Week 12 - Applying Technology & Web-based Tools

Ch. 17 The Learner-Centered Paradigm of Instruction
Reigeluth provides yet another piece centered on a paradigm shift in the institution of education; from instruction based on time and a student's progress within that timeframe to instruction based on the student's mastery before moving on to the next level, or attainment-based student progress. As we shift to learner-centered instruction, instructional designers have an opportunity as well as an obligation to support instructors with providing methodology. One of the things I do struggle with is how teachers can keep up and manage a student base that is all progressing at different rates. Reigeluth definitely provides quite an in-depth framework for accomplishing this type of system; we all just need to get on board.

Ch. 20 For the Foreseeable Future, Instructional Technology Devices and Products - No Matter How Well Designed - Will Not Eliminate the Need for Human Teachers
I was pretty interested in reading this chapter because I have heard from many of my friends who are teachers that have expressed concerns about online education replacing them and the potential for them to lose their jobs. In the first segment Cates et. al. talk a lot about Human-robot interaction "HRI", which had me thinking they were almost making a case that robots could replace human teachers. I was glad to see that the reading turned more to addressing how teaching involves addressing the nuances of students' various needs. Human teachers are needed to be able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of instruction, to respond to students and their emotional needs, and for an opinion, the need for human-to-human interaction.

The last couple of weeks have been rather interesting in our organization as we have transitioned all non-essential employees to working from home. In our everyday lives, we utilize Microsoft Teams for internal chat, IM, and videoconferencing. Our customer care team utilizes several different programs to support customers that include MS Teams, and other software for online live chat support and email support. Earlier this week, our warehouse team gathered in the main breakroom and we have a live video call with our COO and other members joined the call from their homes; he was in his living room which was kind of cool. One of the features that I used when setting up the call was the ability to record. I recorded the meeting so that I could then email it out to our site for everyone to reference and for anyone who hadn't been able to attend in person or online. MS teams has certainly become an integral part of how we conduct business now more than ever before.

In this first image, you see there are teams that we can create for specific projects to keep each updated. In the second image, this is a group of our HR team with files we've shared over the last week responding to COVID-19 changes in employment and legislation.

Here is the video that I recorded and was able to share via Microsoft Stream:

Week 11 - Reflections & Screencasting/Screenshots

I was pretty excited about the tasks this week for Screencasting and using screenshots. I use both of these tools almost daily, especially the screenshots at work. It's often the easiest way to show people in other work locations v. trying to explain. I support two work sites locally, but often have to communicate with coworkers in California, Utah, Ireland, and China. Given the language barriers, visual representation is extremely beneficial.

For this week's exercise, I created a demo video for creating an Individual Development Plan within our HRIS program. This would be a helpful tool that I would share with my management team on how to navigate the system.



For screenshots, I used to use Ctrl+Alt+PrtScr in order to capture the entire screen. Then, I would have to open up the image in MS Paint to crop out what I didn't need. Thankfully, there is a much handier option, the Snipping Tool. I often have to direct employees to our intranet for certain HR-related documents. Typically, it's easiest to provide a snip and highlight where the documents can be found (as seen below):

I certainly enjoyed playing with the different tools more than the reading. The chapters in this book can be somewhat difficult to digest. 

Ch. 18 Learning From and With Media and Technology

Reeves is articulating that individuals can both learn from media and technology as well as with. To assume that learning only has happened if long-term memory is altered is somewhat shallow. Learning can be measured in many other facets which include, biochemical activity in the brain, behavior/behavioral dispositions, conceptual change, problem-solving, social negotiation, and creativity (Reeves). To be perfectly honest, I really had a difficult time digesting this article. What did resonate with me was Thomas Edison's statement about our school systems would be completely changed due to technology. If only Edison could see how students learn in classrooms today!

Ch. 19 Building Educational Technologies to Scale in Schools

I think Foshay's article has some good points but I feel like it was rather short-sided. While I agree that the educational programs have to take into consideration the aptitudes of the teachers, I'm not sure it's fair to say that all teachers share the sentiment that Foshay outlined with respect to students wasting time on off-task activities, that they'd be playing with the tool/technology, or that all teachers are shying away from new technologies because of a fear that they would fail in front of students and damage their credibility. That seemed to cast a shadow on his perception of all teachers that I didn't exactly agree with. Overall, I do agree to his point that whatever technology is introduced, it has to take into consideration all impacted parties: teachers, students, administrators, parents, etc. in order to be designed to guide and facilitate more sophisticated users.

