EdTech 503 - Topic 6 - Discussion 4

Topic 6 - March 16th to March 22nd, 2015

This was the fouth week of discussions.  This weeks readings covered Chapters 6, 7 and 8 from Larson and Lockee's book, Streamlined ID: A practical approach to instructional design as well as Case Studies 6, 8 and 23 from Ertner, Quinn and Glazewski's, The ID CaseBook: Case studies in instructional design. Other readings included topics on Keller's ARCS model of motivational categories, Dick, Carey, and Carey's (2015) objective and assessment strategies, Smith and Ragan's supplantive and generative strategies and finally a reading on writing performance objectives.

All of the topics from the readings are new to me with the exception of SMART goals.  I am sure from looking ahead of what is expected in the design process that the information from these readings is essential.  Again, I had a little trouble with the comprehension of the readings but it is getting easier.

The discussion this week introduced the design and development processes that are needed to complete more of the design process.  The topics dealt with identifying performance outcomes, assessing learning and selecting strategies to help the learners and teachers.  Again, there was a lead group who presented a review of the chapter readings  and posted four discussion questions.  Here are the questions and my answers to the discussion questions.

I found the discussion questions this week very intuitive.  I learned as much from reading the responses to the discussion questions as I did from the chapters themselves.  My colleagues are really helping me learn in this course.  Thank you to all of you.

EdTech 503 - Topic 5 - Preparation and Feedback of Instructional Design Project

Topic 5 - February 23 - March 15

This was the most challenging and exciting week so far in the EdTech 503.  I am very glad I did not have any readings this week as I am having difficulty with the readings from Larson and Lockee's book, Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. Although I find it informative, the writing style is not my preference and, thus, we are not a great match.

This section of time in this course was designated for the creation and feedback of our project.  In the first two weeks we prepared and wrote the first part of the instructional design project.  The last week we we given another class member's project to evaluate and had an evaluation completed for us as well.

I am quite proud of the work I did on the project so far.  I learned many things including the following:

1. To create and distribute a survey with the use of Google Forms.  I could have used Survey Monkey but I was already familiar with this software.  I used Google forms to try something new.  I found it very easy to use but, as with most Google products, does not have the extras that a stronger software package like Survey Monkey demonstrates.
2. To collect and analyze information from a survey.  I found this very beneficial and will use this in the future in my new role with my school board upon my return from my sabbatical. 
3. To make flowcharts with the use of MS Word. 
4. Create a report which shows many of the aspects expected of a good design.

The report was actually fun to do.  The information learned so far from the readings and discussions have really helped in the understanding of  instructional design.  I know it will get much more difficult in the second part of the report but I am happy with my progress so far.

The last week we were to peer evaluate a member of the class.  I used my project to compare to my colleague's project.  In comparing, I felt very good about the quality of work I had accomplished and felt strongly that I did a great job.  However, when I received my evaluation back from a colleague, I was not so sure.  My colleague made many recommendations - some I agreed with and some I did not.  This was another learning instance within this class.  Continuous evaluation is essential to having a strong design.  I definitely did not agree with the whole evaluation but some was very informative and I made some changes from these suggestions. 

EdTech 503 - Instructional Design - Topic 4 - Discussion 3

Topic 4 - February 16th to February 22nd, 2015

This was the third week of discussions.  This weeks readings covered Chapters 4 and 5 from Larson and Lockee's book, Streamlined ID: A practical approach to instructional design as well as Case Studies 2, 10 and 21 from Ertner, Quinn and Glazewski's, The ID CaseBook: Case studies in instructional design.  The topic for Chapter 4 was Contexts of Instruction.  This chapter dealt with the four types of context in Instructional Design which included Performance Contexts, Learning Contexts, Cultural Contexts and Theoretical Contexts. 

Chapter  5 talked about the Analysis of the Contents in terms of designing instruction.  The main concept learned from this chapter is "content is king".  It introduced KASI and its importance to the development of the design process.

Again, just as with discussion 1 and 2, there was a lead group who gave a presentation and presented questions for the class to respond to.  Here are the links to the presentation and discussion questions along with my answers.

I have not started the Instructional Design project as of yet but realize how important the readings will be to the design process and the final product.  Although I find the readings in the textbook very hard to read - some paragraphs are read three times, I do find them very informative.  I will soon start the project and know the information contained in these two chapters will be essential in my final work.

