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If you have ever worked in clinical research or any other heavily regulated industry, then you're probably used to doing your job in a specific way with little flexibility.
In research, you are often working under the requirements and regulations of the study sponsor, an ethics committee, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at minimum. Because of this, most study teams have a standard way of doing things - almost like a formula - to ensure they are operating according to the regulations and guidelines. Not adhering to guidelines could result in really bad consequences including participant safety being at risk, a lack of data integrity, and/or having your study shut down.
The longer I worked in research, the more predictable my tasks became - which was great - but while transitioning to a new field with different rules, I realized that I had to start all over again and learn how things are done in instructional design and eLearning.
As the saying goes, "old habits die hard," and it was indeed "hard" to stop doing things the way that I was used to. In order to move forward in instructional design, I had to unlearn some of the things that were second nature to me - in short, I had to unlearn in order to learn.
Keep reading for 3 things that I learned during that time.
1. Don’t overcomplicate things
Sometimes a straight line is all it takes to get from Point A to Point B but coming from a research background, it's hard to believe things can be that simple. In clinical research you are learning about something new, so you are looking to find out more about something than what's already known. This usually requires you to go the extra mile and explore many avenues.
I initially struggled with this when it came to choosing a topic for my eLearning course. I remember someone said "you can create a course teaching someone how to bake a cake" - my mind started going a mile a minute wondering how I was going to include pound cake, lemon cake, chocolate cake, vegan cake, gluten-free cake, and cheesecake all in one course!
Instructional design is more straightforward and allows you to focus on one topic or cake at a time.
2. Lose the jargon
When you're used to hearing everyone refer to the allergy medication "Benadryl" as “Diphenhydramine” it's easy to assume that when you're at work, the bigger the word, the better. Scientific jargon and big words are commonly used in research.
In contrast, instructional design favors simpler language, with a conversational tone. Putting information in layman's terms helps to grab the audience's attention and encourages understanding and retention of information.
3. Use your right brain more
Your left brain has been busy with all the reading, writing, analyzing, and planning you've done in research, now it's time to let your right brain shine! It's time to be visual and creative and think outside of the box.
While you will still need to write, analyze, and plan in instructional design, you will be writing stories for scenario-based learning activities instead of study protocols. These stories along with relevant images are powerful tools for communication and helping people to retain information.
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