Well, I’ve finally gone and done it. I accepted a short term contract position with a local college this evening. As of Wednesday, I’m back in the ranks of the employed. Compared to my previous salary, It’s a pay cut but the benefits are good. We’ll find a way to make it all work out in the end.

Technorati Tags: job, employment

I went down to Calgary from Tuesday evening til Thursday to visit some friends and look at the possibility of working there (or for a company based in Calgary remote from my home office) and after completing the drive twice have decided that while some people commute long ways for a job – and I did it previously to go to school when I lived in Ontario – the idea of making that drive every day while I was also working just wasn’t for me. Back to the drawing board.

My last day at work was March 31st. They had 2.5 weeks notice of my impending resignation. I’ve now been unemployed for 2 weeks. For those of us keeping score, that means a month has passed since I gave notice.

During this time, my previous company hasn’t managed to notify the Investment firm holding my RRSP and Pension that I’m no longer with the company. Ergo, when I called to find out why I don’t have copies of the necessary documents to transfer the funds to a different investment account, they had no idea what I was talking about and said that according to their records, I still work for company X.

GRRRRR!

Now I get the joy of contacting the HR dept. and asking them to fax paperwork through the their investment firm so I can transfer $$ to my investment firm. I am not impressed.

Technorati Tags: investments, RRSP

Recently, I’ve had a few comments on my blog asking what an Instructional Designer does.

You can read the definition of ID via Google (quick and snappy) or Wikipedia (technical and confusing, so I’m told) and you’ll probably end up in the same position I’ve been for years. I’ve always found it a difficult field to describe to people – mostly because I’ve found that what an ID does changes based on the type of environment they are working in (academic, non-profit, corporate, etc.).

According to Intelera.com, Instructional Design is

“A system of developing well-structured instructional materials using objectives, related teaching strategies, systematic feedback, and evaluation.”

Since many people look at me like I’m growing a horn out of the middle of my forehead when I say I’m an Instructional Designer, I’ve found it a bit easier to use the term Curriculum Developer to explain what I do. I do, however, believe there’s a lot more to ID than curriculum development.

NOTE: Below is a general description of my experiences with Instructional Design. They may not hold true for all environments or companies.

How ID’s go about building a program depends on which ISD methodology they choose to follow. Usually I tend to follow a modified (looped) ADDIE model. ADDIE is an acronym for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation.

Analysis is, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of Instructional Design. During this phase, the ID determines whether or not a training intervention is required by determining what the performance need is (optimal situation), what the actual performance is (gap) and how to go about bringing the actual performance in line with the desired results. Once a business need and performance gap is identified, the ID would determine the best method for addressing the need/gap.

If the ID determines that there is a need for training, they’d move on to completing an audience analysis (who are the learners?), task analysis (what do they do, how do they do it?), content analysis (what do they need to know in order to do it?), context analysis (where and when do they do it?, what are the constraints?), etc.

In the Design phase, ID’s determine how they’ll go about imparting knowledge or a specific skill to the learner. Goals will be set, course and module objectives established and sequenced, content reviewed and selected for inclusion, course descriptions will be written, evaluation criteria determined, training setting will be defined, and design documents (project plans, development blueprints) will be drafted. In addition, they’ll determine the method of delivery (job aids, self-study, face-to-face sessions, e-Learning, etc.) and the materials or tools required to complete the job.

In the Development phase, the actual training program is written. This could include the development of lesson plans, story boards, written manuals (participant and faciliatator guides), job aids, online e-Learning modules, scripts, performance based activities, evaluation assessments, etc.

After the program is developed, it moves into the Implementation phase. Implementation includes the plan for delivery and timeline for training both facilitators (if required) and learners. The program is piloted to a target audience and then evaluated for it’s effectiveness. The program may then be revised based on the feedback and observations from the pilot classes.

In a perfect world, the ID would be able to run a series of test courses before rolling it out into full production. It’s been my experience that this doesn’t always happen in the corporate sector.

In the Evaluation phase, ID’s determine whether or not the training was successful. They measure knowledge transfer, learner outcomes, cost factors, and learner attitude. They’ll determine if the program accomplished the goals as outlined in the objectives (did it do what it was supposed to?) If not, ID’s need to determine what went wrong. Was the material written or delivered at too high or low a level? Was the learning analysis incorrect (ie: Did you create techincal or theoretical e-Learning based courses for a group of learners who’d never seen a computer before).

As you can imagine, once completed, the model easily loops back on itself. Taking information from the Implementation and Evaluation phases, ID’s can go back and revisit the design and development stages, reworking the program until it meets the established goals.

It’s been my experience that Instructional Design often includes bits and pieces of other fields such as Technical Writing, Program Planning, Project Management, Performance Consulting, and Change Management.

Now, aren’t you sorry you asked 😉

Technorati Tags: Instructional Design, ID, ISD, ADDIE, Training, Performance, Development, Learning

Laughing Muse has been amazing these past few weeks – offering tips and hints for lil’ ole unemployed me – from the consultant/contractor employee perspective. So, while I keep my fingers crossed and wait for more interviews, I’m going to do something I’ve been meaning to spend time on for months – finish off the websites for some non-profit organizations and friends. They may not pay much (or at all) but it’ll give me something productive to do next week.

Now, if only I could remember why we chose this colour scheme in the first place…