Creativity in Industrial Design

While ADDIE and other ID models provide a systematic approach for any instructional designer, critics of ID models contend that they are too prescriptive.

Consider the following:

• What are the benefits of following the process outlined by ADDIE or any other ID model?
• Does following a model allow the instructional designer to exercise creativity and adaptability in designing an instructional solution?
• What role should ID models and instructional theory play in the daily work of an instructional designer

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What are the benefits of following the process outlined by ADDIE or any other ID model?

Benefits of ADDIE model are:

Corporate benefits abound from both direct and indirect monetary savings.

1. Direct financial savings are realized because the training is more efficient:
a. No wasted time of extra “nice to know” information;
b. The learners time away from billable on-the-job hours is decreased;

2. Direct financial savings are realized because the training is more effective:
a. Learners learn the requisite information necessary to resolve a particular performance gap… the first time;
b. Learners do not require repeat training;
c. Learners leave the training more productive, resulting in decreased performance issues that would ultimately cost the company financially

3. Indirect monetary savings because the training is more effective:
a. Increased employee performance (output)
b. Increased employee loyalty (less turnover) because the employee has more confidence in their abilities to do their job properly
c. Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty because the employees are trained properly (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2011).

In education utilizing a systematic design process is also beneficial: “Knowing the basic principles of instructional design can help to ensure that what is produced serves a necessary purpose, meets the needs of students, is attractive and well organized, is delivered in an appropriate mode, and is continually evaluated and improved.” (Morrison et al., 2011, p. 5).

More simply stated, “Instructional design, stripped to its basics, is simply a process for helping you to create effective training in an efficient manner. It is a system – perhaps more accurately a number of systems – that helps you ask the right questions, make the right decisions, and produce a product that is as useful and useable as your situation requires and allows” (Piskurich, 2006, p. 1).

Does following a model allow the instructional designer to exercise creativity and adaptability in designing an instructional solution?

As discussed in the prior paragraph, the systematic design process simply refers to a series of steps or processes followed/structured in a particular fashion to maximize the ability of the designer to meet the instructional goals desired during a project. This certainly does not hinder an individual’s creativity. For instance, teachers are given state mandated standards and pacing guides for which subjects to teach and when. This does not preclude them from creatively presenting the information, designing effective lessons or organizing the information differently than others with the same guidelines.

As an adult learner I have a tendency to immerse myself in whatever content I am currently assimilating. When I do this I tend to adapt my perspective, to change the lens through which I view things, if you will. For instance, as I have been delving deeper into instructional design, what it is, what it means to designers, employers, learners, etc., I have discovered that training occurs everywhere all the time. As an example, a temporary secretary filling in while another is on vacation needs to be “trained” in how to perform the functions of the person they are filling in for. This can range from simple information such as preferences in formatting, or what time the mail comes, to more complicated procedures in creating pdf documents for email [and knowing the pdf feature is not working properly so the document needs to be scanned into pdf]. It sounds simplistic, but a great deal of productive time can be wasted on trying to figure out the procedures for something seemingly simple. Armed with instructional design information and an understanding of the design process allows me to consider how a training manual might be developed to better serve my employer should I need a day off. How I set up the training manual is up to me. It can be multimedia video, screenshots, narrated power point, or even step-by-step instructions. The ADDIE process does not dictate the end product, only clarification of the steps involved to ensure nothing important is missed.

Another example would be the Divorce Recovery Workshop ministry I have been working on with my church. Again, utilizing the ADDIE information has helped me significantly to understand what questions need to be answered, how to relate to the learners, how to design the instruction in the most effective method possible. In fact, due to the swiftness of the project’s momentum, I have even incorporated a type of Rapid Prototyping Model to the project, which has been discussed with the other team members and church staff. It is understood this first 10-week program is a pilot program, intended to guide our future revisions and decisions.

What role should ID models and instructional theory play in the daily work of an instructional designer?

The roles ID models and instructional theory play in the daily work of an instructional designer clearly depends on the type of work the ID is doing. For instance, numerous resources have indicated the vast flexibility of employment opportunities for the instructional designer in academia, corporate, government, military, and non-profit organizations (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2011; Cennamo & Kalk, 2005). Additionally, within each type of organization there is additional flexibility as to the role the instructional designer fills; staff designer through management of a team. In every aspect I would expect the information of the ID models and instructional theory are foundational; however, the amount of analysis or utilization of discrimination between variables and types could very well be another ID’s domain.

Lynn Munoz

References

Cennamo, K., & Kalk, D. (2005). The professional designer. In Real world instructional design (pp. 272-285). Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/56607/CRS-CW-4744646/CENNA_Ch12.pdf

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction (6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Piskurich, G. M. (2006). Rapid instructional design: Learning ID fast and right (2nd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.