Instructional Design

Competencies
2012 IBSTPI®

The 2012 IBSTPI® Instructional Design Competencies and Performance

statements are copyrighted by the International Board of Standards for
Training, Performance, and Instruction® (IBSTPI®). All rights reserved.
 2012 Instructional Design Competencies

IBSTPI® INTERNATIONALLY VALIDATED STANDARDS

The training, performance, and instruction standards that IBSTPI shares are based on
a rigorous and systematic process that ensures the validity and reliability of each
competency and performance statement within this set. Many of the performance
standards resources used by practitioners in various fields are “how to” materials
largely based on anecdotal data, conventional wisdom, and intuitive judgments
regarding what constitutes “best practices" by training, performance and instruction
professionals. IBSTPI® has a long history of competency development that involves
literature review, primary research, and input from a broad cross-section of
professionals who participate in IBSTPI® development and validation studies. Our
international validation process can involve 1,000 or more participants from multiple
working contexts, regions of the world, and languages. Thus, these competencies
and their associated performance statements are developed and validated based on
the expertise of the IBSTPI® competency development teams and the knowledge of
many other accomplished training, performance, and instruction professionals
representing diverse organizations, institutions, and programs from around the
world. For further information on the standards or a summary of the validation be sure
to purchase a copy of the associated book.

ABOUT THE IBSTPI® INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN STANDARDS

The settings for, and conditions under which, instructional design work has
continually changed over the years provides a backdrop for the emergence of new
complex practices. Instructional designers have moved from working as individuals
creating training to working in interdisciplinary design teams addressing complex
human performance deficiencies in multiple contexts using a variety of
methodologies and digital/non-digital tools to create instructional solutions.

These circumstances suggest that designers should be well versed in design

sciences, development practices, and the features of a variety of new and emerging
media that lend themselves to facilitating different types of learning. Designers must
demonstrate systemic thinking practices and choose sound instructional design and
development tools to support their own productivity and maintain high levels of
effectiveness and quality in instructional solutions. They must be able to communicate
effectively with multiple types of people and able to analyze an environment to
determine knowledge and skills gaps that may be resolved by instructional (and non-
instructional) solutions. They must understand how their audience learns and be able
to perform learning assessments, evaluation processes, and basic research. This new
set of IBSTPI® Standards provide a list of internationally validated instructional design
competencies and performance statements for all of these situations and more.

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 2012 Instructional Design Competencies

ABOUT THE 2012 REVISIONS

There are twenty-two (22) updated and re-validated IBSTPI® instructional design
competencies in the revised 2012 Standards. These competencies are clustered into
five (5) domains and are supported by one hundred and five (105) performance
statements. They reflect the fact that the field of instructional design has grown in
breadth, depth, and complexity such that no one person can be expected to be fully
competent in all related skills and knowledge. Thus, each competency and statement
has been classified (by experts) into those competencies most appropriate for new
instructional designers, experienced instructional designers, and those who manage
instructional design functions.

APPLICATIONS OF THE STANDARDS

There are at least four general groups of professionals who use the IBSTPI®
Instructional Design Standards in their work:

1. Instructional design practitioners - to help plan for individual professional

development.
2. Instructional design (or training) managers and administrators - to help
managing Human Resources Functions, ID projects and teams,
benchmarking against best practices in ID, and educating management on
the criticality of ID.
3. Instructional design-oriented academics - to help develop and update
curricula, support accrediting or assessing ID programs, assess student
performance and progress, and to establish research agendas.
4. Associations that offer instructional design-related professional
development and certification.

ANATOMY OF THE STANDARDS

The IBSTPI® competency model consist of three components: domains,
competencies, and performance statements.

Domains are a cluster of related competencies (e.g., professional

foundations, analysis and planning, etc.).

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 2012 Instructional Design Competencies

Competencies are statements that provide a general description of a

complex effort (e.g., conduct a needs assessment, describe target
population, select, and use analysis techniques, etc.).

Performance statements provide a fuller description of how each

competency is demonstrated (e.g., describe capabilities of emerging
technologies, assess the benefits and limitations of existing r emerging
technologies, etc.).

The model suggests an additional classification for three levels of performance

based on expertise:

Essential – Considered essential for novice instructional designers.

Advanced – Expected of experienced instructional designers, in addition to

the essential competencies and performance statements.

Managerial - Expected of instructional designers functioning as managers, in

addition to the essential and advanced competencies and performance
statements.

See example below.

