Instructional Design Perception and Practice in United States Army Training Organizations: A Case Study

This study identified the skills and tasks practiced by instructional design personnel within Army military training organizations. The purpose of the study was to discover trending skills and tasks utilized by instructional systems specialists employed at the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE), Fort Rucker. Trends were based on Instructional Designer (ID) competencies established by the International Board of Standards for Teaching, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI) but allowed for additional trends to emerge. A descriptive case study research design was used to collect and analyze the data within this study. Seventeen (17) instructional systems specialists (ISSs) were interviewed. Member checking and ISS expert review was used to validate the trends found within the data. Of the twenty-two (22) established Instructional Design IBSTPI Competencies thirteen (13) were identified as practiced by ISSs within the USAACE training organization during the time of the interview. Of those thirteen competencies three (3) were identified as only partially practiced by ISSs. Two (2) additionally competencies not mentioned with the IBSTPI list of competencies emerged: Mentoring Others and Teaching or Classroom Management. Additionally, one major unexpected trend regarding the perception of ID performance emerged from the data. The amount and degree of educational background in comparison to previous military service experience indicated different approaches toward design project/work assignments