Hello and welcome to my first official Blog entry that has any real substance to it.
For this entry, I was tasked with the following:
1. Finding at least three Blogs about instructional design and bookmark them.
2. Post a meaningful comment to one of them.
3. Create my own Blog and give a brief overview of the three Blogs I found in my first post to it, and add their links to my entry.
In this Blog, Cutris Pembrook, an instructional designer at Mission College in Santa Clara, California, an independent consultant, and owner of the elearning and educational performance consultancy Performance Instruction LLC, writes about Web 2.0 and the questions it present to instructional designers.
Pembrook states that emerging Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis, and social networking software have the potential to enhance performance and the overall business enterprise, yet few organizations integrate these tools in the instructional design process (Pembook, 2011). I found this interesting for a couple of reasons.
First, Pembrook (2011) mentioned that while these tools can change the field, there was not yet a single all encompassing Web 2.0 tool that can enhance collaboration and communication during the instructional design process which would allow design teams to capture content and expertise across a variety of organizational and geographically dispersed knowledge centers (Pembrook, 2011). One must certainly wonder how this could be. One might further wonder how it is that in this day and age no one has capitalized on this yet. Surely there must be someone out there that has figured this out and is on their way to being the next big thing. Perhaps it could be one of my fellow students or even me.
Secondly, Pembrook (2011) also pondered in his post as to whether traditional instructional design models are appropriate for the fast-paced, information-rich, demands of the 21st Century workplace (Pembrook, 2011). This is a very good question and it is very possible that we are not ready for the next big thing yet, either technologically or socially. For example, aging management in corporate America and in learning intuitions often reach a level of technical capability and then tend to stall and rest on their laurels. They’ve learned how to surf, text message, use WiFi, and e-mail. Web 2.0 is probably something they will show little interest in and even less time learning how to utilize it to their organization’s benefit.
However, Pembrook (2011) asked how we could leverage current Web 2.0 tools, experts, and a instructional design model to rapidly produce rich learning solutions that enhance performance and knowledge management (Pembrook, 2011). The answer may as simple as letting the new generation of instructional designers herald in the Web 2.0 era as their way to make their big splash onto the scene.
You can see my comment to Pembrook here.
In this Blog, the poster “Professor Josh” an educator, instructional designer, and self proclaimed technology geek, writes in a recent entry entitled post “Blended Learning is Hot!”, that hybrid learning can be used to get students to embrace furthering their education (Professor Josh, 2011).
Blended or hybrid learning refers to the use of instruction which combines electronic learning (e-learning), also called online learning, with traditional teacher student classroom training. This method can effectively produce the desired results for both academic institutions and students. The Blog examines the fact that many students do not want a 100% online course, but find that part-time online instruction combined with traditional class room instruction fits their busy lifestyle. This is especially true for working adults who juggle a full time job and parenting with their desired degree’s course load.
Professor Josh (2011) states that one of the benefits of blended learning for training instuctions is the possibility of freeing up physical classroom space depending on how wisely online courses are planed out (Professor Josh, 2011). He goes on to say that for the faculty it can mean more flexible schedules, the ability to engage students in different and exciting ways, and the potential to use the physical classroom for more active learning activities. Professor Josh (2011) also suggested that students could benefit by attending less classes physically and have a more flexible online class schedule (Professor Josh, 2011).
The Blog post has a few links embedded it that lead to other great articles and studies on blended learning and is a great source of information and inspiration. It is highly recommended that you explore the links the author provides for a deeper understanding of his post and the subject of it.
This Blog was mostly used to recap a publication authored by Richard E. Mayer and Roxana Moreno from the University of California, Santa Barbara entitled “A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning: Implications for Design Principles” (Mayer & Moreno, 1998). The Blog author, StereoStina, did not provide any background information about themselves. Though the Blog was fairly innocuous, the referenced published work by Mayer & Moreno was an excellent read. I recommend checking out this blog, if only for the link to the link to Mayer & Moreno’s publication. However, the Blog does offer the idea that the argument put forth by Mayer & Moreno, that effective instructional design should be based on research-based theory into how students learn, is tempered with reviews of five principles of multimedia design. Use of the term “multimedia design” does date Mayer & Moreno’s work, however, many of their suggestions and ideas are still valid today.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy.
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