Week 3

We are now in the Development Phase of our project. Our group met again, which is extremely helpful. We accomplish at least double the amount of work when we meet face-to-face as we do when we try to communicate through email, chat, or other virtual means. We have a unit outline and have divided responsibilities for the major parts of the project- essentially we've completed our prototype. Now we are working on the specific lessons and curriculum. We have a basic blueprint for our website made and our digital story is half complete.

Something that really interested me in our reading this week is

The Role of the Course Developer

A good course developer understands both instructional design and training delivery.

When the course developer creates content, two questions are paramount:

• Does this material meet the learning objectives?
• Will the material work in the classroom?

For example, an instructional design document might call for an activity where learners gather into small groups and discuss case-based scenarios. It's the course developer's responsibility to write scenarios that will interest the learners and promote discussion. If the course developer doesn't understand classroom dynamics, those scenarios might fall flat or seem contrived.

Intulogy- ADDIE and Developing Training Materials

I was reminded of my work situation. My head-honcho boss is an idea man. He dreams big and has "vision." However, he doesn't know how to put those ideas into practice in realistic ways. Unfortunately this means his ideas often fail. I think he forgets to ask himself those questions- "Does this meet our objectives?" and "Will this work in real life?" Also, he has no education experience, but refuses to ask for advice from those that do. He could save himself a lot of trouble and embarrassment if he were to ask advice from experts and those in the trenches. Just as development teams might call in experts for parts of projects, he could get expert advice before throwing everything into chaos every year.

I am reminded of my work situation in another regard. I need to remember to ask myself the question, "Does this meet my objectives?" while planning every lesson. I ask if it will work in the class, but sometimes I forget about those objectives. I know it will help my curriculum be more focused and helpful to my students if I will do this.

Week 2

Truth be told, I'm quite a nerd. I really like analyzing processes and figuring out how to make things faster and more efficient. While these things seem boring to the average person they are interesting and exciting to me. This week our group was presented with an unique opportunity, which I'm quite excited about.

As previously mentioned, one of our group members is an instructional coach for a local school district. She has been asked to help create training material for the Alternative Route to Licensure (ARL) teachers in their district. We get to help! We will be designing the curriculum for the portion of the training that teaches them how to write lesson plans. I think this is exciting because I have the opportunity to really put my learning into practice in a very applicable way.

One of the key steps of the design process is defining the content needed to address the instructional need or problem. This content is then used to identify the objectives, design the instructional strategies, develop test items, and create the instruction (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2007, pg. 94).

Our group met this week, which was very helpful. I had been feeling quite lost, and still do to some extent, but having something concrete to focus on really helped. We divided up responsibilities and work on the Analysis Phase. I am in charge of writing the objectives, which I've been working on. While this did reduce some of my anxiety, it also created some new anxiety. I'm just not sure that we can really complete all of this in the time frame... at least not to my standards. I have the highest standards for myself and would pretty much rather die than give this school district sub par curriculum. I don't want my name on something I'm not satisfied with.

This was an important step in our group meeting. I found it difficult to really do anything until the project was completely explained to me and I could identify the instructional need/problem. Knowing exactly what the need is, and what I'm expected to do to fill this need, gives me direction and purpose. Now that I understand the full scope of the project and what our part is in the completion of this project I can fulfill, and hopefully exceed, expectations.

The objectives indicate what a learner is expected to do after completing a unit of instruction, and they are expressed in precise, unambiguous terms (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2007, pg. 124).

As previously mentioned, I am in charge of writing the objectives for our unit. This is a bit more difficult than one might initially think. The chapter in the Morrison, Ross & Kemp text was helpful, but the Mager text was extremely helpful. I really wish my copy of the text would show up (I contacted the seller and he says it shipped... but I have yet to see it)! I'm grateful to have been able to borrow the text from a group member. The main thing I got from all this reading about objectives is that they should be verb driven and define what the learners should be able to do after the instruction. I think objectives are often vague, such as, "I want my students to learn." What does that really tell anyone and how do you measure something like that?

In conclusion, I think this project is very beneficial because it shows I understand the content in my program and have experience creating curriculum for a real-world client. I am extremely interested in moving from teaching to curriculum development for a corporation, textbook company, or perhaps my church. Having this on my resume and as part of my writing portfolio will be quite helpful. Regardless of where my career takes me, I think this complete project will be more beneficial than the hodge-podge we would likely have ended up with because of our group's different specialties.

Week 1

We will begin Week 1 with Analysis including Learner, Needs, Content, Context, etc. We will discuss and offer readings regarding this stage of the project.

