Journal #6

This week, I read the Rowland article Designing and Instructional Design. It brought about many great points, and a few resonated in my mind.

First, Rowland says, "Designing requires a balance of reason and intuition, an impetus to act, and an ability to reflect on actions taken." After reading this statement, I immediately thought of my own teaching. As a new teacher (this is my second year, but my first year in 1st grade), the "instructional design" process I go through on an everyday basis in creating my lesson plans very much resembles this definition. Of course, I must take into consideration reason- or what it seems like the children will need to understand the concept. However, I have to use my own intuition and what I know of my students in creating my plans. Also, while teaching and carrying out the plans, I must be able to quickly make decisions involving my reason and intuition to alter the lesson as I see fit based on the reactions of my students. I must also be willing to act and react rather quickly to the situation at hand. And finally, I must take time during my lesson (albeit very quickly) to reflect on the students' comprehension, and I must also take time after the lesson is over to consider whether it was effective and how I need to act moving forward. So while I do not consider myself an instructional designer on a daily basis, I very much fit the criteria in creating learning experiences for my students.

I also loved the comparison of designing to the art of composing and to the sciences. A designer must define their purpose and keep that purpose and the goals in mind while creating, just as a composer must consider the rationale for his/her piece. And yet, design is also a science in the analysis of data and goals. Good instructional design, then, is a combination of science and art.

From what I have learned in my own experiences as a classroom teacher and through the Instructional Design class I am currently taking, I have learned that there is a lot more to instructional design than simply creating lessons. They are so many factors at play that must be considered, starting with the problem. What, exactly, is the goal of the instruction? What is the problem you are trying to solve? Those very questions can take the most time to determine, as so many factors are at play when working with human beings. Instructional design is a complex process that really is an art as much as it is a science.

So how does this relate to my project and my work in the Studio? As I am creating my video tutorials, I am having to take into consideration the needs of the staff, the background knowledge they are coming in with, and the foresight of what problems they may encounter. This is quite difficult to do, but I started on the right foot by giving the staff a survey of their needs. This gave me the data necessary to begin examining what tutorials were necessary, and I was also able to determine the comfort level of my audience with this topic. Therefore, in creating my Studio project, I am really taking on the difficulties of Instructional Design.

Rowland, G. (1993). Designing and instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 41, 79-91.

Journal #5

This week, I read the article "Integrating Web 2.0 Across the Curriculum," and it was a very interesting read. Web 2.0 tools are something I'm very interested in, so to see this list of new tools I hadn't heard of and hear how they can be used across the curriculum was fascinating.

What I have found is that students are attracted to anything computer-based from the beginning. Even something simple or repetitive has new life for students when it is on the computer. It is my belief that this is because the students I am teaching now are a part of the Digital Natives population. Technology has been so integrated into their lives that they quite literally know no other way... except at school. This generation doesn't know of a time when a cell phone was a commodity or when not everyone had a computer in their home. And yet, for their entire schooling career, these students have been taught that school is not a place for this technology. Keep your cell phone at home and don't waste your time with a computer. So when students are given the opportunity to work with technology, they are immediately engaged.

I have a Web 2.0 tool that I would love to add to the list, and it covers many different content areas. The site is Epals (www.epals.com), and it is a site that encourages teachers from around the world to connect on various projects. Last year, my 4th grade students became pen pals with a 4th grade class in Connecticut, and I have never seen my students so excited about writing. The teacher and I collaborated on a project called "The Way We Are" (one of the featured projects on the site) that encouraged the students to discover ways that they were alike and different. Over 12 weeks of writings, my students found new "friends" and made some fun discoveries (my students just couldn't believe that some people have to go to school in June!). And, best of all, I saw their writing improve tremendously. My students with ADHD who couldn't focus on writing for the life of them in the classroom were writing 3-5 paragraphs to their pen pals! It was magnificent! And all with the help of a free Web 2.0 tool.

It is my belief that, if we want to truly educate our students in a way that will be beneficial to them as adults and in the workforce, we need to make use of these Web 2.0 tools and other technologies. Let's face it- there are new technological advances every day, and while we can't even dream of preparing our students for what will be out there when they join the work force, the least we can do is keep them up-to-date.

While this really has nothing to do with my project for the course, it has everything to do with my career aspirations and the reasons why I entered this program. I hope to someday soon be an LSTC (Local School Technology Coordinator) so I can encourage teachers to use tools like these in their classrooms. Teachers need to be introduced to these tools, taught how to use them, and create meaningful ways of incorporating them into their classrooms to keep their students engaged and also keep them informed of the ever-changing world of technology that surrounds them.

Oliver, K. (2010). Integrating Web 2.0 across the curriculum. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 54(2), 50-60.

Journal 4

I don't have too incredibly much to talk about in my journal for this week. My project is coming along nicely; I am currently focusing my attention on creating the website that will house the project, and also exploring different elements that will be critical in my project's success. For example, I have been looking at Youtube vs. Vimeo for video hosting so I can simply embed a link to my tutorials into the website instead of housing the video tutorials in the site. (So far, the only difference I can really tell is that Vimeo seems more professional...)

While working on the website that will house the project, I have had to take into consideration many of the points presented in the Krause text. Quite frankly, graphic design does not come naturally to me whatsoever. In fact, while reading the Krause text, I have been amazed at the number of times I thought an image looked pretty good only to notice the red circle with the line through it indicate that this was not good graphic design. Oops! So I am struggling with the design of my website. Even though I am reading the text, somehow my eye just does not see design the way "good" graphic designers seem to. I'm one for simplicity, straight lines, etc. I even had a conversation with a classmate this week in which I asked why Comic Sans tends to be the laughing stock of all the fonts, only for my classmate to be shocked that I actually tend to like Comic Sans. (I'm an elementary school teacher... it looks like my handwriting!) All of this to say that it's a huge struggle for me to take into consideration the hundreds of little details Krause presents. However, I did find one point that I agree with and can say I have been utilizing for quite a while: NO CLIP ART! I am not a fan of clip art. The images are too contrived, feel too cluttered, and just don't appeal to me.

So in summary: my project is coming along slowly but surely, I am a horrible graphic designer, and yes, I like Comic Sans. (Sounds like the introduction for an AA meeting!)