design (Larson and Lockee, 2014), I repeatedly found myself asking the same question--“What is Instructional Design?”  I’m a math person, so I like to have concrete answers for things.  I wanted a specific definition for “instructional design”.  As I continued to read the chapters, I was able to develop a sense of what an Instructional Designer does.  The truth is, as educators, we are essentially all instructional designers.  We design lessons for instruction every day!  I just never thought of “Instructional Designer” as one of our “titles”.

            So, what is the difference between an Instructional Designer and a teacher—why IS there a separate title?  In the text Foundations of Instructional Design by Smith and Tillman (n.d.), the authors discuss that classroom teachers are given a set of standards to teach their students during a course.  For the most part, we develop our own plans based on these standards.  As educators, we are consistently looking for activities to keep our students actively engaged in the lesson.  As discussed in Streamlined ID, our classroom students can be described as “digital natives”, learners who have grown up using technology.  These learners use technology in some fashion in their daily lives, and are comfortable using it (Larson and Lockee, 2014).   So when the necessary mediums or materials may not be available for teachers to use, such as technology, systematic planning is necessary to implement instruction (Smith and Tillman, n.d.). 

           
            One former teacher turned Instructional Designer writes a blog called "For the Love of Teaching".  In one article, "Teaching vs. Instructional Design" (Kidder, 2011), she describes the differences in the titles "Instructional Designer" and "teacher".  She explains that most Instructional Designers do not consider themselves teachers, and vice-versa, because most of them work in the corporate setting rather than a classroom.  The author discusses his confusion of why teachers are “eliminated from the equation” in the area of Instructional Design, and how an Instructional Designer cannot see him/herself as a teacher.  

            Given this example, perhaps Instructional Designers could be more identified as trainers and professional development instructors.  As I read the text, Streamlined ID, I noticed that most of the text referred to working with, or training, adults.  The authors emphasize that the designs of presentations must be sustainable, optimized, appropriately redundant, right-sized, and continuously improving (Larson and Lockee, 2014, pg. viii).  I agree that these elements of instructional design are important. 

            Personally, I can understand how developing instructional lessons for adults can be challenging.  First of all, your students are your peers.  You don’t want to be “that boring workshop that was never ending!”  I’ve actually sat in a workshop and said the words, “This is like dying a slow death.”  There is the pressure of not wasting their time, and of relaying meaningful information.  Larson and Lockee (2014) also discuss that the “streamlined” approach should “meet the needs of ID novices and practitioners in a variety of work settings” (pg. viii).   The differences in experience could range from someone who has been teaching for 20+ years who can make adjustments and differentiations to instruction without batting an eye, but are also “digital immigrants”, to the person who has been teaching for 1-3 years who is a “digital native” and more likely to be able to adjust instruction towards a technological based lesson effortlessly. 

            So to answer the original question, "What is the difference between an Instructional Designer and a teacher?" we refer back to Smith and Tillman’s definitions of training and teaching.  Training most often refers to “those instructional experiences that are focused upon individuals acquiring very specific skills that they will normally apply almost immediately”, and teaching most often refers to “learning experiences that are facilitated by a human being” (n.d. pg. 3).  Personally, I tend to agree with Kidder, the author of “Teaching vs. Instructional Design” (2011).  I believe Instructional Designers and teachers can be one in the same because each definition of “training” and “teaching” require the act of learning.   

References
  

Kidder, L. (2011).  Teaching vs. instructional design. Retrieved from                       
       https://lkidder.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/teaching-vs-instructional-design/.

Larson, M. and Lockee, B.B. (2014).  Streamlined id: A practical guide to instructional              design.  New York: Routledge.

Smith, P. L. and Tillman, J. R. (n.d.).  Instructional design (2^nd edition).  New York:                   Wiley. Retrieved from 
            http://steinhardtapps.es.its.nyu.edu/create/courses/2174/reading/smith_ragan_1_2.pdf

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