Trends and Issues: Chapter 18 Reflection

When speaking of the current state of Instructional Design in the world of modern business and industry, Rita Richey, Gary Morrison, and Marguerite Foxon conclude that “ID is more reliant on technology, is more interdisciplinary, and produces more data to support its impact on performance and organizational improvement” (p. 181). Not only is this statement true concerning business and industry, but it holds true for the modern, successful classroom of today, too. Many of the applications of Instructional design used in business and industry can easily be identified in and adapted to the classroom.

A trend in corporate design and development is a need for “design cycle reduction” and “increased effectiveness and efficiency of the training itself” (p. 179). What teacher hasn’t heard this very idea spew from the mouths of the higher powers that be in the world of education? Who hasn’t been told that there are more and more concepts and ideas that need to be taught and more testing that needs to be done all within the same time frame that was given years and years ago? Everyday teachers make choices as to what is most important to fit into their students’ already busy day, just as business professionals do, and, just as those business professionals do, rapid prototyping is one way to allow for teachers “to be flexible and responsive to client (students, parents, admin., govt., etc.) needs” as well as produce “a type of formative evaluation that can be effectively used early and repeatedly throughout the project” (p. 179). Many of the projects that are done in classrooms, from early grades up to university levels, can be viewed as a type of rapid prototyping and can also reap the many benefits that are a result.

Another idea that struck me as relative to education was the idea of internationalization and localization. Although discussed in terms of training software to create a global approach to training in the business world, teachers need to think in terms of internationalization (extracting culture context) and localization (incorporating knowledge and understanding of the local culture) when planning their daily activities and discussions. If teachers can begin to think in these terms, they should be able to more successfully identify with all of their students, but also create a classroom climate in which diversity is expected, respected, and celebrated.


Summative Reflection – EDT 5410

As my first experience with an online class, as well as this master’s program, I feel I have greatly increased my knowledge and understanding of the Instructional Design field and the various technologies (some familiar and some brand new) available to myself and my students.

In relation to the technology-related tasks, I really have enjoyed the fact that I have always learned something new, even with previous experiences with many of the technologies presented. For example, I have had my own webpages before, but have never actually blogged before. Not only did I learn and experience something new (not to mention something I was a little uncomfortable with) but I was able to add new layers of understanding and use, like adding in RSS readers to help manage the new-to-me world of blogs and blogging.

It has been very helpful that we have been building continuously from one technology to the next, instead of trying to learn a ton of new information all at once and then trying to apply it without much success. Although I was always challenged to learn something new, I felt like my previous knowledge was always appreciated and helpful in meeting the challenge of learning something new.

The continuous feedback has also been nice, even when, at times, it feels like that’s all I do. Despite how busy I feel and how much effort it sometimes takes me to get myself commenting on other’s work, comments, and questions, once I start, I find it is hard to stop. So many people have done so many great things and have so many awesome ideas that I feel there is always something I am learning from them and always something to share, relate, or comment on. Along with that, when I get comments, they are so helpful, and such an integral part of my experience and growth, that it makes me just want to comment and help others as well.

I know this class has been successful to me and my students as I have already started incorporating some of the things we have learned into my everyday classroom environment, such as blogging as a means of communicating with my students and students communicating with other students on various topics. I have also asked for more instruction on RSS readers at our monthly technology professional development and have used (and forwarded) many podcasts as a means for personal “professional development,” often resulting in many interesting and relevant conversations between colleagues.