Week 10 - Reflection and Google Sites

This week's readings were vastly different and didn't seem to flow together like the beginning of Part 3, but nonetheless, had some valuable information to ponder. In Marker's article, he addresses the neuroscience of intellect vs. wisdom, but I think, and seeing what some of my classmates wrote, that his point might have been a bit lost as people seemed to glean that he was talking about companies being too focused on profit. When I read the article, however, I felt like Marker was trying to make a point that we, as a society, are overwhelmingly set on immediate or instant gratification, the immediate positive impacts of someone's intellect, and not focusing enough on delaying gratification, or imparting wisdom in decision-making processes for the greater good.

Watters' article on Women in Educational Technology deeply resonated with me because I have had my own similar experiences of online harassment, harassment in the workplace, and being challenged in my role simply because I am a woman. The company I work for is really great, but we don't have a single woman in executive leadership, not one. I have had some of my ideas brushed off and then brought to the table by a male counterpart and recognized. It's incredibly frustrating and demeaning. And when you have a louder voice so you can be heard, you're "too loud", or "too aggressive", or "you rub people the wrong way". While I do see more girls at a younger age encouraged to participate in STEM education, we collectively have to do better. When we know better, we do better.

I used Google Sites this week to develop something that my company would use as an internal communication tool, an intranet to access resources, called The Hub. This would be for our two sites in MI that are separate business units of the organization. Employees can access HR documents, and read announcements.
Check out The Hub!

Week 8 - Concept Mapping

Week 8 was our introduction to Part III - Contexts of Learning, Design, and Technology, and concept mapping using Bubble.us.

I happened to really like Schank's somewhat rant of an essay. I have been saying this for years about the educational system. I have used some algebra here and there, I have learned some history and civics, economics, and even how to write effectively and with purpose. BUT, everything I have learned in my profession and how to be a good human has not come from sitting in a lecture or in a classroom. I agree that the entire educational system is a broken money-making institution and is not conducive to teaching what kids truly need to know at age-appropriate stages of life. Is he probably laughed out of every collegiate/university setting? Most likely. We're sheeple, unfortunately. That being said, Peck's response is still accurate, it's not "broken", the system or "mechanism" absolutely works. People follow, comply, and eventually get employed in careers where they continue to follow and comply. Even though it might not work in the way it should. Why not go back to the traditional sense of apprenticeships? I think that changes are always happening in education though and Schank saying we can't fix it isn't entirely true in my opinion. I think people are trying to "fix" it. One radical idea at a time. My hope is that at some point and in some way, we as a society can push for change at the collegiate and political level because that's where the money is doing the talking and decision-making.

Reigeluth's stats that he initially shared were pretty astounding to me. I had no idea that so many HS students are not proficient in reading and math. I can definitely see where our communities are segregated by socioeconomic status though and that has been a problem for many years. In one of the previous chapters I read in this text, there was a position that we need to shift away from teaching fixed content in a fixed amount of time for the purpose of standardized testing. Rather, we should be teaching children and allowing students to learn at different rates without penalty. We have a school locally that operates in this fashion. But to speak to socioeconomic segregation, it is one of the only institutions and it is private and expensive. So, while I know my daughter would thrive in that type of environment, she is at an educational disadvantage because I can't afford that type of learning environment for her. Like Reigeluth said, "until schools make this fundamental structural change, they will continue to leave children behind" (Reigeluth). When we have claimed "no child left behind" in some of our government programs, we are significantly lacking in educational paradigm reform.

The below concept map is a basic outline for students to follow when structuring a response paper to assigned reading. Traditionally, I was taught to use an outline format when structuring and drafting a paper. While that was always helpful for me, this visual is great for students to see the whole layout in one visual aid. Students are expected to complete the assigned reading and write a response paper proving one out of the three assigned theories. Each paper should follow the established format as indicated below:

Week 7 - Reflections & Mapping

This week I started with chapter 9, "Necessary Ingredients for the Education of Designers", Irene Visschler-Voerman. I felt the author put together some very key aspects that need to be included in the educational programs that make up the "ingredient" list. Fundamentally, I think that t-shaped professionals and students as partners are things that should be a part of every educational program. In my own education, I strive to deepen my knowledge in my field of human resources, but also enhance my skill set by learning other aspects of the business that I support such as operations, logistics, marketing, and sales. I like that the author states that students should be expected to take responsibility for their own learning process. It speaks to a higher level of education when a student should be more invested in what they are learning. In the response, Tracey makes it sound as though the author expected that students be working with real clients on day one. However, I didn't take that away from what the author meant. I felt as though the author was clearly making the case that students can and should widely have more control over the final educational destination and making it their own journey. One of the other suggestions that I really like is the idea that the learning schedule should be determined by the stage of the project, rather than some rigid form of scheduled lectures, etc. The responder countered that the learning should be determined by the development and growth of the student. I think both are essentially right. The teacher could take an approach that takes into consideration both the designer's development and the stage of the project.

