Use of Technology (1:36)

Thomas: It's essential for the instructional designer to get as much experience as they can. Experience is the greatest teacher, I've found. They must stay current in the field. They must attend seminars, go to conferences. Produce as many courses in as many delivery formats as possible. Another very important factor is networking with your colleagues. Membership in professional organizations, such as ADEC (American Distance Education Consortium) or ACE (Agricultural Communicators in Education), has been very helpful in learning what other people in other institutions have done in similar circumstances.

Hightower:  I would suggest that new instructional designers should take it slow with instructional technology. Just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean you need to do it. When I first started out working with instructors in distance education courses, I wanted them to use videos and bulletin boards and chat rooms and clips and Flash animation. I wanted to throw everything into these courses. And a lot of time, it wasn't absolutely necessary. I overwhelmed myself. So what I do now is to put a very basic course and allow the instructor to get comfortable in the distance education arena. And then we both grow the course. The next time it's taught, we'll add chat room features. And then after that, video demonstrations. So now I start slow and build things on later, once the instructor is more comfortable with the course.