ID Secret Handshakes: First Round

Regardless of where you learned your craft, whether you have a graduate degree or not, whatever the market sector where you work -  there are certain things that people working in instructional design settings do that make themselves unique from, say, a web designer or a graphic artist or an LMS manager.

While the following "know 'em when you see 'em" attributes are a little bit tongue-in-cheek, these really are some of the initial things I notice when I'm sorting "real deal" IDs from the pretenders and wanna-bes. Sort of like the elimination round on a reality show:

• "Real" IDs call ourselves IDs. And we know just what we are talking about when we call ourselves that. No need to go through the loooooong explanation that ID stands for intructional design, because of course that means we have to explain what instructional design is, and we all know what a drag THAT can be.

• We all make fun of ADDIE. If you DON'T make fun of ADDIE, then other *real* IDs will make fun of you. They won't even bother to go behind your back. If you need for me to explain what ADDIE is then you are really not even eligible to be reading this blogpost.

• We've never met a learning theory we didn't like. I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing. The learning theories we love become our "colors". Let your freak flag fly high.

• "We don't need no stinkin' numbers". I know some of us are really smart number crunchers. Still. in the World o' ID, measurement is a necessary evil, we much prefer "qualitative research", and evaluation typically dismissed by saying "oh, our customers won't pay for it". As if that's really a good enough reason to not evaluate one's work.

• In our hearts we believe we are artists. We are engaged in the creative expression of new ideas and information. We want to design experiences that engage and inspire. Nobody really understands us.

• We love new technology. We love innovation. These days we really love social media and i-products. But that will change. Trust me. There's always something new and bright and shiny.
  
  
• We love to share. We love sharing more than just about anything in the entire world. We post, we present, we tweet, we blog, we write articles and books and white papers. We especially love to share our slides. Thank you for sharing.

How about you? How do you know 'em when you see 'em? What are some of your favorite techniques for cutting the good IDs out of the herd??

Comments

[Holly Hooper]

Having passionate and deeply held convictions regarding objectives definitely is a mark of the "club." I like to also let my "freak flag" fly with my daily, weekly, or monthly soapboxes about learning and the ID process.

[Judy Unrein]

LOL! I can't believe I missed this post when it happened. Keep up the good work, Ellen.

[Julie Dirksen]

Nice list!

The one I always notice is not using the word "understand" in learning objectives -- I've always thought of that as an instructional design secret handshake. It's not a deeply held conviction for me, but I get why it makes some folks irate.

Come to think of it, having deeply held convictions about learning objectives (and I do have some) is probably another ID secret handshake.

And, I tend to think ADDIE is more misunderstood, but we've already kind of had that conversation :) http://bit.ly/ljthxI

[ellen wagner]

thanks richard, I'm glad for more "secret handshakes". While this *is* a light-hearted piece, the issue of recognizing fellow practitioners, understanding their background, training, values, contexts, etc. for creating learning designs that leverage technology is quite serious stuff, at least for me. Thanks for jumping in.

[Richard Clark]

That's a nice, lighthearted list!

One of the big differences: "we (IDs) focus more on behaviors than content." We're more interested in what a person does differently as a result of our work than how much content they were "exposed to".

Another: We're big on context, as in "I'm not just going to show you the maillard reaction, I'm going to show you how it applies to baking bread, cooking bacon, etc."

(And dare I suggest a third? We know that powerpoint and a voice alone don't ensure learning, and struggle to explain that to non-IDs.)

...R