The second reading this week was chapter 11, "My Hope for the Future of Instructional Technology", M. David Merrill. The author's plea is to move the training of instructional designers to the undergraduate level and that programs should emphasize both the science as well as the technology of instruction. This was definitely more of an eye-opener for me as I've always looked at the technology aspect of instruction and, until now, had no understanding of the science and theory behind instructional design. Merrill questions what someone would do with a master's degree in instructional design, possibly become a training manager? A manager who then hires designers-by-assignment to create? I thought this was rather shallow of the author to make that implication. Personally, I'm obtaining this degree so I can create the learning and development and training department from the ground up, and I anticipate being the one designing, creating, and developing instruction. I can be a manager of processes and not necessarily people and be successful. Ultimately, I agree with Merrill that undergraduate programs should be developed to start cultivating better designers.

The map project was pretty cool as I created a map of my favorite places around where I live. The assignment I designed was for an audience of high school students in either a geography or social studies class. Using the map that I created, the students are to create their own geocaching scavenger hunt. There are two teams and the students are transported around town by a parent volunteer. The teams must follow the set of clues to each of my favorite places around town and discover a hidden item based on the latitude and longitude coordinates that have been provided. The first team to find all items and take a picture with each will win!

My map is called "Mi Casa" and is the starting point for the scavenger hunt. I think, in real life, this would be a fun activity to do as a bar crawl or something like that with my adult friends.

Week 6 - Prep of ID and Podcasts

I read chapter 7 - Developing Design Expertise and thought that it was the message that I have been waiting to read in this course. Fortney clearly makes the case that there needs to be better development of Instructional Designers in the educational programs, which I can agree with 100%. What is interesting, though, is that I happen to feel that I fall more on the creative side of ID with the desire to question, find creative ways to engage, and looking at problems and solutions in more than one light. What I'm learning in this program is that there are actually models and systems and "rules" to follow as an Instructional Designer. While that may be the foundational knowledge necessary, it's certainly important that instructional designers have the ability to create and solve in the real world. I particularly liked Fortney's explanation of Norman's three levels of design: visceral level, behavioral level, and reflective level. Design that appeals to both our rational and emotional selves. I think this speaks to the root of why I desire to further my ID education. I am passionate about exciting and engaging training, and development in the workplace. I also appreciate the response from Boling clarifying that there have been significant advances in the education programs for instructional design. While the programs are expanding, there is still an opportunity for existing ID practitioners to get more involved.

Since Elizabeth Boling authored the response to Fortney's chapter, I thought it'd be fitting to read Boling's chapter 10 - Teaching the Complex Performance of Instructional Design. A reoccurring theme in these chapters is how instructional design cannot be taught in one standard approach of models, theory, and data because it limits the student's ability to tap into how to approach real-world problems and solutions. There has to be a way to bridge the gap between the standard methods of instruction and teaching students to be "prepared-for-action, not guided-to-action" (Stolterman, 2008).

I chose to create a podcast this week instead of finding one to listen to. I have a hard time staying focused long enough to listen to the podcasts so I did a short, 5-minute first episode of my podcast, HR Advocate. I am an HR Business Business Partner and like to share with others some of the challenges I face in the workplace.

Week 5 - Online Collaboration

As we progress in this course and I go through some of the readings, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm truly in the right field. I reach chapter 2 - Toward Understanding the Nature of Design and I truly struggled with just trying to understand what the author was talking about. I get that the author was making the case that ID is a very complex practice, but I think it was the theory that was losing me. One of the redeeming sentences though was Bannon suggesting that we further understand how designers actually derive solutions creatively rather than focusing on models and algorithmic solutions. Bannon also shared some excerpts from Gero, et al.'s (2014) research that I believe may have been more simplistic and easier to follow. Perhaps, much like Gibbons's response notes, I was hoping for more focus on finding the "true nature" of design that Bannon had prefaced for the entire piece.

