Defining the Instructional Design and Technology Field

Week One of ETEC 561: Learning & Technology

Part One:

The definitions presented in the first chapter of the text book, Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, take a similar evolutionary journey as my personal definition of education technology. This course is the last ETEC course I will take before graduation. When I began taking classes in the Spring of 2016 I thought of education technology, (the name of the degree program) as learning how to incorporate different media into lessons. I remember learning about pedagogy and that the lesson design is more important than the technology. Then in my last course I learned about different learning theories and how students acquire and synthesize new information. As these pieces come together I see my definition change, just as it has through history. I see now that the medium that is used to present the information is much less important than how and why it is used. I got to learn about Cognitive Load Theory in my last course and it has really impacted the way that I look at lesson design and the use of technology to create learning opportunities. The notion of performance improvement as part of the definition of Instructional Design and Technology shows that I have more to learn and that my definition will most likely continue to evolve as I grow and learn.

Part Two:

I must confess that I don’t see myself as a great teacher. As I think back and reflect on lessons I’ve taught and lessons I’ve learned I realized that part of my issue is that my lessons were rarely student centered. That seems like an obvious thing to do when planning a lesson. I may be a little different than most students, but some of my favorite classes growing up were teacher centered classes. I loved listening to teachers who were great lecturers and taking notes from their lectures. This has put me at a disadvantage as a teacher because most students don’t respond well to those situations. I was able to teach more student focused lessons during my years as a writing teacher. I was able to take a standard process and break it down for the students so that they could use it to create something uniquely personal.  These writing lessons were goal oriented for the most part. The goal would have been to accomplish writing a portion of a composition that used the features that were being taught. Writing doesn’t seem like a goal oriented task, but when you break it down into elements you can definitely make clear goals that are attainable.   

Meaningful performance is a difficult element to incorporate into a lesson design. As a writing teacher, I would try to have my students tell personal stories. These narratives were meaningful to the students and employed the lesson objectives in a meaningful way as well.  The final product, or outcome of my writing lessons were measured using a rubric. The rubric was a valid as a form of assessing the product as long as one person did the assessing. The rubric could have been better. There were many times when other teachers would grade narratives and give the students different scores than I would, but that is the nature of writing and narratives; there is always an audience and personal taste is always a factor.  

Data driven instruction has been a key phrase in public education for years. I had spreadsheets with my students’ names and the learning objectives.  It was a working document that would grow and change. I would group students and create small group lessons based on this working document. I always knew who had mastered the objectives, who was progressing and who was in need of some basic foundational knowledge before moving on to the objectives.

The design of my writing instruction was a combination of a group effort and individual effort.  The objectives and strategies were presented from instructional support teams while the implementation and presentation came solely from me.  It would have been nice to work as a team to design the entire instructional unit.

Looking back and reflecting on my lessons as a writing teacher I thought of many ways I could have improved them and made them better. I wish I had made rubrics that focused on the lessons and strategies rather than on the whole outcome. I think mastering the pieces as we created the whole would have given students a clearer objective. 

Part Three

I find it interesting that Reiser excludes teachers, chalkboards and textbooks from the definition of instructional media. Why would you exclude the three most consistent forms of media used throughout the 20^th century and even before? I believe they are each a medium through which knowledge is acquired. I think that instructional designers should not take for granted the tried and true ways of delivering information. I believe that instructional design should focus on the best way of delivering information so that the students comprehend, process and use the content. The medium that is used should not be the goal. Learning should always be the goal. I believe the purpose of instructional media is to make learning faster, more engaging, easier and more precise for the students and teachers. If the media being used do not accomplish these goals, then what is the point of using it?

Reiser, R. A. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Boston ; Munich: Pearson.