Blueprint

So we start our instructional design process with a blueprint, or what we used to call a "design document."  It's basically a plan for what you intend to do.

Key to the blueprint, at least for me, is identifying who the students are.  Who they are, where they are, what their background knowledge is, who is there to help them, where they want to go.

Students We know the students come from a vast array of backgrounds. Increasingly, adults.  Many students who have failed the course already. Kids at home with babies, caring for grandparents, sick parents and more. Kids with mental illness, most commonly clinical depression to the point they cannot get out of bed.  Debilitating anxiety. Kids who have been bullied and are afraid to go to school. Homeschoolers who have perhaps never attended a regular school and don't know protocols, for lack of a better word. Kids in other countries. Elite athletes, although not that many of those.  Kids who work part time. ESL students. Aboriginal kids. Kids in outreach programmes. And regular classroom students for whom the course does not fit into a timetable.There may be lots of supports or none at all. There may be strong background knowledge or limited to no formal academics.  And what to do with that information?  What does this mean for our instruction?

Goals Their goals vary, from simply getting a passing grade so they can move to the next grade and graduate, to kids trying to get top marks for scholarships and post secondary entrance.

Those things all have to be considered.

Outcomes Then we look at outcomes. What needs to be covered? (or "uncovered" as some say).

Resources What resources do we have? What can we get? Is there a prescribed or supplemental textbook? An online resource that already exists?

Supports Then we determine was supports are needed. Do we need editors and peer reviewers and web designers and writers and copyright people and digital designers? (Usually yes to all of those things) Are there extra things needed, say videographers or animators or meetings with experts or other teachers or designers of interactives? (less common, but often required)

Assessments. Formative and summative. Authentic. Practical. Automated self tests, automated feedback, reflective activities, group work, discussion postings, creative work, audio, video, visual, essays and questions, opportunities for interaction? What's appropriate? What's feasible? Is there a provincial exam? Do we teach and assess appropriately for students to succeed on those high stakes tests? 

Now we take all that and put it in the blender and see what comes out.

My key information is in a binder. On the binder is a sticker my daughter brought back from Alaska when she snowshoed at the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska. It's from the U.S. Military recruitment booth.  It reads "An Army of One."  I have a whole team of people there to support me but sometimes it feels like it's all on me.  As they say, "with great power comes great responsibility."