Navigating as an Instructional Designer can prove to be difficult, but sharing and discussing various approaches, methods, and experiences often reveals a path that was previously hidden. During our 5 months in the ID2ID program we have discussed several approaches to various situations, whether it be department standard of procedures, or dealing with a tricky course. Both Michael and I are new ID’s, and it has proved very helpful to discuss our projects together. Not only do we come away with new ideas, but we find we are often in similar situations.
When we began the program, we discussed where we should start, and something that we kept bringing up was that we were both new to the position. During our first meetings topics like: instructors, procedures, workflow, and technology were often mentioned. From this point we began to find articles dealing with these topics. We discussed these articles which almost always led to a discussion dealing with our current projects. The conversations we had often gave us new ideas to bring to table, which gave our journeys stability. As with any journey it helps to have a map or an outline of where to go, and what to do when you get there.
We have each chosen three of our favorite articles that we shared with each other. These articles led to discussions that inspired reflection upon our daily duties and experiences.
Jon’s Top Three Articles
- Robots Won’t Replace Instructors. Instead, They’ll Help Them Be ‘More Human.’ https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-11-01-robots-won-t-replace-instructors-2-penn-state-educators-argue-instead-they-ll-help-them-be-more-human
- Summary:
- Technology aiding SMEs in some of the “difficult areas”. Written by two PSU people from TLT. This article covers many projects that are under development right here at PSU.
- Eureka! – AI to assist instructors in finding new materials for their course content
- BBookX – AI to aid in creating OER for instructors
- Inquizitive – Quiz engine you can paste information into and it generates questions and answers
- ‘More Human’ – idea that will incorporate AI and audio recordings. The main concept is to have AI review audio recorded lectures and provide feedback.
- Michael and I are very excited for inquizitive, we discussed some of the challenges we often face when working on assessments for our courses. Having a tool like inquizitive would be a great help!
- Technology aiding SMEs in some of the “difficult areas”. Written by two PSU people from TLT. This article covers many projects that are under development right here at PSU.
- “Professor, Please Meet Your Instructional Designer” https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/10/31/survey-professors-shows-surprising-lack-awareness-instructional
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- Summary:
- Touches on a common problem most ID’s face which is a misunderstanding of what we do.
- The study in the article surveyed 2,000+ faculty and asked them if they have worked with an ID.
- 25% said yes
- 45% said they have received professional development about course design
- Fewer than half of the faculty surveyed who taught online worked with an ID
- Instructors who worked with an ID:
- Summary:
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- 37% – had a very positive experience
- 56% – had a positive experience
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- Faculty who have not worked with an ID
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- 26% – did not believe they needed to
- 16% – had no interest
- 29% – institution had not made them aware of ID support
- 25% – did not know what ID’s do
- 20% – college did not have ID’s
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- Professors who taught online were significantly less likely to say: I do not know what ID’s do
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- “Report: Instructional Design Support Helps Increase Student-to-Student Interaction in Online Courses” https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/04/02/report-instructional-design-support-helps-increase-student-to-student-interaction-in-online-courses.aspx
- Summary:
- This article surveyed institutions that do not use instructional designers or a support team vs. institutions that do use instructional designers or a support team. The results show a dramatic increase in student interaction (as much as 30%) at institutions that have instructional designers available. When instructional designers are involved with course design, student interaction is increased. Institutions that do not have instructional designers or a support team were asked, why? – and common answers were: to give instructors more freedom or the resources are not available.
Michael’s Top Three Articles
- “4 ways to reduce cognitive overload in e-learning”.
Content: https://timslade.com/blog/reduce-cognitive-load-in-elearning/
Summary:
“4 Ways to reduce cognitive overload in e-learning”. This article was chosen due to the difficulty in understanding what the required content is needed to learn and the best way to present this content. The article discussed the 4 best ways to accomplish this.
The first way being “Structure the learning into smaller bite sized chunks”. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by chunking. Chunking consists of making information easier so it’s easier for online learners to digest. The second way is “Letting learners apply concept with a meaningful interaction”. Here letting learners practice the concept that is presented to them allows the learner to grasp the concept while they are practicing it.
Structure the learning into smaller bite sized chunks
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- I chose this article because it can be very difficult in understanding what the required content for students is to learn and how to present this. Furthermore, this article presented a theory called the “Cognitive Load Theory”.
