Wed thoughts

-Definitely need to come up with an instructional idea that needs to be solved and how to solve it.
-Making comments online, as a thread, is definitely a different way of having a discussion. There's a lot more in depth discussion about what instruction is, and the various aspects of it.


Instructional Systems Design:
A single designer is usually not expected to have all of the knowledge and skills of the design process, which is good to know as there are very few people who can be in expert in all fields. It seems that most design projects are team based, whether small or large, but the obviously the more people you have on a team, the less areas of expertise you needs to have. Whatever project an I.D. professional is working, an outside expert that represents the environment the design is being implemented for, is a must to ensure accuracy for the project.

As a designer, I need to have a solid basis in learning theory. I feel have a pretty solid basis, but 100% solid as I design into smaller pieces my academic year every year I teach. I have to take the whole product of the state core for 8th grad English and break it down into semesters, quarters, months, weeks, days, hours and minutes.

Varieties of Human Capabilities
There is so much to know and to apply to myself as I become an instructional developer. I have to be able to distinguish between psychomotor skills (need to really understand what this means) and intellectual skills. I also know the difference between memorization of information and applying previous knowledge to an application. There are so many different levels of the learner to meet depending on whom the product is being produced for. I am extremely excited to be able to take this new found knowledge and apply it to a new environment such as I.D. and within my profession, if I choose to stay in education within the classroom.

Conducting a Goal Analysis - Ch. 3 (Systematic Design of Instruction - Dick)
The objective is to define the goals in the following domains: intellectual skill, verbal information, psychomotor skill, and attitude.
A. Analysis is breaking things in to parts; looking at the specifics to build the whole

-For instructional designers, there are three things they need to know:
a. content - something that someone owns
b. delivery -expertise in presenting
c. instructional design
*Usually two of three is available, but rarely are all three
*The designer helps tie everything together

B. Sometimes there is a degree of silliness when creating a plan. There are some steps that are too simple to some, but maybe not to others. Do you really need to state each simple step, or are you able to skip some? Getting detailed reminds me of when I teach my students about giving directions, needing to have clear, concise steps. I have my students write out their directions, and most of the time they have written "Put the peanut butter on the bread". There is a degree of exasperation when I take the peanut butter jar, with the lid closed, and place it on top of my loaf of bread. Specific steps are a definite.

C. "Teachers like boxes but designers like diamonds. Why is that?" - Prof. Monson.
According to the class, teachers like boxes b/c they are concrete; designers like diamonds b/c if one way doesn't work, they go another way. You need to go beyond the boxes and have an inquisitive nature: ask the why questions continuously as one creates and analyzes.

Four functions - Analysis (class notes)
1. Declarative Knowledge - 'knowing that'
2. Procedural Knowledge - 'knowing how' how do you accomplish the thing that needs to be finished; a step by step process
Professor Monson states that 'real learning occurs being discriminatory'

http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/gagnetax.htm

Triangle - top is problem solving
next is rule using
second to bottom: concrete concept
bottom level: discrimination
a.Discrimination: making different responses to different members. Seeing the essential differences between inputs and responding to each.
example: telling the difference between pinto horses based on their markings
b.Concrete concept: responding in a single way to all members of a particular class.
example: classifying novels as romance, science fiction, mystery
c.Rule using: rule states the relationship among concepts.
example: rules are 'if this, then that' statement
d.Problem Solving: combining lower rules to solve problems never encountered by the user
3. Cognitive Strategies - example is playing chess
4. Attitudes - how do you design for attitudes? example: choosing or making a choice about something of value
5. Psychomotor Skills - manipulation,some sort of movement (receiver catching a football, playing the guitar)