Thoughts on Instructional Design

Planning is essential to the quality of instructional design and impacts the effectiveness of lesson delivery.  Understanding target market needs can often be overlooked, but it is very important to consider target market before thinking about instructional approaches.  

Video technology is a powerful force and influential when pushing learning participants to consider other viewpoints.  Cooperative learning, video technology, emphasis on evaluating media, and challenge based learning can better engage students.  

Giving students choices is also essential to student motivation and is an important component to instructional design.  Alternative assessment approaches that includes a portfolio piece is a research interest.  Standardized approaches to instructional design cannot be eliminated, but creative and alternative approaches to instructional design and assessment is needed.  

Students are very interested in seeing work appreciated by the public at large.  Instructional design should give students a variety of choices, which includes many instructional technology components as well as creative and artistic components.