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