If Instructional Designers Ran The World
Did you ever wonder what it would be like if instructional designers ran the world? Imagine the contributions instructional designers would make to society if they were in charge. In fact, imagine if training in Instructional Design were a prerequisite for any executive, legislative or leadership position.
Ah, what a wonderful world it would be.
IF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNERS RAN THE WORLD…
All highway and road signs would make sense.
Signs would be written and rewritten until they were the epitome of perfection. Road signs would never confuse the reader nor have multiple meanings. Signs like the one below would be immediately removed.
Everyone would know their objectives.
Enough of this silliness. We can’t have people running around not sure of their goals and objectives. If instructional designers ran the world, things would run smoothly because the analysis and identification of personal objectives would be a prerequisite for doing anything. Many people would probably just stay in bed.
Every device would have an instructional diagram on its surface.
You can never have too many opportunities to learn. After writing all those courses, don’t you kind of wonder how everything works? If we had our say, there would be a simple schematic diagram on every device and machine. Then we’d all have a better understanding of the world.
There would be job aids for every life situation.
Who says life doesn’t come with an instruction manual? We can at least try. Wouldn’t you love job aids for parenting, relationships, and all those sticky work situations? I can just imagine all those wonderful decision charts now.
We wouldn’t let statistics lie; it’s not instructionally appropriate.
When your job involves communicating information that is accurate and realistic, stretching the facts just won’t do. We prefer to design learning experiences with creativity, but lying with statistics is not an acceptable treatment. This would be in violation of the ID Code.
We would outlaw multimedia incompatibility issues.
Forget worrying about MOV, FLV, MPEG-4 and A4V video formats. If instructional designers ran the world, all multimedia incompatibilities would be legal violations. There would be only one streamlined video format and one audio format. In addition, when you moved files between the Mac and PC, nothing would shift or change. This would be strongly enforced.
When your kids misbehave, they would be required to get online attitudinal training.
Let’s not forget the importance of attitudinal training. It has the potential for changing minds and behaviors by speaking to the emotions. Why should parents have to repeat themselves until they’re exhausted? Just send your kids to the online attitudinal training center!
We would replace “There’s an app for that.” with, “There’s a course for that.”
There would be so many opportunities for structured, unstructured, formal and informal online learning, that Apple would need to change its slogan.
That….is….AWESOME!
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Yes, and if we believe, some day it will all come true.
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Funny!
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I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve said these things… I believe, I believe.
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Oh, Connie… thank you for writing this!
We IDs don’t want to “take over” the world, we just want to make it an even better place to live and work.
Your post is a Classic and I’ll recommend it to others.
Love it!
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Well done!
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Actually, Jenise, we do want to take over the world. Well, I do. But I would be very nice about it.
Connie — fabulous post, as always.
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Hey everyone. I’m glad this could bring a smile (and unbridled ambition) to your lives.
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So true! You don’t know how many times, my ID colleagues and I have said, “If we only ruled the world…”
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Hi Karen,
Well it’s good to know I’m not the only egomaniacal person around. And Cammy can join us! As she said, we’d be very nice about it =D
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Oh my — how much do I love that jet plane?
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Loved this! I think you should have added an area about over complicating things. I like to do this in my course designs as I am not very bright and ignore my colleagues advice!
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what about adding courses have to have overworked and complicated images just to show that I can do them.
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Good one, Andrew.
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I know I am coming in a little late to this post…Wow..Connie
Fun, creative, brilliant!
In addition to being an ID I help young adults with career counselling. What if this was a part of a career choice tool. If you read this and say “that’s me” “that’s me” then you are a natural ID
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Thanks, Lori. Funny to use it as a career choice tool! (If you can’t stand to see disorganized information, if stupid road signs drive you crazy … then Instructional Design is your field.)
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That is Awesome !
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Wouldn’t there also be steaming piles of irrelevant garbage lining the sidewalks? So many great things that ID’s can bring to the table. Too often, not so great.
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Hi Johnny,
Well, that’s another way of looking at things =D
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I loved it. Very well put indeed.
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Yes, let an Instructional designer rule every big/small department and government body, then we won’t see the ambiguity that we see in this present world. Will have an e-learning module to address every situation as much as we have the revelation on the topic by the Creator.
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We could have a House of Horrors. The only way to enter the house would be to press a flashing green button with a sign that says – Click Next to continue.
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Connie Malamed Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 8:24 pm
What a wild idea!
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Ah, if we Instructional Designers had time and resources enough, what a world we could create, where miscommunication would be a crime. Of course, we would come up against vested interests, such as politicians, the military and car salesmen, but what the heck! love your idea! At least dreams are inexpensive, oops, cheap!
Cheers,
Richard
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Connie Malamed Reply:
August 31st, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Ha ha. Thanks for your opinion, Richard
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If Instructional Designers ruled the world, this would never happen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-5mbwiCpW8&feature=share&noredirect=1
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Connie Malamed Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 7:23 am
I can’t believe someone made that video. So funny. Thanks, Leah.
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