Skip to main content

Week 6 - Activity 3: Blog Reflection What do you think about instructional design so far?

For week 6 we are to reflect about are thoughts on instructional design.  Instructional design has been more complicated than what I expected.  I have come across many challenges for the design project.  My biggest challenge has been understanding the client’s needs.  It has also been difficult scheduling our meetings as she is a very busy person and is traveling a lot this semester.  Another issue for me has been my reluctance at working with the design document.  I am so used to ‘just going for it’ and not having to do any documentation, therefore it has been a very big challenge for my brain to make the metal switch. 
One of my weaknesses is writing lesson’s goals and learning objectives.  I do not have a teaching background and I find this area so confusing.  I have read and watched videos on these subjects and while looking at the information it all makes sense, but when it comes to me writing my project goals and objectives, I get very confused and I would even say, disoriented. This is definitely an area I need to improve on because it doesn’t come naturally to me.  Clark (1991) mentions that instructional designer often fail to “link their work to the basic and applied research on learning from instruction” (p.7) and I think that might be the case with me and this project.
I think my strongest area is creating learning activities.  I enjoy creating content that students can use electronically.  I like the idea of changing static content to something that is more meaningful and useful for both the students and the instructor.  But I do have to admit, I have trouble connecting my learning activities with the objectives, it is a working progress. 
Piskurich (2011) describes the concept of rapid prototyping, which refers to “the development of only a portion of the training… (p. 298).”  It basically means to take only one portion of the training/material and develop it from analysis to evaluation.  It is a complete and finished area of the training that can help the client to get an idea of what the final product will look like and how it will work.  I feel like my project for this one client is basically a rapid prototype, as I am only working on her portion of the course.  It is difficult to describe this project because I only have access to a portion of an entire course.
References
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media and method. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(3), 7-10. doi:10.1007/bf02298090

Piskurich, G. M. (2011). Rapid Instructional Design Learning ID Fast and Right. Somerset: Wiley.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 12 Blog Reflection

What does it mean to manage/regulate yourself (self-regulate) and others? Self-regulation and self-management are crucial in all aspects of our lives.  It is even more important when taking online courses and working full-time.  Is vital to managing one’s time so that at the end of the day, all things that needed to be taken care of are crossed out the to-do list, to stay on track.  This is even more important with courses in which there are no hard deadlines, such as this course.  It is so easy to go off track or put things off and before you know it, you find yourself trying to catch up.  When working with clients, like we did for these two big projects, it is also important to manage not only our time with our clients but also regulate our communication and interaction so that the project stays on track.  Having said that, instructional designers need to be flexible enough to accommodate all kind of clients’ personalities and schedules.  Ho...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 16 - Project B Reflection

Reflect on the outcome of Project B. What worked? What did not? Why? Did you use your peer for feedback? If so, discuss the feedback your peer provided; if not, explain why? Discuss your clients feedback? What did you use? What did you reject? Why? I enjoyed working on project B.  I had originally contacted Dr. Taylor for a project he had in mind but he couldn’t meet with me early enough for me to develop his project so I contacted Dr. Holyfield who was in need of finding an electronic option for a portfolio all dental students are to keep for the four years they are dental students.  The reason for the portfolio is that the dental school gets accredited every seven years.  Part of the accreditation process requires the school provides the committee examples of works in which students have been introduced to some specific standards.  In the past, students were keeping a binder with paper copies of specific assignments. Due to having 400+ students and only one facu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Two Examples of Instructional Design

For week 1 of our blog reflection, we were to go out into the world (e.g. grocery store, mall, etc.) and locate two examples of instructional design in which I, as a viewer/reader, was expected to learn something. Then I was to decide the goals of the instruction, how effective it was, and three things I learned.  The first instructional design example is of Scrubbing Bubbles.  While grocery shopping, I was in the cleaning aisle and it dawned on me that most of the cleaning supplies have instructions.  The goal of this content is to teach the user how to properly use this product in order to keep their toilets clean and stain free.  The instruction set comes with illustrated instructions and written instructions.  The illustrated instructions are that of three simple images that the user can easily look at and understand how to use this product.  The written instructions are simple, very well organized, and to the point. The second instructional ...
Post a Comment
Read more