"So, you know what beam-ends are?"
"Aye, sir".
"Go ahead."
"The sides of the ship, sir. 'On her beam ends' means the vessel is literally on her side and possibly about to capsize. More often, the phrase means the vessel is listing 45 degrees or more."
"Awright. Report for the instructional classes from tomorrow morning, 7.00 AM sharp. We shall cover the beam-ends right from the scratch."
" Aye, sir. Sir??"
"Yes. Any questions?"
"Aye, sir. Just one question, sir. Was my answer incorrect, by any chance, sir?"
"No, you're right, boy."
"Then, why from the scratch, sir?"
"That's the only way I could teach, son."
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It is such situations that pave the way for Rapid Instructional Development (RID).
RID speeds up the instructional development process by incorporating prevailing knowledge, existing materials and job-aids. It eases it up by simplifying, combining, resequencing, and even by skipping steps. 'Cos, a good number of times, a major chunk of the conventional Instructional Systems Development (ISD) model could be condensed, by obviating the obvious.
The ISD model uses a rational step-by-step approach and assumes that the content area is stable. But, newer realities include rapid changes in skills and knowledge. And, by this reason, they also include the need for faster and better instructional design.
RID techniques evolve to meet those needs. They flex their approach based on the nature of the instructional objective, the characteristics of the trainees and the context of training.
But...
Ironically, by no means do they point to or result in faster learning. In most cases, the opposite is true 'cos, RID, by its very nature, passes on some of the instructional development responsibilities to the learners, on the ground that they already know a part of the subject.
It's just that RID provides us a preferred alternative when we are working on tight deadlines, limited budgets and constantly changing instructional content. Nothing more.
For once, Rapid doesn't mean Fast.
(Nirmal Ranganathan, Instructional Designer, C2 Workshop)
