The Learner

My view of ID changed as I considered the importance of the learner. While working at a daycare, I was always told that the children were the focus of everything we do. Also, as a school bus driver, we are told that we don't drive children to school, we provide a safe environment for children as we transport them to school. Even in my training thus far as a seminary teacher, we are told about the importance of the learner. However, like many things in life, discovering the importance of the learner comes over time.

What I've learned recently is this: in ID, the learner needs to be first and foremost in your mind during every step. While Analysis includes the learner, this doesn't fulfill your responsibility to them. Even in the objective, the learner needs to be considered in order to be effective (i.e. the characteristics of the learner will determine the the difficulty of the instruction). For example, while a 10th grade chemistry teacher covers the periodic table over the course of a month and students will simply know the names of the periods. In the same time, a college professor may skip the names, but teach the attributes of each period, number of valence electrons, reactivity, and electronegativity. While curriculum may determine such things, that curriculum was determined with the learner in mind.

In the end, an incorrect understanding of your learners can make your entire instruction completely worthless. So a designer will constantly be asking how effective, efficient, and appealing the design is to the learner.