The Focus

Wednesday's class is to focus on what technology is and what it exactly it is an instructional designer does. I know my good friend in Boston does I.D. and that's what I moved to Boston to do, but due to the saturation of the field there, i was never able to break in. Now, three years later, I'm fortunate enough to be able to get a master's in I.D. and feel very important as I try to explain what it is I'm studying to others.

What is instructional design? I've always explained it as creating an educational product for a company to give to their employees to learn various things pertaining to the company. Little did I know that it pertains so much to what I do on a daily basis as an educator. I've stated to my peers in the class, I know the process but now I need to learn the terminology.

I must admit that I quite enjoy the Wednesday class as it makes sense to me, even if it takes longer than the norm for the knowledge to process. Last night's class, along with the reading, really broke down the differences between instruction, training, teaching and education.

A. Instruction: ‘focused educational experiences’
B. Training: ‘experiences that are focused on very specific skills that normally apply almost immediately’
C. Teaching: ‘learning experiences that are facilitated by a human being’
D. Education: ‘all experiences in which people learn’
(Instructional Design - Smith & Ragan,1993)

I didn't really think about the fact that there is a difference between instruction and teaching until I read the article. They do tie in one with another, but they can also be accomplished separately.