I am unable to explain why
my mental picture of instructional design was that of a solitary task. The designer would have an insular existence
while going through the design and development process. Connecting with others only to conduct
research, or to review a final learning design with a training group. However, I no longer hold that view, and the
course EDU 654 Method for Online Teaching & Learning is the reason I now
consider the instructional design process as a true collaborative effort.
It is that collaboration
that fed the successful outcome for the partnership project. My community grew by one with Shelby as my
partner, and then by four when the rest of the class joined in for discussion
that always resulted in me learning something new. The free offering of different course design
and teaching as it related to peer reviewed literature ignited my creative
juices leaving me excited about the thought of what I could incorporate in my
course design. In that collaborative
community I learned about so many learning applications that offered flexible
interaction for any student demographic such as VoiceThread and Vacaroo.
A frame game like Bingo
can be designed around key words in an organizational plan, and played by
attendees to the meeting as they are intensely focused on hearing those key words
in the senior leaderships call to action speech. I can easily see including simulations in the
online sexual harassment training, and to keep what is clearly a team shared
effort moving forward I plan on trying the project management tool Asana to
best manage the work and keep the team members on task.
Following graduation, I
will definitely take a break from classroom learning for several months. Then to
stay at the top of my professional game I will periodically attend
instructional design learning workshops.
I will conduct internet searches for the latest learning applications,
and develop a network of other instructional designers/trainers to make myself
aware of effective best practice efforts.
Completion of this course, or even graduation from a program does not
mean the learning stops for it is only the beginning of the endless quest to expand
my knowledge of online teaching and learning methods.
Pamela,
ReplyDeleteYour post is great! It has so much thoughtful information and reflection. I love that you included connecting with others in this blog post. I too, learned that instructional design is not a solitary task. You being my partner I found that I learned more when we collaborated and worked through a task together. In your personal professional development plan I laughed when you said you were going to take a break from the classroom and I just want to say you totally deserve it! When you ended your blog with the learning doesn't stop...I made sure to include that in my post because it doesn't stop. Pamela thank you for a great semester. You were a great partner to work with and I learned so much from you. Congratulations on graduation and I wish you nothing but the best!
Shelby
Pamela,
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point about instructional designing not being an insular idea. At the very least there needs to be the feedback and interaction with the students. I have definitely found online learning communities to be very useful. Through this program I have developed quite a large learning community that I follow in Twitter. Through them, I have gotten great ideas and have, from time to time, discussed issues I have had.
It's been great learning with you this semester. I hope you have a great end to the semester. I'll see you at graduation!
Shaun
Pamela, you bring up a good point: instructional design is NOT a solitary process. We are seldom the SME (Subject Matter Expert ) on every topic we are asked to design, making collaboration a necessity.
ReplyDeleteIt also a good idea to have someone else review our design and test it...
Collaboration is very important :-)
I understand your desire to take some time away form the classroom experience. I believe I will do the same thing. The best of luck!
ReplyDeletePamela,
ReplyDeleteGreat reflection! I agree that collaboration in design is very important! It is so important to find people you can work with that are honest, uplifting, and creative. I think I do my best work when working with others because they often ground me and challenge me!
I am also taking a break on taking course, but like you, I will never stop learning!!
I wish you the best!!
Amy
Pamela,
ReplyDeleteI hate to just reiterate what others have already said, but I totally agree with your reflection. Learning in any capacity should always include others at some point. I also was prone to developing my courses in a bubble and not always considering the broader audience. The project for this class provided an opportunity for a rich learning experience through collaboration.
Wow! What a reflection. I can understand your need for time off. Congrats on graduation!!! I gained a true understanding of ID collaboration in this class as well, I am glad we were given the opportunity to work with others. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDelete