Determining initial constraints of an educational product

Determining the initial constraints of a project is the process of defining the things that limit or otherwise focus the work of the design team. Constraints can be limiting factors that prevent certain types of activities from being implemented in the product, but constraints also serve as a guide to focus the instructional designers' work. Constraints are the multiple limitations that are revealed during the process of defining the scope of the project and analyzing and planning the project's needs before the design and development on the project begin.

About this procedure

Constraints describe the "cans" and "can-nots" of the design, and provide directions on what to do in the design and development phases. Put another way, constraints describe the limitations that are placed on designers by the context in which the product will be used (for example, schools, businesses, museums), the audience who will be using it, and the basic structural elements of the project. Constraints, then, are the purposeful choices that are made by the designer so that the product will not over-reach or over-promise in its design.

It is useful to write down constraints as statements when they are determined. Each constraint statement serves as a guide for the design process by saying what should be done and what shouldn't be done based on the findings when determining the product's scope during the analysis phase.

A well-defined list of constraints that is determined in the analysis phase of a project is a helpful tool to the instructional designer. Your list of constraint statements will be used in the design to help guide your decisions by helping to remind you of what you determined is appropriate or needed for your design. A good list of constraints keeps you from overextending past the scope of the project and prevents the project from going over-schedule or over-budget by not continuing to add things outside of the scope. In other words, constraints help you finish the project on time and keep the learning objective and audience in mind.

In this procedure, you will consider and define the various constraints that might affect your project. Ideally, before you start this task, you will have already completed the tasks of defining learning objectives, determining audience considerations, and determining structural considerations of identifying the overall scope of the project. These procedures build on each other and provide information toward defining the constraints in this procedure.

Figure 1. Four types of common constraints. Instructional design projects typically face four types of constraints on what can be designed and developed. In this procedure, designers determine the constraints on their project that can guide the design and development phases.

Figure 1 illustrates the types of constraints that this procedure identifies. By the end of these steps, you should be able to consider all of the main areas that can constrain a project's design, which can be used by designers and developers to know what is possible within the scope of the project. In Step 1, you will consider the constraints that are revealed within the audience and basic structure considerations of the design (which, ideally, have been defined before starting this procedure). In Step 2, you will identify the monetary and budget constraints of the project. The financial aspects of a project is typically one of the biggest constraints of a project and can determine the types of activities, technologies, and participants that can use the product. In Step 3, you will determine the practical constraints of your design team and review the skills that you have or would need to proceed with design. In Step 4, you will consider the regulatory and legal constraints that involve design. Finally, in Step 5, you will assemble all of the constraints you defined into a single list that can be referred to and shared during the design process.

Although this procedure may not be necessary for small or solo teams, it is an important part of working with mid-sized to large teams. Defining the scope is especially important when there are multiple teams working on the same project, such as groups of computer programmers, artists, evaluators, instructional designers, and media producers. Having a common list of constraints helps to continually inform and direct the work of the product to remain within the scope and intent of the project.

Instructions

In the following steps, you can find additional links to sub-steps and tasks. The tasks that first-time instructional designers should focus on are marked with the ✳️ green star emoji. An orange star emoji ✴️ is a more advanced task that will give you a more robust plan and consider more of the aspects that will lead to a stronger product, but beginners can pass on the advanced tasks to keep their planning simpler.

Any ❔ Questions to answer sections provide you with prompts and ideas to help you work through and think about each step. If you need inspiration or ideas, consider the questions to answer section and work through each item.

When something says to 📓 Document, be sure to jot down your notes, make lists, and document your work so that you will have a record of your decisions. You will use your notes to specifically develop your design specifications, but the notes may also be useful for any reports, proposals, or other documents that you may need to create that describe your design. Don't forget to include the current date on your notes!

✳️ Step 1: Review audience and structural constraints

From the previous procedures of defining the audience and defining the structural considerations, designers should use their findings to specify any constraints that are placed on the design. Constraints include any of the unique requirements of working with the defined audience and properly reaching them and limitations in the location setting, duration, and timing of the product (as determined in the structural considerations).

For this step, you will define constraints from the findings of the previous procedures that you have done: defining the audience and defining the basic structure. Written constraint statements should be short, precise, and reflect the analysis that was done when defining the overall project scope.

Examples of constraint statements include:

Audience constraints (i.e., constraints to the design that help it reach the audience)

• The design is intended for 16, 17, and 18 year old high school students
• The design works with 5-year-olds, so it must require little to no reading to participate
• The design works with teachers who are interested in learning about video games for teaching
• Working professionals participate with the design, so it must use activities that relate to their everyday work
• The design should include representation from multiple cultural, racial, and identity groups so a broader range of people feel included
• The design must be accessible to anyone regardless of disability, based on industry standards

Basic structure constraints

• Students cannot realistically attend class, so the design will be online and interactions will be asynchronous
• Class time is limited, so participation with the product will typically last 2 weeks in duration
• We have only at most 5 minutes to keep the attention of someone who passes by the museum exhibit
• Because sports techniques will be studied, people should be expected to participate in real time
• The design will use both in-person training sessions and online social interactions (e.g., hybrid)

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. From the definitions of the audience and basic structure of the design that were developed in previous steps, what are some of the constraints that must be followed or considered in the design?
2. What are some of the unique needs of the audience? How do these needs translate into specific constraints that define what the design must or must not do (see audience constraints above for examples)
3. How might the design be purposefully constrained to ensure that the activities are inclusive, representative, and appropriate for all participating communities, especially diverse or underrepresented communities?

