Instructional design in the real world: learning content for the way people learn and work

Working practitioners know there is a gap between instructional design work on paper and instructional design work in reality.  The process is rarely as smooth and linear as books and charts and preparatory courses would have us believe: We walk a path fraught with conflicting demands, budgetary and regulatory constraints, and unrealistic expectations of what training can accomplish (and even whether training is indicated at all) and often take on roles far beyond our job descriptions. The truth is, if you put 10 instructional designers in a room and have them share those job descriptions, you’ll find that every ID job is defined in sometimes drastically different ways.

In this panel session experienced practitioners and authors Cammy Bean, Julie Dirksen, and Jane Bozarth will guide the audience through tips focused on not so much on what IDers do but how as IDs in the "real world" we can get things done to make a lasting impact on our organizations.

• Working with stakeholders, including discussion of when and how to push back
• Basic business acumen
• The problems with sacred L&D cows like “ROI”, SMART goals, and Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Some of L&D’s dirty little secrets (hints: the Indecisive Manager; the Data Conundrum) 
• The problem of being asked to wear Too Many Hats
• The one non-design skill all employers want