It is true, everyone does have a capacity to learn, however, most people seem to want to learn things that either interest them or their brain is “wired” toward. For example, some people have a greater capacity to learn mathematics while others may be inclined towards social studies. The person who has a difficult time learning math will usually tend to not have a great interest in the subject no matter how much they are “instructed.” In your article, you mentioned that as an instructional designer, we are to take the important stuff, ‘the big picture’ so to speak, and in doing so, “time and money” are saved. However, sometimes a learner might get tripped up with the ’small stuff;’ the devil might be in the detail. If this happens, more time and money will either end up getting spent or wasted. It is important to know what the learners are looking for and to spend time on their concerns as they crop up. I would say, start with the big picture but pay close attention to the small stuff.

Joseph W. Humes

LOL

By providing “context and perspective we compress learning time and bypass” erroneous information and hopefully provide focused goal oriented learning. Also, you add to the ability for the student to retrieve information, through concentrated referencing students can index situations that are relative to the lesson and apply it.

Instructional Designers have to engage or immerse students in the subject matter relatively quickly and easily. Here is when clear objectives should be stated and the directions with the video should have included in addition to counting the number of passes made by the white team to look for anything that does not belong. Blog author Cammy Bean http://cammybean.kineo.com/2007/08/getting-started-in-instructional-design.html also discusses effective engagement of e learners. Another blog by Clive Sheppard http://www.kineolearning.com/60minutemasters/ offers its reader another site where you can register and find tools for creating stunning and effective e lessons. I requested membership and took the tour. Would you recommend ID professionals use this site? I found loads of useful tools and templates to choose from and it was all for free.
Since we all aim to be the best Instructional Designers we can be in our field I stumbled onto a website http://www.wikieducator.org/CF5:How_Do_We_Design_Inspiring_Online_Vocational_Courses%3F which I found useful for ID students which lists principles for creating focused yet engaging material. I especially enjoyed principle number 5 their description of e learning establishing a strong foundation having each lesson act as “scaffolding to support and guide learners through their learning experience”. What are your thoughts?

Go beyond information sharing and Create courses you can be proud of.