What does it mean to Design Instruction?

First, what does it mean to design instruction and what skills are needed to design lessons that can bring about significant and relevant learning experiences? Designing instruction is complex and consists of several steps in order to create an instructional design which elicits the learning that you want to occur. It is a process of steps in which each step should be evaluated and improved upon before completing the final project. Instructional design begins with an understanding of the learners’ needs. What exactly do we need the students to learn? This is sometimes complex itself because before teachers can design their instruction, they must fully understand what the TEKS are asking students to be able to perform or master. An analysis of the deficiencies and concepts that should be learned must be identified first.

Design and development are the steps in which the instructional designer must have an understanding of the content, and then be able to construct activities that are engaging and meets the individual learning styles of the student. How should the content be delivered? Decisions about whether the content is best learned in a face-to-face setting, flipped setting, collaborative, or independently must be considered. This also relates to the student’s learning styles. For example, some students can learn from simply hearing the content via lecture, others in a hands-on environment, while still others from simply watching. The instructional designer may be a master at the content, but they also must recognize and understand the best method to construct the learning activities. Then, they must have the skills to develop lessons in which the expectations and procedures can be clearly understood and delivered in a logical manner that makes sense to the learner.   

Instructional design necessitates that the designer is familiar with innovative methods that can be utilized in the learning process. Educational instructional designers must be current on what digital resources are available and how students can utilize them in an educational environment. More learning opportunities are provided outside the four walls of the classroom, so the instructional designer must have the technology proficiencies to design activities that support electronic delivery and interactions. This idea is fairly new; however, more secondary classes and college classes are delivering instruction in a complete online environment or a blended learning approach.

Finally, an instructional designer must implement the lesson, acquire feedback, and be willing to adjust where needed. I believe that the instructional design of a lesson can always be improved upon. Each time I taught a class, I learned something that I could do to improve it. Professional instructional design takes someone who is not only a master in their content, but understands how people learn, keeps abreast of innovative technologies, and is willing to implement and evaluate for the purpose of improvement.