Instructional Technology and Design

August 28th 2012

This is my new blog for my IDT8000 class.  Here is a brief definition of instructional technology and design.

Instructional Technology or learning technology is any device used in the development of knowledge.  The devices can be low-tech or high-tech tools used by a teacher or by a learner.  

The design piece is where we build learning around technology.  As instructional designers we may design environments or additional technology (my own words).  But, we can also build technology around learning (Julian Allen, 8.28.12 Online Lecture).

Both are usually systematic in use in that they follow a process. 

Additionally, here are two links about the field.

http://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/tag/instructional-design/

http://depts.washington.edu/etuwb/ltblog/

September 18th 2012

    Page 82 application question 1

1. The vice president for Human Resource Development

at a large pharmaceutical company has recently read

this chapter about the postindustrial paradigm of

education and training. She would like to explore

using the new paradigm in her company and is

therefore asking you to prepare a one-page

(approximately four hundred word) statement that

presents a vision of instruction that portrays how

the core ideas of the new paradigm could be

implemented in her company. Prepare the statement.

In the time of large industrial factories powered by increased numbers of manual laborers, educational systems played a role beyond simply teaching individuals.  During this age, educational systems acted as a sorting agent to separate the laborers from leadership/management roles within the workforce.  Today, however, our workforce has become greatly focused on training individuals for success in the roles in which they are cast. 

Instruction for your workforce will carry a large amount of active learning environments, whether they are traditional classroom or digital classrooms.  Instruction will be based on tasks and active participation from the learner.  The learning process will require learners activate previous knowledge and build on it so that they can generate new knowledge that one could apply in the role they are working.  This will help to build creativity and critical thinking in your employees. 

Assessments are built in to learning.  The assessments will be performed in such a way that the learner does not even realize that he or she is being assessed.  Assessing learners in their active learning environment though their demonstrations and discussions will be more effective in the learning process as well as having a quality snapshot of what your employees are capable of after learning.  Being able to demonstrate and apply their knowledge is an essential piece of your company’s success.

Rather than looking at demonstrations and applications of their new found knowledge with dismay should they have missed crucial information or processes during the learning process, this will be viewed as a teachable moment.  At this point, a questioning approach to help guide the learner to the realization of the mistake will reinforce the learning process.  Rather than the learner being told they made a mistake, they are much likely to learn from discovering the mistake on their own and reduce the risk of repeating the same mistake twice.

Since much of the workforce, as well as the work of this company, is not relying on one individual for the success of the company, team based instruction and assessment is included in this learning environment.  Learners will work in teams and actively engage one another in open discussion, argument, questioning, reasoning, and demonstration of acquired knowledge and skills.  This will further reinforce learning and, again, allow the learners to actively practice what has been learned.

    Page 103 application question 2

Identify a recent instructional design or performance

technology project on which you have worked. If

you have not worked on any such project, interview

someone who has. Describe how you did (or would)

evaluate the project using one or more of the

evaluation models explained in this chapter.

This past spring I began construction of supporting video lectures for my mathematics classrooms.  While I had many motivations for these videos, a few tie directly in with Rossi’s Five-Domain Evaluation Model.  I will briefly discuss how each of the five domains were tied in to this instructional design:

1)      Needs Assessment – The need for these supplemental videos were needed when some of my students informed me that the pace of the class was too quick for them.  Not having much control of a coordinated course in higher education and the amount of material required to be covered by the course end date, I had to create supplemental material to support the students outside the classroom.  While some could not write fast enough, I began create handouts of my notes in advance for students to print to reduce the need for writing formal mathematical definitions so they could focus on working problems along side of me.  The videos gave them additional lecture time at home and allowed them to review information they may have missed while being present in class.

2)     Theory Assessment – The design of the supporting video lectures were designed in a way that it centered on the student’s need to be able to have access to me, in a way, outside of class.  Since the lectures were built based on what the students were saying they needed, then assuming they know what they need, the design should work.

3)     Implementation Assessment – The plan was executed as the students requested.  The lectures were designed to be a classroom away from the classroom to support the students while they were away from me.  It was implemented exactly as the students had requested.

4)     Impact Assessment – This fourth domain requires strong experimental design to validate the impact of the design.  While the strength of my experimental analysis is questionable, I did, at the time, use a simple survey to get the insight of my students through Survey Monkey to find out what they thought of the supplemental instruction videos.  Their feedback, to me, was the most important assessment to validate the success of the instructional design. 