📓 Document any constraints that you identified related to the defining the audience considerations and structural considerations procedures within the project scope.

✳️ Step 2: Identify budget and monetary constraints

The available amount of money or the size of the budget for a project are primary constraints on a project. Budgets determine the design team size, the ability to perform development work, to create and implement software and technology, and to create artwork or media.

In this step, designers should identify the amount of money that is available for a project and make sure that these funds can cover design, development, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation.

❔ Questions to answer. Some of the potential areas of cost include:

1. How much money is available for the design work of a project? You may need to pay for concept art, prototype designs, and salaries for design team members.
2. What kinds of costs are associated with implementation? Costs can be translated as actual dollars, or the amount of human labor that things take that is converted into a dollar amount (expected time * hourly rate).
3. What are the costs of ongoing maintenance and support of the product? What types of maintenance might be needed

📓 Document the total budget that you have available, or that you would need to design and develop a product. If you do not have a budget, or you are working by yourself, it is sufficient to say "self funded" or "no monetary costs" if you are using your own personal time and no compensation is necessary.

✳️ Step 3: Identify design team constraints

Your design team composition will affect your ability to complete the design and development of the product. For many projects, only one designer is necessary (yes...you!). For small-scale designs such as lesson plans, activities, or even some games and software, one person can accomplish all of the design tasks.

However, as projects become more complex or attempt to increase their scale in the number of participants, the scope of the technology, or the number of learning objectives, additional design team members are likely. Each design team member should also represent the necessary skills for completing the work of the project.

In this step, consider all of the skills that might be needed to reach the scale of audience that is expected. What kinds of design, development, and evaluation expertise might you need. Also, designers should consider how many staff might be needed to complete the work of the project and achieve all of the learning objectives.

Note: it may not be possible to anticipate all of the staffing needs for a project during the analysis and planning phase. During the design and development phase, the activities, technology, and media that will be used will also determine what types of staffing expertise and number of people will be necessary.

Instead, in this step, only the required skills and expertise of the design team should be identified based on the learning objectives and any other desired aspects of the project that were defined when the scope was defined, such as content area expertise in the learning objectives, instructional design expertise, technology expertise, or perspectives from diverse audience groups.

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. What expertise does the designer (or design team, if multiple people) need to properly address the learning objectives? This would include expertise with the content areas that are being learned and expertise with the instructional design process.
2. What technical and artistic expertise might be necessary for the designer or design team to design and develop the product?
3. What areas of expertise and perspective are needed to understand and actively include the audiences who will use the product?

📓 Document the areas of expertise that you and the design team have - these will determine what kind of design and development work that you can do.

✳️ Step 4: Consider regulatory and legal constraints

Based on the context in which you will implement your product, there may be organizational requirements, regulations, rules, or legal constraints that must be considered. These can include curriculum requirements and mandates at schools, human resources requirements at businesses and corporations, and any state, local, and federal laws.

Common regulations, organizational expectations, and laws that concern instructional designers include:

• School or organizational rules and expectations, including curriculum initiatives, educational reform requirements, and mandates
• Compliance with laws, regulations, mandates, standards, and license requirements
• Compliance with industry best practices (e.g., data protection, technology security)
• Logistics of recruiting and engaging participants
• Speed at which people need to learn or be trained (i.e., how quickly do people need to gain competency?)
• Organizational and business needs (e.g., achievement, revenue generation, efficiency, productivity)
• App and software marketplace terms of service (e.g., Apple Store, Google Play)

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. What laws must you abide by with your product? This includes any laws regarding participants who are minors, data safety and security, laws related to education, and laws regarding accessibility.
2. What standards, criteria, and best practices must be followed and aligned to the product? (e.g., "Quality Matters" online courses, Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards).
3. What rules and regulations about third party vendors, technology, data collection practices, and human resources are at the organizations who may use your product (e.g., schools, businesses)?
4. What kinds of logistics will be involved with recruiting participants or promoting the products to be used by people? Are there any specific rules related to how you will recruit people? (e.g., institutional research boards / IRB)
5. What terms of service and agreements might need to be followed if the product is distributed? (e.g., an online course management system, software use, distribution and sales channels like Apple Store and Google Play)
6. If working with children, what special rules and laws must be followed to protect children's participation, privacy, and rights?

📓 Document the standards, rules, regulations, and laws that your product must follow.

✳️ Step 5: Compile the list of constraints

In this step, simply combine all of the constraints that you identified into a single list.

This list will be used to guide the design and development of the product. The list can be passed on to additional designers to define aspects about what is and is not within the scope of the design.

📓 Document the list of constraints that will guide your project.

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