Thoughts

Week 5 Blog

I feel like my whole educational career has been teaching and instructional design.  I have taught at two different schools and at both schools I was given courses with no resources other than a textbook, but some did not even have a text book, it was up to me to design all of the instruction for the courses.   Without really knowing it I was using ADDIE.  It was only a few years ago when one of my fellow colleagues left the classroom and entered industry that we both heard about ADDIE.  We got a good laugh because this is what we had been doing for years, with no formal instruction about the process.  Who knew there was a formal method for the process, it was just what we did to make a instruction well thought out and applicable.

Today it makes sense that someone would have coined a process, but like I have said previously it is definitely not a linear process, it requires many revisions and excellent communication, both written and verbal.  As I have been working on my project, I have been in contact with my client.  I wonder if it would be easier to design for this, if I had never taught this course in the past.  I have preconceived ideas of how things should look, but I need to remind myself that this is not for me, but for Helen and it needs to be completed to her wishes.  I spoke to her this week about what format did she want the activities to take on, does she wanted them to be graded assignments or solely for the sake of learning.  Ultimately the material will be used by the entire chemistry department and her opinion was like make it so it can be adaptable by all of the teachers.  That is definitely easier said then done, as they all have very different teaching styles, but this is what I have been tasked with and this is how it will be done.

Create or Curate

As I have been developing the activities, I keep asking myself, do I create or curate.  I see no point in recreating the wheel, but it is definitely hard to find material, especially videos that hit on all the topics needed within a responsible amount of time.  This next week will most likely be spent creating video tutorials of the different concepts.  I don’t really like making videos, because it is awkward talking to yourself.  I remember the first time I did one, my students were like what happened to you, you sound so bored and I replied “I’m talking to myself”.  It is something I need to get used to and better at.