Post #5: Trends and Issues

IDT defined:

Instructional design can be defined as is the practice of creating "instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing."^[1] The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition.

These three field share similar issues but differ in types of objective and roles for their employees. These fields are all helping fields and assist in bettering individuals.

Health Care Education

According to our text the health care field is very broad. It involves the delivery of health services and research. The employees in this field must be knowledgeable and aware of the roles they hold. These employees must participate in prep session and training seminars to have the most up to date knowledge to best serve their patients. One big issue that individuals from the health care deal with is that certain decisions they make can be life-saving or ending for their patients. 

P-12 education

This education is crucial to the success of our students. The teachers are held to meet certain expectations in order to assist students and meet their educational needs. Teachers are graded by their principals and receive help on how to better their performance in the classroom. Like member in the healthcare, teachers also attend trainings and workshop to better develop their craft. 

Higher education

The employees in this field have to apply and earn promotion. Unlike in the health and P-12 education fields where your education is what determines what title you can earn. There are five common roles of this instructional design. As a employee of a institution of higher education, it is a very interesting role that one plays. Like the other fields, there are goals and objectives that need to be met within the community. 

Post #4: Learning Performance

Not all problems in learning and/or performance require an instructional solution. Many times a non-instructional approach is a more appropriate solution. This week's reading and reflection focuses on human performance, performance support systems, knowledge management systems, and the concept of informal learning. Chapter 14 discusses the concept and evolution of human performance improvement. Several sections of chapter 14 present a variety of non-instructional solutions to performance problems. Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help solve the problem. 

 As a college prep advisor one problem that our program has is our student attendance to college entrance exams. As members of our programs students receive a waiver to take the test for free, yet typically only about 60% of the students registered actually take the test on the assigned date. 

Solution: We have our students to register for the test that is given at their chosen high school as opposed to needing to visit anther school to take the test. By doing this we are able to use the school’s calling technology to do an all to students who are registered to take the test. The students also seem to be more comfortable taking a test at their “home” school. 

Chapter 15 presents performance support systems. Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above. The integration of different tools to help the user perform a task is what I would consider to be key feature of performance support systems. 

In my certain situation, I do not believe that a performance support system would assist in solving our program’s problem since our issue is more due to the choices of our students and not due to a program error, etc. 

 Chapter 16 explains knowledge management: the way we manage information, share that information, and use it to solve organization problems. Organizations, such as schools, accumulate a great deal information/data, which must be organized in a way that we can make sense of it in order to use for making decisions. What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving? 

 Some information that would assist in solving our problem would be obtaining how students are transported to school. We could obtain a list of whether our registered students are bused to school or driven by themselves or parents. This would aid us in possibly narrowing down the issues that student might have in testing on a Saturday. The information can be collected the school’s system and provided to us in a spreadsheet or Word document. We could even possibly request that there be a bus route on the day of the test to pick up students.

Post #3: Instructional Design

Chapter 10 discusses evaluation in instructional design and provides you with two evaluation models, the CIPP and Kirkpatrick models for evaluation. Search for at least two other models used for evaluation and summarize these models. Describe how you would use them to evaluate your instruction.

Reflect on what other questions that instructional design evaluation should address besides whether the instructional design leads to comparable amounts of learning and learner satisfaction as traditional methods. What else would be useful to know? 

The first model that I found for evaluation and summarization is the ADDIE model. The ADDIE model has five phases:

Analysis- the instruction problem is clarified and goals and objectives are established

Design- how the instruction is delivered, assessment of instruments used and the content of the subject matter

Development- the instruction is created

Implementation- a procedure for training the facilitators is created

Evaluation- (two parts: formative and summative) It typically involves qualitative feedback (rather than scores) for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance.

Here is an image displaying the ADDIE method:

Secondly, another well-known model is the Dick and Carey Systems Approach. This model was originally published in 1978.

The model addresses instruction as an entire system, focusing on the interrelationship between context, content, learning and instruction. According to Dick and Carey, "Components such as the instructor, learners, materials, instructional activities, delivery system, and learning and performance environments interact with each other and work together to bring about the desired student learning outcomes".

