What is a pedagogical concept or instructional design?
Instructional design is a fundamental step in the holistic education process. It is mainly about creating materials or activities according to the learners needs. These needs are physical, digital and electronic. However, we are not just talking about creating materials, but much more about adapting the subject to be learned to the needs, problems and strengths of the learner. This understanding is very important, as it gives the learners clear and simpler instructions.
For this reason, pedagogical design is a complete process, as it represents a combination of psychology, education and communication with the aim of creating curricula.
What does instructional design consist of?
The didactic concept consists of 5 steps with the English abbreviation ADDIE: analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation.
In the analysis phase the course content, the learner’s reactions to the learning itself, possible resources, problems and influences are taken into account.
Once the analysis is completed, we already have the basis on which we can design our plan. In the design phase of the process, a kind of thumbnail is created about what we want to teach. For example, we can note the goals to be achieved, some ideas for exercises/activities that can be done and elements that are inserted or excerpts of the lesson.
In the development step this thumbnail is to be specified. Aspects such as instructions, teaching materials and lessons to be taught are included here.
In the implementation, the plan, which we earlier have created together with the learners, is implemented and checked for all functions. During this step, we need to check whether the instructions are understood by the target audience and whether the targeted skills and goals have been imparted. Here it can also be checked whether the plan and the materials can also be used in other environments, such as digital.
Finally, we come to the final stage, evaluation. There are two different ways of carrying out this evaluation: continuous respectively creative or summary evaluation. The first evaluation is carried out throughout the whole development process and the second one at the end of the completed course. That way the user can see how much they`ve learned.
What aspects of the student should be taken into account?
We must bear in mind that the main focus is on the learner himself and not the technology. Here, instructional design works as an instrument to achieve the objectives of the educational program.
How does it adapt to digital education or e-learning?
Today, education has gone a step further. A good example of this is the fact that some companies already offer their employees online training to improve their working methods and thus enable them to achieve their goals together.
With regard to the e-learning environment, in particular in the internal training of enterprises, teaching or educational design is an essential component, as it does not only include materials with which to work, but also the creation of whole courses according to specific training and marketing is geared to the satisfaction of consumers. Furthermore, if required, a good education also allows for a new adjustment or realignment of the course as well as a flexible adaptation to the respective user.
In addition, it should be added that in contrast to traditional education, where the main burden is distributed to content and its dissemination, online education becomes increasingly necessary in the educational context and the existence of a kind of “guide”, as tutoring and programming become more important.
How is educational design incorporated into the company?
In the case of a company, instructional design is of particular importance, as we must add it not only to the educational goals, but also to the goals of the company, related to marketing as well as leadership development and other skills required for the proper functioning of the company (problem solving, moderation, patience or teamwork). For this reason, creativity in this environment is very necessary in order to be able to combine educational and business goals.
What role does Digital Latam play?
Digital Latam is a company that specializes in enterprise e-learning and is focused on bringing together these two elements we discussed earlier. The modality of e-learning education offers the benefit of learning at your own pace while achieving specific goals. For this reason, Digital Latam is based on the principles of interaction, accessibility and gamification.
The e-learning methods contain the components of communication, education and creative collaboration in order to involve every learner in a special way. In other words, the learning experience should be enjoyable and productive. The main objective is to put value in
On the other hand, the soft skills of your employees can also be indirectly strengthened, as the development of these courses is a challenge for them and additionally promotes communication with others and strengthens joint problem solving.
