The 10 Commandments of Instructional Design (According to ChatGPT)
As all of you know by now, I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT. A few weeks ago, I was wondering what would happen if I asked ChatGPT to write about instructional design in a certain way. In theory, could I ask the AI platform to speak about instructional design, but with a twist. That’s how I happened to come up with the idea of asking ChatGPT to write the 10 commandments of instructional design and to make it sound like they came from the Bible. Sure enough it gave me 10 commandments and it was too good not to share. Apparently, you all agreed as now just on LinkedIn with the original post, it’s up to 225K impressions. The majority of folks who commented and shared this post found it funny, but also, ChatGPT did a pretty darn good job of forming the 10 commandments. So, on today’s episode, I want to break these down. Talk more about the science and theories behind them and share a few things along the way. So, here we go.
1. Thou shalt begin with the end in mind, for the design of instruction must serve a specific purpose and achieve a specific goal.
Beginning with the end in mind is something I’ve shared with you many times on the blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. This is the essence of backward design. First, we start with the end goals in mind and then work our way backwards. This allows us as designers to think more about the problem we are trying to solve with training and education. This leads us to forming learning objectives that are clear, concise, and transparent for our students and learners. As we move through the design process, we should always be thinking about these objectives and making sure that whatever we create for assessments, activities, and content will always link back to the overarching goals. When we think about the end results, they become our North Star to guide us along the way and serve as a reminder to think if what we are including in the learning experience will help our students and learners achieve these goals.
I also love in this commandment that it mentions serving a specific purpose. Instructional designers have faced the dreaded “braindump” where other parties try to include a million items into the learning experience and it becomes information overload. What goes into a learning experience should indeed be purposeful. Students and learners should be able to visualize the reason we are asking them to complete an assessment or an activity. It should be clear and concrete in the why behind the ask.
2. Thou shalt know thy audience, for the design of instruction must be tailored to the needs, abilities, and interests of those who will receive it.
Research is crucial for an instructional designer and simply put, you need to know your target audience. The more you can have a sense of their levels of prior knowledge, their expectations of the training and course, the more you can design a learning experience that will speak to them. This is crucial when working with adults too because when we can involve them in their own learning process, the more likely they will want to contribute and complete the course, training, program, etc. I do this research process with the courses I teach about instructional design and it’s so helpful with trying to figure out how to customize the activities and content based around their goals and expectations. For instance, let’s say I am teaching an instructional design course and I tailored all of the learning material and exercises to reflect that of an instructional designer in higher education. This immediately serves as a disadvantage to anyone taking the course who has a background in corporate, free-lance, government, non-profits, K-12, etc. Instead, multiple perspectives could be added into the learning experience and we can even go so far as to create different forms of learning paths to fully speak to those backgrounds.
3. Thou shalt use examples and stories to make instruction more memorable and meaningful, for the power of narrative is great.
It’s no secret that storytelling is a powerful tool. It’s how we as a society have passed down information from generation to generation. For this commandment, telling stories and sharing examples of the real-world will make the information stick. If you have ever attended one of my workshops before about instructional design, you’ll know that I’m a storyteller. I’ve found that a winning recipe for teaching participants is to describe the idea, share a story about the importance of the idea, and then walk them through how to do the idea on their own. For instance, if I’m speaking about project-based learning, I’ll talk about why it’s an effective learning strategy. Then, share a story about how I’ve designed web design courses before where students have a goal of creating an entire website, but they submit smaller pieces for feedback from their instructor. Eventually, they have a fully developed website by the end of the course. Lastly, I’ll then share with participants how to apply PBL into their own designs. This is just one approach and it’s coming from an instructor perspective.
Instructional designers can craft powerful scenario-based assignments using their own innovation and technology to make the scenario come alive. There can also be role-playing activities with scripts based on real-world cases or find case studies that will speak to the audience’s needs. Creative stories and design go hand-in-hand.
4. Thou shalt break instruction into manageable pieces, for the mind can only absorb so much at once.
This is talking about chunking content. If you have ever sat in a lecture before where the instructor talked at you for 3 hours and you realized that you didn’t retain anything afterwards, this is an example of what not to do. When you can chunk the content into smaller and more manageable pieces, you’re on the right track. For instructional designers, we face this challenge quite a bit. For instance, I’ve worked with SMEs before who want to create extremely elaborate and lengthy videos to describe a process, but I need to show them how it’s more effective to divide these into smaller sections. Chunking videos into 5-7 minutes in length and spacing them out over the module with activities and assessments, will be far more effective than front loading the learning experience with long-formed exploratory content.
