-
Designing a Course Worth Learning 1
Over the next few weeks or months, my goal is to reflect on what and how I think as I design (big and small, d/Design) UNIV 291 in the roles of an instructional designer and instructor. There are many design decisions to consider. But there are a few BIG questions I must address. Uppermost in my mind is a question I borrow from David Perkins, a scholar I greatly admire for his ideas on thinking, teaching/learning, and clarity of thought. With only 8 weeks for a summer online elective course,…
-
Reinventing Dissertation Writing for Sharing
On June 10, 2013, I successfully defended my dissertation and officially graduated from a doctoral program in instructional design, development and evaluation. I had grand visions (delusions?) of staging it as a play. Even as I was writing it, I had considered writing it as a play. My advisor finally let me organize it as different acts/scenes in a play but it wasn’t written like a play script or in a dialogue format. She asked me if I was ready to be non-conventional. I didn’t know what to think at…
-
The 4Ps of Co-Consulting
… subheading, The Promise and the Practice My colleague, Stan, and I have been working with two instructors to convert their face-to-face course to a blended course before it is fully delivered online. What makes this co-consulting distinctive in our case are the following key features: 1. People There are two consultants in this session interacting with two clients (at times 3!) in real time. This entails a negotiation of roles and the values, beliefs and behaviors that come with the enactment of those roles. I am an instructional designer…
-
What makes a strong narrative for design?
A great story is based on a profound yet simple question. Can I sum up the story in a short question? I’m a movie buff and what moves me is usually a story based on a very simple premise. Midnight in Paris is a case in point. Long after the movie was over, I was still relishing the scenes and characters that Woody Allen put together so ingenuously. Gil, Inez, Gabrielle. Why? Because Woody Allen — who claims to write for the Everyday Man — captured an idea that rings…
-
Important words on making the complex understandable
Check out this blogpost: Patti Shank, PhD, published in Learning Solutions Magazine: Well-designed infographics have perceptual, motivational, and cognitive characteristics that make them exceptionally valuable for instructional content, including improving: Clarity and conciseness Ability to make sense of complex information Focus on key information Engagement and ease of remembering
-
What are students learning these days?
How are we preparing students for the workplace? What are they learning? How are teachers teaching? How is curriculum and instruction being designed? Who decides? I have this whole series of questions after watching how some graduate-school-educated peers were not getting jobs or unable to solve what I consider “simple” problems as graduate students of the 21st century. Seriously, what is going on in schools that there is such a disconnect between what they learn and what workplaces want? I have no easy or quick answers. The opinions voiced here…
-
ID and Educator’s Role in Online Learning Part 1
As a certified Quality Matters peer reviewer, I was following the QM thread on online facilitation and teacher engagement in a community board. It brought me back to those days when online learning was just a buzzword. I’d taken ID courses and read quite a bit initially due to my professional interest. I’d even advocated for workshops on facilitating online learning (inspired by a terrific book by Collison et. al) to my boss. Little wonder that I was fascinated by the discussion in the QM community. The debate on TD…
-
Designing Brain Training & Other Experiences
A web start-up, Lumosity, claims to provide brain exercises to train your brain become “brighter”. Mhm. Read about it here at Mashable. I haven’t found time to try it out yet. Let me know if you have and if it does what it claims. The other thing that I learned today is about design. As an instructional designer by training and practice, I was struck by what Sawyer wrote on his blog: “A curator designs experiences, whether presentations, performances, or art spaces.” Basically, that’s what I do too? Designing and…
-
Creative Problem-Solving in Reality
(Image Source: Tashi Mannox website: http://bit.ly/f8jkfN) Note: I learned about these clouds through Dr. Julia Marshall’s presentation. Beautiful and iconic — representing nature, energy, heaven. And I stumbled upon Tashi Mannox by accident. Gorgeous design! I feel like an instructional designer with a complex problem that requires a novel solution! How ironic! I am studying myself constantly, because 1. I have read up a LOT on creativity, and 2. never tire of learning about it. When someone told me he was interested in studying innovation but not creativity, I am…
-
IDE 735#13: More reflection
So the course has ended, but I feel it’s just begun for me. There’s just so much to catch up on because of the course schedule and my own work schedule. I didn’t get to really read and chew on what I’ve read. There’s a lot of readings I want to delve into; I want to rewrite my final paper for a conference submission; it’s just a first draft. I have so many things I want to clarify, so many concepts I still have not a firm grasp of yet:…
-
IDE.735#12: SL for relaxation
With such limited time and so much to do, I often have all these thoughts I want to blog about but don’t because I just don’t get to a computer on time and those moments/thoughts are lost. I posted 2 questions on Clark’s blog after asking one of them during his guest speaker appearance on June 14. I’m now trying to gather my thoughts and findings about SL to create my final paper. Started well but researching on SL is frustrating. Today I tried to attend a major event hosted…
-
IDE.735#11: The Fascination of SL
I’m beginning to find SL very addictive. There’s just so much going on. It’s a game, so it’s fun and engaging, but it can also be educational. I’m also learning a whole new vocabulary. Do you know what a prim is? I didn’t until I googled to check it out as Miss SL 2007 kept using it in her blog. Personally, I think SL has great potential, setting aside all the pc crashes and motion sickness I get. Here’s a bit about what I’ve learned — thanks to Natalia, Miss…
