The importance of communication in Instructional Design

Hello and Welcome back,

Today we will be discussing the importance of communication in Instructional Design.

When it comes to designing a course, one of my first thoughts begins with the many facets in regards to the presentation of the material. Who am I creating this for and in what capacity will it be taught? My experience tells me that there are differences between Face-to-Face, Hybrid and on-line courses! For me, questions and thoughts like these would be a common-sense scenario. But I wasn’t ready for what happened to this designer in the article titled: Communication in Instructional Design, by Jose L. Fulgenio.

A brief introduction about Mr. Fulgencio, He is a doctoral student in the Educational Technology program at Oklahoma State University, and an Instructional Designer by training. In the article, Mr. Fulgencio was asked to design and convert two face-to-face training courses into an online environment. The client’s main goal was for Mr. Fulgencio to provide the same quality of social interaction in an online environment, one that mirrored the original face-to-face training experience. Unfortunately, and unknown to him, the client administrative foundation was not very stable. I have seen this type of leadership in too many companies. As you can probably guess, the lack of communication between leadership became the immediate downfall.

To summarize the story, the initial client’s director resigned, shortly thereafter the replacement director also resigned. Thus leaving Mr. Fulgencio with an inexperienced director whom did not have the education nor the knowledge to be the trainer. Fortunately for Mr. Fulgencio, he had the patience, experience and fortitude to complete the goals and the designed class was a success. The lack of communication was a huge challenge to overcome. The instructional designer was then forced to take over the leadership role.

The three things that impressed me the most from the article were:

First, I was impressed with the fact that Mr. Fulgencio was determined to complete the task at hand even after going through all of miscommunication from the client. He learned through this project that a well thought out questionnaire must be created. He then created a “detailed needs assessment" that must be completed before designing the course”. Thus, eliminating any unnecessary obstacles and freeing up more time for designed goals.

Second, I learned that it is necessary to have everything in writing. Having all of the details in a written form creates a documented tool for accountability for everyone involved. Furthermore, the use of email keeps the line of communication open and up to date. Mr. Fulgencio states that “decisions and responsibilities must be in written format and confirmed through the use of email”.

Lastly, I understand that things can change at any moment, therefore you must have a project leader on the client side and a back-up plan. Mr. Fulgencio states that “the responsibility for leading a course must be established at the beginning of the project”.

Mr. G.

Below is a link to the original article:

https://learntechlib.org/p/209607/

or

EJ1312663.pdf (ed.gov)