week 10 reflections

I just want to say that I think it's really cool the way this course is laid out.

I had no idea that I'd be so immersed in different types of technology. Looking back, I suppose I should have, but I'm honestly surprised at how much I've learned and how many new technologies and topics I've explored in the name of Web 2.0 and my future career.

Grad school has this bad rap as the only alternative to a dead-end job if you got a liberal arts degree, but nobody really talks about how much you learn and how useful it all is, compared to the assorted and mostly useless facts they shoved into your brain for all those undergrad years.

I just want to put it out there for anyone who hasn't heard yet -- grad school is awesome!

so, performance support systems...

the first thing i thought when reading up on this assignment was "how is this different than curating?" 

After some digging I realized that PSS, or EPSS according to Wikipedia, are collections of resources that can be used to help complete a certain task, moreso than just providing information on a given topic.

My topic of choice is web design. My system will be a collection of resources for the aspiring web designer. Hopefully there will be a lot fewer distractions while I'm in Tampa for the next week or so, and I can get this one done in a timely manner. I'm exploring a lot of tools I have never used before like Yahoo Pipes and TaDaWeb, and I'm hopeful that it will turn out well.

 

How about you? What topic have you chosen?

status update

Hi guys,

Last week I went to Canada for a family reunion. It was wonderful, though it made being productive quite difficult. Each day was packed with events, and off-time was spent trying to do homework with spotty wifi access and trying to catch up on a lack of sleep that had been building since the previous week.

Did you see my pics from Niagara Falls?

Anyways, sorry for my absence. I'm back now.

I did, in fact, submit an instructional design project. I used Edmodo. You can access it here. The code is hs6diz. 

Now, off to work on the Performance Support Project. I'm trying my hardest to stay on top of all of these projects. How far along are you?

This week's readings

What I got out of this week's papers is that teachers are falling short in the area of using Web 2.0 technologies effectively and optimally. This reminds me of a topic we discussed in Trends & Issues in IDT - that despite each technological innovation we've had since early 20th century, and despite the great hopes and expectations people had of that technology's effect on the education system, there has been little real change. It seems to me that in all of teacher education, there is room left for instructional designers to work in schools in a larger capacity than they do currently.

I have looked up "instructional designer" in the BLS, and I found entries under Training Specialist and Instructional Coordinator. Unfortunately, neither of these covers the e-learning component of instructional design. I wonder how those individuals are categorized?

If you've ever met me, you might have guessed that I have an aversion to working in highly corporate environments, and thus have chosen to focus on online instructional development over performance improvement, as those seemed to be the two main avenues we can go down. But what I really like is teaching people. I like explaining things and helping people understand concepts they couldn't get their heads around.

I'm drawn to the idea of being a teaching consultant, or "instructional coordinator", if that's the same thing. The person who teaches the teachers how to teach. Surely there ought to be more of these, especially at the higher ed level.

Do you guys know about these kinds of jobs? What careers are you interested in pursuing post grad school?

instructional design project

My instructional design project came to me in a spark of inspiration. My boyfriend is taking an astronomy course this summer, and he keeps telling me how awfully boring it is, and how the lengthy lectures just aren't really working to communicate the concepts the professor is spending so much time trying to communicate.

I've had a look at his syllabus, and as I suspected, there are no clear objectives stated anywhere. So, my project will be recreating a college-level astronomy lesson using instructional design knowledge + Web 2.0 resources. I dig astronomy, so this is really fun!

What are you all working on?

I have watched ALL of your VoiceThreads!

It took a bit longer than I expected, but I have officially viewed and commented on all of your VoiceThreads.

*By "all" I mean every one that I was able to access. If I didn't leave a comment on your presentation, it's because a)you have comments disabled, or b)your privacy settings wouldn't let me see it. In any case, I think there are only two that I was unable to view. If that was the case, I left a comment for you somewhere else on the interwebs or on the DB. If your VT does not fall under either of those categories and I still didn't leave you a comment, then I must have missed your thread. I don't think that's the case, but please keep me honest and send me the link.

Viewing each one of your VTs was nice and I'm glad Yvette reminded me that I said I would. If this were a F2F class, we'd all be forced to sit through each and every presentation and become familiar with each other in the process, but being asynchronous as it is, I feel that I have missed out on getting to know you by virtue of not having been able to keep up with all your blogs, tweets, and posts. So, I truly enjoyed the watching experience as much as I typically enjoy creating. Thanks for sharing your projects with me.

I also like the way Dr. D. assigns these projects without strict guidelines, because it leaves room for a lot of variety in the final products. One of my favorite things was the way that Eric created mutual links from the VT to his story. I don't think I knew it was possible to embed clickable hyperlinks using that way, and it is a neat feature that I will try to incorporate with my next VT.

P.S. So glad we've got any easy catch-up week this week. Happy 4th everyone!