Management of the Design and Development of Instructional Materials

This paper describes the application of an approach for the effective management and control of all aspects of the design and development of instructional materials. The paper addresses a common failing in many large scale instructional design and development projects - that of project management and control. The approach presented in this paper features mechanisms which ensure the effective management over the resources needed in the design and development process. These include management input and review, planning, estimates, staffing, work programmes and standards. The paper discusses the relationship between these critical components of instructional design and project management and control. The approach has been developed primarily for use in the commercial setting. The paper draws on the experience in several recent large-scale development projects in that setting. The findings indicate to it to be an effective method for the control of resources and ensuring that tasks are completed on time and within budget. The approach is sufficiently generic to allow transposition into public sector education and training
programmes. Such potential applications are discussed.