This presentation will discuss the on-going doctoral research being conducted into advanced instructional design of complex learning environments. The goal of this research is to develop a competency framework for instructional designers who design complex learning solutions.
This presentation will discuss the on-going doctoral research being conducted into advanced instructional design of complex learning environments. The goal of this research is to develop a competency framework for instructional designers who design complex learning solutions. Such a framework would represent the essential competencies required for instructional designers involved in the design and development of advanced instructional design (ISD) projects. A review of literature revealed a lack of frameworks geared toward the instructional design of complex learning solutions.
The study is organized into four phases. Phase one entails the administration of an online survey, based on the Ritzhaupt and Martin (2014) educational technology multimedia competency survey (ETMCS) instrument. This survey instrument defines educational technology broadly and includes instructional design within its definition. The initial block of survey questions will obtain participant demographic and experience data. Survey respondents will then be asked to rank the ETMCS competency statements on a 5-point Likert scale according to their perceived level of importance (criticality). The survey will also include open-ended questions inquiring aspects of competencies specific to the respondents experience with complex design solutions. A final question will ask participants of their willingness to participate in two follow-up interview sessions.
To gain deeper insight into the competencies identified from the phase one survey, phase two will consist of two semi-structured interviews conducted with a subset of phase one participants. Two 30-45 minute semi-structured interviews will be conducted with each selected participant. Participant selection will be based upon the criteria suggested by Ritzhaupt and Kumar (2015) with which required participants to be available for interviews and have worked as an instructional designer for at least 1 year. To map more closely to the specific goals of this research, two additional criteria were added: (1) each interview participant will have worked on at least one complex learning solution in a professional services work environment, and (3) has identified competencies for the design of complex learning solutions in their responses to the ETMCS survey instrument.