Confessions of an ID'er
Personality Profiles
Perhaps this should be called "confessions of an INTJ" personality.
If you haven't sipped the Cool-aid, or didn't like its taste, that's okay. I realize that we have very little empirical evidence to support the Kiersey Temperament Sorter (Link), which is based on the Meyers-Briggs (Jungian) philosophy (Link). But it just makes "street-sense" doesn't it?
Having taken the profile test (numerous times), I have always been assessed as INTJ. Actually, the individual trait scores result in an "intJ" with a big "J" for judgmental What does that mean? Who knows... but, according to (Kiersey-Bates), I am a MASTER MIND.
I like the sound of that.
This particular personality profile (INTJ) is ranked by the self-appointed experts to be around only 3-5% of the population. So, I like the reinforcement that I am unusual, if not unique.
What does a "Master Mind" do? Well, like others in this personality profile:
I am perfectly suited (by DNA encoding) to critically analyze any problem and determine the optimum solution. Unfortunately, I am also perfectly suited to analyze my boss's solutions for a given problem and inform him/her of exactly why it's wrong. This is NOT a career-enhancing quality. Trust me, most bosses don't enjoy being informed that they are wrong.
What does that have to do with Instructional Design?
When performing the front-end-analysis (FEA) before beginning any training solution, one of the key factors to understand is the learning audience. Is your learning audience homogeneous? Usually not, but when developing advanced educational courses, like nursing or engineering content, the audience can become very homogeneous. Certain professions or fields attract certain personality types. If you've already explored the above link on this subject, let me state that personal experience reinforces this notion that our personalities influence our job choices, mate/companion choices, and how we view the world.
So?
The same content or subject matter cannot be presented in the same fashion to a group of Nursing students as it would be presented to a group of aerospace engineers, or future military aviators. Each group will perceive the same facts with a different set of filters or framework. Not only does the terminology used affect their sense-making, but how the content is applicable to them is influenced by their personality profile.
I am very easy. If you tell me it's a rule, I will naturally try to follow it until it becomes too difficult to do so. But the touchy-feely types don't care about rules, only outcomes for their clients/patients. The type-A Naval Aviators focus on the consequences of breaking the rules (if they get caught).
So, when designing the content outline and choosing the examples and practical applications or demonstrations (see Merrill's First Principles), I strongly recommend that they be based on your FEA, which includes an understanding of the personalities that compose your audience.
*Tse-Wo-Neh
Perhaps this should be called "confessions of an INTJ" personality.
If you haven't sipped the Cool-aid, or didn't like its taste, that's okay. I realize that we have very little empirical evidence to support the Kiersey Temperament Sorter (Link), which is based on the Meyers-Briggs (Jungian) philosophy (Link). But it just makes "street-sense" doesn't it?
Having taken the profile test (numerous times), I have always been assessed as INTJ. Actually, the individual trait scores result in an "intJ" with a big "J" for judgmental What does that mean? Who knows... but, according to (Kiersey-Bates), I am a MASTER MIND.
I like the sound of that.
This particular personality profile (INTJ) is ranked by the self-appointed experts to be around only 3-5% of the population. So, I like the reinforcement that I am unusual, if not unique.
What does a "Master Mind" do? Well, like others in this personality profile:
- Isaac Newton
- Stephen Hawking
- Ben Bernanke
- Lise Meitner
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Bill Gates
- Niels Bohr
I am perfectly suited (by DNA encoding) to critically analyze any problem and determine the optimum solution. Unfortunately, I am also perfectly suited to analyze my boss's solutions for a given problem and inform him/her of exactly why it's wrong. This is NOT a career-enhancing quality. Trust me, most bosses don't enjoy being informed that they are wrong.
What does that have to do with Instructional Design?
When performing the front-end-analysis (FEA) before beginning any training solution, one of the key factors to understand is the learning audience. Is your learning audience homogeneous? Usually not, but when developing advanced educational courses, like nursing or engineering content, the audience can become very homogeneous. Certain professions or fields attract certain personality types. If you've already explored the above link on this subject, let me state that personal experience reinforces this notion that our personalities influence our job choices, mate/companion choices, and how we view the world.
So?
The same content or subject matter cannot be presented in the same fashion to a group of Nursing students as it would be presented to a group of aerospace engineers, or future military aviators. Each group will perceive the same facts with a different set of filters or framework. Not only does the terminology used affect their sense-making, but how the content is applicable to them is influenced by their personality profile.
I am very easy. If you tell me it's a rule, I will naturally try to follow it until it becomes too difficult to do so. But the touchy-feely types don't care about rules, only outcomes for their clients/patients. The type-A Naval Aviators focus on the consequences of breaking the rules (if they get caught).
So, when designing the content outline and choosing the examples and practical applications or demonstrations (see Merrill's First Principles), I strongly recommend that they be based on your FEA, which includes an understanding of the personalities that compose your audience.
*Tse-Wo-Neh