Design Strategies for Rapid Development

The design phase of ISD involves the use of many different techniques. Most master instructional designers are familiar with a wide variety of design strategies. To design quickly and effectively, they select macro-level designs based on the type of content, the target audience, and the context for the training. As they begin to work on the actual training modules, they think in terms of existing structures and formats that may be modified, then move on to the details. Below is one example of this kind of design thinking:

Software Training Development:

An example of thinking at a macro level when designing instruction can be illustrated in what is a common scenario today, introducing new software. Software is often developed for a specialized area. In one recent instructional design project, enterprise-wide software was created to manage a large company's real-estate holdings. No user guide had been developed for the software, and the performance-based training was needed to realize the anticipate value of the software as rapidly as possible. How was this done faster, better, and easier?

• The user guide was created with the basic procedures for completing program functions at the same time training development was undertaken (faster).
• Separate from the user guide, perfomance-based exercises, demonstrations, and visual presentations were developed for the training. Keeping the exercises separate from the user guide allowed the user to have a streamlined user guide after the training, whether on line or in hard copy. By having performance based exercises, the training simulated the job tasks users face in the real work world.

To complete this macro-level design, a module at the beginning of the training was added that discusses how to maneuver through the software. In this example, the client received two for one; the user guide and the training program (easier AND better!).