IDT Directions and Emerging Technologies
Sections VIII-IX
Authors: Dempsey, Reese, &
Weston; Clark and Meyer; Smith-Nash; Anderson,
Smaldino, Donaldson, Herring,
Lewis, Sullivan, Boling, Smith, Clark, Hannafin
The environments I will to discuss are: virtual worlds, rich
media, reusable design or learning objects and Web 2.0 technologies. These are familiar to me because in some form
I have seen them operating in a class setting and have noted the impact on
learning that each has done. Along with
those additional pointers that was discussed in our text I have learned so much
and seen how they enhance traditional instruction along with observing them in
practice first hand through my personal usage.
Virtual worlds –
this tool gives the student the chance to put themselves into any space be it
either in a 2-D or 3-D format and get the feel of how it would be to move in
and around an experience without necessarily being there in real life but can
experience it in real time. They can work with groups or communities of
individuals and discuss their experiences. More and more textbook publishers
are offering this kind of experience to help train students in subjects that
would work best in some form of simulation to help them understand and grasp
the concept without doing it. It is an
excellent training device. They can role-play and feel total submersion into
the experience. Many departments in specialized fields use this tool to help
train new employees with no risk to their physical person.
Such organizations
as the military, hospitals, law enforcement, sales training, and machine
operations all use this tool on differing levels in order to train its
professionals. It is also a worthwhile tool when conducting an e-learning
experience for distance learning. In the classroom, a student can move through
all the organs of the human body watch how they perform and if need be conduct
experiments on objects without loss of life; whether that life be of the
specimen or human. Instructors can watch collaboratively and give pointers to
help with the learning process. Depending on the area of study being learned
this could be a better way of learning rather than the traditional methods (Pappas, 2016) . It can also offer more varied learning
situations. Such research theorists and Gestalt,
Wertheimer of the past and recent theorist such as Gibson’s
Theory of Affordances and Mayer’s
Multimedia Learning Theory all support this type of learning.
Rich media –
Adding outside resources be they news magazines or journals, videos, audios, along
with cartoons and even blogs serve to enhance the learning. Our text descripted
three components of instruction that should be considered when thinking
about rich media; modes, methods, and media devices. I lean towards the learner-centered
approach only because the technology is only effective if we know its
limitations and capabilities before we attempt to incorporate them in the
teaching. All rich media as stated in our text “must be adapted to serve the
needs of the learners.”
In order to meet this objective we must take the approach that
“involves designing instruction that fosters learning.” This is done through evidence-based
practice, (EBP) that it is based on research evidence. The definition of
this by Dr. David Sackett ( the Father of Evidence-based practices) is “conscientious,
explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about
the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical
expertise with the best available clinical evidence from systematic research.” (Pfeffer &
Sutton, 2006) .
I know this is a highly clinical look at it but he was in medicine but the
principles apply to education or any learning situation.
The text explains three important processes that we must
consider when we think about how people learn: 1) selecting, 2) organizing, and
3) integrating. This is an excellent model similar to the one published in our
text. (Theories and Philosophies Models,
2017)
All this goes back to the learnings metacognitive
knowledge and the learner’s motivation
to learn. Three research-based principles where listed in our text for consideration:
- Dual-channels principle – People have separate channels for processing visual/pictorial information and auditory/verbal information.
- Limited capacity principle – People can process only a small amount of information in each channel at any one time.
- Active learning principle – Meaningful learning occurs when the learner engages in appropriate cognitive processing during learning.
Learning Objects –
This is where I learned the most information. This chapter helped to put all of
my academic learning as it relates to education into proper perspectives. As I
read all I could think of is “how do you eat an elephant—one bite at a time” in
this case it has been in understanding the make-up and history of IDT and how
it happens to occur as you understand one object
at a time. How they flow together to create the very backbone of IDT. This
process has taken me back to understanding some basic principles we all learned
in the study of education. (Smith-Nash, 2012) Bloom’s Taxonomy,
learning styles, and how these interconnects to form e-learning and all the
components of Web 2.0. It has been an in-depth study that has opened my
perception considerably when it comes to fully understanding how all this
works. The author’s and each person who wrote a specific chapter opened a whole
new area of understanding IDT and its impact on learning and education. What it
has done is help to make connections to a life of learning educational
philosophies that sometimes seemed disjointed and non-connected. The statement
repeated by Dewey (p.299) which was quoted in the text expressed my exact
sentiments and it was said almost a century ago. (Anderson, 2012)
Just reading the definition of learning objects which
stated: “where programmers found that the best way to develop software programs
ranging from relational databases to interactive websites was to build them
from small, reusable chunks of code, which are referred to as ‘objects.’” A simple statement that
brought me to my elephant analogy and opened a whole new world of thinking when
it came to education and IDT.
Web 2.0 – This has
also been a mind bending experience.
Between this class and ETEC 527 Web 2.0 I have learned far more than I
even thought could be stuffed into one semester of learning. I have started to understand
how to use these tools to enhance student learning and how to even increase my
own digital presence in a positive, academic, meaningful way. What a ride! As I
embarked on this learning adventure I had no idea exactly what Web 2.0 was or
how it could affect my teaching style or ability, but it has done both. It not
only can enhance formal education but it’s where modern children of this era
also learn informally. It is a door way that is wide open to the world. Just since starting to use some of the Web
2.0 tools I’ve communicated with individuals from across the globe,
participated in discovery and answered questions asked that I forgot I knew the
answers to until it came across the feed.
How exciting is that? We share ideas, thoughts, and just fun stuff that
related to my field. I have broaden my knowledge and expanded my thinking and
changed my mind about a lot of tools that I really had very little knowledge
about. The main tool that I was most apprehensive about was Twitter, I let
popular events taint my opinion about a tool that is so powerful for teachers.
I was able to enjoy a conference that for financial reasons I could not attend
but felt like I was there just because of Twitter. Whatever challenges that
comes with Web 2.0 tools it is so worth it because of what it does for opening
the world to young learners. Our task is to teach them how to use these tools
effectively and responsibly.
The reading of this book has armed my arsenal of information
with knowledge of areas that I have little experience even though I have been a
teacher for more than forty years. This adventure into learning and
understanding IDT has been so worth the journey. These technologies not only “enhance
accessibility and accommodate diverse learner’s needs” it has helped to make
the world smaller because of communication across continents. All of these
forms of technology are excellent tools to help us with our No. 1 goal, “teaching
Johnny to read,” with understanding, analysis, critically, and able to
synthesis it all. Everything has its place and the child needs both. Our objective is to create a worthy employee
who can provide for himself as well as his/her country and the world to become
a global citizen.
References
Anderson, T. (2012). Networks, Web 2.0 and the
Connected Learner. In R. &. Dempsey, Trends and Issues in
Instructional Design and Technology (pp. 299-308). Boston: Pearson.
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2012). Using Rich
Media Wisely. In R. &. Demspsey, Trends and Issues in Instructional
design and technology (pp. 309-320). Boston: Pearson.
Pappas, C. (2016, September). 6 Industries that
can benefit from virtual reality training. Retrieved from efrontlearning:
https://www.efrontlearning.com/blog/2016/09/industries-benefit-virtual-reality-training.html
Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, r. I. (2006).
Evidence-based management. Harvard Business Review.
Smith-Nash, S. (2012). Learning Objects. In R.
&. Dempsey, Trends and issues in instructional design and technology
(pp. 290-298). Boston: Pearson.
Theories and Philosophies Models. (2017, July 5). Retrieved from SlidePlayer.com:
http://slideplayer.com/slide/2754034/
