Educational, Learning and Instructional Design
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL DESIGN, LEARNING DESIGN AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN?
Whilst these terms may be used interchangeably within organisations, the definitions do highlight some differences. An Instructional Designer may have difficulty carrying out the work of an Educational Designer, but may manage Learning Design roles. The Learning Designer can usually carry out the role of an Educational Designer as long as they have formal trailing in the Learning Sciences. Educational Design is at the top of the ‘tree’ because they definitely need formal training in learning and teaching as well as current knowledge of the Learning Sciences.
Within universities, Educational Design and Learning Design do have some differences. Educational Designers tend to work on a variety of projects from a wide range of subjects whilst Learning Designers focus on one Subject or one course. This means that an Educational Designer needs a greater variety of skills to meet the demands of their varied work. The Learning Designer may need to work more closely with the content so would need greater attention to detail.
All three of these roles can be applied to eLearning. ELearning covers the full spectrum of digital learning and teaching. Information and communication systems are the media used to implement the learning process.
