Reflection on Instructional Design Strategies

 Reflection on Instructional Design Strategies

      "An instructional designer's job is to create something that enables a person or group of people to learn about a particular topic or develop or improve a set of skills, or to encourage the learner to conduct further study. The 'something' created can take many forms: a lecture, a multimedia presentation, the curriculum for a year's study, a piece of computer software, an in-person demonstration, or a test-preparation booklet" (Brown & Green, 2024, p.33). Using different instructional design strategies in training helps to keep learners' focused and engaged. Multimedia such as videos, gamification, or digital presentations are especially useful. Some of the most engaging trainings that I have personally attended have employed multimedia such a as YouTube videos (TED Talks) and gamification sites (Kahoot). "Multimedia technology helps simplify abstract content, allows for differences from individuals and allows for coordination of diverse representation with a different perspective. The use of the computer-based technique as an interface between students and what they are learning with suitable fonts and design can be very valuable" (Abdulrahaman et al., 2020, p.3). YouTube videos are an effective teaching tool in trainings. They can be used to disseminate information, or they are also useful in creating levity or providing inspiration which is helpful when the professional development is long or difficult to understand. The following is an inspirational video that the principal at my school has shared during inservice trainings at the beginning of the school year. 



     Instructional design is not just about providing information. It is also important to evaluate what participants learn. "A properly designed and implemented evaluation provides an instructional designer with appropriate data that can be analyzed to determine the success level of whom or what is being evaluated" (Brown & Green, 2024, p. 165). One of the most entertaining ways that I have participated in course evaluation during professional development is with the use of Kahoot. Kahoot is a game-based learning site that teachers and presenters can customize. There is a version for school, as well as a version tailored to the corporate world. Teachers and presenters can create custom, web based quizzes that students complete at the end of a lesson or training. Kahoot uses gamification to put participants against each other. It automatically tallies who got the most correct answers in the quickest time. During our mandatory, state gifted training last fall, the state gifted specialist created a Kahoot for us to complete at the end. It presented questions pertaining to the content of the presentation she had given. It was an engaging way to review the material. "Multimedia solution developers need to incorporate some text, video, audio, still photographs, sound, animation, image and interactive contents in a manner that best conveys the desired content for teaching or to aid learning" (Abdulrahaman et al., 2020, p. 12). 




     In conclusion, utilizing different forms of multimedia such as videos and games are important instructional design strategies that enhance learning. Participants need to be actively engaged with the material in order to learn and retain the information. Learners of all ages appreciate engagement, and multimedia is an impactful resource to use. 

References

Abdulrahaman, M., Faruk, N., Oloyede, A., Surajudeen-Bakinde, N., Olawoyin, L., Mejabi, O., Imam-           
     Fulani, Y., Fahm, A., & Azeez, A. (2020). Multimedia tools in the teaching and learning processes: A

     systematic review. Helyion. 6(11), 1-14.

Brown, A., & Green T. (20204). The essentials of  instructional design: Connecting fundamental 

     principles with process and practice. Routledge. 










Comments

  1. Meredith BarkerJuly 24, 2024 at 6:10 PM

    I agree that the best and most enjoyable professional development training I have been to have used multimedia to engage the audience. Kahoot is an incredible resource for receiving feedback on student knowledge while allowing students to practice with learned content. After researching the effects of digital games in the classroom, it was concluded that "digital educational games positively influence students' motivation for learning" (Li et al., 2024, para. 1). Of course, this conclusion makes sense when considering we are "visual-first beings" (Lawrence, 2022, p. 105). Another site that has digital games is Blooket. It has a library of already-created games, or you can create your own! 


    References

    Lawrence, Dan. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

    Li Y, Chen D, Deng X. The impact of digital educational games on student's motivation for learning: The mediating effect of learning engagement and the moderating effect of the digital environment. PLoS One. 2024 Jan 11;19(1):e0294350. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294350. PMID: 38206923; PMCID: PMC10783726.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MenaJuly 24, 2024 at 10:02 PM

    Kim, I do agree that multimedia is engaging. I am constantly trying to figure out how to be creative with my students to keep them engaged and show them how to use multimedia properly. One idea I've had is to incorporate interactive projects, allowing students to create multimedia presentations. This teaches them technical skills and encourages them to think critically about effectively conveying information. For example, we could work on a digital storytelling project where students use video, audio, and graphics to tell a personal story or explain a concept from our curriculum. According to Brown and Green (2011), "Instructional activities are experiences designed to help students learn. These are the interactions and events in which people participate to gain new knowledge, skills, or insight. A wide variety of activities are possible for any educational situation. The instructional designer’s job is to identify activities that will work best based on the learners’ needs and the instruction’s goals and objectives" (p. 143).

    Brown, A. H., & Green, T. D. (2011). The Essentials of Instructional Design: Connecting Fundamental Principles with Process and Practice. Taylor & Francis.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mr. BeardJuly 25, 2024 at 8:34 AM

    Hey Kim, great post! I love using Kahoot!, NearPod, and Quizlet in my classroom. It gets my students' attention and keeps them engaged like few other tools. As Brown & Green (2024, p. 116) state in our textbook, "Creating learning environments and producing activities that carry out instructional goals and objectives are two of the most exciting and challenging aspects of instructional design." It is always fun to develop lessons, but connecting the learning objectives to the activity can sometimes be difficult. Using a sound learning strategy like "think-pair-share" to create the lesson can make it much less challenging and frustrating for the teacher. This will also benefit the learner because the tech tool is used to deepen the lesson instead of as a flashy distraction.

    Reference:
    Brown, A., & Green, T. (2024). The Essentials of Instructional Design: Connecting Fundamental Principles with Process and Practice. Fifth Edition. New York: Routledge.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Misinformation: Can We Teach Our Students to Recognize It?

Image
Digital Misinformation: Can We Teach Our Students to Recognize It?   In a digital world where everything is seemingly at our fingertips, it is increasingly important to understand how to recognize misinformation or information that is being intentionally skewed to influence our thinking. "Rhetoric is the art of persuasion" (Lawrence, 2022, p. 12). Three rhetorical devices commonly used to persuade audiences are ethos, appealing to the author's trustworthiness or character, pathos, appealing to one's emotions, or logos, the use of logic or reason.  Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Explained:  "Rhetoric is also the critical framework through which we can analyze digital media and the ways it manifests in the world and appears on our screens. What does the media want us to do? How does it want us to behave or think?" (Lawrence, 2022, p. 12). It is imperative for students both young and old to be able to read an article or a post on social media and determine the source...
Read more

Artificial Intelligence for Teachers: Using AI in the Classroom

Image
 Artificial Intelligence for Teachers: Using AI in the Classroom       Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. Today's students will need to have an understanding of its uses in order to be ready for the work place of tomorrow. "Skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, and communication are common to both; however, it is clear that new graduates will also need AI literacy as a core job-readiness skill. They will need to articulate how well they use AI and what human quality enhancements they can provide" (Bowen & Watson, 2024, p.41). To accomplish this goal, it is imperative that teachers embrace new technology instead of shying away from it. This is certainly easier said than done. In this blog post, I plan to highlight some ways that teachers can begin to use AI as a tool. As the old adage goes, knowledge is power. The more we understand something, the less we are afraid of it. " Given that AI is increasingly prevalent in tech circles and is being integrate...
Read more