5)     Efficiency Assessment – While there were no direct costs involved in the design that were monetary, there were some costs with time and getting set up for the design.  The results of the student’s responses far outweighed any additional time invested to make the supplements “worthwhile.”

    Page 124 application question 2

You have been hired as a project manager and you

have assembled a team of ten people to design and

create a five-day orientation program for nurses

hired at a hospital. Four people are in town, three

are one state away, and three are across the country.

Some you will be able to meet with, some not. You

have medical SMEs, nurses, instructional designers,

a writer, and a graphic artist. How will you convey

project objectives and enthusiasm? How will you

monitor people and products? How will you give

feedback? Finally, how will you celebrate the end

of a successful project?

This project would be difficult to complete without some form of online meeting room.  An online synchronous discussion would be critical to get the project off the ground.  In this first online discussion, roles and individual tasks would be assigned so everyone has a place in the construction of this project.  Additionally, pointing out the importance of the orientation and the potential impact this event will have on the nurses will build a sense of urgency for completing a quality event.  This could be done through a simple Skype conference or WebEx meeting place (as examples only). 

From here, an online discussion board or web page would need to be designed that is user friendly and graphically appealing.  This could have a project section for project members as well as public sections for those who will attend the orientation.  The project member’s only section would be for check in and posting their findings for planning the event.  This will also be a great place for posting upcoming dates for additional synchronous online meetings to allow for feedback from all parties to all parties involved.

In the end, a short video of the orientation and some verbatim comments from those that attended the orientation would be posted online for all ten project members to see.  This way, even those that are not local can see the impact they have had so that they too can share in some of the excitement.

    Define ROI

To avoid a formal definition of return on investment (ROI), I turn to the mathematical side of my brain.  I think of ROI as input and output.  No matter how much I put in, I expect to get something out.  The ROI is always measurable, whether it is positive or negative (although we prefer a large positive return on any investment we make).  The investment is the input, the return is the output.

Problem Solving

Who is George Polya?

http://168.28.240.109/IT8000_Problem_Solving_-_MP4_%28Original_Size%29_-_20120918_12.04.12AM.mp4

or refer to problem

http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/polya.html

Is problem solving algorithmic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkbL5Du-9AM

Now a tour through the text book:

Dempsey, John V.; Reiser, Robert (2011-03-14). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (3rd Edition). Allyn & Bacon. Kindle Edition. 

Different Types of Problems (Thinking Broadly):

Story Problems

Decision-Making Problems

Troubleshooting Problems

Strategic Performance Problems

Policy Problems

Design Problems 

Dilemmas

Article Review

Dickey, M. (2006). Game design narrative for learning: appropriating adventure game design narrative devices and techniques for the design of interactive learning environments. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 54(3), 245-263. doi: 10.1007/s11423-006-8806-y

Abstract:

The purpose of this conceptual analysis is to investigate how 

contemporary video and computer games might inform instructional design by looking at how narrative devices and techniques support problem solving within complex, multimodal environments. Specifically, this analysis presents a brief overview of game genres and the role of narrative in popular adventure game design, along with an analysis of how narrative supports problem solving in adventure games.

Additionally, an analysis of the underlying structure used in game 

design for developing narratives is presented along with design heuristics for constructing narratives for educational purposes.

Example:

Feel free to check out Myst online at the link below if you want to solve some problems in an online, interactive environment.

http://mystonline.com/en/about/

November 27th 2012 (Final Reflection)

Looking back on the course I would say my view on Instructional Technology and Design has become broader.  Coming into IT&D, I was focused on my own interests and career goals, and now I have seen a slew of options in the field stretching from corporate training to military training.  I’ve also been introduced now to many different instructional designs and have seen how designs apply in different settings. 

My definition of the field has not changed much.  I also still define instructional technology the same as I did but with a new arsenal.  Having seen more technology use throughout the class (MOOCS, Prezis, websites, and other web memberships), I have a larger number of designs for presenting information for learning.

Since I never look back for long and keep moving forward, I want to now explore a little bit more into learning games for mathematics and problem solving and incorporate internet use to support my teaching philosophies.  It is something I was not prepared to attempt until now.  I want to dive in to using learning technologies and game based learning in my own classrooms as well as support student inquisition during class time with the internet.