Thursday, February 26, 2015

What do I think about instructional design?

Instructional design can be very time consuming when done effectively. I have been involved in trainings and professional develop sessions that have been presented in an effective manner, but I have also attended some that have not been very effective. Teachers have so many job duties to accomplish and so little time that when they attend training, the professional development needs to be relevant and effective.  Taking time to design the trainings using the ADDIE framework helps instructional designers to create effective instruction.

When I was a teacher, I always enjoyed the opportunity to create my own lessons. It was much more difficult to create the activities than to simply copy a worksheet and pass it out to the students to complete on their own. Unfortunately, because of time restraints, teachers turn to the worksheet method of instruction. It is so much simpler and certainly faster to produce a worksheet than developing a lesson yourself, but it’s not very effective instructional design.

As I have been creating my instructional design document for this course over the last several weeks, it has changed forms more than I had anticipated at each submission time. As you progress in the design process, you often go back and continue to edit previous ideas such as the understanding of the problem, the performance gap, the format of the instructional materials, and how the activities will support the goals and objectives that have been identified. Making everything cohesive and relevant to one another takes much planning and an open mind to realizing that the instructional design is dynamic in nature and can always be revised and tweaked for continuous improvement. 
  
My project that I am working on for my client is an online format and is based on the idea of “flipped” instruction. In the future, there will be a greater demand for instruction to be created in this format. However, I find it even more difficult and challenging to create than the face-to-face instructional materials. You must stay abreast of the latest technology tools, web applications, and web authoring skills, along with understanding good instructional strategies and the level of rigor each activity should contain. Currently, Governor Greg Abbott’s, Educating Texan’s Plan, calls for increased blended learning course offerings, so students can enroll in classes in which their district can’t afford to offer. With the increase of high school classes that will be offered online, more quality instructional designers will be needed.  

References

Bichelmeyer, B. (2005). The ADDIE model: A metaphor for the lack of clarity in the field of IDT. IDT Record.

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