·  Identify Instructional Goal(s)

·  Conduct Instructional Analysis

·  Analyze Learners and Contexts

·  Write Performance Objectives

·  Develop Assessment Instruments

·  Develop and Select Instructional Materials

·  Design and Conduct Formative Evaluation of Instruction

·  Revise Instruction: To identify poor test items and to identify poor instruction

·  Design and Conduct Summative Evaluation 

What else is there to know?

One thing that comes to mind that these instructional design models do not address is the need of the instructor and the student. Does the instructor have adequate resources to conduct the model and is this the best model to teach the student effectively.

You have been assigned to develop a series of professional development sessions focusing on technology use in the classroom for teachers during a time of economic decline. How will you use Situational Leadership to facilitate this project and manage scarce resources? 

Situational leadership, is a leadership theory developed by Paul Hersey and I do agree with its main fundamental- there is not single best style of leadership.  I would develop my development to teacher instructors how to make use of what technology they currently have or encourage them to ONLY use one that are available in free formats.

There are tons of free apps and forms of technology easily available online. For example, we have a program Facebookpage and it is a free tool that we use to post events and contact our students. Not to mention, it is a great tool when wanting to reach a large group of students/parents. It has helped us communicate with over 1,000 students at once with the click of a button. Also, YouTube is a great resource for anyone- whether you want to learn how to cut up a chicken or solve a algebraic formula the site has something for you.

The bottom line to being effective and completing the project would be to stress the importance of resources and being resourceful. Show your audience how beneficial technology can be to the classroom. Below are a couple of links that I use that provides FREE resources:

http://www.weac.org/Professional_Resources/freebies/index.aspx

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/

http://classroom-aid.com/educational-resources/

Post #2: Theories

1. Epistemology (the study of what and how we come to know) is discussed in multiple chapters in this section. Distinguish epistemology from instructional methods or theories. What are the differences between theories, methods, or models of learning and epistemologies or underlying beliefs about ways of knowing?

To begin, I must say that this was the very first time for me to hear the term epistemology or the theory of knowledge. I find the concept of epistemology very complex, yet interesting.  It questions what knowledge is and how it can be acquired. 

In my opinion, the main differences between epistemology and theories, methods or models of learning is simple- the learner and how they actually gain the knowledge. For example- We all know that 2+2=4, right? This is known from using common knowledge. We can also learn that from direct experience simply by finding the answer through problem solving methods of math that we learned. 

When using theories, instructional methods and models we are essential using ideas from common knowledge and direct experiences.  These methods are used to develop the learning process of our students and should be consistently changing to meet the needs of our students. Below is a picture of what I believe epistemology looks like. 

2. Chapters in this section present two contrasting epistemic stances: positivist and relativist. However, a third stance, the contextualist or hermeneutical, is also widely recognized. This stance falls somewhere between the strictly objectivist/positivist beliefs about knowing and the purely subjectivist/relativist stance. While designers and educators with a positivist stance generally apply behaviorist principles to the design and development of instruction, those with either a contextualist or relativist epistemological framework employ constructivist theories and methods. However, relativists ascribe to radical constructivist approaches, while contextualists draw upon social constructivist theories and models. Based on what you’ve read about positivist and relativist epistemologies, as well as behaviorist and constructivist approaches, try to more fully describe a contextualist epistemology. How might it differ from either a relativist or positivist stance, and how might social constructivism differ from either behaviorist or radical constructivist approached to learning and instruction?

To begin, I will define various stances of this philosophy: (so here goes nothing...)

Positivist epistemology- knowledge is derived from logic and is there is evidence to back up the information 

relativist epistemology- knowledge is constructed by the learner and is relative to the standards and truth is based on the text

Contextualist epistemology- provides knowledge to skeptical arguments and utilizes evidence from logic and standards based on truth 

Click here for link for an article that I found useful.  

3. Differing epistemic stances lead to differing approaches to learning and instruction, and ultimately to problem-solving. Explain differences in problem-solving when approached from behaviorist and constructivist perspectives. How do the approaches differ in both the nature of the problem to be solved and in facilitating the problem solving process? Finally, what effect might these differences have on learner motivation?

