There were several lessons learned from participating in Instructional Technology and Design tools that related to type of technology, learning theories, and processes that reside within this very exciting functional area. Furthermore, this was supplemented with an overview of the different types of jobs and careers you could pursue in a K-12, higher education, and the corporate environment that included positions like curriculum designer, instructional coordinator, and training development specialists. Finally, was getting familiar with the different types of technologies that Instructional Designers can be expected to learn, master, and become the subject matter expert on. The combination of learning about all these aspects of Instructional Design and tools needed to succeed really opened my perspective up on what exactly instructional design is, what are the expectations, and what are the resources needed to accomplish the mission of supporting teachers and students with learning by implementing the right types of technology based upon factors identified in various processes like the students, ease of use, cost, teaching functions, interaction, organizational issues, networking, security, and privacy (SECTIONS) process.
Initially, I thought I had rudimentary knowledge about what an Instructional Designer does with their various tools, but as I learned more about the professional, I realized I knew a lot more than originally anticipated. The articles, books, journals, Microsoft products, video chat, pictures, and others all were types of instructional technology that I had experience with as a Army officer, Army civilian, and Acquisition professional in the United States Army. The tools were familiar as well as the processes. The SECTIONS process reminded me a lot of the Military Decision Making Process that we used to use to decide on tools and resources for our organizational operations. Furthermore the learning theories of Behaviorism, Constructivism, and Cognitivism all have their strengths and weaknesses but can be best used by implementing portions of those theories as needed to the problems that are presented to you for students with various learning styles. In addition, it was very helpful to learn about the various platforms that employers use to do their work. It seems like corporate America uses the Learning Management System with various databases like Blackboard. Higher education and K-12 employers typically use Canva or Blackboard to do most of their work. As a result, i plan to learn Canva and the Learning Management System as an additional learning objective to the course material as I work through this program.
In closing, it was a real fun learning journey to learn from the instructor and peers within my class. The readings, videos, and posts all were very beneficial when it comes to learning about the professions within Instructional Design. Those posts really peaked my interest when learning about the different areas of interests and professional expertise of my instructor and peers. My experience as a Father of two boys with Autism has me interested in creating content for People with Disabilities, my experience as an Acquisition professional in the Army has given me a tremendous amount of experience in Corporate America with companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, and my passion for learning, teaching, and sports makes the careers at universities most interesting to me. Unfortunately, I have the least amount of experience to acquire a new job with a University so this class was a great start to acquiring some knowledge, experience, and mentorship in this professional area of the functional skillsets. Learning about the people, history, learning theories, processes, and careers of the Instructional Design and Technology career field has made me realize my love for leadership, learning, teaching, coaching, and advocating for various student populations, marginalized populations, and people in need. To the contrary, I would recommend adding an assignment where we shadow an Integrated Product Team working in one of the three main areas of employment (Corporate, Higher Education, and K-12) to observe their meetings, discussions, issues, and strategy for completing various projects. In summary, we had a great group of people, with valuable information, and assignments that allowed us to grow from any level to include a beginners level and still have the opportunity to be successful. A great class that I would recommend to anyone who may be interested. ITD 602P-101 Instructional Technology and Design Tools was a success for all the reasons above.
No comments:
Post a Comment