Sections 5: Trends & Issues

Sections 5: Trends & Issues

Chapters in Section V identify trends and issues in IDT in various contexts: business & industry;
military; health care education; P-12 education; and post-secondary education. Select at least 3
of these 5 contexts and compare/contrast the IDT trends and issues. Then explain how they are
similar or different from the IDT trends and issues in the context in which you work.

Business

1)        Trend: Assessment techniques                                        

                   Issue: Assessment techniques for individuals

  2).             Trend: Learning efficiency                                                               

                  Issue: What actions need to be in place for the learning efficiency to be at optimal levels

 3).      Trend: Social media

            Issue: How to make it enjoyable for the employees; where should it include making employees want to participate

4).     Trend: Conducting research                      

          Issue: Will the instructional design increase barriers to the research process?

In my workplace most of the assessment techniques are introduced from an outside organization that has no real connection to the daily tasks of the employees. Our social media has the CEO of the company participating and he responds too many of posts daily from employees.

Military

1). Trend: Real Live settings                

Issue: The live settings would have to incorporate more simulation/video game programming that may be quite a task for instructional design creators.

2). Trend: Increasing understanding for specific tasks    

Issue: Soldiers are encountering dangerous or life threatening circumstances, therefore it may be difficult to create something for specific duties that would relate to their job descriptions.

3). Aggressive problem solving challenges 

Issue: Instructional design may not be at the point right now to include enough information that would improve problem solving challenges for the whole organization, only a few job sectors would benefit.

My workplace has more capability to establish instructional design that would benefit percentages or probability for military type programs. The visuals would have to be the most beneficial method of programming or tools with learner controlled options.

P-12 Education

1). Trend: Dedicating more time for core subjects

Issue: The core subjects must have design that students are able to internalize the information since the core subjects are tested.

2).  Trend: Environmentally friendly campuses

Issue: The usage of paper materials and large textbooks is slowly decreasing in the public schools. The text must contain sufficient graphics and programming that can engage the students in a positive learning experience.

3). Trend: Interactive learning

Issue: The interactive learning can help with science objectives, psycho motor activities, and improved video quizzes for students.

The P-12 sector can have more options for electronic portfolios, and student submissions that they can take with them through the remaining portions of their educational journey.

 

Week 4 Human Performance Technology

Section 4: Human Performance Technology

Not all problems in learning and/or performance require an instructional solution. Many times a non-instructional approach is a more appropriate solution. This week's reading and reflection focuses on human performance, performance support systems, knowledge management systems, and the concept of informal learning.

            Chapter 14 discusses the concept and evolution of human performance improvement. Several sections of chapter 14 present a variety of non-instructional solutions to performance problems. Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help solve the problem. A problem performance that was in a former workplace was initiative from the employees from burnout. The software was outdated and the manpower was not sufficient to support the clientele. A non-instructional solution used to improve the moral was the implementation of same time messaging, a notepad to introduce solutions to problems that they see affecting their jobs, and a weekly appreciation slot to get free time away from answering phone calls for their dedicated work ethic.

            Chapter 15 presents performance support systems. Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above. The definition given for performance support from the text states that performance support was a continuum that included constructs ranging from those embedded in the work itself, such as menus, dialogs, and on-screen instructions, to those that are separate from the work, including tutorials, computer-based training, peer support and help desks. In many words it means any program or software used to improve the user performance. A problem in the workforce that I have endured is the change from the overhead projector to the smart boards. The student interaction, intensity, and access to information was easier to maintain than the older sheets that used markers to write on and the heat from the light bulbs used in the older method.

            Chapter 16 explains knowledge management: the way we manage information, share that information, and use it to solve organization problems. Organizations, such as schools, accumulate a great deal information/data, which must be organized in a way that we can make sense of it in order to use for making decisions. What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving? Personally, I wouldn’t say knowledge was the problem of the overhead it was the available technology during that time period. The knowledge was the researching and analyzing the efficiency of the smart board in the district that made the most difference. In e-learning the simulations used would help to accumulate the information for the audience. Information accessed would be easily available to update, current, easy to navigate, and would help with the different learning styles that were present in the classrooms.

Chapter 17 describes types of informal learning. What informal learning experiences have you participated in at your organization? Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others? Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed? And should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened for others? I see informal learning as learning endured through youth organizations and life experiences. My first memory of informal learning is the process of farming and producing milk as a child. This has been shared with my children also when we visit the rural areas that my father’s family resides in. The process of harvesting crops has been improved with better machines and types of seeds that make time cut almost in half from the times when we participated. All children and adults should have the experience of learning how to grow their own food so that they can appreciate the hard work and dedication goes into making sure healthy food comes to their homes.

