“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it” (Samuel Johnson, n.d.). The blogs in which I read this week will be of great resource to me as I begin my journey of becoming an Instructional Designer. Each touches on important aspects of designing meaningful instruction, from using social media sites, such as Twitter, to the importance of a reliable, up-to-date network.
Instructional Design…It Can Get Technical
The author, Nick Gongo, begins his article discussing how classroom technology is not always reliable. He further details how software requirements, budgets, and personnel plays a part in Instructional Design, specifically in a high school setting, Attached to his article is a link to a network proposal that outlines the positives and negatives of developing a network, funding options and budgets, a student use policy, and the roles of specific personnel in the school district.
Instructional Design and Development Blog
The blog is a collection of short articles dealing with several topics relevant to the field of Instructional Design such as Twitter, computer games, PodCasts, and distance learning. The blog is a service of the FITS Department, Faculty Instructional Technology Services, at DePaul University, formerly Instructional Design and Development (IDD).
What Everybody Ought to Know About Instructional Design
The purpose of instructional design is to pull content together to create focused and meaningful courses. The author, Tom, writes that learning happens through our experiences and that formal courses intrude on the learner’s natural path. He then defines the role of an instructional designer as one who helps learners make sense of new information they get, which, in a sense, is manufacturing a learning experience. He defines an instructional designer as one who takes information and expertise of a subject matter and delivers it to the student in a way which compresses the learning process and, simultaneously, saving time and money while aiding the student to focus only on the important information.
Cathy Moore: Let’s save the world from boring elearning!
The author, Cathy Moore, addresses several topics relevant to instructional design such as helping learners use their knowledge. One entry in particular stood out as I browsed through this blog, “Be an elearning action hero!” The author details the pros of action mapping and its role in the real world of online courses. Other entries detail common mistakes in elearning, learning styles, and the roles of instructional designers.
This week in class readings, Bill Ferriter quotes Richard Elmore of Harvard University as saying that school structures make learning for adults unlikely at best and short of impossible at worst (2009). While instructional design is a new subject for me, these blogs provide insight into this field that will help guide and plan my journey through this program and help aid my understanding and use of the subject matter. While it is a course requirement to read these blogs, I find it not to be a chore as much as I view it as an opportunity to grow. As an inspiring instructional designer, these blogs will help challenge me to become more fluent in a what I consider to be new language, as well as to continue to revise my thinking about learning and teaching by participating in these public forums, and embracing these tools that will make learning easier (Ferriter, 2009).
By ignoring the possibilities of improving instruction, I fail to understand the nature of reality (Ormrod, 2008, Schunk, 2008 and Gredler, 2009). Join me as I embark on this journey while I take my first step forward to understanding today’s reality in networked learning and change my identity as a learner.
No comments:
Post a Comment