| This study explored horizontal expertise in instructional design, or an instructional designer's ability to work with individuals from other communities of practice. The horizontal view of expertise is especially salient to the field of instructional design. In the design of an instructional program, designers routinely work with teams of individuals who know little about instructional design, and in domains in which the instructional designer knows little.; The study was framed by sociocultural theory. Sociocultural theory evolved from the work of Vygotsky and includes such concepts as zone of proximal development, intersubjectivity, appropriation, and scaffolding.; The study asked four broad questions relative to the roles assumed and the strategies used by an instructional designer as she facilitated the development of a shared understanding of the instructional design project with individuals from other communities of practice.; The qualitative methodologies that guided this research were ethnomethodology and discourse analysis. The author used observation, videotapes, documents, and interviews to explore how shared meaning was created among members of an instructional design team as they designed a course in manufacturing systems engineering.; During the design of the program the instructional designer assumed a variety of different roles. Roles that she assumed included (1) introducer, (2) document maker, (3) intentional learner, (4) formulator, (5) advisor, (6) instructor, (7) recruiter, (8) editor, (9) progress monitor, and (10) process guide.; Several strategies used to assist performance previously identified in the research literature were also observable, as were several components of scaffolding. Attributes of horizontal expertise that were observed in this study included (1) the ability of the designer to assume different roles, (2) the ability of the designer to use various strategies, (3) demonstrated flexibility on the part of the designer, (4) adaptation of the design approach to meet the contexts' needs, (5) the creation of common forms of communication, (6) scaffolded the performance of other, (7) became an intentional learner, (8) developed credibility through her actions, and (9) understood the context. |
