A bright and glowing future for Instructional Designers

There's been a huge amount written about how learning design roles (I avoid the used of the term "Instructional Designer" unless I have to use it) are changing. Will rapid e-learning shift responsibilities to SMEs? Will, as has been predicted for many years, entertainment and game designers pick off much of the learning designer's role (see Kurt Squire on this)?

Rather than adding yet more words, I thought I'd do an animation. See what you think.

Comments

[Jean Marrapodi]

Good points, Patrick and great animation. It could be a scary thing, but I know I've seen some pretty dismal stuff that SMEs have produced because they don't get the learning thing. I wonder though, if we don't need to look at this in panic, but deal with it as the marketing people would do when dealing with the competition in business and continue to tout the unique selling proposition and value that instructional designers bring to the table, and let the SMEs continue to be masters of their universe of expertise instead of jack of all trades and master of none.

When desktop publishing evolved everyone could make their own newsletters. Some of them were pretty awful including things I created in my early days. I've come to my senses and realized that the expertise of a graphic designer or ad agency makes a stellar product as opposed to my home grown variety.

We need to keep creating stellar, by leveraging the expertise of the SME and working together with the game designers to output products that do what they are intended to: help people learn.

Jean Marrapodi, PhD, CPLP

[Patrick Dunn]

I love the internet. I really do. I spend an enjoyable hour doing a silly animation, just to relax a little, and I get somebody I've never met - Jean Marrapodi - clarifying my own thinking for me: according to Jean, we need to find our "unique selling proposition and value that instructional designers bring to the table". Aha - that's what I meant! Brilliant.

Then Clive Shepherd writes a piece called "Everyone's an SME", and I think "Aha - THAT's what I meant."

Enjoyable, fluent, relaxing, knowledge co-construction and informal learning at work. I love it!!

I set out as a content creator, I returned as a learner. There's no real distinction, is there?