This was a discussion board post for a Master's class. As I was writing it, I felt so passionate about it, I felt the need to post it here so I'd have it to reference later. This just kind of came pouring out of me, so I sense that this is some sort of nerve that will come up again later.
Please allow me to
share a story with you. It is not too long, and at the end, I will begin to
answer your question…
I have repeatedly witnessed primary and secondary school teachers communicate a
sense of frustration. These teachers who are
knowledgeable of learning and instructional design theories recognize these ideas, concepts, and truths as the basis for what they are tasked to do. They also recognize that (by and large) the execution of those concepts is
failing miserably.
I am very interested
in and concerned by this for two reasons.
The first reason is that I am considering becoming a teacher after I
retire from military service, but am very concerned that I will quickly become
frustrated and discouraged by the apparent sense of hopelessness. More than money, I am motivated by the idea
that what I am doing makes a difference – that I am making a difference. I fear the current system will not allow me to
fulfill that motivational need and that I will end up quitting; or perhaps worse,
become a mediocre teacher, feeling trapped by a system that does not provide the
necessary resources for me to best serve my students.
My second concern regarding
these concepts’ lack of implementation stems from my own academic career. In first grade I was identified as having a
higher-than-average IQ. I was very fortunate
that my school district had a program in place allowing me and others like me
to pursue various academic interests outside the traditional curriculum (known
as “College for Kids”) and that the secondary schools offered advanced classes in
math, science, and writing. These
challenged and pushed me to greater intellectual heights and greater academic
success. I shudder to think of the
trouble I would likely have gotten into over the years (due to intellectual
boredom), had I been in a school that didn’t recognize my potential, or didn’t
have the focus or the resources to develop and cultivate it.
I’m cognizant of these
opportunities I had, and I want to do what I can to help others I know might be
slipping through the cracks in our system.
I’m aware that most current public school environments are very unlike
my experience and that they face many different challenges, some 30 years later. Regardless of this fact – or perhaps, because
of it – I feel future instructional designers must be aware of and understand the
challenge that lies before us in the ID field: we absolutely must change the
way our schools are teaching.
Even if you (plan
to) work in the corporate or adult learning arena, this issue impacts you now
or will in the future. The quality of
our education system today determines the quality of our workforce
tomorrow. Think of the entry-level math
and science skills necessary for technical or office jobs. Think of the basic communication skills
required for quality customer service.
Think of the importance of an educated and informed citizenry in order to
properly maintain a vibrant democracy.
We must change the
way our schools are teaching. We stand in
the midst of the greatest technological changes ever to occur. Our classrooms contain a greater amount of student
diversity than they ever have – both identity diversity (students from around the
globe) and cognitive diversity (ESL, socially-challenged, exceptional learners). We provide and enforce a greater amount of initial
and recurring training for our teachers.
All this, yet the majority of our schools operate much the way they did
50 or even 100 years ago. Neither the instructional
delivery methods nor the classroom layout have changed greatly.
We see a greater
use of technology, but that technology is often used to simply “digitize traditional
learning”. A book has become
an e-book. A chalkboard has become a
Smartboard®. What once was a series of
overhead transparencies or a (literal) slide show is now a PowerPoint slide
show. While technology is providing
greater access to learning on a global scale, our nation’s public schools are
struggling with the challenge of truly capitalizing on its potential. Instead of only focusing on how we can use
technology to deliver instruction in different media, we must also focus on using
technology to help fundamentally alter the way our classes are managed and the
way our students progress through curricula.
In the attached
video, Sajan George, founder and CEO of Matchbook Learning, states that the
three greatest challenges we face in our current schools system are:
- 1. We treat all learners the same despite unique needs and challenges.
- 2. We hold a schedule constant regardless of learning variance (deficiency) OR (my input: we slow the entire train because of several cars).
- 3. Performance data (report cards) comes too late to be truly useful to the learner.
While
most teachers are able to acknowledge the first challenge – recognizing the
cognitive diversity within their classroom – they often times don’t have the
time or resources to overcome it. Teachers
are forced to either hold to a constant schedule, leaving learners behind; or, the
advancement of some is stalled or delayed as the teacher deals with those
having trouble comprehending the material.
We, as
instructional designers, have within our grasp the capabilities to develop and provide
not just the technology-based delivery and content, but also the technology-based
classroom structure and management. By
enabling immediate or real-time feedback to students as they go through individual
instruction, the student is able to take an active role in their own
learning. By working with others to design
systems and instruction that systematically and automatically collect and
organize this immediate feedback data, and provide it to the teacher, we can help
them guide students to the type learning experience they require based on their
individual abilities and comprehension. In
short, this allows us, designers and teachers working as a team, to:
1. Personalize
the style of learning, day by day or subject by subject
2. Adjust
the pace of learning appropriate for each student, promoting ARCS
3. Gives
students agency <buy-in> in their own learning
4. Offer
multiple avenues to learn same info
5. Create
creators – students who are able to synthesize information and create meaning
for themselves
So,
you ask, “What does the future instructional designer need to know and how does
it apply to my future?” I need to know NOT
to “simply digitize traditional teaching practices” . I need to know how to work with other to “build
awesome tools to personalize learning”. And I need to know how to passionately
communicate the urgency for change within our public education system – for all
of our sakes.
