Defining the Field

After reading and reviewing chapter one, I wanted to simplify and pick out the most important elements of each definition and then share my definition and how I feel it relates to my current environment.  See the timeline in Figure 1.1 for more detail on our first reflection.


Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2 is an example of my redesign of the Dick, Carey and Carey model of instructional design and ideas of how each piece of the design fits into my lessons and adheres to the five elements of instructional design as well as my interpretation of instructional design presented in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.2

Chapter 3 discusses the history of instructional design and technology growth.  As I read through the chapter, I realized just how much has changed with technology and integrating technology into the classroom in only a short time. My introduction of technology in the classroom was in the late 80s early 90s and it was minimal instruction at best.  I get the feeling that I have grown up with technology as it has grown and developed over the past twenty years. I can remember setting up my very first email and having no clue how I was going to use it to communicate, especially when I was the only person I knew who had an email address.  Technology truly amazes me with its growth and opportunity.

The field of education incorporates technology in many different ways. We use it for training purposes, collecting student data, completing surveys, running grade reports, and even recording attendance. It is also a resource for research, developing lesson plans and assisting with classroom management. And this is only a minimal list of tasks that I complete in general as a classroom educator.  I do realize that each day a new and innovative way to share information presents itself. I am currently preparing myself for the next few years when I know each of my students will be using some form of wireless media to complete all assignments.  As a science teacher, I felt overwhelmed with this upcoming change at first, however after my first educational technology course, I find myself thinking not only of ways to incorporate blogs and/or online response systems in my classroom, but also how I can get the ball rolling faster with the change.  I am still baffled as to what the future holds as technology continues to develop over the next twenty years.  I foresee a decline in the enrollment of public and private schools. I feel that as more and more opportunities of online courses become available to students at the K-12 level, we will see more parents providing an at home online learning environment for their children.  Face-to-face courses in college will most likely become scarce as well.  The comfort of learning at your own pace, in your own controlled environment is a selling feature to both higher education and continued education. And as for Edison’s proclamation that books will soon be obsolete in schools; I expect he was only wrong with his timeframe.

I look forward to next week’s discussion!

~k~