Trends and Issues in IDT

ID Trends in Business and Industry, P-12 and Higher Ed

The context of ID in the business and industry field is greatly motivated by the desire to have greater benefits with regards to the costs. On the other hand, in the P-12 field there is no monetary benefit for the cost. But one should note that the P-12 field does prepare and create the foundation for the business world. The higher education field is closely related and is an extension of the P-12 educational realm. Higher education is a broad umbrella that covers many components not only related to teaching but also to researching. Let’s look at the components of the three trends.

Business and Industry

The textbook goes into detail explaining the different elements that make up the ID. Of course it’s not one size fits all. The authors in this chapter present the most important gears that make the ID machine work. First is the client. The client or clients are the decision makers who finance the owner who is the manager of the target audience. The subject-matter expert can also be useful to provide the instructional designer with necessary content. And of course the last person is the trainee (whose performance is expected to improve).

Of course there are some humps on the road. One of the constraints is the context. The designer might not have enough time or client support in order to do a good job. The designer needs to have a well written design. This is important in order to create a good client-designer relationship. By the way, designers sometimes are from within the business or outsourced.

Other contextual constraints are the availability of tools and techniques, the different viewpoints or philosophies of the client or designer, and the lack of expertise. With regards to the expertise, I was surprised by the statement that in general it takes about ten years to achieve mastery in any profession. But the point is that instructional designers (novice and old chaps) need to consider the elements of time and practice. I clearly saw and still see this in the education field. The experienced teachers seem to carry out the lessons without much effort. But this is because he or she has fine tuned all the intricate matters.

Issues in corporate design and development

Sometimes designing instruction has to cross the culture barriers, especially in the business world. This implies not only a language difficulty but also a number of other factors that need to be considered to effectively design a project. I can see how this also can carry over to the educational field; and particularly in bilingual education where one encounters quite a number of students come from a different context. Here the teacher (designer) needs to analyze the learner in order to find common grounds as well as well as sensitivity to his adaptation to the new context.

ID in the P-12 Educational Realm

Contrasting the business and industry chapter with the P-12 chapter, I could observe that the former went into detail covering all the angles of the process in a wide aspect. Meanwhile the  P-12 approach goes into the design more so than the players involved in the design.

                     

The fact that the federal government has mandated that school districts follow certain regulation with regards to technology is another contrast with the business and industry sector. NCLB regulations forces districts who receive federal funds to implement technology not only with regards to the students but also the teachers. In the business world the mere competitiveness forces companies depending on their needs to incorporate technology into their workforce. Business and industry benefit from the technology savvy worker who has been through the public school system. Employing a person who understands and is familiar with technology is of course cost and time effective.

The initial purpose of introducing computers was to help teachers introduce new technologies and at the same time improve student learning. The use of technology in the classroom is to assist the teacher and not replace the teacher.

The ASSURE and the NTeQ Models

These two models are associated with the classroom subdivision of ID.These two models like any other models are effective to the degree in which they are followed. Plans are just plans until they are carried out. The instructional model I implement has a closer resemblance to the ASSURE model. I really like how it’s laid out (the steps), how it touches on the important steps and that it’s to the point.
This section also mentions the results of programs related to technology implemented in Florida, Michigan and Tennessee.  The three states that implemented Ed-Tech had the following objectives: create real-world projects that enhance standards, gain twenty-first-century knowledge and skills with increased achievement, and engage students in critical thinking with increased learning as an outcome. I’m sure there was a lot of invested money and time. Here again the question arises between cost vs benefits. But according the results the students were more significantly engaged in activities than other comparison groups.

Post-Secondary Field

This class is an example of the current trend in higher education, e-learning. As the text pointed out, the faculty members are being trained more towards content than towards pedagogy. While on topic, I can see how e-learning in post-secondary education is framed around constructivism. At this stage most of the learners are at the same level of understanding (more less) in order to carry out critical and meaningful outcomes.
With regards to the varied cases presented in this section of the text, I found Mr. Nemoto’s online course quite useful. The course helps orient students who are not familiar with online courses. Personally, I probably needed that class when I started taking online courses. Depending on the diversity of the student body background, there needs to be some foundations set so all university students have an equal understanding of how these courses work. McDonald’s situation is different as her ID responsibilities revolved around training and developing tertiary instructors. Mr. Albion’s case shows the distinct situation of tertiary education compared to the model used in the United States. His assignments are quite numerous which keeps him sharp. Finally, Mr. Dempsey describes the good, the bad, and the ugly and gives insight into some of the politics of higher education.    

Global Trends

It seems fitting that in a course where planning and hypotheses play an important role that we should theorize about the future. Again one of the aspects that I have enjoyed about this class is the way in which the instructional process has been dissected and studied to the point of predicting outcome. Having said this one should look at models, simulations, variables, and theorize about the future.

As time goes by, new inventions or societal changes have affected the way things are done. They say good education is the basis for a better future. Would this be the solution? How about educated people doing harm or hurting other people? Is education the ultimate solution? Even today I saw a news report about the poor conditions in which people live and work in Bangladesh to manufacture clothing for companies from the United States. So, even though we are talking about the achievements of twenty-first century technology in education, we still have these societal dilemmas that could be easily solved if appropriate steps were followed. 

I watched the short video mentioned in chapter 23 about the history of the world. Even though this is not the time and place to discuss theories of the creation our planet, I do believe it was well done. The music towards the end was making me nervous, but I think that was on purpose to show how fast our world is changing. In the video, agriculture seems to be a big role player in the changes in society. The chapter presents the works and findings of Mr. Visser in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I really liked a couple of lines he wrote stating that he “learned by doing” and in his first observation about learning he mentions the impact of informal learning as meaningful learning. I know this might not be related to the present topic but I totally agree. 

Technology with the help of the internet has helped create a global village, where the distances have been greatly reduced. I think that, with the new advances in communication and technology, we still have hope in the future. The awareness and change has to be a grass root effort as well as an effort by those in leadership. The leadership needs to agree on programs that support sustainability. More and more ordinary citizens need to be educated in this matter. I think the United States should play a more meaningful role in this aspect. It’s not an easy fix but we should always be hopeful and do our part. 

 All of the ID models and case examples demonstrate the work and effort behind every distinct program. There is so much going on behind the curtains of instruction. When I connect  to my present responsibilities as a teacher, I find myself motivated to be more analitycal in my instruction. I cannot help but visualize my classroom and my students as I read parts of the textbook. When the lessons designs are better prepared and better delivered, then the results should be that much greater.