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.