Supra Badge Reflection

Overall Importance

Planning and Analysis are the first steps in the generic ADDIE model of instructional design. Ability to adequately analyze learner and performance needs in order to design and develop a quality learning experience is certainly a pivotal step in the overall ID lifecycle. With my background teaching across a variety of topics and settings, it was already clear to me, before I joined this program, how important planning and analysis are, but what I’ve learned since I’ve been in the Purdue LDT program is that there is a huge spectrum of approaches to these very important steps. In the artifacts I present below for three of the four competencies, I used materials from the EDCI 572 course on using the Dick & Carey model of instructional design. This course was the first course I took in the program, and also the hardest, but I am very glad that I entered this master’s program through the door of Dick & Carey, using a topic I’m an SME in (teaching yoga) because I exponentially expanded my understanding of planning and analysis through the project I worked on in that course. In my current job, I do not have to follow a model like Dick & Carey when designing educational experiences, but I now know where I could go with it if I needed to. As I enter professional practice as an ID, I will be able to take the spectrum of options for planning and analysis with me, both from I knew previously and the incredibly large amount that I have learned while in this program about these important first steps in an ID project’s lifecycle.

Achievements within the Sub-Badges

Gap Analysis

I am an SME in the teaching of yoga because I have been teaching yoga since 2012. I have also mentored other yoga teachers on effective methods of class design and sequencing. But I had certainly never done a formal gap analysis to back up my observations over the years about the lack of abilities, across the new yoga teacher population, in terms of designing a safe, quality yoga class. Performing this step for the EDCI 572 project was eye-opening because I had to take my SME hat off and put my ID hat on. I am glad I picked a project topic that forced me so fully into the ID role because it gave me significant perspective on the difference between instructing from the hip, if I can use the “shooting from the hip” analogy, and instructing from the ID perspective.

Target Population & Environment

Just like with performing a gap analysis for the first time, diving more deeply into the needs of learners and performance contexts through the Dick & Carey model represented a 180-degree pivot from SME into instructional designer. Taking my years of experience and designing Performance Objectives was a very interesting task because I had to truly break down the steps of the learning process, and keep the focus on the learners, not just on the content to be presented. This is what is so valuable about using the Dick & Carey model to address the target population and environment for the learning because it forces you through a sieve that keys you laser focused on the learners and the place where they are learning.

Analysis Techniques for Instruction

For one of these challenges, I used the yoga workshop I designed using the Dick & Carey model because it truly showcased determining subordinate and prerequisite skills. As an SME in the area of teaching yoga, I intuitively know what prerequisite skills a new yoga teacher needs to be successful, and I know what subordinate skills they need to be successful, because I am a yoga teacher and I have interacted with hundreds of them over the years and have observed their teaching. But to enter the topic through Dick & Carey’s elaborate expectations on determining subordinate and prerequisite skills was eye-opening because I had to really dig in deeply to break down what I was making a lot of assumptions about. I am so pleased that I was able to bridge the gap between SME and ID on this project because it makes me both a better ID and a better yoga teacher!  In this sub-badge, I also was able to explore another facet of ID that is important to me through the Literature Review I wrote in EDCI 513 on how stereotype threat is addressed, or not, in instructional design spaces. Being able analyze the lack of sufficient literature on this topic has helped me see where I can insert myself in professional ID practice with this regard. 

Analyze Technologies

In this sub-badge, I test out the use of generative AI on a few ID tasks and report my findings on a blog post. As I continue using generative AI for research and for validation purposes against things I have already created, I continue to see the value in this important tool within the ID toolbelt. It is important as an ID professional to be able to work smarter, not harder, when a tool is available that can improve outcomes and efficiency. It is always up to the user to establish and maintain ethical boundaries and practices with the use of a tool like generative AI, and because of my background teaching college English and how much I’ve had to talk to students about plagiarism and academic integrity, I am one of the types of people who will always use generative AI appropriately as a tool for my existing work and not as a ghostwriter for me. There is no reason to not use generative AI within an ID space, in fact it is encouraged, and for good reasons.

ID Skills Gained & Applying What I’ve Learned in the ID Field

Because I hit the ground running in the Purdue LDT program with my first class on the Dick & Carey model, I have gained significant ID skills which I have carried with me into all of my other courses. My background teaching in a variety of areas (English, yoga, etc.) means I have a good base for what happens when you deliver instruction; and due to some quality experiences I had working with an instructional designer in my last university job, I already knew some basics of ID before starting this program. Thank goodness because Dick & Carey was like the Mount Everest of ID models, and I slid into a good pace up the mountain and reached the top having grown quite a lot in my ability to understand and complete things like gap analyses, learner and performance analyses, and determining a more sophisticated approach to designing learning outcomes out of performance objectives. What I know about myself is I love to learn, I am receptive to learning new things, and I easily synthesize new ideas and processes into practice, and all of this means I’m set up for success as an instructional designer with these experiences and projects under my belt.