SLO 1 - Issues and Trends

Candidates will synthesize research on issues and trends in instructional technology.

This Student Learning Outcome ensures students can research issues and trends in instructional technology, which is important for keeping up with the constant changes, discoveries, and innovations in instructional design, media, and technology.

Clark/Kozma Position Paper

Trends in AR and VR Research

Rationale

The Clark/Kozma Position assignment mostly involved synthesizing research. After they introduced their opinions in 1994, plenty of research and innovations have been made in the field that supports or goes against Clark and Kozma. In order to properly align myself with one of their opinions, synthesizing current research was necessary to make sure that my own rationale was sound. In the AR/VR assignment, I worked with my partner to use current research on the technology to explain how it can be used in the classroom. These assignments demonstrate that I am able to synthesize research to explain current issues and trends in instructional technology.

Challenges

A natural challenge to meeting this SLO is sorting through current research to find reliable and accurate resources. I often had to distinguish between blogs and social media posts that were either opinions or didn't cite any resources. The semester the artifacts are from was also my first semester in the program and was also during a very rough school year. Finding the time and energy to complete assignments was difficult. The group work I completed was also fairly extensive since we were originally in a trio before one of the other group members withdrew from the course.

Reflections

I think opening my work in this program with deciding my position on the Clark/Kozma debate set a precedent for the work I subsequently completed. Agreeing with Kozma, who believes that technology has a positive influence on instruction and educational environments, informed many of the other takes I had on issues and trends that were discussed throughout the program. It also allowed me to be more accepting of new concepts and technologies I was introduced to. This is reflected in the AR/VR assignment, where even though I had never used VR at the time and had limited AR experience in the classroom, I was eager to see how other teachers used the technology and find ways to use it myself.