The instructional design course and the completion of it, was huge for me.

In my role as
manger of training and partner support, I was assigned to lead a team to develop a deeper
organizational understanding of college readiness. Arriving at this understanding included
an extensive review of the current literature and trends in this field, assimilating the
information to identify key learning and creating an organizational understanding and
approach for what this might mean for our work and the work of our programs. Early into
this process, the team of five quickly became a solo endeavor. Our organization began to
restructure. Uncomfortable with this new direction, many people resigned their positions
and left. Knowing that this project could not be successfully completed in a vacuum, I
scrambled to figure out how to get the input needed to make the outcome a quality learning
experience for all involved. It made sense to me, that I could use work assignment for my
instructional design project. It would be a win for the organization, and I would have more
input from others closer to instructional design work (my peer in the online community).
In addition, my project would have relevant and meaningful real world applications.

As I began this course, and the project, I initially struggled to understand how what
happens in the context of instructional design, differs from that which I had done as a
teacher and trainer. I soon realized that with instructional design, there is a much deeper,
more thorough approach and understanding of the structures, strategies and approaches
being used as compared to lesson or activity development. Soon I began to better
understood what the authors meant when they stated:

Do teachers not involve in curriculum design projects use instructional design
principles and procedures? Indeed, they doHowever, those trained in systematic
instructional design tend to engage in these activities more consistently, thoroughly
and reflectively than their untrained colleagues (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 13).

Instructional design takes the development of learning experiences to a different level.
There is a much more detailed and intentional approach to how learning experiences are
designed and delivered. It is also, a much more time consuming endeavor as the authors
state (and I can now attest to):

Another key aspect of instructional design is its extensive and demanding
nature. Experienced designers (not to mention novices) frequently express concern
about the time and effort that they expend applying what is currently known about
designing effective, efficient, and appealing instruction (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 7).

In retrospect, I had no idea what I had bitten off as a first attempt at learning instructional
design. At one point, I was going to stop with a half completed assignment, but after the
encouragement of my instructor, I persisted and Im glad it did. My learning was immense,
and the outcome was something I was proud to have completed. It was not totally perfect;
but overall, this was a major accomplishment for me!