Section 7: New Directions in Instructional Design and Technology

Being in a classroom today, a teacher must be receptive to new technologies and strive to make use of them in order to have an effective learning environment for his/her students.  Our students are so technologically savvy and accustomed to using technology outside of the classroom, it makes no sense to try and keep an antiquated version of learning with little or no use of what is available to enrich classrooms.

When reading of distributed or e-learning environments, what came to mind immediately was the use of teacher web pages.  I update my page on our school website regularly in order to keep students and parents informed as well as to distribute assignments, notes, webquests, and calendars.  Now that I am used to blogging as a result of this class, it makes sense to use blogs for discussion forums as well.  I teach English currently and literature discussions could be built in to enable further discussions of material.  Our librarian has also started using blogs for book discussions and the students are now beginning to use this feature of the library website.  Blogging would allow those students who are timid in a classroom environment to share their thoughts without fear of embarrassment.   Students can also plan what they have to say instead of having to come up with the right words “on the spot” in a classroom setting.  It would also help with writing skills of which my students are in desperate need!  Texting has taken its toll on how my students write in the classroom!  YIKES! J

There are also many reusable aspects of the curriculum we are using in our district.  C-Scope is what our district has determined to be an acceptable tool to use for curriculum design.  There are many lessons that may be adapted and used again to fit current classes.  I also like to use websites such as ReadWriteThink™ for lesson plan templates and ideas.  These lessons can be altered to suit any teacher and provide GREAT sources for instructional methods, plans, diagrams, etc.  A site we have just begun to use is Photo Peach (www.photopeach.com).  It is a template for making book trailers.  My students just learned how to use this site and LOVED the results.  I am having my students do a promotion of an AP novel.  This is an excellent source for easily putting together a promotional presentation where the end result looks like a movie trailer.  A website also helpful in showing what a book trailer can be is www.slimekids.com. It has many trailers for the students to view to get an idea of what they can produce themselves.



This site also falls into the category of rich media.  The resulting book trailers have text, sound, and visuals to not only catch a potential reader’s attention but the student creator has learned much more about the book because of the symbolic representations they choose as well as music and text choices they include.   Along with this type of rich media, games in the Jeopardy format have engaged our students as we review material.  It keeps them entertained but learning at the same time and that is priceless.

The InterWrite™ board in my classroom is a new technology that I have learned to use.  This also falls into the rich media category in addition to an emerging technology.  It keeps the students engaged because of the multimedia capabilities and there are so many uses for it!  I was slow to use this technology because we were not really provided with adequate training.  I taught myself over the summer when I had to present an emerging technology in another ETEC course I was taking. 

One thing I did happen to think of as I was reading about emerging technologies was STAAR tutoring.  We have had to do an enormous amount of tutoring to get students ready for STAAR retests this year, and reading about ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System) gave me some hope!  If students had a tutoring system as these are described in the textbook, it might make it much easier for them to achieve the success they need to pass their end of course exams.  Personalizing instruction for a room full of individuals is nearly impossible.  If the computer programs could focus on target areas they need as individuals, this could potentially have far reaching successes for these students and the daunting tests they have to face each year!  Just a thought!  And if I could design a tutoring program like this, I could retire early! J

Photo sources:  www.tradebooster.com

                             www.rseselearning.org

                             www.anthonyjknightsedublog.org

                             www.arnium.com

 

Section 6: Getting an IDT Position and Succeeding at It

I am currently teaching Pre-AP English 1, English 3, and coaching Varsity Cheer at Corsicana High School.  I have been teaching for 12 years with the last six being at my current school.  I am enrolled in the Library Science program and hope to finish my degree this next calendar year.  I began my classes in 2006 but when I transferred to the high school and a coaching position, I put it on hold thinking it would be too much on top of learning two new subjects, coaching, and having two small (at the time) children.  I regret that decision now but am looking forward to finishing and have enjoyed my courses and learned so much thus far.  I really want a position where I still have contact with the students but want to be that facilitator who helps students and staff alike without being in a classroom setting.  It is time for me to make a change but stay within the school setting.  I have a wonderful new librarian at my high school who is very supportive of my efforts.  I would love to remain in my district and be a librarian at one of our other campuses and would prefer our sixth grade campus or our middle school campus.  After having taught in the secondary setting for so long and with a bachelor’s in secondary ed, the elementary setting would be a drastic change!  Ultimately it would not matter at all as long as I am in the library.  I always tell people who ask that “I want to be a librarian when I grow up”.  Since I am in my mid 40s, they find this a little humorous.J

After looking at the WorkMatrix in chapter six of the text, I most desire a first and potentially second level service position.  By that, I mean that being a “traditional” librarian would be a first level service position but depending on the school and district I wind up in, training teachers on some media elements might qualify as a second level position.  I want to always continue to learn but have no desire to design instruction.  I have a family who is of the utmost importance, so moving would not be an option for me.  With a preteen and two teenagers, my husband and I would not want to uproot them.  This was their first year at a new school since we moved last Christmas, and they are doing very well.  I would not want my job to interfere with that success.  Remaining in Education is where I need to be and will probably stay unless some unforeseen opportunity were to land in my lap!



