Section 5: Trends and Issues

Chapters in Section V identify trends and issues in IDT in various contexts: business & industry; military; health care education; P-12 education; and post-secondary education. Select at least 3 of these 5 contexts and compare/contrast the IDT trends and issues. Then explain how they are similar or different from the IDT trends and issues in the context in which you work.

Section V offers a look into the various applications of IDT in contexts other than my own. I am currently teaching my 6^th year at a public middle school in Texas, so seeing how the issues of unrelated industries parallel my own or are different from those in my field has been interesting. I have chosen to focus on issues facing the fields of the Military, Health Care Education, and Post-Secondary Education.

Military

Many issues face today’s modern militaries. Many of these issues mirror those that we face in the education of children. In addressing the needs of our respective audiences, we can taoilor our designs to have the most impact.

One major issue facing military trainers is “recognizing that ineffective instruction can have catastrophic consequences.”

This issue struck me as being very relevant to a public school educator, but for a different reason than it might be for a military instructional designer. The results of poor military training are a literal matter of life and death. People can lose their lives if not properly trained in the newest technologies. While my job is not always a matter of life and death, it is extremely important for my students’ futures. If I am not an effective facilitator of modern technologies and methods of learning, my students are not as prepared for the global job market they will face upon graduation. In this way, I feel that addressing our role as “trainers” in either context is essential. We must constantly evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of our instructional design, always with the future of our trainees in mind.

Also important to military training is “ training that addresses needs of the military and individual interests.”

This issue in IDT for military purposes is really relevant to all areas of training, in all fields. Human are incredibly diverse in their interests. If we fail to seek out new ways to engage the particular interests of individuals, we lose a great opportunity to create instructional design that is truly effective.

In the field of public education, we are constantly told to differentiate our instruction to reach all levels of learners. In doing this, we must also juggle the challenge of reaching our students by appealing to their personal interests. This can be a really challenging task at times, but in the end creates the most dynamic and effective learning environment. When we do this through the use of instructional technology, the returns are enhanced, and our students are engaged as well as being more prepared for their future work lives.

Health Care Education

As the text points out, health care education is a very broad field, encompassing more than just doctors and nurses. It has seen an increased promotion of problem-based learning, where students are encouraged to deal with actual clinical scenarios to increase their medical expertise. The implementation of proper instructional design is crucial in this area, and like the military can often be a matter of life or death.

In particular, the “convergence” of different modalities (computers, internet, and telecommunications systems) have led to a boom in the amount of knowledge and ease of research that is available to health science trainees. This is very similar to what has happened in the field of public education. The advent of the internet has put a great amount of pressure on both teachers and students to obtain and synthesize information.

In the same way, medical students are expected to utilize the wealth of information that has been made accessible to them. The text discusses this in the context of “knowledge and research.” Convergence allows a greater capacity for collaboration among colleagues and students in both the medical field and public education. We can, for example, use Skype and its screen share feature simultaneously to work with educators and students in another country in real time if we so desire. This places a great deal of importance on how we design instruction around technology. In both the medical education field and the public education field, it is important the make sure that students are not just using the technology, but really reaping all the benefits that such ease of access to information can bring. It also continues to place pressure on both students and educators to really utilize this access to continually grow in our knowledge and methods of research in our respective fields.

Post Secondary Education

In this section of the text, the focus shifts from describing issues in particular fields to more of a “vignette” look at specific anecdotes. What I gleaned from this section is that college level educators, and instructional technology designers in particular, are expected to focus more on effective delivery of e-learning rather than specific pedagogy. This is a very different approach than that of k-12 teachers. Our focus is usually pedagogy first, technology second. I think in the long run, this makes more sense. At the post-secondary level, students should be expected to take the lead in their own learning.

The issues facing post secondary instructional designers are similar to those facing designers in the military and K-12 education. Modern ideas about learning demand that we not only evaluate learning delivery for its effectiveness in conveying information, but also address the interests and learning styles of the students.

Conclusion

Overall, it is not difficult to identify similar issues and trends present in all of these fields. Ultimately, each is concerned with addressing the ultimate goals of the industry while promoting student learning and cultivating a trainee pool that will successfully carry out the “mission” of each field.

Week 4: Human Performance Technology

Not all problems in learning and/or performance require an instructional solution. Many times a non-instructional approach is a more appropriate solution. This week's reading and reflection focuses on human performance, performance support systems, knowledge management systems, and the concept of informal learning.

Chapter 14 discusses the concept and evolution of human performance improvement. Several sections of chapter 14 present a variety of non-instructional solutions to performance problems. Identify a performance problem in your area of work and identify non-instructional solutions that may help solve the problem.

One performance problem many teachers encounter with students is in helping students learn independently with the teacher as facilitator, rather than the sole source of information. One way to achieve independent student learning is to train the students to use tools that will give them the access they need to locate and assimilate important content information on their own.

Knowledge management is one way to alleviate the problem of student access. As our course text points out, the amount of information that is available to students is overwhelming. They cannot sift through it alone. To that end, “direct, well-managed, and reliable access to content is essential.” (Reiser and Dempsey, 2011, p. 167.)

Chapter 15 presents performance support systems. Define performance support systems and explain how a performance support system might (or might not) help solve the problem you identified above.

The text defines performance support as “a system that provides performers with varying levels of access to support information and tools at the moment of need.” (Reiser and Dempsey, 2011, p. 155.)

An example of how you might put this system into action in a classroom is simple to imagine. If, say, I ask my students to do research on famous Supreme Court cases, I could provide a multitude of internet resources for them. It would be especially helpful to compile them into one list. In that way, the students (“performers”) have access to both support tools (my list) and information (the various internet research sources.)

Chapter 16 explains knowledge management: the way we manage information, share that information, and use it to solve organization problems. Organizations, such as schools, accumulate a great deal information/data, which must be organized in a way that we can make sense of it in order to use for making decisions. What knowledge would help solve the problem you identified above and how would that knowledge need to be collected and managed to help facilitate problem solving?

One thing that I have seen implemented before is to assess students to see what their learning style is. This is done early in the year with a quick survey the students complete in their homeroom class. The data could then be compiled into a document that organizes the students into categories. These categories (kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, etc) could then be used to place students into learning groups to complete the project I mentioned above. Having students work with others who learn differently would bring dynamism to their projects. 

Chapter 17 describes types of informal learning. What informal learning experiences have you participated in at your organization? Could those informal learning experiences be shared with others? Could the knowledge gained in those settings be codified and managed? And should it be managed or should the informal experiences be replicated or broadened for others?

 I had the opportunity to experience informal learning first hand this summer when our school administrators enrolled our entire faculty in a ropes team building course. At first, we didn’t see the point of this type of “training,” but it became much clearer as we did each activity. Each assignment was designed to show us our problem-solving and learning styles and to teach us how to apply that knowledge to issues within our classrooms and among faculty members. Obviously, this learning could be easily shared with others and often is. I think there are ways the information we obtained could be codified and managed. If we wanted to, it would be easy for us to come up with a set of “norms” or goals based on the things we learned at the course. Whether it could be codified is not a question. Whether it should be is debatable. I feel that type of experiential learning need not be so closely managed and quantified. The learning achieved during the activities are often more easily absorbed and understood when specifically approached in an unstructured manner.