Dear, Instructors & Instructional Designers,

I’m not messing around here. What do you want? I know there are a few individuals who want something from you. But, what do you want? Three individuals I know who want something from you include: (1) students, (2) colleagues, and (3) employers & clients.

Students

First, let’s consider the students. They might want you to grade their assignments. I teach at the secondary level so students often want me to write letters of recommendation for them. Oh yeah, sometimes just want someone speak, to just have someone to listen. Many of the confess to having issues, problems, and drama in their everyday lives. So, as an instructor and instructional designer, we have students come to us with their wants.

Colleagues

Another group who has wants are our colleagues. We also have colleagues that come to us with their wants. They have events they create, manage, and host; they have something that they are doing on campus that they want others to be involved in. They have wants in the sense that they want other people, including you as
a teacher, to support them so that their event is full people.

Employers & Clients

Finally, employers and clients have wants as well. Often employers have new guidelines that
they want to implement. Clients have things they want from you too. So they have their own wants and these wants from the employer, from the colleague, and the students are all wants
that I desire to satisfy at least I desire to be responsible for taking some action on all of these once in terms of being a professional

Take Care of Responsibilities And…

I want to make sure I am there for my students, there for my colleagues,
and ensuring that my employer and/or client gets the value from me that I expect from them when it comes time for them to cut my check.

Take care of your responsibilities and obligations and we ought to focus on our mission because our main mission is as important as anyone else’s wants; not necessarily more important, but as important. Your central task as an instructional designer or instructor is to bring great value to your content and you can’t do that with excellence by only satisfying other people’s wants. You must know what it is that you want.

You impact people greatly when you satisfy your wants aligning your wants as closely as you can to your obligations.

You put smiles on people’s faces because satisfaction of the wants that you have
in your life based upon your main mission in life. You give skills to others and you improve their
family’s conditions when you improve their conditions.

What Do You Want for Yourself?

The question that I have for you at the moment is what do you want from
yourself? I understand that there are individuals around you who have wants in your
professional context. But, what do you want from yourself? Once you discover
what it is that you want from yourself as an instructor and instructional
designer, wait, as a matter of fact, I’m suggesting to you that instruction and instructional
design should be at the forefront, the center of your mission. It should be your mission
and all the other stuff that you have to do professionally ought to serve
to make you a better instructional designer and a better instructor.

Assertively protect your wants; it’s not that you are negligent to your
professional responsibilities because you line your professional responsibilities up with your want to design instruction and instruct.

Know what you want,

@growthucator

For more discussion about instruction see: The Moment of Instruction