Self Evaluation

The IDD&E program at Syracuse University is excellent. I learned so much about myself and designing instruction from their program. But I also learned about areas where I must continue to develop to stay relevant in the field of instructional design. I have served in numerous instructor, writer, and developer roles during my 24+ years in the Army. Before starting this program, I assumed my experience designing instruction would equate to the material taught at Syracuse. Wrong! There are a lot of similarities but also a lot of differences that highlighted terrible habits and/or logic about my previous thought and instructional design. 

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The IDD&E program at Syracuse University requires participants to conduct numerous self-evaluations about IDD&E competencies and our level of proficiency in each competency. I can honestly say that I have improved in a vast majority of the competencies and, in some cases, developed from a "low" rating at the start of the program to a "high" at the program's finish. 

 

IDD&E is a profession grounded in principles, science, and research. There is a business aspect to IDD&E; as such, all IDD&E professionals must practice and develop expert communication skills. Starting the program, I had excellent communication skills but could not communicate "why" a knowledge, skill, or behavior is present and how designed instruction can close the gap. Why? Because I did not fully understand the analysis as part of the ADDIE process. At the program's start, competency 2.2 speaks to validating performance gaps through multiple analysis techniques, and I rated myself as low. However, after finishing the program, I ranked myself high for competency 2.2 while understanding that practice builds proficiency. 

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Competency 3.1 is another example of where I have greatly improved during this program. At the start of the program, I had little knowledge about instructional design strategies and available models, and I also learned that a model is not all-inclusive, where the art and science of IDD&E lies. Understanding the available models and resources and how to extract and compile these resources to fit your designed instruction and strategy is the key to developing designed instruction. 

Finally, to remain relevant in the IDD&E field, I must stay a lifelong learner and study new technology, techniques, science, etc., that applies and/or applies to IDD&E. Most importantly, I learned that this is something I genuinely enjoy doing and will pursue as a post-military profession.