It was no surprise to read that the definition of Instructional Design has changed for the last 50 years. Technology has changed and with that came the realization that education practices should change as well. It seems that it was not until the late 1970's that the analysis portion of learning became a topic of discussion. This was not shocking to me, because as I began my career in 2001, it was still a common practice to have a sit and get style approach in the classroom. Teachers refused to give up their role as the provider of facts, and worksheets and movies were amongst the most common practices used in the classroom. Between the 70's and 90's there was a huge shift in technology when it came to computers. I remember being in high school (late 90's) and we there was no Internet on my campus, and in college, I still used all books for my resources when writing a research paper. So when I began my teaching career, the push for the use of technology within our curriculum was not a big topic of discussion. In fact, we had that 60's and 70's mindset of media in the classroom is instructional design. Over the last 20-30 years, the definition of Instructional Design has changed in a few important ways: 1) it became apparent that the learner needed to be able to analyze what they are learning; 2) the ultimate goal for education became the "improvement of learning"; 3) teachers and professors are being held more accountable in their teaching approach.; and 4) In order for humans to be successful, they need to learn by the instructor and on their own.
Honestly, at the beginning of my career it was easy to fall into the old school mentality of how students should learn. Also, I love the subject I teach, so I enjoyed standing in front of my class and making History come alive through storytelling. The main problem with this, however, is that my students were getting more and more advanced in technology themselves, that I was starting to lose them. They needed so much more than what I was giving them. They didn't (and don't) need me to give them all the information from the content - then can find that with the touch of a finger and click of a mouse - they needed to learn how to think deeply and apply their knowledge. Therefore, in the last few years, I have changed the makeup of my classroom and have begun giving up my role as the giver of information and have taken on a more facilitating role.
Being able to analyze problems and situations is very important for students in today's world. With my district, some of the teachers fear implementing technology because they think it will be to difficult to teach everything they need to know. However, like you said, the students are more advanced than you would expect. I like what you said about humans needs for success.
ReplyDeleteUsing technology can be very overwhleming. Especially since we are not privy to all the new advancements. It is totally up to us to get trained in all the new advancements.
ReplyDeleteIt seems you nailed the reason the definition has changed over the years. I found it interesting that as they introduced the technology of the decade it made the definition obsolete. I am glad we are the current iteration and hopefully it is broad enough to encompass the future changes in technology.
ReplyDeleteScience and technology has advanced our understanding of how the brain works. We learned that not everyone takes information in through verbal or even written word.
We are also able to simulate environments and show concepts that only authors had been able to produce with ink. Star Wars was a great example of how technology enabled a story to be told because of the use of backgrounds and chroma key. Now there are not many movies, even non-action that do not take advantage of chroma key as a means to tell a story. My point being that as we embrace new methods and allow other things to tell the story we do not give up any control or lose credit but utilize the best methods available.