I found this matching game about skills of instructional designers, thanks to Christy Tucker for her del.icio.us bookmarks.
The game has been designed by Dr. Tony Betrus of Potsdam, The State University of New York (SUNY), and programmed in Flash by Ryan Wassink. The game introduces you not to the technical skills but how an instructional designer is a Problem solver, Artist, Performer, Counselor, and a User. Very interesting perspectives on what an instructional designer should be.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Should IDs Have Skills in Areas Other Than Writing/Design?
To answer this question, let’s first understand what is “Instructional Design” and who is an instructional designer. (too basic, huh? well, I thought of starting at the basic level!)
As stated in Wikipedia, “Instructional Design is the practice of arranging media (communication technology) and content to help learners and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively.”
If we simply keep that definition in mind, what skills do you think an Instructional Designer should have to transfer the knowledge most effectively to their learners? Do you think an ID who knows how to design a product or how to write well, can transfer or deliver knowledge in the most effective manner to its learners?
I really don’t think so.
In my opinion, an Instructional Designer is one who has a “holistic” picture about the product he/she is designing. The IDs knowledge should not be limited to design or writing skills only. Let’s see why.
The involvemnet of an ID begins even before a project is kicked-off. The ID is the one who needs to understand the client requirements, do a detailed analysis of the client’s needs, create an overall solution that will fulfill the client’s requirement, and so on. Not just this, an ID should also understand the “technology” aspects involved in creating a course/product – a basic knowledge of the templates that would be used for constructing the product/ course or a specific engine or tool that is being used to develop the product/course. The ID should also be aware of the kind of medis that is being used for the product/course.
“Designing” or “Writing” cannot happen in isoltaion without the knowledge of most of these things. Ultimately, this would only give the ID, an edge over all others who simply focus on a particular aspect of “Instructional Designing”.
Having said all of it, I would not say that an ID has to be an “expert” in all of these areas; but an ID should definetely have some basic skills in most of these areas for him/her to come up with something worthwhile that is of value for the end user.
From that perspective, I definetely think that IDs should have skills in lot many other areas than just writing and designing.
However, I would like to point out one of the the bigger questions for me here is not whether the IDs should have skills other than writing/designing; rather, the point is whether an average ID (mainly referring to number of authors/designers working in the organization who are designated as “IDs” or rather call themselves "IDs") even understand that he/she is supposed to have skills outside the “writing” that they do. The pity is that for much longer periods of time in their career as “IDs”, they understand only a perspective of what instructional design is and what all constitutes a role of an instructional designer. In my opinion, an instructional designer should be exposed to much more variety of work rather than making them work in a “factory mode” for churning out one project after the other. Well, to think of how this can be done? This could be taken up in another subsequent blog!
Till that time, it would be good to hear what others think of this issue.
As stated in Wikipedia, “Instructional Design is the practice of arranging media (communication technology) and content to help learners and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively.”
If we simply keep that definition in mind, what skills do you think an Instructional Designer should have to transfer the knowledge most effectively to their learners? Do you think an ID who knows how to design a product or how to write well, can transfer or deliver knowledge in the most effective manner to its learners?
I really don’t think so.
In my opinion, an Instructional Designer is one who has a “holistic” picture about the product he/she is designing. The IDs knowledge should not be limited to design or writing skills only. Let’s see why.
The involvemnet of an ID begins even before a project is kicked-off. The ID is the one who needs to understand the client requirements, do a detailed analysis of the client’s needs, create an overall solution that will fulfill the client’s requirement, and so on. Not just this, an ID should also understand the “technology” aspects involved in creating a course/product – a basic knowledge of the templates that would be used for constructing the product/ course or a specific engine or tool that is being used to develop the product/course. The ID should also be aware of the kind of medis that is being used for the product/course.
“Designing” or “Writing” cannot happen in isoltaion without the knowledge of most of these things. Ultimately, this would only give the ID, an edge over all others who simply focus on a particular aspect of “Instructional Designing”.
Having said all of it, I would not say that an ID has to be an “expert” in all of these areas; but an ID should definetely have some basic skills in most of these areas for him/her to come up with something worthwhile that is of value for the end user.
From that perspective, I definetely think that IDs should have skills in lot many other areas than just writing and designing.
However, I would like to point out one of the the bigger questions for me here is not whether the IDs should have skills other than writing/designing; rather, the point is whether an average ID (mainly referring to number of authors/designers working in the organization who are designated as “IDs” or rather call themselves "IDs") even understand that he/she is supposed to have skills outside the “writing” that they do. The pity is that for much longer periods of time in their career as “IDs”, they understand only a perspective of what instructional design is and what all constitutes a role of an instructional designer. In my opinion, an instructional designer should be exposed to much more variety of work rather than making them work in a “factory mode” for churning out one project after the other. Well, to think of how this can be done? This could be taken up in another subsequent blog!
Till that time, it would be good to hear what others think of this issue.
Should IDs Have Skills in Areas Other Than Writing/Design?
In April, we started the eCube Ponder series. Each month, we will ponder over a topic. You can simply respond by leaving your comments on the topic. If you post a response in your blog, leave a link to you blog in the comments. Here’s the May eCube Ponder:
Should IDs know about other development practices? Should IDs have skills in areas like programming, graphics etc.? Do these skills help IDs perform better in their roles? Is it better to specialize only in writing or be an all rounder with skills in other areas too?
What do you think?
Do participate in the ongoing poll also on the site.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
31-day Comment Challenge
Here’s a perfect way to get started with blogging. Many of us are new to blogging. So when the 31-day comment challenge came along, I thought this would be a great place for us to start wetting our feet in the waters. As Silvia Tolisano writes in her blog, blogging is about:
- personal learning
- sharing thoughts, ideas, resources
- reading
- writing
- the process
- and encouraging others in their learning journey (we are educators after all)
It is only when you have experienced for yourself a realization that you are pondering something someone else wrote and:
- feel the need to get clarification
- want to add your two cents
- bounce off a thought off someone else who has been in that situation and might have more insight or experience
- hope for a different point of view to allow you to see an issue from a different perspective
The Comment Challenge is being coordinated by Sue Waters, Silvia Tolisano, Michele Martin and Kim Cofino and sponsored by coComment and Edublogs. Here’s the summary of suggestions in the first 6 days of the challenge. Follow their posts to get more ideas and insights into becoming a better blogger.
Day 1: Do a self-audit of your blog comment skills – how often do you comment, do you track your comments, do you tend to comment on the same blogs?
Day 2: Comments on a blog. Go on try it. Comment on this post to try it out. It isn’t hard, really.
Day 3: Sign up for a comment tracking service. Get a coComment or co.mment account to track your comments.
Day 4: Ask a question in your comment. Ask open ended question to start a conversation.
Day 5: Comment on a post you disagree with. Reflect on what happened as a result on disagreeing? How was the response?
Day 6: Engage another commenter in discussion. Don’t just respond to the blog author, read other people’s comments and engage them in a discussion.
Happy Commenting...
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Thinking About Thinking II-Six Thinking Hats
Here is a well made presentation on Six Thinking Hats from Slideshare. It is aimed at readers who are not aware of this concept. It shall also provide good recall value for those who had attended the session. The presentation is well packed with information and explanation. It shall work as input for the questions raised on the same topic in my earlier post.
From: nathanr07, 11 months ago
SlideShare Link
From: nathanr07, 11 months ago
SlideShare Link
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