The theory and practice of the instructional design system includes the categories of design, development, utilization, evaluation, and management; instructional designers and teachers need to determine an appropriate balance of structural knowledge and detailed knowledge acquisition. The purpose of this study was to determine what teachers' current perceptions were of instructional design and if the course had any affect on their understanding. Participants were 60 graduate students enrolled in a required course on instructional design of software at the National-Louis University. The following criteria were used in the final evaluation to show their understanding of the instructional design process: title screens, menu, instruction screens, and good balance of graphics, text, sound, animation, appropriate metaphor, and consistent navigation tools throughout. A 6-question questionnaire was administered, as a pretest and then as posttest, to the participants to determine their understanding of the instructional design and how it was used in their teaching. Included in the questionnaire were questions concerning the course, its purpose, and the benefits to their teaching. Design principles were not very eloquently described in most posttest questions, but there was an awareness that was not apparent in the pretests. Software's relationship to instructional design was very apparent. The teacher responses make apparent that teachers lack the extensive time it takes to process an instructional design. The questionnaire is appended. (Contains 16 references.) (AEF)