A Journey through Instructional Design
When I started my first Online Teaching and Instructional Design course
I was surprised by how little I knew about the process. I had been
teaching for a few years now and had the content knowledge solidly secured. I had put little thought into the actual
design portion of the course, which looking back now seems silly. I had put the cart before the horse. I had designed courses without ever looking
at the nuts and bolts and details that go along with making a successful
class. While taking EDU 657 I learned I
needed to slow down and look at the courses I develop piece by piece in order
to enhance the learning opportunity of my students.
Design
Models
I had never heard of a design model.
ADDIE, SAM, UbD, UDL were just letters on a page. I wrote this in my first blog post regarding
design models:
“When I started an instructional design course a few short weeks ago I
knew as much about instructional design modules as I did about speaking German.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! It all seemed so foreign to me. I mean I
kind of had been living in the country for many years as an adjunct instructor,
but never had learned the language. I had been fumbling from town to town
trying to design courses with out ever taking time to find a tudor or buy a
book.”
I was fumbling and doing it very poorly.
I learned that I use UbD as a design model most often, and through the
readings, discussions, and assignments I learned how I could begin to
incorporate the other design models into my courses.
I realized that maybe the answer isn’t using just one model, but a
combination of models in order to relay the information in a manageable way
that can be useful and individualized to our learners. Each course and set of students is unique and
we have to bring our full tool kit if we want to bring about positive
outcomes.
Feedback
I firmly believe that constructive feedback is vital and allows for
growth. All though it can be hard to
swallow sometimes when we learn we have not done well, we must be willing to
look at how we can improve in order to do our job well. It also allows us to see our strengths. We can be our own worst critics and we need
to know it is ok to have pride and take pride in what we do.
My main source of feedback has been our end of semester course
evaluations. I am really good at using
this information to tweak a course for the next semester, and while this is a
great source for looking at how we can grow and change a course in the future,
it gives us little feedback for change in the present time. From the use of the different design models I
have learned that evaluation throughout the courses and design process is
critical. Moving forward I look to
incorporate ways that I can evaluate my design as a develop content for a
course as well as once the material is delivered how can I use evaluation and
feedback to enhance the course on the next assignment.
I also want to look at relying on my colleagues more. I am lucky to work with professors who have
many years under their belts as successful instructors. Using them as a tool to grow would allow me
to take success in the past and pair it with the new and exciting design tools
I am learning today to create a winning design.
Individualized
The main goal of instruction is learning. Merriam-Webster defines learning as:
“the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying,
practicing, being taught, or experiencing something”
“the activity of someone who learns”
“knowledge or skill gained from learning”
As instructors we have to find ways
to make our instruction individualized so we can promote learning for all. From taking this course I learned that we can
and should use different platforms to present out material, assess or material,
and evaluate our material in order to make sure we are doing our best to reach
each student in our course. This can be
a time consuming process and hard at times, but in the future I hope to
incorporate as many individualized opportunities for my students as possible,
whether this be through incorporating more discussions, more visual aids within
presentations, case studies, hands on assessment, research, or simply through
having a conversation. Any way that I
can convey information to my students in a way that allows for growth and
understanding I hope to do so.
Conclusion
Instructional design is a mountain
and I feel that I have just scratched the surface. I hope that I can get out the digging tools
as my courses progress and begin to find deeper understanding of the design
process and ways I can incorporate them into my pedagogy. I have enjoyed learning about my strengths as
an instructor. One of those being that I
use the UbD model well (I just now know the name), I accept feedback, I am
organized and can design a course that allows for learning, and I have a
passion for learning and watching my students succeed. I look forward to turning my weaknesses of evaluation
and feedback throughout the course, research, use of multiple design models,
and individualization in to strengths along the way. I cant wait to see what technology will
unfold and look forward to how that will shape online learning and instructional
design in the future. So grab your travel guide and lets learn a little more about this country.
