Understanding Instructional Design Decisions

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Learning and Instruction Across Sectors: Design, Multimodal Literacies, Effectiveness Narratives, and SEL Competencies (Table 2)

Abstract

As technologies emerge and create new job roles requiring new expertise, workplace learning and the role of "instructional designer" have become increasingly important. This qualitative study seeks to better understand the work of high-performing instructional designers and the ways in which they successfully create training materials to meet specific educational or performance objectives. By utilizing an interview format in which designers share work they have done, combining elements of a stimulated recall methodology with a "think-aloud" strategy, the researcher hopes to gain an understanding of how instructional designers interpret theories related to learning, to what extent those theories are consciously applied in the development of learning experiences, and how designers evaluate and engage with emerging technologies (e.g., generative artificial intelligence).

Author

• Sean Hickey, The Ohio State University