On the flip side, I was able to engage more in reading chapter 4 - Design Beyond Content because of the focus on developing content that the learner can retain. The content alone is not enough, it's in the design, delivery, methodology, etc. that create the entire learning experience. The key point that stuck with me was the idea that learning the content isn't enough. It's when the learner goes beyond the content to seek more, learn more, understand more, building "deep learners". Would you rather teach a child a set of facts, or how to be creative, etc. to develop skills AND character traits. What a novel concept?! Develop a learner, not a robot who can memorize content.

I will admit, my faith in ID as a field of study was heavily questioned after reading chapter 2. However, faith restored after reading chapter 4! The supplement activities that we've been doing also feel like I'm doing what I should be doing. The activities are simple, but useful, and have a practical purpose in my life. For example, this week's assignment to generate a Google doc and collaborate is something I do on a daily basis for work. In this example, I generated a promotion memo for another employee and had her review and sign. I played around with some of the add-ons and downloaded Docu-Sign. I've included both the original here and the fully executed, signed version here.

I am looking forward to learning more about the functional design activities, maybe less theory for me personally.

Week 4 - Embedding Media

Since I am just getting started in this Master's program, I've had a lot of questions about what in the world Educational and Instructional Design is. What would I do with this degree? What are my goals? How is this going to be an integral part of your future career?

Even though most of my classmates are teachers of some sort, I would fall into the category of Corporate e-learning being that I am in Human Resources and my development goal is to grow into a Learning & Development Manager. I am also certainly a fan of the statistics in the below image that Instructional Designers are 67% female and well-educated with 87% holding a Master's degree.

Ant Pugh is an Instructional Designer with a Vlog and he shared a pretty good video about what an Instructional Designer does, and it's not just dumping content into PowerPoint. I also like the following video where he goes through the differences between Instructional Design and e-Learning. I always thought they were synonymous, but he makes a good point that they are truly different. Check out his clip:

Up until now, I had the idea that an Instructional Designer was kind of like the architect and builder of a house (foundation, walls, roof) and the e-learning was all of the contents inside the house (furniture, etc.). The ID is the end-to-end process of designing, developing and delivering learning while the e-learning is the content by which education or performance is enhanced.

My long-term goal with obtaining this degree is to develop a learning management system with my employer where we can have one central repository for all of the training needs, to be able to develop new training and to tie curriculum to our job descriptions and levels of leadership. If that truly comes to fruition, I will be relocating to our corporate headquarters just outside of Salt Lake City. See us on the map!

Week 3 - EDT5410

Fortunately, this isn't my first experience with blogging. I have a blog that I post to via Wordpress and used to manage a Foodie blog with some friends of mine years ago. Blogging feels incredibly natural to me as an e-version of journaling. I have a stack of journals that I've written in over the years. It seems as though when I was a little girl I started with a cute diary and kept the writing vibe going into adulthood.

When I was exploring the different online engagement resources I realized that I have so much to learn when it comes to technology. I spent an hour trying to get Pear Deck to work with Google Slides and then within PowerPoint and still couldn't figure it out; which seems silly because it is so easy. Ultimately, I found content on Edpuzzle to be the easiest to navigate. I really liked how the video could be stopped to interject with questions and notes to students. This particular video is on Effective Listening. I work in Human Resources and often host and present micro training sessions and this is something that I would certainly utilize as part of a larger presentation on Communication.

For each tool, I think the following seems to make the most sense as far as Dale's Cone:

• I think blogs are dramatized experiences because it isn't a direct purposeful experience of learning, rather reading for entertainment, learning, etc. from someone else's point of view.
• I think the assessment tool that I used (Kahoot!) was an interactive gaming experience to learning and being quizzed that would seem to be a direct purposeful experience.
• Engagement tools like what I used via Edpuzzle is like Educational TV. However, more interactive than sitting and watching a PBS special for example.

While reading Siegel's article, I was trying to better understand what the strengths are for each of the tools we've been talking about. A blog seems to be a strong tool for evaluating someone's writing skills, creativity, and/or knowledge. I can see how utilizing a blog in the learning setting would be similar to turning in notebooks or journals in an English class or Creative Writing class. However, I'm not sure I know enough about blogs to see a strong connection to computer imagination. On the other hand, the assessment and engagement tools are pretty imaginative. I watched a few videos on EdPuzzle and it felt similar to the way Siegel was describing the experience of watching a movie at the theater. Everything else kind of disappears and you're immersed in the movie. While watching the video, there are interactive questions or notes and because I'm engaging in the content, I'm learning, but it doesn't actually feel like another boring computer-based training module. I feel as though I retain more when I am interacting with the content.

