Part 1 Synthesis:
Summary:
All Star Edu is looking for an instructional designer to develop web-based courses to help middle and high school students prepare for their end of the year English examinations. The course will have two parts: one to be done entirely in an asynchronous learning environment and other and the other to be done in a blended situation using a web-conferencing tool. The individual will work with other members as a small team to create educational materials and activities that are internet and technology based to help students develop in areas of reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and writing.
Required Skills:
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Bachelor’s Degree
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At least 2 years of experience designing online courses
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4 years of experience designing instructional materials
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Knowledge of course design and development process (ADDIE)
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Experience with Captivate, Flash, LMS, Web-conferencing tools
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Experience with teaching, training or learning in an online environment
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Knowledge of standardized high school examinations
Desired Skills and Knowledge:
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Master’s Degree in Educational Technology or Instructional Design
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Experience in web design and Dreamweaver
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Fluency in multiple languages
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Experience with mobile learning
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Experience with game based learning
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Excellent writing and communication skills
Part 2 Reflection:
1. What are teachers expected to do that instructional designers are not?
The main objective of a teacher is to ensure that students are learning the contents of a course. Teachers are essential in helping students understand the material especially when topics are difficult or unclear. In addition, they must take into account other factors such as abilities, learning styles, class sizes and teaching environment and then utilize the materials from a course in an effective manner. Finding effective ways for students to learn can mean making changes to existing materials and planning alternative or supplemental activities. As a result teachers can assume that a part of their responsibilities will be to design instructional materials, but the amount and depth will be much lighter than what an instructional designer would do. From my past teaching experiences, textbooks were already developed and pre-selected by other individuals, but I regularly designed instructional activities to reinforce specific topics or incorporate media resources.
2. What are instructional designers expected to do that teachers are not?
Instructional designers use a sequence of steps which serve as a guideline to plan and design instruction to be utilized by teachers. The systematic process they use is more thorough than what teachers are expected to do. One process called ADDIE is composed of five steps (analyze, design, develop, and implement, and evaluate) and within each step are multiple sub-components. In the analyze phase of the process an instructional designer can expect to analyze:
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The problems, expectations and needs
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Goals, resources and constraints
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The learners
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Contexts
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Contents, prerequisites, and priorities
An instructional designers must consider a number of varying factors when planning instruction. Because all the individual parts are connected, changing one piece could have an effect in multiple areas. The sequence of steps ensure consistency and quality and especially important as lessons and modules build into larger projects. This may require instructional designers to work in teams to develop training packages and courses for business and educational settings.
3. What are the three major differences between a teacher and an instructional designer?
Instructional designers and teachers have several important differences. One is the purpose of their jobs. Instructional designers plan and develop instruction, and continuously try and improve existing ones. Teachers on the other hand find effective ways to use the material to help students learn. An important part of their job is to clarify topics and correct mistakes. As a result, the two interact with different people. Instructional designers will regularly discuss their work with subject matter experts, other instructional designers, teachers and possibly even students. Teachers primarily interact with students, but also communicate with school or business staff, and family members in order to help students achieve their learning goals. From my teaching experience, teachers rarely met with the instructional designers. Instead they talked to the school administration to provide feedback on instructional materials.
Instructional designers and teachers have different responsibilities when they do evaluations. Following the Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model, instructional designers evaluate the instruction in four levels: learner reaction, learning, behavior, and results. In level one they check the learners’ reaction to determine how satisfied learners were with the course. In level two they check to see how well learners acquired the material. They check how well learners can apply the knowledge in a job or the next course in level three. And finally, they justify the instruction by analyzing the cost and the impact it has had on the goals of an organization. Teachers primarily utilize level two of Kirkpatrick’s evaluation to see how well students have learned the instruction but also evaluate instructional materials.
Robert Sanders: EDTECH Learning Log 