[Instructional Design] Instructional Design at AIB International

I left Silicon Valley less than a year ago to move to Manhattan, Kan., when my husband accepted a job at Kansas State University. Two months after arriving, I landed a job at AIB International in the newly formed role of instructional design manager. 

Locals keep asking me: “Why are you here? How could you leave the San Francisco Bay area? Why would you leave the booming IT industry?” I get the feeling that these people think that the industry and geography changes I made somehow involved sacrifices or hard luck on my part.

I, however, have been satisfied, stimulated and impressed with the food industry and with AIB International. Daily, I see, meet and talk with dedicated professionals of integrity who strive to stay current, improve, and turn out quality, consistent and essential products.

WHAT IS INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN, ANYWAY? But, of course, the biggest question I get is:  “What the heck is an instructional designer?” Instructional design as a profession has existed for many years, and there are many design models floating around in the training and development industry, but a quick definition is available on Wikipedia:

“Instructional design is the practice of arranging media and content to help learners and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively. The process consists broadly of:

1. determining the current state of learner understanding,
2. defining the end goal of instruction, and
3. creating some media-based ‘intervention’ to assist in the transition.”
   In simple English, this means you need to understand the learner, what he needs to know, and the best way to get it to him.

When I came to AIB, I articulated an instructional design model, and I adapted it to what I perceived as the needs of the food industry. The different stages of the AIB Instructional Design model are intended to answer

SO WHAT HAS AIB DONE IN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN? To date, most of our work has occurred in the Environmental Assessment and the Program Design stages. We’ve used the following approaches with excellent results.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT THE FOOD INDUSTRY? The results are endlessly fascinating, and will continue to roll in, but here are some major trends that we’re seeing across the entire food industry:

1. The food industry is under intense consumer-based pressure to produce “more, faster and better.”
2. The food industry is becoming increasingly automated, which drives the need for new skills in equipment operation and maintenance, but at the same time increasingly removes the employee from intimate knowledge of the product.
3. The sped up timelines have had a negative impact on communication and knowledge transfer within organizations.
4. Food industry employees must have technical capability in their area of expertise, be able to speak on business terms with their clients, and be able to communicate intelligently with co-workers and colleagues from different disciplines.
5. Many R&D functions have been moved from the producers and to the suppliers.
6. The food industry is losing long-term employees due to retirement and is struggling to bring newcomers up to speed.
7. It is hard to find new employees who are willing to dedicate themselves to the food industry.
8. Businesses cannot afford to send employees out for long periods of training.
9. With increased globalization, language and cultural differences are a challenge for some industry players.
10. Training typically is conducted in-house as on-the-job training or during brief, periodic training meetings led by a manager or a director (frequently from Quality).
11. People who are doing training in the plants do not necessarily have the background, the skills or the materials to do so.
12. There are critical needs for higher-level skill sets in problem solving, troubleshooting and supervisory skills training.
13. Many plants do not have the technical infrastructure, space or capability for instructor-led or Internet training.
14. Training requires a long-term commitment by management or the training will not be successful.
15. The food industry players need to operate as one team: production, maintenance, sales and distribution, sanitation, R&D, quality and administration.

WHAT IS AIB DOING ABOUT IT? In general, we’re exploring ways to build training products that put the learner in the driver’s seat. Food industry personnel will see a move away from lecture-based, instructor-focused training and toward learner-driven models of group problem solving, easy-to-use reference material and risk-free experimentation in a controlled environment.

For now, we’ve chosen three major projects that are underway and will be emerging over time in 2008:

1. Basic, easy-to-use GMP training for in-house use.
2. Career path, technical and supervisory training for Maintenance Engineers.
3. Product troubleshooting courses for personnel involved in grain-based foods.

IN THE FUTURE. There are multiple challenges that AIB and the food industry face in moving to learner-based formats. AIB International will need to:

1. Figure out the “who, what, when, where and how” for an audience that has little time and may have limited access to technology.
2. Partner heavily with industry leadership and AIB learners to ensure we’re targeting needs and skills appropriately.
3. Resist the urge to stick with historical industrial training practices of “I’ll tell you how to do it,” instead of allowing learners to make decisions and receive feedback from their own results.

With the support of industry and AIB leadership, we will succeed. Our new training will build decision-makers and critical thinkers for the future of the food industry.

The author is Instructional Design Manager, AIB International.