What?
This week was a bit of technology overload. Now- I'm no technology dummy, and I already had accounts with most of the sites we'll be using in the course (facebook, twitter, engrade, googlesites, and blogger), but it definitely caused some anxiety for me. I feel like there is a huge learning curve with the technology aspect of the course, and I hope this doesn't overshadow the rest of the course because I'm very excited about it. In fact, this course was a major reason I chose this particular degree- I wanted to learn about Instructional Design. I'm hoping that I'll quickly be able to use the technology with which I'm unfamiliar. That being said- I do think there are a lot of great things technology can do for the classroom and I'm excited to see how I can implement it more effectively with my students. Besides the technology, we were exposed to the basics of Instructional Design and ADDIE.

We have already read 194 pages in the textbook, some of which I've had to skim. This is actually quite disappointing to me. I find Instructional Design fascinating and the textbook is really interesting to me. I wish that I had time to read the book in depth. I have found that a lot of the information is really useful and could help me in my classroom. Really, though, this points to a larger problem.

In another class I am currently taking we are discussing the idea of ZPD and scaffolding. I feel like my prior knowledge of Instructional Design is minimal at best, and my knowledge of the technology required for the course is sorely lacking. This might not be a problem if we weren't so crunched for time (the course is only 8 weeks long) and had time to scaffold so I could reach the optimal level of development necessary to perform well. As it is, I am concerned that I will spend an inordinate amount of time teaching myself how to use the technology and I will miss out on some really important, interesting, and useful points in the reading and about Instructional Design in general. I truly want to learn how to design the most effective instruction possible so that my teaching practice can improve. I would like practice identifying needs, problems, analyzing tasks, creating objectives, and creating a sequence. I strongly feel these are important skills for me to hone, but I lack the knowledge to make the necessary changes to my current teaching practice so my instruction is the most effective.

So What?
We're beginning a group project.

Scenario ::

Due to the recent pandemic, we have decided to close our schools down until the danger is reduced and we can guarantee our students' safety. We have decided, as an administration, to continue the school year via the web. As teams/departments, you are requested to put a weeks worth of instruction online. The instruction should include information, pre-test, post-test, activities, higher-order thinking skills, and a summative exam. We will proceed with the school year week by week until we return to face-to-face instruction.

My group is kind of a hodge-podge, which should be rather interesting. I teach high school English and my group members consist of a 6th grade teacher, an instructional coach for math teachers in a local school district, and a former teacher who currently works in the Multicultural Department at UVU. Luckily we all get along well and work well together. Unfortunately, our project may not be as "put together" as any of us may like. I think this will provide some interesting opportunities for our group.

Now What?
Well, now I suppose I will work my tail off to complete this project and receive an "A" in the class! I am the Student Body Government Advisor this coming school year, which provides a lot of opportunities and challenges...and I hope to incorporate a lot of the technology from this class into our government and school activities. Also, I look forward to creating a blog or website that I can use with my classes next year... I just need to decide which medium best fits my needs. I definitely want my students to blog, so that will be incorporated, but I do wonder if a website might be able to address more of my particular classroom needs... this is an example of how I could use training in identifying needs and problems so that I can choose the best medium for my classes.

Homework Assignment

I am currently enrolled in a M.Ed. program at Utah Valley University, studying Models of Instruction. I am taking an Instructional Design course (EDUC 6300) and am required to blog on a weekly basis. I've been thinking about making a blog about teaching for some time now, and this was the motivation I needed to actually do this. I will include posts about my personal teaching practice, but also include my assignments. So, here's the assignment outline...

Your blog will consist of weekly reflections of what we learn in class, the instructional design process, and how you will apply it in your classrooms. Your reflections should not be a summary of what we talked about in class, rather an overview and synthesis of your personal and class experience and insights and ideas for future use. I want to get a feel for your passion of teaching; if something you learn strikes you as fascinating, please express. Your reflection can cover anything you're learning about in your curriculum class but should be more than just a play by play of your week. You may find it easier to think of in terms of What?, So What?, and Now What?

What tasks are currently being performed? What stage is the team in currently? What jobs and tasks are currently underway?

So what does this mean to the project? Team? Course? How will what you have learned feed into the current project? How can you as an individual help the team perform better?

Now that you have completed to-do items, instructional event, module, how will this work into your classroom long-term? How will you use what you have learned in the future and with future teams? How will your teaching paradigm change due to your current experiences?

These are starter questions...you are encouraged to add your own reflections to your blog.

I hope someone out there enjoys this!