Week 2 - EDT5410 (SAMR)

After this week's readings and poking around the different assessment tools, I have to say I gained the most understanding by actually watching this YouTube video of Ruben Puentedura explaining each aspect in great detail. I was feeling a bit challenged with understanding how what I created in Kahoot! related to the SAMR model.

The quiz is a challenge to students who would have just completed an online learning module in what it means to be a Human Resources Business Partner. While the quiz would assess learning, I believe the element of challenging students and competition make it more engaging and fun. It would be an enhancement to the learning, especially if there were additional incentives for the student with the top score, or most top scores in a semester, or through the learning module.

I think that what I've done is take a course I would teach or lecture or have as an online learning module, with the quiz as the summary assessment versus something written and delivered in a face-to-face setting. To me, this is Augmentation. I had initially thought maybe it was just Substitution, however, making it a game where students can compete and challenge each other feels like there's at least some functional enhancement to the learning.

The Technology Integration Matrix was also a bit confusing to figure out where this type of assessment or course would fit in. I believe the level of technology integration is rather basic and falls at the Adoption level because the instructor, myself, is really only utilizing technology in a conventional and procedural manner. The characteristics of the learning environment seem to fit well under Constructive Learning because students are using technology to connect new information to prior knowledge. Essentially, this seems to fall in the matrix as "guided conventional use for building knowledge".

Both the SAMR model and TIM are very similar in that it seems as though some of the basic and conventional methods of utilizing technology are in the entry and adoption levels of instruction much like substitution and augmentation. It took me a little digging and research to better understand both models. I completed my Bachelor's degree via an online program and had an amazing interaction with every instructor. The way the courses were set up was that the instructor had 2 video lectures each week that were recorded (in case you couldn't attend live). Those students who were able to attend live could use a chat function to interact in real-time with the instructor. I found that to be the most beneficial way to learn the material. However, there was also a host of resources, articles and learning modules that were interactive. The more interaction online, the better I understand and could retain content.

Week 1 - EDT5410

Reflecting on the two readings from this week had me thinking about my own struggle of being connected and wanting to unplug. I particularly enjoyed reading Postman’s article for the simple reason that I felt as though we had similarities in personality. Often, I think about simpler times when technology didn’t make everything so fast and readily available. It was simpler when I was younger, and we had to get up and move and think and go for the information we sought. Technology almost feels like a double-edged sword in some cases. For example, it allows me to do my job more efficiently (as with many people’s jobs), and I can work from anywhere I want. I’m connected to my email, Microsoft Teams, my cell phone, text messaging, and so on. But that hasn’t exactly solved any problem. Without the technology, I can still do my job. It just takes more effort and time. I also see technology as good and bad in my daughter’s life. Her education is largely inclusive of technology and she even requires the use of a Chromebook in order to complete assignments. She is by far, addicted to her cell phone which bothers me at times. However, I have seen her develop more rapidly as she has been provided alternative methods of learning on her Chromebook. She is allowed additional opportunities to do school approved “games” to learn subject matter. Without her having the opportunity for self-guided learning activities on the computer, that her teacher can retrieve electronically with automatic grading/assessment, I don’t think she would have advanced as much as she has the last couple of years.

I thought a lot about my daughter’s education when reading Reigeluth’s article, largely making the case for advancements in the educational system and technology. I whole-heartedly agree that today’s educational system STILL reflects more of the Industrial Age key markers than the Information Age, albeit, probably not as divided as when the article was written. For example, I think that we falter when it comes to standardized testing, conformity, and separating children into standard groups for the purpose of education. There is an elementary school locally that actually does not follow this model. In fact, regardless of age, children are assessed on their mastery and meet in smaller groups with children that are at similar stages in the learning of a skill or subject matter. It doesn’t have typical grades such as 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd grade and employs the theory that children learn at their own pace and progress to the next topic once they have mastered the current topic. This largely suggests that Reigeluth was certainly onto something; a something that I very much agree with. The downside, it is not public education, it is a private institution that comes with a hefty price tag for tuition. Which then has me pondering that only wealthier parents can afford the better education that allows for their child(ren) to flourish in a learning environment that is better suited for them. Unfortunately, a massive, nation-wide overhaul of the educational constructs doesn’t seem likely in my daughter’s tenure in school.

Why You Might Ask?

For anyone who may possible stumble upon this blog that isn't a student at WMU or a classmate...this will probably make no sense to you at all!

This blog is a required activity for EDT-5410-950 Foundations of Instructional Technology at Western Michigan University. Each week, I will be posting reflections and assignments for review.

Happy reading if you are so inclined (and not required) :-)

Sarah