One important challenge of synchronous online learning is that it implies everyone must meet at the same time…from any where. This means that students from multiple time zones will have to have a class meeting at the same time, which could be the middle of the day for some and the middle of the night for others. In my opinion, this is a serious obstacle, and overrides the value of an online learning experience that is open to a global community.

In addition, I think it’s important to remember that synchronous online learning is not the same environment as a synchronous in-person environment. I think many of us have experienced this reality in the post-Covid business and school world of video chats substituting in-person discussions and meetings. The subtle nuances of eye contact, humor, tone, and casual conversation are often awkward in an online setting.

In terms of the differences I have experienced in Project A vs. Project B, the main component I am working to improve in Project B is the job aid. I want there to be enough information and instruction provided so that a person completely new to this event/project can implement it with ease. This is still a challenge for me, because I come from a teacher’s mindset where I have often been the designer, developer, and implementer of all my instructional experiences. With that, I make assumptions about what I already know, and lean into my ability to improvise on the spot.

The Method of Loci activity outlined in Module 8 reminded me of many of the visual practices I used to memorize facts as a young person in K-12 and even beyond into my BA and MFA programs. Once, I remember my mom giving the idea to draw a picture of a person I was studying gin a history class and labeling parts of his body with facts about his life. I used this as a way to remember historical facts for a test. (I’m pretty terrible at remembering historical facts, so this was really helpful to me.)

It also reminds me of an activity I always use (and tell my kids and husband to use) when they “lose” an item in our home. I tell them to take a breath, relax, and imagine the last place they remember when they were holding the lost object. From there, I tell them to imagine everything that they did from that moment onward. Usually, that triggers a memory about where they placed the object (toys, keys, inhaler, etc.) that they are now missing. It always works.

I was thinking along these lines when I created the learning activity in my Project A that instructs students to draw a diagram of a house or other structure that represents the “four walls of a budget.” My idea behind this was if they have a visual representation to think of, they can use it to easily recall the terms used in the “four walls” in an assessment or later in actual budget making.

Cruze, R. (2023, October 11). What are the 4 walls of a budget?. Ramsey Solutions. https://www.ramseysolutions.com/budgeting/4-things-you-must-budget 

In Chapter 7, the evaluation phase asks: “How’d it go?” and “Would you do it again?”. I also found it interesting that the author stressed the question: “What’s the point of this evaluation?”. For instance, is there a need to see the likability or engagement of the course? Then, the evaluation should focus on that. Is there a need to see mastery of a skill? Focus the evaluation on content mastery.

There are some similarities between the Evaluation stage and the evaluation done within the Analysis stage. Both are asking important questions like: who is this training for? What is the purpose? Why does it matter? However, in the Evaluation (end) stage, you are discovering what the learner gained from the training/learning experience, using questions and/or interviews about their experience and understanding.

References:

George M. Piskurich. (2015). Rapid Instructional Design : Learning ID Fast and Right: Vol. Third edition. Wiley.

Or, should I say…trying to implement.

The main ideas I gathered from Chapter 6 are that implementation is where you find the bumps in the road, or the chinks in the armor of your instructional design product. Through feedback and observation, the instructional designer can gain valuable information on what worked and what didn’t in the lessons, activities, media, and assessments included. I am certainly learning from experience that things don’t always go according to plan.

My implementation plan had some bumps in the road this week. Due to the condensed time frame of this course and assignment deadline, there was not a lot of wiggle room in the implementation plan. Unfortunately, public school education in high school can wiggle a lot. The module that I have been creating for my instructor’s “Dollars and Sense” class just did not fit into his calendar because of other semester changes and slow downs.

I’m choosing to take this is a learning experience and using my best skill: improvisation! In an ideal, real-world setting, I would work with an instructor the semester prior, so that the instructional design product could be implemented the following semester. This is the usual timeline that happens between faculty and instructional designers in higher education, and my assumption is that this would work best for a high school teacher as well.

However, what can I do at this point? I can’t stop time. So, instead I pivoted the direction of this instructional design plan so that we could do an online beta test, with the instructor trying out the module as a pretend student. He knows his target audience well, as he has been in the classroom with high schoolers for nearly 15 years. He certainly knows what works and what doesn’t.

A few of the questions I have asked are:

Were the learning objectives clear?

Will the video content keep your students engaged?

Do you feel that the discussion questions will generate lively discussion, either in the classroom or online?

Does the Four Walls diagram assignment have clear instructions?

Do the sample scenarios provide enough content with out being overly complex?

I asked these questions to gain insight on the attention, interests, and assessment strategies of a high school setting.

References:

George M. Piskurich. (2015). Rapid Instructional Design : Learning ID Fast and Right: Vol. Third edition. Wiley.

Two main ideas that stand out from Chapter 5 are:

1. Development focuses on outcomes. The end results are key to the development phase. How will you know (and show) that your learners have accomplished their objectives? How will you know (and show) that your facilitator/instructor has the materials needed to get the information across to the learners?
2. Games can be potentially useful (or potentially boring). Two types of games are those that present new information and those that summarize (Pickurich, 2015, p. 222).

