I’ve been doing this for while, sometimes new instructional designers ask me for some helpful tips. Here are my top 5:
- Focus on learning outcomes: The primary goal of instructional design is to help learners achieve specific learning outcomes. Therefore, it’s essential to design your course or program with these outcomes in mind. Ensure that your content, activities, and assessments align with the learning objectives.
- Use multimedia and interactive elements: Use multimedia, such as videos, graphics, animations, and interactive elements, to make the content more engaging and facilitate active learning. For instance, you can use interactive quizzes, games, or simulations to reinforce concepts and provide immediate feedback to learners.
- Design for different learning styles: People learn differently, and it’s crucial to consider various learning styles when designing your instruction. Incorporate a range of learning modalities, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, to accommodate diverse learners. Provide different modes of presentation and interaction to appeal to different preferences.
- Encourage social learning: Social learning can be a powerful tool for learners. You can encourage collaboration, discussion, and peer feedback through online forums, social media, or group assignments. Social learning can help learners to develop a sense of community and increase motivation.
- Evaluate and improve: Evaluation is an essential part of instructional design. Use formative assessments to monitor learner progress and identify areas where improvement is needed. Use summative assessments to measure learner achievement against the learning outcomes. Use feedback from learners and instructors to refine and improve the instruction for the next iteration.
- Bonus – Keep it simple: Remember, your learners are not rocket scientists. Unless, of course, your course is about rocket science. In that case, good luck, you’ll need it.
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More: Using Instructional Design to Create High-Quality eLearning Content
(I’m bringing some content over from an old platform.)
Jeff Stivers 