The One with the Instructional Design

Whenever I meet up with high school, college and other work friends, I really have to explain what I currently do. I'm an Instructional Systems Designer. So if you had enough time to actually understand what you just read off Wikipedia, if you read up, that is, I am someone that practices Bloom's Taxonomy, ADDIE and Rapid Prototyping (at times). I'm someone that decided to embrace the 9 Events of Gagne and tries to hit all the bells and whistles of the VAK Learning Types.

Simply put, I design corporate learning materials. 

I feel a little bit like Chandler Bing. No one knows or remembers what the heck I do for a living, and when simply asked, they say "Trainer". 

So here's what I am really doing. 

1. I get assigned a topic. That topic could range from new hire orientation to a new IT system to expense reimbursement or company principles. I usually say I get assigned fluff topics, primarily because I tend to get the long-winded ones which aren't based on systems or procedures. I get the policy-driven ones.

Yes and there's lots of paperwork too! I mainly do HR courses. 

2. I read up on it. I research on the net. I contact several thousands of SMEs (subject matter experts) and try to squeeze a little time in their calendars either virtually or via phone. Yes, it's tedious, but nothing gets me more riled up than actually getting to talk to a SME that's excellently succinct and direct to the point. 

A lot of them hide behind their schedules, but that's fine. They are still loved so long as I get approved.

3. I then get cracking on development. Depending on what's needed, I just get cracking asap. If it's an instructor-led training, I work on a presentation first, then a facilitator guide, then a participant guide or a job aid. If it's an eLearning module, I get cracking on the platform it's supposed to be in. I currently know a system called Toolbook and Adobe Presenter. I'm kind of good with Captivate, but only when I'm actually capturing video off my screen. I've tried my hand at doing Flash before, but using SoThink and SWFer from Merlin. 

Yes, it's a pretty grueling job considering how big a chatterbox I am. But I like chatting over the phone anyhow. 

4. I show my SMEs and then get editing. 

Erase and rewrite... If you know the Cardigan song, this would be pretty funny. If you don't then boo hoo... look it up. 

5. Final approval comes right after the edits. I usually run it by the Senior Training Manager first and when she approves, then I run it by the sponsors, the SMEs and whomever will be training the piece. 

It's definitely desk work, and there's a lot more intricacies in actually making a module work. Like I told a good friend earlier, I think a good trainer dumbs things down. An Instructional Designer makes the "dumbing down" look intelligent, such that no one would think it's condescending and as mentioned earlier, it hits all the bells and whistles it needs to hit for retention. 

So, that's my work. I am getting paid to actually see things from a learner's perspective and how it works in his/her mind so they'd retain it. 

So, in case you're wondering how grueling a job is it? It's an 8 hour job, I work at night to be able to consult with the corporate SMEs, and the sponsors. 

And we go on breaks, don't worry, cos we really do... In fact... 

This was taken last Friday. Jessie and Ivan locked in Chess Supremacy battle while Iris and Candy looks on. 

Yeah, I gave them the Chess set. It's a cheap version of it... a piece of colored paper. 

That's Ivan trying to concentrate. 

While Jessie looks bored. Iris looks more concentrated on the game! Hahaha! 

So if you're wondering why I love this job... it's because there's nothing I would love in this world more than to touch one person's life. If I helped make someone remember something that would help them in their jobs, I would have made a difference. 

Oh and my teammates rock too! 

Note: No photographers were harmed intellectually during the making of this post. Pictures that were not taken by **meg** were obtained legally from Stock Xchng. 


Candy is a blog author herself. Read riveting revelations about Candy on her blog.