Motivation is the key to a successful anything. Let's face it- If you strive to be a bum, you must be motivated to not work hard and live your life accordingly. I believe that the most effect approach for effective problem solving and instruction is constructivist. This method allows the learner to utilize knowledge used from previous experiences for future ones. Who doesn't enjoy taking Pre-Cal in order to enroll in Calculus <side eye>  When using the behaviorist method, the learner becomes accustomed to the receiving a certain type of  feedback. Is Little Johnny only doing his homework to receive a grade? What will happen is his next teacher does not offer this same type of positive reinforcement? Unlike a behaviorist approach, constructivist allows the learner to learn by making their own knowledge Through this they are able to discover, discuss, appreciate, and verbalize the new knowledge.. 

Post #1: Educational Technology Defined

1. How do the definitions in the first chapter compare to your own definition of instructional or educational technology? What experiences or other influences have shaped your definition? How has your definition changed from examining the definitions in the first chapter of this book? 

Instructional design and technology has definitely evolved over time, especially during this current day and age. My definition of instructional design was re-shaped by the definition in the book. I never really had developed a definition, but I did quickly form one once I was reading our text. My definition is very broad and general and does not focus on the specifics. My definition of instructional technology consisted of one basic objective- assist in enhancing student and teacher learning through the use of technology. That sounded pretty good to me! After reading the text, I realized that instructional technology was like an orange and had many layers to peel back in order to actually enjoy the ultimate goal. I, too, had categorized instructional technology with instructional media as one. I think the ultimate question is -What is the main purpose of technology and how is it assisting an individual in reaching their objectives and goals? 

Next, think of a lesson or unit of instruction that you have developed. Or if you haven’t ever taught or developed instruction, think of one that you have received. How does that lesson adhere or fail to adhere to the six characteristics of instructional design? How would you redesign it to better adhere to the six characteristics. 

Since the curriculum, I develop is set to satisfy the objectives of my program and the Department of Education and I don’t have any formal training in curriculum instruction- I am sure that I missed the mark on all characteristic of instructional design BUT let’s give it a try- 

The most recent lesson that I developed was a way for my sophomore students to gain more information about the college selection criteria, assist them in choosing a school based on career choice, and remind them of importance of high school grades. It is a jeopardy style game using Microsoft PowerPoint. It always time for the students to determine the correct answer and time for me to provide discussion for which answer choice best fits the question. The lesson, as all the ones I develop, are student-centered and have a particular goal in mind (YES, I AM ON A ROLE) and the outcome is able to be measured based on the student’s future decisions towards college. I would say that my lesson does adhere to the six characteristics of instructional design BUT it could be re-designed to be even more student centered and be made into a better learner experience. 

 2. In the 3rd chapter, Reiser distinguishes instructional media from instructional design, excluding teachers, chalkboards, and textbooks from the definition of instructional media. Why? Would you consider teachers, chalkboards, and textbooks instructional media? Is the purpose of instructional design to incorporate media into instruction? The first three chapters of your book define the IDT (Instructional Design and Technology) field and provide a history of how it has evolved over time. In your blog post for this week, reflect on the following: 

The use of instructional media can be extremely useful in today’s classroom. I do not believe that the purpose of instructional design is to always incorporate media into instruction but I do believe that it MUST be considered. One cannot have instruction without an instructor and I believe that teachers, textbooks, etc. are the core fundamentals to effective education and serve as a form of instructional media. Teaching is very much like cooking, you are not sure if the new dish you decide to try will be the best but you put forth the best effort and if you don’t get what you would like as an outcome- you try again until the goal is met. 

I strongly believe that assessment is a must to properly testing if something is working adequately. Some teachers are 100% opposed to changing their teaching styles and they way they deliver their curriculum and those are the same teachers who cannot determine why their students are not getting the message. These teachers are not ANALYZING and EVALUATING themselves in order to DEVELOP and IMPLEMENT new DESIGNS.