1. How
do the definitions in the first chapter compare to your own definition of
instructional or educational technology? What experiences or other
influences have shaped your definition? How has your definition changed from
examining the definitions in the first chapter of this book?
Whether referred to as Audiovisual Instruction,
Audiovisual Communications, Educational Technology, or most recently as Instructional
Technology, this is a field of study which is constantly growing, changing, and
evolving with the technology of the times.
The book Trends and Issues in
Instructional Design and Technology by Robert A. Reiser and John V. Dempsey
gives us a detailed accounting of the ever-shifting world of instructional
design and technology. From its’ early
days, the field of instructional technology has focused on the integration of
current technology advances with the pursuit of imparting information, in both
formal and informal settings, by drawing on the best practices from the
disciplines of communication, psychology, and education. From the Visual Instruction Movement of the
early 1900’s and their goal of the “enrichment
of education through the seeing experience” and their incorporation of
visual aids into instruction including, but not limited to, flat pictures,
models, charts, maps, and even some archaic examples of motion pictures to
today’s latest AECT or Association for Educational Communication and Technology
which reads “Educational Technology is
the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving
performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological
processes and resources,” the focus has been to develop a model for
ensuring the effective instruction of individuals across varying learning
environments, disciplines, or individual learning styles.
Prior
to this week’s reading assignment, I would have, in my experience as an
educator, defined instructional technology as simply the incorporation of
technology, by teachers, into their instructional design both within and
outside of the classroom setting. Reading over the first chapter of our text has
shown me that my view was limited and did not account for educational
technology’s accompanying theories, practices, ethical considerations,
sustainability, and the appropriateness of available processes and resources
towards the instructional model. Although
I was aware of the physical components involved in educational technology, until
I read over these definitions, I hadn’t really given to much thought to the creation or
managing of these technologies. Wikipedia states that educational
technology isn’t simply the use of the physical technology for the purpose of
instruction but also “includes all theoretical, algorithmic, and/or heuristic
processes associated therein.” The facilitation of learning through the
incorporation of this multifaceted field leads the student from the attainment
of “inert knowledge” towards improved performance and increased understanding
and the development of usable skills.
Instructional Design
Characteristics
2.
Next, think of a lesson or unit of instruction that you have developed.
Or if you haven’t ever taught or developed instruction, think of one that you
have received. How does that lesson adhere or fail to adhere to the six
characteristics of instructional design? How would you redesign it to better
adhere to the six characteristics.
In the fall of last year, I
developed a review lesson for a 7th grade pre-algebra mathematics
class in preparation for an upcoming unit test.
By incorporating the website www.ixl.com/math
I was able to give my students an opportunity to interact digitally, and at
their own pace, with 3D models to help with their understanding of 7th
grade mathematical learning objectives such as the following:
The student will
demonstrate the use of a problem-solving model which incorporates analyzing
given information, formulating a plan or strategy, determining a solution, and
evaluating the problem-solving process and the reasonableness of the
solution.
Examples would include:
- Which (x) satisfies an equation? (7-N.2)
- Write and solve equations which represent
diagrams (7-S.4)
- Does (x,y) satisfy the equation? (7-U.1)
- Similar Figures and indirect measurement
(7-X.13)
- Area of compound figures with triangles,
semicircles, and quarter circles (7-AA.12)
Students will use and create representations
to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas.
Examples
would include:
- Graphing proportional relationships (7-K.5)
- Solving word problems involving two-variable
equations (7-U.4)
- Finding missing angles in triangles and
quadrilaterals (7-W.6)
- Surface Area (7-AA.8)
- Interpreting circle graphs (7-BB.7)
Students will apply
mathematics to problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace.
Examples
would include:
- Understanding integers (7-B.1)
- Maps and decimal distances (7-E.10)
- Scale Drawings: word problems (7-J.7)
- Percent of Change: word problems (7-L.10)
- Unit prices with unit conversions (7-M.4)
- Finding percent: Tax, discount, and more
(7-M.6)
- Making predictions (7-DD.4)
- Probability of independent and dependent events
(7-DD.7)
Pedagogy:
These
lessons, especially the ones accessed through IXL website, would give the
students an opportunity to experience the mathematics discussed and practiced
within the confines of the classroom in a new and innovative way. These model simulations would allow the
students to interact with the curriculum in ways that would not be possible
within the physical and monetary constraints of our classroom and educational
system. They would be active
participants in their education, able to act on these virtual problems,
experimenting on and with possible solutions to each stated problem. The incorporation of these simulations is to
improve a student’s understanding and comprehension of a given curriculum. Instead of being passive observers, they “construct
understanding” for themselves through these virtual interactions. I believe this approach would be known as
Constructivism (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992).
Technology:
Each student would need access to a
computer, either at school or home, with internet access in order to actively
participate with the classroom blog as well as some rudimentary understanding
of the keyboard, its functions, and some level of typing skills. Online, students would be required to read
and follow directions to interact with the presented information represented
through text, diagrams, pictures, and interactive 3D models.
