"plans are nothing, planning is everything"

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

  • The heart of instructional system design is planning.

    Creating a plan is a process. One that involves research and analysis - finding out where one is and what one has to start with. Also of prime importance is the destination - the goal. From this ideal outcome one finds the 'not yet' - what is missing. The discrepancy between the current and the ideal. A good plan tries to provide a map from start to finish - the steps need to achieve the goal.

    However, it is not the plan itself that is the ultimate goal. Nor can we allow the plan to become the idealized prize.

    Rather, it is in making this plan that we discover the ideals and paradigms that guide us.

    The plan itself is expendable. By its very nature a plan is out of date the moment it is finished, so it must remain flexible and ever in flux. Through constant revision and evaluation, a plan is modified based on changing situations and better understanding. Only thru this change can we hold true to the ideals that were revealed in the planning.

    The idea of planning has been at the core of the past three years of growth in the Educational Technology Program. The planning is essential, as it is only through planning that I have been able to stay focused on the core ideals - why I do what I do.

    To teach, to instruct, to educate, to learn, to grow.


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