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?
The latest definition mention in the
first chapter is very similar to my personal thoughts on educational
technology. Being in education for
12 years and in career and technical education arena, I’ve seen the later
movement of instructional technology.
I do see a different side of things now that I’m at the district level
and not in the classroom. There
seems to be a lot of “push down” of new technologies without being proactive in
the development stages. This
causes many classroom teachers to be reactive instead of being proactive. I do believe there’s lots of
facilitating of learning in my district.
However, there are teachers who struggle to master the improvement of
learning. For some students, I
believe it happens automatically without educator intervention. Which means some educators know how to
facilitate the learning and others tend to control the learning. I believe my definition has broadened a
bit due to the importance of utilizing the “right” technologies that are
appropriate. Again, at the
district level, administrators have grand visions. However, it’s not always the most appropriate resources to
maximize learning.
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.
A few years ago, I taught secondary
engineering. I utilized a curriculum
platform for one of my courses called “Systems Go” which allowed students to
design, construct and launch 10-foot rockets. This curriculum also integrated physics so students
understood the science behind flight.
During those days, our district and CTE department was heavily involved
with PBL, project base learning.
This allowed for heavy collaboration and tailored approaches for student
centered activities. One
particular lesson from this program was based on student groups having to
present and defend their findings to a group of Lockheed Martin project
engineers. The purpose was to
allow students to demonstrate their understanding and to select the best two
groups to actual build their design and launch at the Systems Go launch event
later that year. Student groups
had to show their 3-D model, which was designed in Rocksims, a rocket software.
They had to show the break down of their materials, cost and vendor
selections. They also had to show
their data of predictions of flight.
This was a culminating lesson where students had to have a clear
understanding to defend their work to proceed to the next level. Looking back on that lesson, I must say
it was very much student centered.
The goal was for students to demonstrate their understanding of flight
using physics. This was amazing
because there are programs where you can simply punch in the numbers to attest
flight patterns. This also
supported the design to focus on a meaningful performance. The presentation had clear expectations
with a rubric and expert industry panel feedback. As a CTE teacher unlike core-academics, we don’t have more
than one teacher in our specific subject area so we plan typically alone. If I were to redesign the lesson
better, I would have added several stakeholders to assist in creating that team
effort approach.
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?
He excluded teachers, chalkboards, and
textbooks from the definition of instructional media to better discuss the
other mediums used during the earlier times. Yes, I consider the teacher, chalkboards, and textbooks
instructional media. In today’s
time, however more advanced, we still use all of these things as a support or
reference, not as the “meat” of your instruction. I believe the purpose of instructional design is to foster excellent
instructional planning which will lead to finding the most effective media.
