In recent years, people seem to be working on a faster and faster pace. A student journalist will call on a Tues. for an article that will run on Wed. Faculty will call or email with a request for research or advisement, and they’ll want to meet in a day or two. Or two weeks before a grant application is due, the head of a department will arrange a meeting, and the work involves instructional design, research, writing, a letter of support, and logo development.

For all the above endeavors, the deadlines were met, and the projects have all moved forward well. I’m not sure why there are such short time deadlines, and it may be because instructional design comes as an afterthought.

If I cannot meet a deadline, I’ll most definitely say so. However, I’ll do my best to make a deadline if at all possible. So what does it take to give a speedy, quality response?

Extreme Research and Instructional Design

Extreme research is doable if I know where the research is. I know the general databases. I know the general geography of the library. I try hard to familiarize myself with the broad outlines of a subject field.

Of course, many faculty also want some rudimentary knowledge of their respective fields, and that may add a steeper learning curve. With sufficient support and some time and maybe bringing work home, this can also be achieved.

For fast instructional design, I rely on the instructors in the field to tell me how they regularly teach. I gauge their familiarity with the various e-learning technologies. Then, I’ll put together the pedagogical rationales based on the theories that apply. This is somewhat similar to that apocryphal story of lawyers.

You set up the situation, and you ask the lawyer: What does the law say about this situation? The lawyer: What do you want it to say?

In a sense, as an ID, I can rationalize any number of different instructional design solutions for various teaching and learning situations. There are often many instructional solutions… This is a kind of equifinality.

Spoiled about Speed

I have become used to fast responses. Our legal counsel promises a few-day turnaround for the types of questions I have for them. The IRB provides feedback on research within a work week, or by the second week of the query in most cases.

Too much of a lag takes the wind out of a project.