I am a Stranger in a Strange Land in that I am not a teacher. I come from an IT background where tribal knowledge is important and the curation of such even more important. As you have probably noticed, most people in the IT field are not very extroverted and tend to keep information to themselves. For us, the Living, in the IT world it is important that hidden knowledge be discovered, cataloged and then presented to future colleagues as is done in the Education world. Although I am not a teacher, I do think of myself as a “passer on of knowledge” where I can assist others to learn the Tricks of the Trade.

In order for you to learn quite a bit about me and how I came to be at this point in my life please watch the video below.

• Learning should be about connecting to the content and then sharing your knowledge and interests with others.
  • An instructional designer curates knowledge. We provide learners with valuable connections to subject matter experts and information.
  • Learners should be able to explain or repeat the lesson to a partner.
  • Learners should be able to share the knowledge with a group of people.
• Students need to know why they need to learn something and how it benefits them. Making this transparent is the start to good Instructional Design
  • Learners should be able to discuss how they use the information, how it benefits them, and any issues they have with the information.
  • A good instructional designer facilitates this discussion and provides recommendations, best practices and suggestions for mitigating the issues.
  • Learners should establish goals. If learners are not driven to set goals for themselves, instructional designers must aid in the development of these goals. Once learning goals are set, instructional designers must create and facilitate instruction that helps accomplish these goals.
• Good instructional design allows users to experience and interact with the content.
  • It is okay to learn by doing and learn by making mistakes.
• Instructional Designers don many hats, including that of producer, coordinator, and facilitator.