Course Reflections
The most surprising thing for me about this course was the amount of up front work that goes into creating a course for presentation. Having always been one who would come in one day before standing in front of the classroom, I had never been exposed to the rigor of the designer prior to implementation. My choice of project was fortunate in that I chose to create a course based on a procedure at the plant which contains very specific instructions for the performance of the task, however my choice opened my eyes to a greater question and that was one of "skill of the craft" and "tribal knowledge."
I work in an industry that assumes a great deal about the prior knowledge of the individuals it hires. An electrician is assumed to possess a basic knowledge of electrical safety and certain basic skills which will enable the technician to perform various tasks in the plant without supervision. To be sure, there is a great deal of training which must take place in order for that individual to become a fully qualified technician, but a certain base level of information is assumed. Likewise, there is a certain level of "tribal knowledge" which is passed on while the individual become acclimatized to working in a nuclear plant. Because of this, instructors at the plant create their courses assuming that this knowledge is present. This course has taught me not to make these assumptions. More importantly, that each of these assumptions must be analyzed and broken down into their core components, and prior to presentation, these components must be validated.
Given the environment of a nuclear power plant, often individuals are hesitant to admit a lack of basic knowledge. Thus it falls upon the instructional designer to validate their assumptions prior to proceeding with the development of a course. In validating, the designer must take care to extract the correct information. A web-based survey, while easy to create and administer may not be the proper tool to accomplish this task. Face to face communication provides a more accurate portrayal of the whole in that the non-verbal cues of the technicians can be taken into account during the validation process. These cues are vital in assessing the readiness of a group of individuals and cannot be overlooked.
The most important thing that this course has taught me is that, as an instructional designer, I need to validate those things which I have previously taken for granted. I must be aware of my audience not only in the implementation phase of the ADDIE process, but in the design and development phases as well. By doing this, I will be able to target my learners by tailoring the course to their specific needs and to the needs which have always been assumed. This will ensure that the learners are engaged, energized, and most important, not overwhelmed by the material.