Within the pages of Trends and Issues in Instructional Design
and Technology, Reiser and Dempsey have identified six key instructional
design characteristics which should be present in educational and training
programs to help insure that lessons are prepared in a manner which is
consistent, reliable, and successful. I
feel that this lesson incorporated most but not all of these criteria. The lesson was (1) student centered and (2) goal
oriented, (3) focusing on the meaningful performance of each student. (4 and 5) Not only was the student’s online
performance tracked and measured but I was then able to then analyze each
student’s strengths and weaknesses to help me spiral in previous skills, a main
component of Bruner’s Constructivist Theory, to ensure a more thorough
understanding of our core course objectives.
The only one of the six characteristics of instructional design put
forth by Reiser and Dempsey in which this lesson was lacking was (6) a team
effort since students were not paired together and instead worked independently
of one-another. Looking back, if I had
it to do over again with enough time within the schedule to accommodate the
change, I would have grouped students based on their results from this activity
to then work collectively on a group activity in which they designed a short
instructional PowerPoint or Prezi presentation detailing one of the objectives
from our review.
3. In the 3rd chapter, Reiser
distinguishes instructional media from instructional design, excluding
teachers, chalkboards, and textbooks from the definition of instructional
media. Why? Would you consider teachers, chalkboards, and textbooks
instructional media? Is the purpose of instructional design to incorporate
media into instruction?
In chapter two of their book Trends and Issues in Instructional Design
and Technology, Reiser and Dempsey have intentionally excluded teachers,
chalkboards, and textbooks from their definition of instructional media. I find these omissions very perplexing
especially since, in their own words, they define instructional media as
consisting of “the physical means by
which instruction is presented to learners.” Textbooks, chalkboards, and especially
teachers have been the cornerstone of meaningful and successful instructional
media programs for decades serving as the primary means by which students have
been presented and obtained knowledge.
Perhaps their reasoning for these exclusions is due, in part, to the
fact that in today’s digital society, traditional chalkboards are steadily
being replaced with whiteboards and smart boards and that textbooks are being
used less because of the wealth of knowledge available to students via the
internet and through video lectures.
Granted, information can be presented without the involvement of an
instructor but, without a qualified teacher at the helm, there is no guarantee that
the desired educational outcomes will be met.
The
article entitled: The Definition of Educational Technology written by the
Definition and Terminology Committee of the Association for Educational
Communications and Technology or (AECT) mentions that “The key role of technology is not so much to present information in
drill-and-practice format (to control learning) but rather to provide the
problem, space, and tools to explore it (to support learning).”
*The
Educational Technology Wikipedia page, Teacher Training section, states that “Technology is not the end goal of education,
but rather a means by which it can be accomplished.” Although there is no denying the fundamental
value of instructional technology, I still maintain that there is no
substitution for quality instructors in our educational system. The human element is what binds all of these
tools together into a functional collection of materials, ideologies, and
programs tasked with the most important undertaking in our society, the
successful education of our children.
References:
Costructivist
Theory (Jerome Butler) – Instructional Design. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7,
2016 from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/constructivist.html
Dempsey,
J.V., & Reiser, R. A. (2012). Trends
and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (3rd ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Duffy,
T.M., and Jonassen, D.H. (1992). Constructivism: New Implications for
educational technology. In Duffy, T., and Jonassen, D. (eds.) Constructivism and the Technology of
Instruction: A Conversation, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
The Definition of Educational Technology [Scholarly project].
(2004, June 1). In The Definition of Educational Technology by the Association
for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definition and Terminology
Committee. Retrieved June 6, 2017 from http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/file.php/118/molenda_definition.pdf
Ralph, let me start by noting that you have an elegant writing style that was enjoyable to read. I like how you brought the definitions back to the reason for instruction: the learning. As teachers, it is always an important practice to relate all instructional design back to the central goal of what you mention as “increased understanding and the development of usable skills.” Furthermore, you demonstrate this in the description of your lesson example. I found that your description aligns well with the TPACK model giving insight on how you considered content, pedagogy and technology within the structure of this lesson. While learning takes place outside the realm of the classroom, having an instructor who is intentional in planning instruction around desired outcomes is an important aspect to learning as you mention. The TPACK model becomes useless without the direction of a leader or facilitator of learning. I was puzzled as well by Reiser and Dempsey’s exclusion of teachers, chalkboards and textbooks from the definition, but wondered if maybe it wasn’t meant to be excluded for only a moment (the chapter that followed) as we considered the use of other forms of media.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your honesty in reflecting on the definition of IDT or the many surnames. I have always wanted to leave the definition simple, but know that is so much deeper. I think Brandi stated it well when she said it was or should really be Instructional design in the area of technology. To me, that seems to narrow the focus and make it much easier to understand. We know all the pedagogy etc goes with instructional design, so adding "the area of technology" allows us to better hone in on those things that regard the technology itself as you described.
ReplyDeleteWhen you spoke of your lesson, I love your follow up. I believe that online learning has its place, but it is always important to bring those skills back to the group and show in one real-world example, that the students understand what they have learned.
In your entire post, I appreciate that you brought in other resources to show that you did a bit more digging to really understand what you were presented with in the chapters.
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ReplyDeletePrior to the reading assignment, I also defined instructional technology as incorporation of technology/tools into instruction. I really enjoyed section 3 of your post. I totally agree with your statement about how information can be presented without the involvementof an instructor,but without a guarantee that the desired educational outcome will be met. There is just no substitute for a great teacher. If the devices and internet are not working, the teacher is there using other resources to ensure the learner's goal is met. Great post it was thorough and informative!
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