An assessment I plan to use is an assignment in which the students will use a provided budget template to create a budget for a sample scenario individual. The assignment will be scored with a grading rubric that breaks down how they applied the budget template categories in this made-up scenario and how their financial wellness suggestions were in line with the information presented earlier in the class. This type of assignment will be used to determine that the student has reached the learning objective of “applying” their knowledge in new “real-life” situations.

An evaluation example I plan to use is an instructor feedback observation form. Because of the high school setting, it may not be possible to have an outsider observe the class and evaluate, but I will create a survey that the instructor can complete shortly after the class each day, while the experience is fresh in their mind. This will help determine which materials were most successful in the learning objectives.

References:

George M. Piskurich. (2015). Rapid Instructional Design : Learning ID Fast and Right: Vol. Third edition. Wiley.

In Chapter 4 of Rapid Instructional Design, a few ideas that stand out to me are:

1. Learning goals and learning objectives are different. Specifically, within your learning objectives, your writing should exemplify how the students will achieve the learning goals that are set up. The learning objectives should be visible and/or measurable.
2. Think about what delivery method will be most effective in achieving your learning objectives. Yes, traditional classroom instruction is a viable delivery method, however it may not be the best one for every context. This is an important concept to remember, because like myself, many people still associate “learning” with sitting down in a classroom while an instructor stands in front and lectures. This is not always the best situation for learning.
3. Learning Theories: what are they? Ok, I had to do a quick Google search to refresh my understanding of learning theories. However, I found a useful breakdown of three main learning theories from University of California at Berkley. The three listed are: Behaviorism, Cognitive Constructivism, and Social Constructivism. For Project A, I gravitate toward a combination of Behaviorism and Social Constructivism. I think there is certain basic content that must be absorbed and understood by the learner (and rewarded) first. Secondly, the students will apply this information to another person’s life, and be able to present their rationales to small groups. This social integration will be an important understanding of not just what the content is, but how it will be used in everyday life.

References:

George M. Piskurich. (2015). Rapid Instructional Design : Learning ID Fast and Right: Vol. Third edition. Wiley.

Overview of learning theories | GSI Teaching & Resource Center. (n.d.). https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/learning-overview/

I was browsing around at the resources within UNT related to instructional design, when I stumbled across this page of best practices in online teaching. While it is specific to teaching at UNT, and the learning management we use (Canvas), I think it is a useful list when thinking about developing online courses in a higher education setting. It provides a clear breakdown of some on the important components in an online courses, and some of the technological hurdles one might have to overcome, like recording and editing videos, adding captions, and creating online assessments.

URL: https://teachingcommons.unt.edu/teaching-handbook/teaching-online/best-practices-online-teaching

An expert in the field of Learning Technologies is one that I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with many times: Dr. Deborah Cockerham. I thought of her when prompted to think of an expert in the field because I know a bit about her multidisciplinary background, from working with youth, having a music background, and her experience creating collaborative projects between universities and museums. I’m always curious about professionals that come to the instructional design field with a varied background. Her profile can be found at: https://lt.unt.edu/deborah-cockerham

In this blog post, I’m thinking about the question: What is the role of an instructional designer in my field? To answer this, I’m going to consider both my background in teaching dance in higher education, at the community level, my current role as an Administrative Coordinator in a Learning Technologies department, and potential future positions that I am leaving relatively open.

When I was in graduate school in my M.F.A. program, we had a specific pedagogy course where we focused on online education within higher education. We even met with an instructional designer at TWU! At this time, the idea of online learning in dance was relatively new, however through that experience I learned how to craft learning objectives and course modules that would guide a student to learn more about dance from their home. There was a lot of outside-the-box thinking like using Second Life to create worlds in which students could interact and dance, responding to dance videos of the student’s creation, taking in opportunities like life performances and social dance events for the students to then craft online discussion posts. I really loved and thrived in creating and organizing dynamic and out-of-the-box course content in online course shells.

In my current role as a staff member in higher education, I see how instructional designers help maintain standards across all departments that offer online courses. They help instructors learn more about how to make online courses accessible to all students, and keep instructors accountable to this important compliance policy. I am definitely curious about this role, as I think it would blend my experience as an educator, creative artist, and problem solver together in a unique way.

I’m also curious about future potential jobs outside of higher education. To be honest, I’ve been relatively narrow minded regarding the fields in which learning happens. I typically think of K-12 education and higher education when I think of the word “learning.” However, I realize that learning, good training, and employee development takes place everywhere. From our reading, I can see that good training also saves employers money in the long run, because it’s more effective, and thus more efficient. I can see how instructional designers are a blend of science and art, and operate in cycles or webs based on the outcomes and feedback they receive from their instructional design products. The ADDIE model is an example of this cycle, and it reminds me a lot of other creative process models that involve a lot of coming back to the beginning and reevaluation.

Piskurich, G. M. (2015). Rapid instructional design: Learning ID fast and right (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.