Q: What does it mean to manage/regulate yourself (self-regulate) and others? How does it bring you towards goals? How important is communication in this process and what helps/impedes it?
Lessons Learned
Completing the 8th of 12 graduate classes as I pursue a Master’s of Science in Computer Education and Cognitive Systems, it has all started to come together. I have been trying to pair one “writing” class with one “technical” class so I don’t get too overwhelmed in either area. With my decision to include Instructional Systems Design II as an elective to the Teaching and Learning with Technology track, I had no choice but to pair two “technical” classes this semester.
This semester I experienced all the (what I have come to know as normal) emotions of doubt, frustration, and confusion. First of all, the difference has been my new comfort level with these emotions because I’ve learned that it means I’m learning something new and that this cold sweat and loss of sleep will, indeed pass. Maintaining a full-time job, my other commitments and adding the role of graduate student is challenging me and stretching me in ways I never imagined.
Another change is that the structure of the discussion portion of this class has allowed the students to get to know each other on a much deeper and valuable sense. We have a common experience and an appreciation for each other’s viewpoints, as well as a willingness to problem solve amongst ourselves. It has really become apparent to me the importance of a graduate student being capable of being a self-guided learner as well as willing to put the time into not just learning a new topic but becoming an expert of the topic.
I’ve had a general understanding of the process of instructional design but going through CECS 5210 has really allowed me to focus and begin to internalize best practices. I’ve learned as much by sharing and reviewing projects with classmates as I have in creating my own. I look forward to moving right on to Instructional Systems Design II next semester.
Method of Loci/ Memory Palace …. Or, let’s go to the beach.
I taught fitness classes for older adults in the 1980′s and 1990′s in rural North Carolina. A lot of these people had worked all their lives on the line at the local denim plant, had a small tobacco farm at home to supplement income and were the epitome of conservative in politics, religion, and just about everything else. This relates to the questions asked in the intro of our discussion thread, “Should we encourage them to relax before engaging them (students) in learning activities?” and in another post here “Do you think that as we get older, we lose our ability to structure our own thinking in new ways?”
These were individuals that if I had ever used the term “Method of Loci” “Memory Palace” I am absolutely confidant that not only would I have lost all my clients I would have probably lost my job. What WAS important, though, was that these were individuals who absolutely needed to learn new concepts in terms of health and wellness. While meditation and guided imagery were consistent aspects of each class, they were incorporated in small, incremental steps and were not given labels other than being part of the warm up and cool down. I knew we were making progress when individuals would request “that breathing thing you do” or ask for that “we’re at the beach thing”.
If the instructor accepts not just responsibility of conveying information but also creating a positive and effective learning environment, being responsive to student’s different learning styles and readiness to learn is essential. At what age to do we stop learning? When we close ourselves off to new learning opportunities. When we’re open to new experiences we can go the beach, even if it’s just in our head as a way to slow our breathing, remember a place we always enjoyed and deepen our ability to relax and heal.
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Version III
(Weeks 6 & 7 Blog Reflection) Design_document_Blackman_5210_v3
This is the latest and greatest. There will be at least one more revision. My blog partner (Yo!) has been very attentive to detail which has been helpful. While I haven’t gotten a lot of feedback from others in the class, just going through and reading over other design documents and the conversations around them have been very useful. One unique aspect of this course is that I input from the instructor of the class and as well leadership from the grant that is hosting the event. In designing the document, I need to make sure I am meeting the needs of both the instructor and the principal investigator. The principal investigator is very interested in pedagogy, prescribed teaching methods as well as clearly defined measurement of effectiveness whereas the instructor talks much more about things like exposure to new technologies and the ability for independent evaluation and learning. While this is a balancing act at times, this ultimately strengthens the effectiveness of the course.
