Reviewing the Role of an ID - Exercise

Contact Us or call 1-877-932-8228
Reviewing the Role of an ID - Exercise

Reviewing the Role of an ID

Duration: 20 to 25 minutes.

In this exercise, you will use your knowledge of the foundations of instructional design to answer the following questions.

  1. What is the role of the SME in designing training?
  2. You are working as an ID in your organization. The head of human resources has come to your group with a specific need to develop some training on working with difficult coworkers. What is the role of the head of HR in this case?
  3. As you start working on designing the training for HR, you meet with a representative from HR, as a preliminary step. What are some questions you might ask her?
  4. As you work to develop the training on working with difficult coworkers, you will be working with a subject-matter expert, a business psychology professor who teaches at a local university. What are some things you should keep in mind as you prepare for your first meeting?
  5. What are some of the other roles that an ID may work with? If you have worked in an instructional design environment, what roles have you personally dealt with?


  1. The subject-matter expert brings specific knowledge of the topic to the instructional design process.
  2. The head of HR is acting as the client.
  3. Answers will vary, but you would most likely want to ask: What are the goals of the organization? Has there been an issue with morale or employee turnover because of issues among coworkers? What is the overall goal of the course, in the head of HR's mind? Will it be to resolve issues, increase employee satisfaction, or slow turnover? Who will be required to take the training, and what will their likely attitude be toward it? These types of questions can help get the ball rolling for both you and the client as you begin to think about what the training will involve.
  4. Answers will vary, but may include that it's important to remember that you will need to clearly communicate with the professor while you work on the course. Because the professor's main obligations are to teaching classes, you may need to work around the timing of his classes. It might be a good idea to gather some examples of training you've created previously to present in your first meeting. This way the professor can become familiar with your design model, what you will expect, and what the finished product will eventually look like.
  5. Answers will vary, but may include project managers, editors, graphic designers, and so on.