Sunday, October 12, 2014

Section 7: New Directions in IDT

1. Section VIII addresses new directions and emerging technologies for IDT. Select three of the following and reflect on how you might apply them in your current or future position in the IDT field:
    distributed or e-learning environments
    reusable design or learning objects
    networks or Web 2.0 technologies
    rich media
    digital games or simulations
    virtual worlds
What learning goals or objectives could the technologies you selected help learners foster? Could the technology facilitate attainment of that learning goal better than traditional instruction? Why or why not?
The three emerging technologies I would choose would be distributed or e-learning environments, reusable design or learning objects, and networked or Web 2.0 technologies.  The reason I selected these technologies to help foster learning and facilitate attainment of learning that would be better than traditional learning is related to these key impressions I have, having been exposed to them.   Distributed or e-learning environments can give the learner a more diverse exposure to relevant information.  The traditional rigidity of the classroom environment, where the only conveyance of the lesson to be learned is a textbook and a white board, to me is very limiting.  There is so much more of the world that should be experienced and learned that what is provided in a textbook.  My travels around the world have afforded me the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of many diverse cultures.  The education I received from my travels is not something that is available to everyone.  However, by using distributed and e-learning environments, learners are not only exposed to the lesson in the textbook, that lesson can be supplemented with additional information that is available from other sources from around the world.  An example of this would be a textbook lesson on Chinese culture.  With a Distributed or e-learning environment, now the student can supplement that learning experience by collaborating with a student or instructor who is actually living in China.  This is also one of the benefits of networks or Web 2.0 technologies and using Rich Media is lessons.  A greater learning experience is one of the affordances of networks and/or Web 2.0 technologies and Rich Media technologies.  Watch how the connected environment of the students on this Corning Glass Video entitled A Day Made of Glass enables an enhanced learning environment.  With reusable design or learning objects, designers working with programming personnel or through their own knowledge of programming, can take basic lesson plans and tailor each lesson to suit the learning objective.  For example, an instructor may want to develop a chemistry lesson with interactive modules starting with basic atomic theory at the beginning of each semester.  As the semester progresses, the instructor can plug in more modules (objects) of interactive media, videos and advanced lessons and information.  At the end of the semester, the instructor removes the more additional advanced modules to bring the lesson back to the basic atomic theory for the next class.
 2. Section IX focuses on issues related to instructional design, rather than new technologies: professional ethics, diversity and accessibility, the nature of design, and providing instructional guidance. For each of the technologies you selected above, discuss what ethical issues using the technology might present. Does the technology enhance accessibility and accommodate diverse learning needs? How and/or can you design instruction using that technology? How much guidance would instruction with that technology require? What kinds of guidance would be necessary?

I think the three technologies I chosen would have very positive ethical effects.  Using Universally Designed, distributed or e-learning environments, with networked and/or Web 2.0 technologies, that include Rich Media, with designed interchangeable learning objects, educators would be able to make ethically decisions on how to accommodate the many varying learning audiences. Using a variety of plug-in course objects during the instructional design phase, accommodations could be tailored for the individual learner, while maintaining the basic content of the lesson.  For example, using the scenario of a basic Chemistry lesson, differing objects of the same lesson could be used to accommodate language and/or sight barriers using videos instead of written text.  There could be accommodations (objects) made to stream the lesson to learners who are unable to physical attend classes.  There could be objects written that were not focused at one particular culture or nationality.   By using these technologies, the possibilities of development of enhanced lessons could be greatly expanded and adapted to cover all manners of accessibility.

No comments:

Post a Comment