Announcements

Welcome! This course was developed to help you understand how to apply the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) process to your work in CSI. ISD provides the structure for building projects, gathering and analyzing related information, organizing various components of a project, and making sound decisions for developing effective solutions. The ISD process can be applied to any CSI project, such as the development of a training program or demonstration, writing articles or tutorials, creating a video, designing a Web site or splash page, etc. ISD provides the individual and/or project team the ability to use a systematic approach (also called systems thinking) to organize the beginning, ongoing development, and completion of a project.

A Word About the Design of the Course

The structure of the course includes three conferences with corresponding materials and the ISD Project Plan and Presentation assignment. The discussions are designed to engage participants in conversation with colleagues to promote learning in a collaborative environment. The assignment is designed to demonstrate understanding of ISD processes related to job duties in CSI.

Materials: One of the client goals for this course was that participants would be able to easily identify materials for their individual needs and level of knowledge to meet the course objectives. Taking into consideration that CSI staff have a variety of ISD / ID levels of understanding, specific information on a topic, usually in the form of quotes by specialists, is provided along with source links to gather more details on the subject matter. These sources are designed to be straightforward and practical, however more information on the subject matter can be found under the supplemental materials lists for each topic. Additional resource materials are also available in the Syllabus.

Conferences: The conferences have three specific purposes: 1) to assist with synthesizing the materials and consider how to use ISD in your CSI work; 2) to provide a place to share ideas and have meaningful conversation about improving CSI processes; and 3) to assist with developing your project plan assignment deliverables and presentation. The discussion questions are a jumping-off point to get you started; take the time to answer the questions posted but also feel free to expand the discussions further.

Navigating the Class

• Course Content provides the materials that correspond with the conferences.
  
• Source materials for the course are both embedded in the text in Course Content and organized by subject matter in the syllabus under Course Materials.
  
• Grading and expectations for discussions and the project plan assignment can be found in the syllabus.
  
• The ISD Project Plan and Presentation assignment description is available under Course Content. You may want to briefly review the details of this assignment as a first step to better understand the purpose, goal, and time management for this course. 
  
• The Questions Cafe conference will be used to document questions and answers so that everyone benefits from the answers to your important questions. 
  

Time management tip: Check the conference questions and activities at the beginning of each week to help you focus on specific areas of the course materials listed in the Course Content area.