Domain

Competency

Performance
Statements

Suggested level of
expertise

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 2012 Instructional Design Competencies

IBSTPI® STANDARDS - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The IBSTPI® Competencies, whether in English or another language, are covered by
copyright laws and intellectual property standards. Therefore, should you wish to
share and/or distribute these Standards with anyone, in any format (digital, paper
copies, etc.), you must seek permission to from IBSTPI® to do so. IBSTPI® Standards,
containing the associated competencies and performance statements, are not to be
published in any form, on any public, private, or internal websites that can be
accessed by any member of the public, inside or outside of your organization, without
prior explicit permission from IBSTPI®. Purchasing or accessing this personal set of
IBSTPI® Standards (Competencies and Performance Statements) does not constitute
permission to adopt them across your organization, with others you are associated
with, or with your own clients.

ALL non-personal, external uses require the user (purchaser of this IBSTPI® Standards)
to register with IBSTPI® as a user and negotiate permission to copy, distribute, post,
etc. prior to release of any information within this IBSTPI® Standards. This negotiation
may include negotiating a royalty agreement.

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 Instructional Design Competencies (2012)

PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATIONS
1. Communicate effectively in visual, oral, and written form. (Essential)

2. Apply research and theory to the discipline of instructional design.

(Advanced)

3. Update and improve knowledge, skills, and attitudes pertaining to the

instructional design process and related fields. (Essential)

4. Apply data collection and analysis skills in instructional design projects.

(Advanced)

5. Identify and respond to ethical, legal, and political implications of design in

the workplace. (Essential)

PLANNING AND ANALYSIS

6. Conduct a needs assessment in order to recommend appropriate design
solutions and strategies. (Advanced)

7. Identify and describe target population and environmental characteristics.

(Essential)

8. Select and use analysis techniques for determining instructional content.

(Essential)

9. Analyze the characteristics of existing and emerging technologies and their

potential use. (Essential)

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

10. Use an instructional design and development process appropriate for a given
project. (Essential)

11. Organize instructional programs and/or products to be designed, developed,

and evaluated. (Essential)

12. Design instructional interventions. (Essential)

13. Plan non-instructional interventions. (Advanced)

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 Instructional Design Competencies (2012)

14. Select or modify existing instructional materials. (Essential)

15. Develop instructional materials. (Essential)

16. Design learning assessment. (Advanced)

EVALUATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

17. Evaluate instructional and non-instructional interventions. (Advanced)

18. Revise instructional and non-instructional solutions based on data. (Essential)

19. Implement, disseminate, and diffuse instructional and non-instructional

interventions. (Advanced)

MANAGEMENT
20. Apply business skills to managing the instructional design function.
(Managerial)

21. Manage partnerships and collaborative relationships. (Managerial)

22. Plan and manage instructional design projects. (Advanced)

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 Instructional Design Competencies (2012)

NOTE FOR AUTHORS AND RESEARCHERS

We welcome authors and researchers to make reference to, or use, IBSTPI® Standards in
their work. Several research papers, professional presentations, theses, and dissertations
have been written about the IBSTPI® standards, some using, with permission, IBSTPI®
competencies and performance statements as instrumentation for research. We
acknowledge that ongoing research by other scholars is necessary to continue the
discourse that validates as well as challenges the characterization of a professional
practice.

General references to IBSTPI® works (e.g., books, Standards, etc.) should be made in the
appropriate citation format (i.e., APA) for your work. However, it is compulsory for authors
and researchers (including students) to contact IBSTPI® about their intended uses to
replicate all or any portion of an IBSTPI® Standards. The negotiation with IBSTPI® will
include a description of your work context (for profit/non-profit, education, research, etc.),
how and how much of the competencies and performance statements are intended to be
used by requestors, and publication and/or research plans. Based on the request, IBSTPI®
will provide specific guidelines as to the use and subsequent publication of the
competencies and performance statements and may suggest a payment or royalty, as
appropriate. Reprinting of and using the IBSTPI® Standards, beyond personal uses,
without permission is a violation of copyright law and intellectual property standards.

Please visit www.IBSTPI.org for further instructions on using and citing IBSTPI® Standards
in your publications or research. We invite those who reference or use IBSTPI® Standards
in their work to share results and references to publications and presentations, etc. so that
we can highlight them on the IBSTPI® website.

COLLABORATIONS WITH IBSTPI® DIRECTORS

IBSTPI® Directors, Scholars, and Research Associates are located around the world and
work in different types of learning environments. We are passionate about our work and
our role with IBSTPI®. Contact us to discuss topics related to training, performance,
instruction, and competency development.

Visit us at www.IBSTPI.org