The setting I am most interested in is higher education as an instructional designer. I currently work at a community college as an instructional coordinator, which was a recent promotion. Just before that, I was creating online classes for the college and teaching face-to-face classes in basic computer skills. I had previously taught a couple online classes that I didn’t create, but had been created by somebody else in which I felt the classes were not very effective in teaching the content to students. I feel like they had not been developed by instructional designers/technologists. When I asked around the college to find an instructional technologist to interview for this course, I discovered that there weren’t any, only Information Technology professionals. The Director of Distance Education at our college is not an instructional technologist either and is actually a computer hardware technician. Thus, I see a need at our college for somebody to design online courses using the theory and techniques I have learned in EDTC 6010.
When the online classes at our college were created before I taught the classes, some were created from scratch by instructors who were subject matter experts, not instructional designers. Also, most of these classes were previously taught face-to-face. These instructors would create the online classes exactly in the same way they taught their face-to-face classes. I feel there's a big difference in teaching between the two methods. Thus, I feel if I were the college’s instructional designer/technologist, I would redesign these online classes differently and more suitably for online learners, based on what I have learned in this class. I do wonder if other community colleges have the same problem of no instructional designers and use whoever just happens to be there that knows about computers. Or is this just an isolated incident at our community college?
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6 comments:
First of all--do we have to grow up? Second, I envy you your experiences. What a great way to learn--by seeing how it goes with and without a concetration on the complete design process.
I like your observation about the "designers by assignment" and the instructors creating online instruction using the same pedagogy for face-to-face. It all just underscores the need for what we're being trained to do.
You may be interested in obtaining our Distance Learning Administration (new name) certificate. EDTC 6010 and EDTC 6300 are part of this certificate program.
I can see how some instructors would create the online class just like they conduct face to face classes. I agree with you that online lessons must be formatted differently than face to face instruction. It is great that you have had experience with teaching online classes and seeing what improvements need to be made. It helps to see examples that do not work so you can make positive changes.
Loved your blog title! I keep posing the same words to myself as a question. The description of your current job setting just reinforces the idea that many people don't always have a clear idea of what Instructional Technology is. As you progress in this program you'll be even better equipped to bring "real" instructional technology into your environment.
Loved your blog title! I keep posing the same words to myself as a question. The description of your current job setting just reinforces the idea that many people don't always have a clear idea of what Instructional Technology is. As you progress in this program you'll be even better equipped to bring "real" instructional technology into your environment.
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