The Attack on ISD - 2000

In the April 2000 edition (Vol. 37, Iss. 4; pg. 42, 12 pgs) of Training magazine, Jack Gordon and Ron Zemke wrote an interesting article titled "The Attack on ISD." While the systems approach to instructional design is training and education's main design model, some are now saying it is leading developers/designers astray. Their view is that ISD springs in part from a growing conviction that the harder you try to specify exactly what the designer must do in order to be doing ISD, the further into the wilderness one wanders. Four major charges are brought against the model:

ISD is too slow and clumsy to meet today's training challenges.
There no 'there' there.
Used as directed, it produces bad solutions.
It clings to the wrong world view.

The article goes into some depth on why ISD is a very bad model for the training industry, however, the "attackers" seem to fail to realize that ISD is simply a tool in a trainer's tool kit, and as the old saying goes, "it is a bad craftsperson who blames her tool." Further, after attacking the tool, they offer no valid replacement for ISD. Why? Because there are none! Just as good handy-persons keep several hammers in their tool kits, such as claw hammers, ball peen hammers, sledgehammers, and rubber mallets, and then selects the right tool for the job at hand; good instructional designers use ISD as part of their arsenal against bad performance. And now, the charges...

Note that article's attack is mainly directed at ADDIE.

ISD is too Slow and Clumsy

You see these massive ISD systems, with panels and committees and boards who have to sign off on everything. It ends up being a big political mess. Just the time it takes to get objectives written and approved is horrendous. In the end, 90 percent of your time is spent managing a bunch of bozos who are fighting over dollars. You spend very little time doing any real training. - Geary Rummler in The Attack on ISD

The trouble with this line of thinking is that no matter what model the organization is using, if their culture is bureaucratic in nature, a new model is not going to help. ISD does not promote "panels and committees and boards," the culture and nature of the organization promotes such bureaucracy.

There's No 'There' There

The charge here is that ISD attempts to change training from an art into a science and when used as directed, it would produce predictable, reliable results in learning. Yet, if you really look at the ISD model, it is far from being a linear step-by-step approach for if a designer only went by the steps, she would have nothing to show for her efforts! ISD must be used in conjunction with other instructional models, in addition with the art of the designer.

Designing instruction is both art and science -- which makes it a craft. Thus, a good designer uses the tools of the trade, knowledge and skills, and then combines these with a personal touch to create a quality product.

If you don't follow the instructions and people still learn, that raises the question of whether there's a 'technology' there in the first place. - John Murphy in The Attack on ISD

But how effectively and how efficiently?

For instance, some ISD systems would have you spend months designing and developing a training course before you pilot test it. - The Attack on ISD

Only if you do not understand the system would you even think about doing this. Evaluation is not the last phase of ISD, but rather is included in every phase to help ensure that the training package is on the right track. And if we go back to Rosenberg's 1982 article, he discusses the concept of using "developmental testing or prototyping" to ensure the design is not bad.

Used as Directed, It Produces Bad Solutions

Part of the problem, as we've seen, is that inward focus that concentrates the designer's attention on building the "right" kind of training program instead of addressing a real business issue. - The Attack on ISD

If we go back to Glaser's work on the initial ISD system, he writes "The development of the system is initiated with the specification of the goals of instruction." Thus, ISD does not start until one has decided that training is indeed the answer to a performance problem or required business result. Thus first the attackers accuse ISD has being too "step orientated," yet it was never meant to be a means of performing the performance analysis, but a model to use once he analyst has determined that training is indeed the solution to a problem. Thus, it leaves this "art" to the analysts.

The whole ISD model is based on the assumption of stupid learners and superior experts," says Thiagi. "In my life, most of the ISD packages I've run into were designed by people who are stupider than me. They're trying to drag me down to the lowest common denominator." - The Attack on ISD

I believe that if one looked at the training designed by the military, one would come to an entirely different conclusion -- ISD simply helps to keep one focused on the results desired. Now it does not tell you what the result should be, that is the job of your front-end analysis, but once the desired result is desired, ISD is simply a means to keep focused on that desired result. Particularly if the means require a fairly large process.

It Clings to the Wrong World View

The ISD model assumes that a job is a known quantity. It assumes the presence of a master performer who knows how to do the job in the best possible way. It assumes we can derive a set of best practice procedures from that master performer and then teach them to everybody else. But in the reinvention sweepstakes, jobs and procedures are up in the air. There often are no master performers and no best practices. - The Attack on ISD

If we go back to the U.S. military, who have produced a high quality fighting force with the ISD model, we would not find "well-defined jobs," for in the face of battle, there is really no such thing as "well defined." And if there are no master, then how do we know what type of "result" we want? Master performers are simply tools used in the ISD analysis process, thus they are not required. The same thing that tells one of the desired result will also tell one of the best practices needed.

If we're all figuring it out as we go, suggests Gayeski, our preferred teaching strategies should include things like coaching, open classrooms (instead of rigorously structured ones), and Web-based forums as opposed to pre-programmed Web-based instruction. In such forums, she says, "you start out with some information, but then you invite the learners to contribute their own ideas." - The Attack on ISD

Actually, the ISD process says that "rigorously structured classrooms" should be the last choice of instruction due to high costs and lock-step nature. As far as forum or pre-programmed instruction, ISD does not proscribe one or another. In fact, you generally have to use another model for the design of the actual instruction itself.

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