Hello and welcome to my blog!

Allow me to introduce myself—I’m Scotti-Lynn, first year LDT grad student. This is my second semester in the program and I’m looking forward to getting started. After having laid a solid learning design foundation with LDT 415 and 467 last term, I specifically chose LDT 505 to help build upon some of the concepts I learned to really refine my approach to instructional design. In LDT 467, I was pleasantly surprised at the value various technologies have in helping the learning process. For instance, I became obsessed with the idea of podcasts to help fill an identified training need, but now, we can dive into the vehicles used to access this particular content. No matter how great your instructional content may be, it won’t mean a thing unless you can reach your audience. Expanding upon the lessons gained from last term is my main motivator for diving into mobile technology.

In my current position I don’t do much in the way of training, let alone curriculum design—my experience comes from my previous job where I kind of fell into it. I started out as an account manager, basically, in customer service—when I was challenged by my then supervisor to expand my horizons. So, I decided to help onboard our deoartment’s new hires—after all, I was a resident SME (Subject matter expert). After multiple new hires and little time to spare, I realized the need to capture content and make it easily digestible. Before I had ever heard of the term instructional designer, I was doing it! Before long, I was promoted to take on the challenge full time. It started out as instructor-led classrooms using PowerPoint decks, and then I began to build a virtual environment, create job aids, and produce videos to handle the demand. While I am extremely proud of all I accomplished, I know there’s so much more to know and many more tech tools that can be leveraged.

While reading the article WILD for Learning by Pea and Maldonado (2006), I was intrigued by the discussion of Duke University issuing freshmen iPods and then leveraging them for educational purposes such as language learning and course newsfeeds. It seems like with so much technology infiltrating our lives, it only makes sense to view them as viable avenues for learning. Prior to starting the program, I had little appreciation for just how much technology can differ—but as one technology emerges, it expands upon prior functionality. For example, the article discusses the stylus function as an advancement. Something I never really thought about was its use to hand write language characters, such as those that deviate from the Roman alphabet. Obvious, yet profound! With all of the advantages listed in the article—such as size and portability as well as wireless communication capability—I couldn’t help but think back to my undergrad days, spending what little time I had between classes (especially if a class was cancelled) to work on schoolwork on my phone. I would’ve never dreamed of taking my laptop on public transit in San Francisco, but I was never without my phone. It was a life-saver, with more capabilities than a dedicated desktop or laptop.

I love the idea of using technology to aid in knowledge transfer—but sometimes that in of itself can be a bit tricky. With information becoming even more easily accessible and learner participation on the rise, I have become very interested in media literacy research. While reading the article, I was reminded of how anyone can post information readily available for consumption—and how this has both benefits and drawbacks. “Everyone and anyone can distribute content right from their phone to the world via the Web; mobile wireless interactive devices are democratizing media production” (Pea and Maldonado, pg. 434). “…from revealing industry secrets to breaking news in war zones, they have become another information source for learners to evaluate, process, and contribute to” (Pea and Maldonado, pg. 433-434). While most educators would view this as a great thing—participatory culture at its finest—it can make it harder to tell what’s real from what’s fiction. With news story after news story recently, we have seen just how vital it is for information consumers to be able to discern credible content from “fake news”. Being that we carry our phones with us at all times, listen to podcasts, and surf the internet on our tablets, these same convenient technologies can either be critical learning tools or conduits for misinformation, thus media literacy can be the one and only determining factor!

 

References
Pea, R. D. and H. Moldonado. WILD for learning: Interacting through new computing devices anytime, anywhere. Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. Sawyer, K. ed. New York. Cambridge University Press. 2006. 0521607779. pp. 427-441.