Rapid Instructional Design: Learning ID Fast and Right
George M. Piskurich
San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer, 2000

320 pages, softcover
ISBN: 0-7879-6051-9
Cost: $40

>> Reviewed by Mike Tillmans, PhD.<<

Thirty years ago instructional design (ID) was simpler. You came from one of two schools of thought: media design or educational psychology. The fusion of these competing ideas over time gave us emphasis in training, project management, consulting skills and now human performance technology.

Dr. Piskurich's recent book is a good example of the media development and project management lines of thought, and will be very useful for trainers who need to understand, if not implement, a training development process. (For learning theory, you might wish to consult Instructional Design by Smith and Ragan or The Conditions of Learning: Training Applications by Gagne and Medsker.)

Given the needs of most training groups today, the book's message is very appealing: Get it done fast and get it done right! The author's method of delivering this advice is to encourage the use of practical checklists and technology to speed up the process.

The ID process is divided into six stages, and suggestions for speed and quality are provided for each. Dr. Piskurich's corresponding rules for good instructional design are:

1. Preplanning: Know that what you are going to do is important for your organization.
2. Analysis: Know that the content you are going to provide is what your trainees need to learn.
3. Design: Know that the way you plan to present the content is the most time-, cost-, and learning-effective way for your trainees and your organization.
4. Development: Know that the training materials and methods you are going to use in presenting the content to your trainees are the best ones for your training situation.
5. Implementation: Do it right!
6. Evaluation: Know that what you did was what your organization needed, and that it did some good.

The shortcuts Piskurich provides number near 50. Here are a few of the better examples he explains:

• Interviewing upper management to determine needs (but not specific needs)
• Deciding early if training is the solution to the performance problem
• Calculating training costs for ROI
• Using electronic bulletin boards in place of live focus groups
• Validating existing documented procedures, rather than writing your own
• Designing only for your majority audience and letting instructors individualize for their particular audience
• Using competency analysis for hiring decisions and employee development
• Replacing training with job aids
• Evaluating only what you need to evaluate

Piskurich recommends and provides checklists that instructional designers can use to assist them with each step of the design process. He also includes useful checklists that help designers:

• Identify the most effective method for delivering training (for example, instructor-led or self-instruction)
• Create document templates
• Select appropriate evaluation choices

Throughout the book, the author also refers to excellent resources that are practical and easily accessible for the reader who needs additional information about the topic discussed.

Rapid Instructional Design is recommended for any instructional designer who needs to work faster, whether beginner or experienced veteran. It is a practical look at how we work, and how we can be better.

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Mike Tillmans has extensive project management, training development and process analysis experience in business and education. His areas of interest include curriculum planning, job/task analysis, group facilitation, process mapping, and training materials development and evaluation. He currently teaches ID, KM and online design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. You can contact Mike at tillmans@iit.edu. Visit his web site at: www.iit.edu/~com535