I consider it an essential and on-going part of my role to stay up to date on emerging literature on instructional design and its related topics. Working with younger learning audiences (22-25yo AmeriCorps Service Members) dials up the importance of game-based learning, micro-learning, and knowing how to speak to your audience. A recent gem from my research that is helping us in updating our Curriculum Development Plan is Digital Promise's Learner Variability Navigator, which shows the relationship between various learner factors and evidence informed strategies to employ.
The start of every project begins with the finish line in sight. And by finish line, I mean the marathon, not the 500m dash. I strive to link every learning experience's objectives to my departmental and organizational goals. This type of linking is best done through research and case studies: in similar non-profits of our size and demographics this type of learning intervention positively influenced distal outcomes. Sometimes this work feels more inferential (we know that A leads to B and B leads to C, so doing A ultimately gets us to C), but regardless, it does the trick. By seeing how many projects relate to similar or different goals (and to what degree) I can make effective determinations where my team's limited time is best spent.
My next step in a project is always a roadmap. Once I know where I'm going, I like to know how I'm going to get there. The scale of these roadmaps depends on the project and how many other people are involved. However it's usually the place that links to all other important documents or folders, breaks down my work into phases, and details various task lists for things where specificity is important, like the video lessons settings for our LMS uploads. This type of granular mapping on the front ends allows me to dip in and out from high level to extremely focused views of my project without feeling overwhelmed.
I'm a student of the 7-Step model of assessment, a riff on the ADDIE model from the Center for Assessment and Research Studies at James Madison University, my alma mater. The model has large similarities to ADDIE, but it makes clear something I find is not talked about enough in my circles: implementation fidelity (IF).
JMU’s 7-Step Assessment Model
Traditional implementation fidelity would look at instructor variability, but what I mean encompasses learner variability as well. The same way we think about the learning environment at the outset of the ADDIE model, here we assess our learning environment by gathering in-training data about it. This adds more nuance and understanding to our course assessment data. It's as simple as a survey or as involved as a proctor, all depending on the course needs.
While there are times that call for noise cancelling headphones and a pomodoro timer, I find that my best work comes from true collaboration. I find myself energized by meetings where ideas build on each other alongside the enthusiasm for the product we’re creating. While that doesn’t mean our ideas come to life at scale, the time spent imagining possibilities with coworkers keeps me deeply engaged in the work. When I’m tasked with leading collaborative efforts, I make a point to start out by asking folks what skills or ideas they’re excited to dive into. By aligning interests with expectations I find committees I lead stay on track with deliverables while maintaining a ‘happy momentum.’