Section 7: New Directions for Instructional Design and Technology
Distributed Learning Examples
The U.S. Army Distributed Learning System
Skills-based Training
Information:
The U.S. Army Distributed Learning System (DLS) acquires, deploys and maintains a worldwide learning infrastructure that innovatively combines hardware, software and telecommunications resources with training facilities and course content to deliver a cohesive, Web-based solution.
DLS is part of the U.S. Army >>Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). PEO EIS is responsible for project management of DoD and Army business and combat service support systems, as well as related Army communication and computer infrastructure.
Virginia Tech Online
Virtual Classes
Information:
VT Online is a part of Virginia Tech University that allows undergraduate and graduate students to obtain degrees completely online, much like TAMU-Commerce.
Mohawk University
Corporate Distributed Learning
Information:
This site includes online courses and training for employees of the Mohawk/Dal-Tile Corporation. My husband uses this site for job training, i.e. communication, leadership, time-management, software certification, etc.
English Teachers’ Companion Ning
Academic Distributed Learning
Information:
This site is a huge social networking group of English teachers and librarians. Teachers can post questions, lessons, ideas, etc. and receive feedback/help from their peers. They also host book studies over current literature concerning English education. I use this site often as a reference when planning new lessons/units.
Comedy Guys.com Defensive Driving Online
For-profit Distributed Learning
Information:
Using text, graphics, and video, this online defensive driving course lets you finish on your own time and promises to be entertaining as well. Applications work on iPhone, iPad, and Android as well.
Reusability
When considering a course that had poor reusability characteristics, I focused on two things. The reusability of the course content (lectures, notes, exams, assignments, etc) and my ability to reuse the information I created for my personal and professional use. I decided to focus on my LIS 515 course, also known as Cataloging and Classification. I chose this course because the content was difficult to understand and much of the information cannot be reused.
Here are some of my suggestions:
Instead of long notes created on MS Word with accompanying PowerPoint presentations, the information should have been presented in online modules. These modules should have broken down the notes into shorter chunks of information. Each module should also have allowed us the ability to practice working with the difficult content and get automatic feedback. We could have used this throughout the course to help us study and retain content. Other professors could also reuse the modules. If written in html code, the modules would be very reusable by others.
Also, instead of using basic paper MARC templates, the course could have used interactive, online MARC templates. These could have offered us immediate feedback as to what we did incorrectly and also been used by many LIS students from all over the country. We could use the templates over and over again as we become librarians and need to create our own MARC records. There are several software programs that offer this service, but they are expensive and not readily available, making their reusability low. A free online template would be a great idea. It would be time-consuming to create, but save a lot of time in the long run.
Rich Text
PhET: Online Science Simulations—University of Colorado at Boulder
This site contains several basic simulations for physics, biology, chemistry, earth science, and math. Students are able to play with the simulations and see the cause and effect of their actions.
The surface features include animation, sound, and interactive simulation properties that give automatic feedback (created using Java).
The simulations’ communication functions are representational, relational, transformational, and interpretative (Table 30.1 pg. 317).
The psychological functions (Table 30.2 pg. 318) include minimize cognitive load, build mental models, support transfer of learning, and support motivation.
All in all, the functional features of the simulations are successful. They show definite cause and effect relationships, allow student interactions, but, at the same time, avoid overly decorative or distracting graphics by keeping animations simple and sound to a minimum. Overall, this is a great site for secondary science teachers to use to help students understand difficult concepts.
Nanotechnology
Check out this website for a clearer definition and implications for the future: http://www.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology.htm
I could see eventually using nanotechnology to insert small computers into student ID cards. The computers would communicate with receivers in the classrooms and perform certain housekeeping tasks in order for teachers to have more instructional time. These computers could take attendance and keep a location sheet of what areas of the school students are in at different times during the day. This would not only help us locate students quickly, but also possibly pinpoint behavior and discipline problems. It would also save us time in writing bathroom passes, etc. The cards could also allow student to automatically check-out library materials and log-in to school computers. The possibilities are really endless.
The Broad and Inclusive Road
I find myself more inclined to agree with the broad and inclusive road when it comes to instructional design and technology. This is mainly because the future of technology is so unknown. If we maintain a strict methodology, we aren’t allowing room for changes we have yet to imagine. Take the science of nanotechnology for example; many scientists express concerns over the social and ethical implications that nanotechnology will present. If IDT doesn’t remain flexible and adaptable to that change, progress will be extremely slow.
I appreciate that the broad and inclusive road will consider anthropology, sociology, and the humanities as sources of new ideas. Technology is becoming a major aspect of all these fields, especially considering the rise of social networking and Web 2.0 applications. If we think we’ll be able to contain IDT to the field of educational psychology and the cognitive sciences, we are mistaken. Besides, we would be limiting our resources. That can’t be a good idea.
I also like the methods of sharing on the broad and inclusive road. It takes into the account the importance of social networking and the Internet in disseminating and collaborating on ideas and information. In the near future, much of our communication will be done this way. The broad and inclusive road takes this into account and sees the positive implications. In order for new ideas and free thinking to take place, “refereed outlets” can be see as a restrictive environment as opposed to “web-style self-publishing and sharing.”
