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PD Musings: Guided Reflection
I love having thinking protocols to guide reflection. In the opening module from an online training course (professional development) I’m taking on facilitation, we are encouraged to use this protocol to reflect in writing: What? Which aspect(s) of the materials resonated with you most? So what? Why is this information important to you? Now what? How are you going to take action as a result of your new learning? Let me begin. Here are some nuggets that resonated with me and why: “The group must define and solve its own…
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F2F or Onground
Definition of face-to-face. 1: within each other’s sight or presence; met and talked face-to-face; a face-to-face consultation 2: in or into direct contact or confrontation; came face-to-face with the problem (Merriam-Webster, 2020) It took a while for me to get used to people at my workplace referring to face-to-face (F2F) courses as on-ground courses. I mean no ill will and am not being snooty. It’s new to me and it just fascinates me that we have these two terms to describe this in-person form of learning experience. I’m speculating that maybe people were describing and referring…
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About That Poster Presentation at AECT 2019
If you had read my previous post, you’d know I was heading to Las Vegas to meet up with my virtual friend and collaborator at AECT 2019. And we met! It was unreal and real, to us, and to those who had heard of our story in my previous post. At the poster gallery walk, some folks seemed more incredulous of our partnership across space and time (without having met at all in person) than they were of our poster. Of course, the poster received a lot of traction…
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What’s Training Got to Do with the Boeing 737 Max Crashes
737 pilots trained for Max 8 with short online course Trained. Self-administered. Short. Online. Course. This news trended a week ago. I was both cognitively and emotionally engaged when I read it. This CNN news touched on areas close to my heart: training, continuing education, online learning, instructional and learning design. But where do I start to process this information? I who used to ride airplanes fearlessly. I have to sort through this news. I enjoy traveling, for work and leisure, and for now, I don’t trust the FAA or airline…
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Course Metaphors
Courses as conversations – this metaphor was first brought to my attention several years ago by a VCU professor, Deb Cowles. Inspired by The Cluetrain Manifesto (Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger, 1999) where markets are conversations. I did not pause to ask her more or stop to think much about it then. Recently, I tried to pick up a book I started a few years back and the author (Petersen, 2005) talked about how his book is a conversation because conversation implies a back-and-forthness, several voices engaged in considering,…
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Lecture Video Speed Control
I enrolled in a post-graduate diploma program in November 2018. Taking courses as a learner allows me to see how other folks design their courses. The instructor does a great job of teaching. However, the speed control feature was missing from the Vimeo videos. I wrote to the support desk to inquire because I usually watch/listen to lecture videos at 1.25 to 1.5 speed. The support person came back with this: Having a speed control may lead to participants missing out some key information shared by the faculty. Hence we…
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IDs on IDs (aka Instructional Designers on Instructional Designers)
I love movies, theater, broadway, musicals, art galleries, books. High culture, pop culture. Recently, I began seriously listening to Variety entertainment magazine’s Actors on Actors interviews. Actors talking to each other about their craft. The interviews were fascinating and generally last 30 to 45 minutes; in some cases, there was a lot of mutual admiration (ahem). EdSurge has been supporting meetups among instructional designers (or even higher ed innovators) via their EdSurge Loop program. I’ve signed up for four Loops (2 didn’t go through due to technical problems and a miscommunication of time).…
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Visual Redesign to Enhance Learning
Part of my work as a MOOC designer/instructional designer is the visual redesign of slides or any course materials. Frequently, slide decks for studio recordings arrive on my computer filled with just sentences, sentence stems and/or bullets. The goal of redesign work is to convey the instructor’s ideas more accurately and fully by designing a more directly accessible visual message. This work taps on my message design and graphic design skills to make the material as accurate and aesthetically appealing as possible. I believe that “aesthetics matter” (see University of Edinburgh’s Manifesto for Teaching…
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Magical Five, Plus Minus 2
EdSurge has a monthly newsletter, The Top Five, and CNN has a daily 5 Things. I love reading them both. Both curate for me interesting articles I don’t have the time to comb the internet for myself. There is something magical about not going beyond that number 5, it seems. Maybe you have heard of or read George Miller’s seminal article, The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information; and that due to the limits of our short-term memory (“the span of immediate…
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What an Instructional Designer Learned from The Great British Baking Show
I am late to the party. I just finished one season or the Netflix Collection 5 of The Great British Baking Show (aka The Great British Bakeoff), the one where (spoiler alert!) an army officer won. Have you watched any of the shows? If you plan on watching the series, you can opt to stop reading now. If not, you may proceed! I’ve read many things about the show. Many people find it charming to the point of becoming addicted to it. I binge watch some Netflix or Amazon Prime…
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Oct 2018 PADLA Meeting Notes: Case Studies and New Collaborative Technologies
I signed up for my first Pennsylvania Delaware New Jersey Distance Learning Association, PADLA, professional development event at Norristown, PA, at the Corbett Experience Center, a beautifully renovated 1700’s mill. October 11, 2018 came soon enough. The heavy rain made the drive to the Corbett Experience Center a hairy experience; the Center was about 1.5 hours away. But I was there to learn, and according to the information webpage, from a mix of “Corporate, Non-Profit, K-12 and Higher Ed professionals” about the issues and technological/pedagogical advances that could enhance human performance in…
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“Picture This”: Some Foundational Principles on Graphic Design
IMHO, the best instructional designers are not just learning scientists, they also have an eye for the aesthetics. The best combination of formal educational training for an instructional designer, to me, is a BFA/MFA and a MS in instructional design. Since I don’t have a BFA/MFA (though I contemplated doing a MFA instead of a PhD in instructional design), I have consistently worked on developing and enhancing my graphic design and media authoring skillset. Recently, I read a book called Picture This by Molly Bang, a recommended text for wannabe graphic artists or…
