SAM Model

The primary defining characteristics of SAM are:

• SAM is a design and development process providing maximum opportunities for review, evaluation and correction of decisions through out the process.

• SAM is optimized to produce the best possible instruction with given constraints of time and budget.

• Sketching and "disposable" prototypes are used to share ideas visually and assess functionality.

• Devising an initial treatment for all content before polishing the treatment for any content is a key feature of the process.

Pebble-in-the-Pond Model

The pebble is an instance of a problem that learners need to be able to solve in the context of the pond:

• The problem pebble thrown into the instructional pond is the trigger for the Instructional Design process.

• The instructional product comprising the first ripple is a prototype demonstration of an instance of this problem and how it might be solved.

• The second ripple is a progression of problem instances.

• The third ripple is the component skills required to solve this class of problems.

My Lens

I tend to favor the ADDIE model and have found that when I am designing courses, that I do this almost intuitively, however my biggest challenge is creating measurable learning objectives. I still struggle with how to measure them, which is why I think it was highly valuable that our final assignment in this course included the evaluation component. Two areas in the Instructional Technology and Design field I would like to gain strength in is creating measurable goals and clear and helpful evaluative processes.