I’m an instructional designer. I write digital, experiential learning modules, mainly for corporates and vocational education.
A couple of years ago I was teaching vocational ed and English, but I made the career swap from teaching to ID (largely because I was fed up with the quality of the course designs that were handed to me and thought I could do better).
But now, I can’t see the direct influence of my work on learners, so who’s to know if I’ve provided any real value? Perhaps all I'm doing is infecting them with mindless, unnecessary corporate nonsense.
Furthermore, some clients don’t really care about the learners undertaking their programs as much as their own sense of achievement for ‘leading the implementation of a new project’, which means my attempts to structure the learning appropriately are sometimes overruled by ….the budget and The Man!
And I’d also like to think that I can be as beautifully honest as Sharon was in the opening paragraph of this post.
So, here’s a point form view of my role thus far…
What is your role as a teacher?
To write digital programs in such a simple and explanatory a way that removes the need for a teacher to explain the content.
NB: We write digital asynchronous programs that are used by individuals on a computer. I by no means want to replace teachers, but for some learning they’re unnecessary.
Who are your students? What is the context?
Corporate learners developing situationally-relevant or task-based skills.
Vocational learners undertaking digitally enhanced learning.
What role does NGL currently play in that context?
All learners are working in a network of contextually similar individuals, be it at work or in a specific course. However, the global part isn’t really addressed.
How do you think NGL might help?
Well, I’m not sure. Perhaps it will open the door to a range of resources previously unconsidered in certain organisations? Perhaps it can become a part of some courses so that learners are required to explore the ideas of external thinkers related to their subject. Perhaps this will lead to a deeper learning experience.
Or, perhaps it will be seen as an over-complicated time waster that removes focus from the basic learning objectives.
What difficulties might you face with implementation?
The perception of complication.
The perception that it is unnecessary.
The argument from project managers and project sponsors that their money isn’t paying for distractions and only core learning objectives should be included.
Damn the man!
Al