http://gigaom.com/mobile/mobile-tech-predictions-2011/

 

 

In order to obtain a position I desire, I need to keep up with my classes and take to heart all that is taught.  In particular, the technology component of the Library Science program is of particular interest to me.  Most people still see librarians as ladies with bifocals who only check out books.  With the digital age in which we live being how all our students have grown up, it is very important to remain abreast of developments and incorporate as many as possible into the educational setting.  Students must practice what they will be using when they leave school, and many teachers do not have the time to learn about these developments.  That would be of vital importance to me (passing along that knowledge).  It also helps to insure that the library becomes an important part of the school setting and a teacher’s lessons.

As a media specialist, it will be my job to remain vigilant in keeping up with technological trends in education.  After reading the chapter in Section 6 dealing with professional organizations, several sounded worth considering.  The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) are definitely worth taking a closer look at before I begin a position as a librarian.  They are both dedicated to improving the use of technology in education.  ISTE publishes two journals titled Learning and Leading with Technology and Journal of Computing in Teacher Education that would support my desire to remain on top of educational technology.   The Journal of Computing in Teacher Education also seems to be an excellent source and offers “practical applications” (p. 268) for using technology for educators.  Joining any of these or subscribing to their publications would best serve me after graduation.  Unfortunately, I am sure that they would fall by the wayside while I am working full time, going to school, and taking care of a family.  In addition to those mentioned in the text, there are numerous professional associations for librarians in particular.  The Texas Association of School Librarians would be a useful source as well as the American Library Association on the national level.  The American Association of School Librarians offers an annual conference that would be beneficial in that it centers solely around libraries in a school setting and no others.  That would be an excellent resource of information as well as networking with those in the same setting.  The association Handheld Librarian also sounds like an innovative “grassroots” organization who offers a conference by librarians for librarians.  Their conference this past August dealt with e-books, social networking, handheld devices, etc. along with workshops within the conference for  more in-depth information.  The latter conference sounds very informative and deals with current issues facing librarians today with the rapidly changing technological landscape. The Handheld Librarian also offers sessions on its website such as iPad instruction in a library.

http://handheldlibrarian.org/sessions/iteach-ipads-in-library-instruction/ 

Section 5: Trends and Issues in VArious Settings

I currently am working in the field of Education as a high school teacher of Pre-AP English and English 3.  After reading the chapters of the various fields where instructional design has made an impact, there are several parallels to the educational field and improvements that could be made as well.  



 (http://www.pbi-now.com/2011/05/the-on-line-amish-flight-school-and-other-bad-training-ideas) 

 



In the Business arena, the need for globalization of training is an important element in instructional design.  With the world market being truly a “small world”, the need to design training for many cultures exists.  In the education field, there are many cultures that we need to reach on a daily basis.  Not only are the students from different cultures, but the teachers on my campus come from a variety of cultures as well.  If instructional design for education were packaged as it is for business purposes and removing anything of cultural bias, it might help students and instructors to learn material in a more equal setting.  Localization would be a problem with all students or educators having to “learn” from the same system at the same place unless different cultural packages could be produced at the local level.  For example, ELL students would need a different “localization” than English speaking students.

On the military front with the ever changing role of our armed forces, it is presented much like the Business area of globalization.  The recognition of cultural differences in military training is important as well.  What I found particularly, however, is the mention of alternative training solutions where various learning modes/styles are considered for remediation of service members who do not perfect a concept or achieve a certain performance level.  This is very much the same as education where various learning styles must be considered and remediation is often a necessity.  I loved the fact that the military uses alternative methods for remediation instead of “more of the same” that wasn’t grasped the first time.  The field of education should take a strong look at the methods of the military for remediation.  Many times in education, it is “drill and kill” which turns students off completely.  If we took more of an approach similar to the military, much greater retention or grasping of new concepts might be attained.



(http://www.shephardmedia.com/news/mil-log/russian-army-orders-rheinmetall-training-centre/)

 

 

In the medical field, the need for problem-based learning became a prevalent part of medical training programs.  In the education field, it is now very much expected for classrooms to be project based or where students lead themselves in the quest for knowledge of new concepts with the teacher being a facilitator.  It may have evolved from the training begun in the medical field in order to help students transfer knowledge and apply that which has been learned in a classroom setting.  This hands-on approach is now the norm.  Hopefully this will soon become the norm in a secondary educational setting as well.  The only problem with that where I teach is the part where students must be motivated to learn.  Apathy has become a very big issue that our teachers are dealing with on a daily basis especially with our regular ed. population.  On the flip side, if there were more project based learning, maybe that would motivate the unmotivated.

( http://medical-universities.org/medical-training-college/)