Instructional Design Common Mistakes

Instructional design is a large and complex topic, but the main thing about it is creating effective learning materials resulting to learners to be able to obtain the knowledge and skills they need.

Although there are clear guidelines given to follow, your content may still lack perfection. But of course, we are only human. It may be difficult to have materials that is absolutely free of any single error but we can still try to minimize them or avoid them completely.

If you face difficulties in getting the results that you were looking to achieve, you may need to identify mistakes that you might have overlooked. Here are several common mistakes in instructional design that you should avoid.

1.????Don’t overlook the importance of analysis and objectives

As analysis is the most important step, it is best to do it properly and thoroughly from the beginning. This is very crucial in figuring out what works best.

The objectives of a course must state clearly what learners should know or able to do at the end. The input/content must address the set of learning objectives for learners.

Otherwise, there’s no way of knowing whether the contents created are working. Or what are the improvements needed moving forward. Improper analysis and without clear objectives, the course is likely to wander rather than deliver.

The best approach to this is to make the learner the number one priority.

2.????There are no one-size-fits-all solution

Do not use the same content over and over again for all your courses. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. A custom approach is always required or it would not contribute to the learning experience.

Irrelevant contents can break the connection that you are trying to build with your learners. There are portions of contents or important bits of information that you can re-use in different courses as long as it is relevant to whatever information that you need to deliver. Prioritise the results that you need the learners to achieve at the end of it.

3.????Unclear Instructions

There is nothing worse than an unclear instruction. The instructions for activities and assessments must be clearly stated in order to not confuse learners. Failure to do so may cause frustrations resulting in the learner skipping certain activities or not completing important assessments or worse yet, having them leave the course halfway.

Good instructions should be simple and brief as to be easy understood. It should be able to guide learners easily through what they need to do.

4.????Illogical Flow

In creating contents, you should also make information flow smoothly in a logical manner. This way, learners will find it easy to relate from the previous page to the next. Learners may be in the middle of figuring out one thing to another, by flipping through the pages one by one.

Having the contents flow nicely from the current page to the next will help them in understanding and retaining the information. Learners may also be able to recall certain information given and linking it with the activities during the course.

5.????Too Much Text at Once

A lot of writing in one screen can be very off-putting for learners. It would feel like a lot of work having to read through a lot of things at one go, not to mention very difficult to stay engaged when you’re reading too many things on the topic you’re just started to learn.

When the information to present is too long on a single screen, you can split or break them into shorter paragraphs, subheadings, point forms or lists.

This way, it will help convey information accurately and efficiently without loading the learners with long winding texts in one shot. It would also guide learners to focus on key points.

6.????Spelling and Grammar Errors

Spelling and grammar are very crucial in contents and perfect usage of them are highly expected especially in learning materials. Typos and errors are bound to be made at times but it may leave a bad impression on the course. These mistakes can be avoided by doing a spell check.

Errors are not only on spellings and grammars but you may also need to be careful on the use of punctuation marks as sometimes pronouncing it and writing it can be different.

Example:

Oh dear I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.

“Oh dear! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Note: The correct use of quotation marks, exclamation point and comma helps in making the dialogue better.

7.????Inconsistent Use of Fonts

Seeing different fonts here and there can be a nuisance and can distract a learner from reading. It is best to ensure that the font style and the font size used are consistent throughout the course.

8.????Copyright and Plagiarism Concerns

Copyright is a major concern in creating learning materials as it not only affects the course but also your organization. Plagiarism means using contents such as articles, paragraphs, pictures, diagrams, songs or tunes, etc that does not belong to you. It is best that you develop your own contents rather than use or even copy and paste the exact same thing you find on the internet.

If you are looking to download and use images safely, you can purchase them at Shutterstock, Getty images and Canva to name a few.

There is the plagiarism.org website that helps identify plagiarized sentences and phrases if you are ever in doubt when creating your contents. This website will help you check and keep you out of copyright issues.

There are probably a lot more common mistakes that you may come across upon receiving feedbacks from your learners, in which you can add up to the list.?

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. There’s always room for improvement so don’t worry too much. Information may change from time to time or you may discover new things that can be of use for your contents. Whatever it is, as long as it helps in delivering effective learning experience, and you are not committing any major instructional design mistakes, you’re good to go!