Week 1 Reflection 1
This week my contact with businesses has been limited due to being on vacation to celebrate my mom’s birthday with my sisters, but I did go to the airport. The airport, especially the ticket counters and TSA check points are is filled with instructional design. However, it is dependent on the traveler being observant and prepared. Some of governments attempts to have passengers prepared are successful and other’s not so much.
While standing in the long line waiting to pass through security there are a few informational signs throughout the queue instructing passengers of their rights under 504, the technology used in the full body scanner and the device to test sealed bottles of liquid, i.e. breast milk. While the signs are somewhat informational they are not large enough, lack contrasting colors for easy visibility, and the placement in the middle of the queue is too late for some. It was very nice of the TSA to post a sign about the full body scanner but the information was not visible until right at the point of passing through the device. How is someone to make an informed decision about the technology on that split second decision with a queue of people waiting, impatiently, to get through. Yes, I know someone could take the time and research this prior to arriving at the airport, but seriously how many people do that. Location and visibility is key. The one sign I do not recall seeing or maybe I was just not that observant is the need to follow 3-1-1 rule for carry on luggage. Depending on how experienced the traveler is this rule causes a lot of traffic jams and heartache at the inspection point including for my sister.
My sister and her husband are avid rowers and want everyone to have the same love and obsession with it that they have. To help them in this quest they purchased a special rowing shell to help others learn to row, but the shell did not come with rigging and they purchased the Oarmaster V to go with the boat. This brings me to my next experience with instructional design, the assembly of the Oarmaster V. My brother in law likes to joke how many Carriere’s does it take to complete a task, this one took all 4.
We unpackaged the pieces organized all the parts and began the task of assembling the rigging, only problem was the directions were a mixture of the 2nd and 3rd iteration of the device not the current iteration. The directions did include an addendum with pictures of the current model assembly, but provided limited views. The directions would have been satisfactory for the 2nd or 3rd iteration, but because components had changed and some pieces came preassembled the directions were not helpful. Had the directions provided actual sizes of the hardware and the correct parts with accompanying photos, the directions would have been workable. While following the directions or lack thereof, I almost called and asked if I could recreate their directions as my project, but we were too far into the assembly process to take it apart and start over.
To me instructional design takes on a lot of faces. I think most people think about it terms of creating courses and how material is going to be taught and presented, but it goes beyond that, it is instructions, signage, and training to name a few. How one designs is dependent on the needs of the client and the intended audience. If the audience is familiar with the material the design and instruction will take on a different form and look compared to that for a novice.
Thoughts on Instructional Design 