Week Three

1.      All too often instruction is developed with little thought as to how evaluation of learning or the effectiveness of the instruction will take place. When evaluation is considered on the front end of the instructional design process, it is often limited to evaluating whether the instructional design is more effective than traditional methods.

For this week's reflection activities, I would like for you to concentrate on the following:

Chapter 10 discusses evaluation in instructional design and provides you with two evaluation models, the CIPP and Kirkpatrick models for evaluation. Search for at least two other models used for evaluation and summarize these models. Describe how you would use them to evaluate your instruction.

Reflect on what other questions that instructional design evaluation should address besides whether the instructional design leads to comparable amounts of learning and learner satisfaction as traditional methods. What else would be useful to know?

Chapter's 12 & 13 focus on project management and how to manage projects when resources are scarce. You have been assigned to develop a series of professional development sessions focusing on technology use in the classroom for teachers during a time of economic decline. How will you use Situational Leadership to facilitate this project and manage scarce resources? 

 

      1. Patton’s Utilization Focused Evaluation: This evaluation method touches on the importance of designing evaluations for instruction that make sure they are useful to the information. The result of this type of evaluation helps the person doing the assessment to be user specific instead, of someone that is not directly connected to make a judgment. I would use this type of evaluation in a classroom activity that allows the students to be part of a big company decision and the outcome would have dire consequences. An activity such as this will allow students to get an understanding of why decisions are not that simple when making decisions when you are i.e.: principal, city council member.

Kemp’s Instructional design model: Kemp shows a continuous cycle in the development process that can be used to produce reliable learning practices. The nine key elements that make up the cycle go in sequence to help build up every section of the design model using critical thinking tactics. This model should be used with larger groups and must be constantly going to have optimal effectiveness. An activity for the Kemp model would probably be more effective with test scores or the effectiveness of different methods of attacking problem areas within testing as a group to improve scores. A regular classroom setting would be a little bit harder to get efficient results.

2.        

      2. What other questions should instructional design evaluation address?? I believe a few questions that should not be left out are:

What specific data gathering instruments may or may not be used to validate the information needed to complete the assessment?

Is there a time frame for each section of the assessment or is it continuous throughout the duration of the objective?

What audience or superior will need this information to improve their program?

3.   

           3.   Project management with scarce resources must have a leader that is willing to go the extra mile to make sure the project is a success. Here are a few things that I would do for my team.

a)      Take charge on the importance of the scarce resources and the importance of no waste.

b)      Break up tasks by interests and ability to save time.

c)       Make sure all pro’s, cons, barriers, future outlook, and past failures are on the table so that everyone will be involved and can have a personal connection with the importance of the project.

d)      Open door, clear communication for the smallest ideas and questions to keep the positive energy flow throughout the project.

e)      Show personally as the leader how much you know and how close you are to the task so that everyone else will be willing to go the extra mile for you as their leader and for the team.

Week 2 Responses

1). Epistemology is the study of knowledge and how one uses processes and theories to approach knowledge. What determines the adequate knowledge from inferior knowledge is the concept of this study. Observation is the cornerstone of epistemology and as we know perception is most students’ reality in this generation. Differences may develop from a cultural process, three memory systems, and situated perspectives that could alter the way the information is internalized. Complex learning goals and higher order thinking processes are the differences in learning theories.

2). A contextualist epistemology is how one perceives the normal standards of beliefs, reason of inquiry, and how to efficiently pursue these theories of beliefs in an intelligent manner. The method itself has been overshadowed by other learning theories but it still widely used. Differences in the relativist and positivist stance, is the all of them deviate from the traditional methods of beliefs.  Major differences that I observed was the flexibility to accept the knowledge and what conditions must be met for someone to know the knowledge. Behaviorist or radical constructivist approaches to learning differ from being more carefully designed with interesting work assigned to the participants and linking distinct stimuli in the learning objectives.

3).Behaviorist problem solving consists of self control and incorporating strategies needed to overcome the problem, while constructivist is when activities are used along with reflection to tackle the problem. Behaviorist uses a more self regulatory hand off approach with the intent of wanting to overcome the problem, and constructivist is more of a trial and error method that allows the participant to have an opportunity to use everything to tackle the problem. Personally, I am more of a constructivist problem solver because it allows the student to know that they have tried more and boosts confidence, but the self control factor may discourage some students.