Themes and Lessons Learned

A common thread among all three contexts of instructional design we have read about in our text is that a team of people is required to work together in order to create effective training/instructional design. In business and in faculty development in higher education, subject experts are needed. Then a variety of other skills are required from graphic artists, audio/video producers, material developers, instructional designers, web specialists, etc. It is the idea that no matter what field you are working in, when instruction or training is needed, it takes a group of people with a variety of skills and talents coming together to create and implement an effective means of creating and delivering knowledge and learning.

A difference between the business world and the world of higher education is that there are times in business where the client is a bit more difficult to identify. “One problem designers face when starting a new project is identifying the client . Often there is more than one client for an instruction design project” (Reiser, 2007). However, in higher education, “…the target audience (students) is a given before the ID becomes involved in the program design.” (Reiser, 2007). 

After reading these last few chapters I cannot help but think of the point my K-12 district is in at the moment. We recently achieved district-wide NCA accreditation. During that 3 year process, it became evident how critical it is for the district to think in terms of systemic change and not viewing any one building or department in isolation. A couple of the areas that were recommended to our district was to strengthen communications and to clearly delineate criteria for making major transitions. A specific area, I believe, that needs to be addressed is our math curriculum. At the K-2 building there is one curriculum, another in the 3-5 building, and yet another at the middle school. We have a golden opportunity to strengthen our communication and make the transitions between these grade levels much more clear if the administrators and teachers could come together to discuss this issue regarding the math curriculum. We see the challenges when students move from one building to the next due to the differing curriculums. We are on a five year review and purchasing cycle for math and this is the fifth year. I have been contemplating how to approach my principal about my thoughts on this issue. I am a very new teacher and this can be a tedious undertaking and one I’m not sure I should take up. However, I strongly believe that our students would benefit from a K-8 scope and sequence instead of three separate programs that are patched together. It will take those passionate leaders spoken of in chapter 21, subject experts like our hard-working curriculum director, principals, and teachers, and incorporating as many other stakeholders as we can to develop the programs that will best serve all of our students.


BUBBL.US CONCEPT MAP


A lesson in which students could use concept mapping to help them understand subject matter would be in social studies when we learn about colonization of America. In the beginning of this unit, students are exposed to the three colonial regions. I assign them one colony and they are to learn all about it and create a billboard telling others of the good things their colony has to offer to persuade others to want to settle there. (a Glog of their colony would even be better than a cardboard poster and a lot easier for me to physically handle. That will be one for next year!)


Below is a quick example of a concept map showing four major characteristics of Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
NOTE: I have noticed that when I view the concept map on my blog, some of the text seems to spill out of the bubbles in places. However, if I zoom in, the text seems to go back inside the bubbles. ???