My Super Power as an Instructional Designer

Someone asked me:

What is your super power as an instructional designer (ID)?

A terrific question!

In these days of rapid technological development and free web tools, I’ll stick my neck out to say that any ID can learn to use multiple tools and acquire a range of credentials and certification in several areas, from project management to accessibility and several other skill areas.  These then don’t make me extraordinary.

What makes me extraordinary?

My mind.

Our uniquely powerful minds, and not forgetting our distinctive temperaments with their mental, physical and emotional dimensions. Our physiological, biochemical and socio-emotional makeup affect our minds and vice versa.

It is the mind that has to solve learning and performance problems. I choose with my mind to work hard, deliver what I promise, be meticulous, attentive, empathic, patient … I muse, wonder and seek to unleash my creativity.

Being strategic/analytical in thinking is critical to becoming a high-performing instructional designer. Being curious and having an eye for aesthetics make me a creative designer. The art and the science of design are important and inseparable dimensions and the designer who can meld these two to forge creative solutions for optimal learning is an extraordinary one.

Our temperaments direct our attitude and motivation towards work. I often refer to Amabile’s Componential Theory of Creativity. No matter how skillful we are and how much we may have a capacity for creativity, without motivation, we won’t realize our creative potential.

Yes, we can have super powers as instructional designers. Our mighty minds (and temperaments), sharpened continuously, help us become super effective, and super potent.