ASID Education offers learning opportunities throughout an interior designer’s career and experience level personas. They are:

• Newcomers: Aspiring and ready to learn and take the next step. Newcomers are just beginning their professional development journey and are looking for avenues of discovery. Newcomers also bring a fresh perspective which encourages innovation. (Audience group – Students)
• Visionary: Currently heavily involved with design application in the practical sense. Visionaries are looking to grow or sustain their knowledge within a content area. They are revolutionary explorers in the professional development arena. (Audience group – Emerging Professionals)
• Leaders: Successful in their chosen area and inspiring others. Newcomers and Taskmasters want access to Leaders to ask questions and learn from their successes. Leaders are looking to build their reputation and aspire to ascend into managerial roles at the regional and national levels.  (Audience group – Mid-Career)
• Advisors: Continue to be successful in practice, but offer insight, experience, and mentorship that helps to steer the profession into the future. Leaders interact with Advisors to learn how to expand into leadership roles at the regional or national level. Advisors continue to learn from Newcomers and Taskmasters as innovation supersedes some of their past experiences, which perpetuates their value to the profession. (Audience group – Advanced)

ASID provides educational resources and content while acknowledging these personas which directly correlate to generic professional audience groups. These audience groups have been indicated with each aligning persona above. All educational content reviewed by ASID must identify the audience in which the content is focused and the skill level required.

Skill levels have been defined by the International Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC). ASID Education follows these definitions as noted from the IDCEC Manual.

• Basic: Basic content providing general information, awareness, and understanding of a topic, defining basic concepts, and/or introducing terminology. Basic content seeks to transfer new information without substantial prerequisite knowledge to process or use it.
• Intermediate: Intermediate content providing in-depth material or explanation to achieve comprehension of a topic. This content requires learners to have some prerequisite knowledge, be more engaged, and produce more tangible outcomes, including interacting with the material and using the information in practice applications. Content may include activities such as discussions, practice assignments, and/or self-check assessments.
• Advanced: Advanced content providing extensive application and implementation of highly technical or detailed topics, preparing learners with substantial prerequisite knowledge to complete a definitive action post-learning. The material and activities offered allow the learner to gain new knowledge, practice its application, and be able to apply the information on their own. Content at this level encompasses enough material and time to allow the learner to achieve and demonstrate the objectives, often including interactive activities and assessment measures.

ASID Education is committed to providing educational content and experiences where consideration is given to whose voices are included and maybe some who are not represented. Our mindset incorporates multiple perspectives in the deployment of a thoughtful and intentional approach throughout content development processes. Additionally, we acknowledge that content creation from all sources should be made accessible and relevant to diverse audiences promoting an equitable experience for all learners following these requirements that we model.

• Subject Matter Experts, Thought Leaders, and Knowledge Contributors: ASID strives for diversity in those selected to be our subject matter experts, educators, and program supporters for all content types and formats. ASID considers the extent to which the content contributor or subject matter expert is representative of diverse population groups and backgrounds.
• Bias: The educational content, which includes language, graphics, and imagery, is free of implicit and explicit bias. Examples used must be inclusive of diverse population groups and backgrounds. They should also avoid stereotyping and each image used should represent diverse population groups and backgrounds. In addition, educational content should consider differing points of view and lived experiences. For terminology clarification, definitions and examples should be provided when appropriate.
• Accessibility: Content is accessible to learners with differing abilities. In live webinars or other web-based content from the ASID Academy, descriptions of imagery and/or subtitles or captions are included to ensure access for people with differing abilities. Sign language interpretation is provided during live presentations upon request.
• Flexibility and Variety: Allow learners to consume and interact with content by their choice or preferences, whether at their own pace in short, modular sections in a distance learning environment, or live, in-person, or a blended combination of both environments. ASID Education considers all possible delivery formats and modalities in its content creation and instructional design approaches and selects the ones that provide the best options for valuable learner engagement and knowledge transfer.

Instructional design for adult learners requires intentional focus on what are the desired outcomes as a driving force. When developing educational content, it is essential to employ precise instructional design methodologies reflecting sound learning principles to reach the learning goals. It is imperative to consider what motivates adult learners.

MOTIVATION TO LEARN

There are 5 areas that tend to motivate adult learners. They are:

• Practicality: How can this knowledge be practically applied in the everyday practice of interior design? Learners should acquire new information and actionable takeaways to expand and update their existing knowledge.  
• Relevance: How is this information useful? Educational content should demonstrate the value of the content presented and how its impact is pertinent in either the past, current, or future directions of the profession.  
• Curricula Methodology: Evaluating learned outcomes and coordinating elements to form a plan of action or new structure/approach. Presenting concepts that build upon each other. Using a scaffolding approach to instructional design at certain levels of learning is imperative for learners to determine where they may need reinforcement of concepts and/or desire to learn something new.
• Collaborative Learning: Encouraging learners to share their perspectives and experiences inspires others. This helps to create a conducive learning environment as well as the added benefit of networking.
• Creative Use of Technology: Learners are engaged when the technology is user friendly and supports the educational concepts yet does not distract from the learning objectives. Use of elements like gamification, infotainment, and other simplified approaches to learning reinforces the experience of the learning action. The experience creates the memorable educational moments that are recalled and then incorporated into knowledge.