Developing Instructional Materials

Criteria: Evidence of creating instructional materials (lectures, readings, textbooks, multimedia components, Open Educational Resources, simulations, and other resources) in a variety of formats (online, eLearning, face-to-face, blended, micro learning, paper or digital, etc.)

Artifact: ILE Lesson Plan and Brief

Reflection

For the competency of “Produce instructional materials in a variety of delivery formats,” I used a brief lesson plan I created as both an instructional designer and instructor. This lesson was part of the analysis class I taught.

I chose these artifacts because they showcased a time when I was both the SME and the instructional designer. It was actually one of my first projects, where I took a hands-on approach to the course material from both perspectives. It also showed me that, although instructional designers are trained in different processes, everyone may have their own way of doing them.

This unit was developed as part of a two-week analysis course. The course has been around for years (I took it as a student in 2016), but it’s very practical and concludes with a real-world scenario. Although the course was excellent and had great instructors, the course material wasn’t the best. They initially only used PowerPoint briefs, the test, and materials prepared for the final scenario. 

 During COVID, the course was inactive and rewritten. The instructors did the rewrite without an instructional designer, which is why I was brought in. I was the best of both worlds because I could help modify the course as an instructional designer and also serve as an SME from my time as a Navy analyst. I was able to create lesson plans for the course. It’s a simplified version, but the idea is that when the instructors come in, they add their own scripting to the teaching points. In addition to the TLOs and LOs, the lesson plan included a schedule. This helped keep the instructors on track; without it, they might exceed their allotted time because they added too many instances to their scripts. The time in the lesson plan indicates the degree of flexibility they may have.

This experience with this artifact did a few things for me. It enabled me to take on two roles in the process: an SME and an instructional designer. I also made updates to a course I initially attended as a student. The only thing I would have done differently is to work more closely with the other SMEs to share techniques for course updates. I’m no longer on this team and wasn’t replaced, so because of that, I feel I should have shown at least one of the instructors some instructional design processes.