 

 

EdTech 503 - Instructional Design - Topic 3 - Discussions and Instructional Design Project

Topic 3 - February 9 -15

Readings and Discussion

This was a very busy week.  The week involved continuing with our readings and discussions on select chapters from Larson and Lockee's book entitled, Streamlined ID:  A Practical Guide to Instructional Design.  We also had to prepare the first section of our Instructional Design Project - the Goal Statement and the Audience Description.

The selected Chapters for this weeks discussions were Chapters 2 and 3 and case studies 7, 14 and 28.  We also read two case studies (#1 and #2) from Michael Power's A Designer's Log:  Case Studies in Instructional Design.  In addition we read Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism:  Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective written by P. A. Ertmer and T. J. Newby.

My group was the lead group this week.  This meant that we had to design a presentation to the rest of our class on the assigned readings.  The  group (Katie Lauritsen, Garrett Christen, Kristyn Degi, Gene Tognetti and myself) made a Google presentation and came up with four questions with which to lead the week's discussion.  We each posted one question but lead the discussions in all question areas.  Below is a link to both the Google presentation and the questions to the class.

Link to Google presentation

Discussion Questions

I learned so much this week about Instructional Design.  The reading from Chapter 2 covered the topic of needs (the problems, challenges and opportunities) and the steps needs for total understanding.  Knowing the stakeholders and their expectations and everyone roles and responsibility is vital to the design process.  I also learned the definition of a SME (subject matter expert) and their importance to the process. Finally, understanding the problem was discussed.  The designer must get the learner from "what is" to "what should be".  Different avenues of collecting this data were shown.

Chapter 2 talked about the learner and the importance of not assuming things about the learner.  It is important to collect data about the learner so as to be able to get to as many learners as possible.  It discusses how to analyze the learner and how the different learning characteristics can influence any design.

Instructional Design Project

This week we had to chose a topic for our Instructional Design Project. We had to come up with our goal statement and audience description for our project.  Although, the assignment only took a few minutes, it was a long process to try and find the topic of the project.

Below is a link to my Instructional Goal and Audience Description.

One of the most important aspects to ID is evaluating and re-evaluating.  I received some very productive feedback from my instructor and have decided to narrow down my topic.

The new topic is Upon completion of this 2 - 3 hour online tutorial, teachers will be able to use the Learning Content Management System (LCMS) called D2L to edit, manage and deliver an already created online course.

 

 

EdTech 503 - Topic 2 - Discussion1 on Instructional Design

Topic 2 - January 26th to February 8th, 2015

In this assignment we were required to answer questions in a discussion forum from readings on the topic Instructional Design.  The readings for the week were Chapter 1 of Steamlined ID: A Practical Guide to Instruction Design by Miriam B. Larson and Barbara B. Lockee.  Another reading was Chapter 1 of The Essentials of Instructional Design by Brown and Green.

I have no experience in Instructional Design so I found the readings very informative.  I had trouble reading the text at first as I had no knowledge with which to relate my learning.  However, as the chapter went on, I was able to find a little bit of a comfort zone.

The content in the chapters will be beneficial in my future with my school board.  I plan to become a leader in the school board in technology and online learning.  The information on the design process and what is involved in instructional design will give me a leg up on the development of the learning expected in our school board.

Below are the answers to the discussion questions.

Discussion questions

EdTech 503 - Instructional Design Job Posting

This is our first assignment is EdTech 503.

In this assignment the class have been asked to look at job actual job descriptions for the position of instructional designer. The websites I looked at for the jobs were Monster.com, careerbuilder.com, SimplyHired.com and HigherEdJobs.com.

We were asked to make a job description and then answer three questions pertaining to the topic. The questions were as follows:

1. What are teachers expected to do that instructional designers are not?
2. What are instructional designers expected to do that teachers are not?
3. What are the three major differences between a teacher and an instructional designer?

We were also asked to relate our findings for personal experience. Here is a link to my assignment.

I found this assignment very worthwhile.  Although the assignment itself was relatively non time-consuming, I found it took me a long time to do the work.  I was intrigued by the position of instructional designer and what it would take to excel in this position.  I looked at many job postings just to see about qualifications and job description.

I know of a few retired teachers who have ventured into this line of work.