Re: Instructional Technology Settings

My long-term goal is to become a full-time faculty member within the North Carolina Community College System upon receipt of my master’s degree. This higher education setting will be a nature habitat for me as I have taught at Pitt Community College in Greenville, NC as an Adjunct Computer Information Technology Instructor for three semesters. Through the instructional technology interview conducted at the beginning of the semester, I was able to ask and get answers to my questions about working as a full-time faculty member in a higher education setting. My work experience, the interview, and courses taken this semester have assured me that the Instructional Technology field is a good fit for me.

Instructional media and methods

Based upon my own teaching experiences, instructional media formats that I find interest in are computers, Internet, blogs, wikis, and Google docs and I hope to explore more. I am interested in exploring the virtual world, but time won't permit me to do so.

I currently use various instructional methods with these instructional media formats such as lecture, open-discussion, demonstration, and group work. When lecturing, I try to teach in segments in effort to afford students the opportunity to ask questions and allow the information to “sink in”. I usually present the information, demonstrate the concept, allow students to try it own their own, guide them in their practice, and assess their comprehension of the concepts. Sometimes I implement a group activity to reiterate the concepts covered.

In the future, I would love to have a hand-held device that each student can have at their desk that will allow them to enter anonymous questions or comments as well as log in answers to questions.

Critique of the ISD model

In my opinion, I think the ISD model (particularly the ADDIE process) is very intuitive and worth implementing into my instructional interventions/lesson plans. The strengths of the process lies within the evaluation phase as it encourages instructional designers and educators to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention to conclude what changes need to occur. Since the model is a process, it is an ongoing cycle. One weakness is that it does not place emphasis on the importance of writing instructional goals and objectives. Ample time and attention needs to be invested in the initial planning process of setting goals in order to produce an instructional intervention that will alter the learner’s knowledge, skill, or attitude. Otherwise, the instructional intervention will be pointless and a waste of time as there will be no assurance that the learner has learned anything. The objectives should tell what the learner should be able to do as a result of the instruction and should be generated from specific, observable, and measurable information about the audience, behavior, conditions, and degree of the instructional goal. This is referred to as the “ABCD” approach.

As an instructor, I analyze my students in effort to group them into categories such as challenged students, average students, and advanced students. This helps me to establish the pace of the course. The effectiveness of my instructional intervention is most often evaluated by the students themselves as they are the individuals receiving the instruction. I also have instructors who have been teaching the subject to serve as my subject matter expert (SME) by allowing them to review my lesson plans and provide feedback.

How People Learn

From my own perspective and experience, I have come to believe that people learn based off of their past experiences and prior knowledge. These factors help develop a meaningful understanding of new information. This belief can best be associated with the constructivism theory. From a constructivist perspective, the human brain is no longer considered as a blank slate or an empty vessel but rather storage where pre-existing knowledge is housed.

The best way to accommodate your students’ learning and understanding is to create a learner-centered environment by identifying the various learner characteristics that can help or harm instructional interventions such as lesson plans. This can be done by analyzing the target audience to gather information that plays an important role in learning such as age, gender, identification of the challenged, average and gifted/talented learners, and verification that the basic human needs are met. This helps an instructor to know the students’ learning levels and can assist with setting the pace of the intervention. Another way to accommodate your students’ learning and understanding of the subject matter is to conduct an inventory of the learning styles to determine the best method to present information (e.g., charts and graphs for a visual learner).

Considering the three major learning theories, the theory that I feel most comfortable with is constructivism because it best relates to the way I learn. My learning and understanding of new concepts is shaped from my environment (the world around me), things of the past (past experiences), and what I already know (prior knowledge). These aspects help me to make sense of it all. Though I can best relate to the constructivist perspective, I still have great respect for the researchers and scholars involved with the other two major theories, behaviorism and cognitivism.

Brown, A. , & Green, T. (2006). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental principles with process and practices. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Reiser, R., & Dempsey, J. (2007). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Career Website Investigation

Upon investigation of the career websites referenced in the assigned reading of the Instructional history and profession lesson, I encountered an Instructional Designer/E-Learning Specialist position with Randy Smith Training Solutions-Moody International (RSTS). This position is located in Lafayette, Louisiana and was discovered through the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) website. While I have no desire to relocate to Louisiana, I found the details of this job very interesting and would consider applying for this job upon receipt of my master’s degree. However, my goal is to become an Instructional Coordinator/Instructor within the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS).

According to the job description, the employer is a global training company operating primarily in the Oil and Gas sector. RSTS has been in operation for over 20 years and has office locations in 40 countries. They are seeking a full-time experienced Instructional Designer to join their team. The chosen candidate will be responsible for gathering, evaluating, and applying need assessment data and input from Subject Matter Experts (SME), key staff, and/or management to design behavior-based Safety Leadership and Technical Training materials. He or she will use sound Instructional Design theory to create storyboards, scripts, course content (including traditional e-Learning courseware, software stimulations, blended learning, job aides, and learner guides). The candidate will also share knowledge and coach instructional design peers in effective use of e-Learning platform and author ware.

The ideal candidate for this position will have a bachelor’s degree in Instructional Design or equivalent experience. He or she will have 2+ years of experience designing and creating instructional materials, included blended learning solutions as well as 2+ years of experience using e-Learning courseware. The employer prefers a candidate with Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) certification and American Society for Training & Development (ASTC) membership.

Salary for this position is in open status and employer will assist with relocation costs. Employer also offers a comprehensive benefits package. Details regarding this position can be found at http://jobs.astd.org/jobdetail.cfm?job=2981710 .

What is instructional technology?

I view instructional technology as web- and computer-based techniques to enhance the traditional classroom setting. Instructional technology teaches teachers how to teach effectively using up-to-date technology. The term “instruction” means to be educated or to be taught. The term “technology” means up-to-date resources, tools, and techniques. In the golden days, when hearing the term "instruction" or "school", three things would come to mind: a classroom, a teacher, and a book. In today’s technology driven world, this is obsolete. If a teacher sat students in a classroom and taught the material in the book without adapting the lecture to capture the various learning styles, everyone would probably fall asleep and learn absolutely nothing. Instructional technology was invented to save the day! For an example, in a traditional classroom setting a teacher can choose to have his or her students copy notes from the board or the teacher could utilize a tool should as Blackboard or Moodle to post the notes to use technology in the classroom and save time. Another way the teacher could present the notes or lecture is through a PowerPoint presentation. Creating a video or a film could also place emphasis on the information or material presented in the notes. This blog is another example of an instructional technology tool as we engage in discussion through a web-based tool.
I am looking forward to learning more about the tools and techniques that are used for instructional technology.