This process has reinforced the value of not only the feedback loop between client and ID but also having an objective observer (Doc Warren and the class). The “ah-hah moment” for me was the value I’ve gained in being a part of a group of individuals that are designing their own documents on completely different subjects. It’s occurred to me that this must be what it’s like for a writer to be in a writers group. This makes me think of not only the value I’ve gained as an aspiring instructional designer but the essential challenge of participatory learning and/or “engagement” both in the classroom and in professional development. Below is a discussion about understanding the engagement gap in dissemination of curriculum and professional development opportunities for educators. This is part of a ICT Case Study project that our program is participating in.
My day to day job is involved in primarily creating and hosting professional development events but I do still have contact with students in a quasi advisor role as well as I’m a mother of two college students. More and more, I realize how essential it is to not just create on time, requested and factually correct training for instructors but to also be modeling and encouraging the use of constructivist learning theory. Even if the course subject is brand new, teaching with the same ‘ol bag of tricks isn’t cutting it anymore.
This is awesome …
Week 6 _ Activity 7: Take a breath
Find a place to sit quietly by yourself, close your eyes, and just count each breath for between 2 and 5 minutes (more if you are trying to compete with others. We won’t keep score, but somehow the others will KNOW that you relaxed longer than they did. Thus, you win.) Some people may not want to do this. I can’t check to see that you did and it is ungraded. It is just an attempt to get you to slow down a little for a few moments.
Thoughts on Lesson Plans and Design Plans
I described the process of developing my design document a week or so ago as if I’m driving in the dark without my lights on. It has helped immensely to finally get some feedback this week from my instructor, my blog partner and discussion partner. I do still feel like I am driving in the dark but at least the headlights are now on!
The first thing is the reassurance that I’m not totally off base. I didn’t think I was but you never know! The feedback that included suggestions, in particular with using stronger or more specific language and/or making sure to tie point A to point B really helps me go back and refocus.
This all takes me back to my undergraduate days when learning about program planning, goals and objectives, etc. I’ve needed some serious brushing up on all of this as well as to put it all into an educational context rather than the social service and recreation programming context I was working within all those many, many years. Here’s some links that have helped me that I want to be able to reference again:
http://www.adprima.com/lesson.htm
http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Guide.shtml
http://www.personal.psu.edu/scs15/idweb/lessonplanning.htm
http://bozarthzone.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-your-objective.html
The relationship of analysis and design.
While an elegant design for instructional purposes is not required, it does help reinforce the objectives of a lesson or instructional piece. This was made more clear to me with the 1994 Psychological Review article Gibson’s Affordances, by James G. Greene. It makes the point that learning is a process of improvement and is demonstrated by getting in closer touch with your environment. I’m assuming that “environment” here can mean the learning environment an individual is involved with. Gibson also goes on to discuss the importance of interaction between perception and action. When the design of a course is appealing and appropriate to a learners needs, the perception is going to be more positive and therefore more likely to incite action, i.e. participation and learning.
While there is both an art and science to instructional design, there are some basics of graphic design that can benefit even the most inartistic of us. For instance, the Frisco TX web page is a place I go to fairly often for information about my community. The web site, as most are, is constantly being updated and improved. While I find the directional links on the right hand column helpful, more than once I have been so distracted by the overwhelming use of the color red, the moving graphics, and all the other links, that I usually resort to typing something in the search box rather than using a link on the index page. My experience has been that the search box doesn’t consistently yield satisfactory results so I end up back on the index page, reading for detail. This really drives me crazy because most of the time what I needed to connect to in the first place was “Resident Info” which is right there on the first page. The problem is that other columns are bigger and brighter so that links like “Resident Info” get lost in the shuffle of a list that mixes pastel colors with primary colors all on a black background. A more harmonious color scheme and judiciously limiting the amount of information on the index page would make this a more user-friendly experience.
Last, the Information R/Evolution has a huge impact on both analysis and design in that the way we categorize things, we find things, and even the way we teach and discuss is changing. The fact that digital information has no fixed material form is both a freeing aspect but also an opportunity for more chaos and misinformation. Our challenge as educators is to use technology to enhance the interaction between perception and action.