5. Thou shalt repeat key concepts and reinforce learning through practice, for repetition is the mother of retention.
If there had to be one commandment that sparked questioning and conversation, it would be this one. Here is how I interpreted this one, as instructional designers, we care about retrieval practice and practicing in general. What is retrieval practice? Retrieval practice is the act of recalling information from memory rather than simply re-reading or re-studying it. The idea behind it is that by actively retrieving information, you strengthen the neural pathways associated with that knowledge, making it easier to remember in the future. Remember how your teacher would give you a pop quiz and everyone would groan because it was hard to recall the information? Well, your teacher was spot on for how to effectively make your memory stronger. The real power of retrieval practice is when you can space out your practicing. Cramming the night before with flashcards isn’t as effective as practicing every other day for weeks.
In my doctoral program, I had to take comprehensive exams. These exams were designed to test my knowledge on what I learned throughout the program pertaining to leadership, sociocultural issues, and research. The exams could consist of different topics and because of that, I had to study in several areas. These exams were taken in a classroom with no wi-fi or access to resources so I had to memorize my answers. To do this, I would describe a hypothetical question, write out as much as I could to answer the question, review my research and notes, and then repeat this process 2 days later. Eventually, I was able to memorize several pages of answers because of the effectiveness of retrieval practice and the spacing effect.
6. Thou shalt use varied and engaging activities to maintain interest and promote learning, for a bored mind cannot learn.
One gripe I have about online learning experiences is how repetitive they are and lack creativity. I have enrolled in many, many online courses before and most of them follow this exact pattern: reading, discussion post, and then submit a paper. Now, is there anything wrong with readings, discussions, or papers? No, not at all, but eventually, students and learners will recognize the same patterns and become bored. When you can already predict what the module is going to look like before the module is released, that’s not a great experience. Almost my entire Master’s degree was in this format and it drove me nuts. In order to try and make it more exciting, I used to do all my work at 11 PM and try to submit everything before the due date of midnight. So, with all that said, being able to create a variety of ways to keep your students and learners engaged is essential.
This entire blog and podcast could be about ways to do this, so I’ll try to keep it short. My first recommendation would be to use several kinds of learning strategies when appropriate. Scenario-based learning, project-based learning, team-based learning, simulations, gamification, microlearning, narratives, case studies, and more can all be utilized to make a meaningful learning experience. Depending upon a number of circumstances can dictate which ones to use over others. This can also be applied to learning activities with practice questions, discussions, reflections, matching, drag and drop, check your understanding questions, etc. Usually, this comes down to the project size and scope, budget, resources, time, energy, etc. The point isn’t to throw the whole kitchen sink into this equation, but find the right ones that will serve your target audience. Even breaking up the monotony just a little bit can wow some of your deprived participants.
The other recommendation is to use different modalities for your content. You could take one piece of content and transform this into a reading, video, and podcast. Every time I have done this for my students, they always appreciate the variety. Your participants enjoy content in different ways so why not provide for them as many options as possible? Yes, it does take quite a bit of time and effort, but it’s worth it. As a content creator, I try to do this as much as possible and you can see a few examples on my website with how I do this. Overall, your students and learners would love to see your creativity and having more options and flexibility in their learning experiences.
7. Thou shalt make instruction relevant to the real world, for application of knowledge is the true measure of learning.
This commandment comes straight out of the work of Dr. Malcom Knowles and his Six Principles. What we know from these principles is that our students and learners need to see the real-world connection to what they will be experiencing. They need to know the why behind the ask and how it’s going to help them. When I design learning experiences, my goal is to have students be able to use what they’ve learned immediately into the workplace or their academic journeys. When students can connect the dots and see how what they are learning about is going to immediately help them with solving a problem or moving on to the next step, they are far more likely to continue taking the course or the training. When it’s abstract and doesn’t tie into next steps they can visualize, it’s going to be a problem.
