The instructional design course and the completion of it, was huge for me.

In my role as manger of training and partner support, I was assigned to lead a team to develop a deeper organizational understanding of college readiness. Arriving at this understanding included an extensive review of the current literature and trends in this field, assimilating the information to identify key learning and creating an organizational understanding and approach for what this might mean for our work and the work of our programs. Early into this process, the team of five quickly became a solo endeavor. Our organization began to restructure. Uncomfortable with this new direction, many people resigned their positions and left. Knowing that this project could not be successfully completed in a vacuum, I scrambled to figure out how to get the input needed to make the outcome a quality learning experience for all involved. It made sense to me, that I could use work assignment for my instructional design project. It would be a win for the organization, and I would have more input from others closer to instructional design work (my peer in the online community). In addition, my project would have relevant and meaningful real world applications. As I began this course, and the project, I initially struggled to understand how what happens in the context of instructional design, differs from that which I had done as a teacher and trainer. I soon realized that with instructional design, there is a much deeper, more thorough approach and understanding of the structures, strategies and approaches being used as compared to lesson or activity development. Soon I began to better understood what the authors meant when they stated: Do teachers not involve in curriculum design projects use instructional design principles and procedures? Indeed, they doHowever, those trained in systematic instructional design tend to engage in these activities more consistently, thoroughly and reflectively than their untrained colleagues (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 13). Instructional design takes the development of learning experiences to a different level. There is a much more detailed and intentional approach to how learning experiences are designed and delivered. It is also, a much more time consuming endeavor as the authors state (and I can now attest to): Another key aspect of instructional design is its extensive and demanding nature. Experienced designers (not to mention novices) frequently express concern about the time and effort that they expend applying what is currently known about designing effective, efficient, and appealing instruction (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 7). In retrospect, I had no idea what I had bitten off as a first attempt at learning instructional design. At one point, I was going to stop with a half completed assignment, but after the encouragement of my instructor, I persisted and Im glad it did. My learning was immense, and the outcome was something I was proud to have completed. It was not totally perfect; but overall, this was a major accomplishment for me!