- The 4 ways are:
- Structure the learning into smaller bite sized chunks
- How long will it take to complete the course? As long or as short its needed to cover the required content
- Chunking!
- Let learner apply concept with a meaningful interaction
- Let learners practice the concept that is being presented to them
- Providing too much information increases the likelihood that students don’t remember the information
- Let students see how skill is relevant to them
- Pair meaningful graphics with animation and audio narration
- Helps reduce cognitive overload by replacing some of the content with meaningful graphics
- Utilize diagrams or icons to relay some of what your trying to show learners
- Design an intuitive interface
- How long will it take to complete the course? As long or as short its needed to cover the required content
- Chunking!
- Let learner apply concept with a meaningful interaction
- Let learners practice the concept that is being presented to them
- Providing too much information increases the likelihood that students don’t remember the information
- Let students see how skill is relevant to them
- Pair meaningful graphics with animation and audio narration
- Helps reduce cognitive overload by replacing some of the content with meaningful graphics
- Utilize diagrams or icons to relay some of what your trying to show learners
- Design an intuitive interface
- Why storyboarding is crucial to the e-learning process?
Summary:
- What is a storyboard?
- What are some of the benefits of storyboarding?
- How does one create a storyboard?
- What tools are commonly used for storyboarding?
- In today’s digital age, why would one revert to manual storyboarding?
- Do you have to be an artist to leverage storyboarding?
This article is set up in the Q&A format and gives a quick overview on utilizing storyboards and how it will benefit the designers and stakeholders that are involved. Being able to help organizations avoid costly and time-consuming revisions are one of the reasons why storyboards are so important. Creating a storyboard allows you to create a rough outline of what your course will look like.
- How Colleges Can Support Faculty New to Teaching Online”.
Summary:
There are many ways that colleges can support faculty as on-line learning continues to grow. As technology advances so must the institutions that are preparing the minds of tomorrow. One of the most important things is having a support system in place to support the faculty. As an Instructional Designer instructor will often hit you with questions anything remotely related to online learning. More times than not ID’s are not well versed in all aspects of things that are related to their course. However, instructors usually assume you can fix any issue that arises. Having a support system in place to funnel these questions to the right place are key.
Sometimes thinking outside of the box can lend itself to having factually enroll as students so they are able to play the role of a student to gain their perspective of the course online. All in all, these are just a few ways how colleges can support faculty.
- It Takes a Village:
- Faculty utilization of support systems at their institutions
- Do they even know what ID is?
- Faculty should have division support, advising support, infrastructure support, tech support available for online students
- Faculty being more aware of the resources that are available to them and the students
- Connecting, Planning, Training, and Ongoing Support:
- Involve faculty in planning before training even begins. “Helping faculty make the best use of tech starts with including faculty in the identification of learning outcomes and selection of the tools that support meeting them,” Nori Barajas-Murphy said.
- Enroll Faculty as Student:
- Have course authors play role as student
- The method can also help support designing other facets of the learning experience. “Provide an opportunity for faculty to be online students so they can better empathize with their students,” tweeted Suzanne Healy.
- Humanize with Video:
- How can instructors create a human connection with their students? Video was the resounding answer from the #DLNchat community. Elli England said, “Be human. Create videos for instruction, announcements, quick check-ins. Then, let students create videos back—in their voice. Let them share their ideas in ways that promote creativity and collaboration.”
- Some issues with that are the language barriers that exist among some of the faculty.
- How can instructors create a human connection with their students? Video was the resounding answer from the #DLNchat community. Elli England said, “Be human. Create videos for instruction, announcements, quick check-ins. Then, let students create videos back—in their voice. Let them share their ideas in ways that promote creativity and collaboration.”
Summary
In addition, to being new Instructional Designers and the different approaches we have taken to various situations, we have also discussed how some of the new technologies we read about will be able to assist us in our job duties. We found that our role in this field is still needed even with the improvement of new technology, which was great news to us! With so many procedures, processes, and industry standards we found that some of the new technologies will allow us to work closely and more efficiently with SME’s.
Lastly, going through this program reminded us that as Instructional Designers we often experience the same problems despite our roles, management and team structure. Being able to have these bi-weekly conversations provided us with new insight an ideas to bring back to our departments. At the close of this journey together we both plan to continue improving.