There are several approaches on how to make learning relevant to the real-world, but I’ll tell you about two of them that I’ve found to be effective with adult learners. The first is scenario-based learning or as you might know it as “SBL.” This is when we create a hypothetical scenario that relates to the real-world and our learners put themselves in the shoes of a character and try to think how they would solve the issue or move forwards. This is effective because it gives our participants the chance to think about all the different kinds of impacts their decisions would have. You can design several branches in SBL to show the consequences of their actions. The other approach is with case studies. Instead of taking a hypothetical approach, this time we take a deep dive into a real complex problem and explore what happened. There are case studies out there for every subject, but they are extremely popular within business, communications, culture, leadership, etc. You can find many of them at Harvard Business Review.
8. Thou shalt use assessments to gauge learning and adjust instruction accordingly, for the wise instructor heeds the feedback of the learner.
I’m so glad ChatGPT put this commandment in here. As both an instructional designer and an instructor, incorporating student voice into my assessments is a critical part of my course’s development. In January, I started to teach at the University of Miami’s Ed.D. Program in the Applied Learning Sciences. The first thing I asked my students to do was to complete a survey I created that asked about the prior levels of knowledge pertaining to instructional design and online learning. I wanted to incorporate their past experiences into the design process and not just make assumptions. While the main structure of my courses were already in place, hearing from my students about their goals, expectations, and past experiences provided me more insight into how to customize the assignments for their needs. Everytime I hosted office hours, I also listened to their perspectives and to see how I could help. Their feedback allowed me to adapt the assessments in real-time and this made the courses stronger.
One piece of feedback I heard at the beginning of the course was that many students wanted to have more hands-on experience with designing in learning platforms and being able to showcase these creations as a part of their portfolios. Even though I always intended to do this, their feedback gave me the reassurance that I was on track with finding how to best serve them. Listening to your audience is key!
9. Thou shalt use technology to enhance instruction, but not rely on it exclusively, for technology is a tool, not a substitute for good design.
“A tool is just a tool.” I’m confident that I say this to every aspiring instructional designer I talk to. Yes, it’s important to know how to use technology, especially if you are designing online courses and trainings. The focus though should never be solely about the tool. The learning experience should have plenty of other meaningful assessments, activities, and content. Can technology make these better? Absolutely. Should you try to use every piece of technology into your learning experiences? Please God no. We have all been subject to mandatory courses and trainings that overwhelmed us with technology. Instead of the focus being on learning, we see how fast we can click the next button to get our time back. With all of that said, technology should be used intentionally and with purpose. Think about the purpose first and then choose the tool. Not the other way around.
10. Thou shalt always strive to improve thy instruction, for the pursuit of excellence is a lifelong journey.
There is no such thing as a perfect course. There never has and there never will be. We can always find ways to improve our instruction, delivery methods, exercises, and more. Even if a course receives an incredibly impressive rating by your students and learners, you can find one or two improvements. I just spoke a little bit ago about how I incorporate student voice into my designs at the beginning of the learning experience and during the learning experience, but let’s dive a bit deeper into the end of the experience. I am a firm believer in pilot programs and collecting real-time feedback from participants. It has never made sense to me to give students a course evaluation at the end of a 16 week semester or to give learners a satisfaction survey at the end of an extensive campaign. If you wait too long, you won’t get the feedback you are hoping for. Instead of specific details and real examples, you’ll receive general overviews and broad brush strokes. For my programs, I embed surveys at the end of each week to ask about timeliness, engagement, and relevancy for all of the learning material. These responses can inform me about what went well and what could be improved. One key finding I’ve learned over the years is that survey responses only tell you some of the information. I’ve found that I need to do follow up interviews with participants to learn more about their experiences. The more data, the better the learning experience.
The other part of this commandment is to remind us that we are lifelong learners. As instructors and instructional designers, we should adopt the mentality that there is always something new to learn. This is why I love connecting with other professionals in the field and hearing what they are finding enjoyable and rewarding for their students and learners. I changed my strategies in the classroom based around what my peers have told me. Sometimes, it works really well. Other times, I don’t find the same levels of results. It’s all about not being afraid to try new things within our learning experiences and seeing how we can make them better.
To conclude this list, I have been loving reading all of your extra commandments! I’ve seen quite a few saying, “Thou shalt not mention learning styles,” or “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's LMS,” and many others. While there are many serious conversations happening about AI, we can also use it for fun and enjoyment.
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