critical analysis of edtc 602

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Critical Analysis of EDTC 602

(Learning Topic #7: Critical Analysis)

By

Elizabeth A. Hustead

A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements forCourse EDTC 602: Instructional Design

Regis University

June 28, 2011


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Critical Analysis of EDTC 602: Instructional Design

During this Instructional Design class, I learned how to create objectives and goals,

collect and evaluate data, organize, and see the big picture from the start instead of at the end.

With this knowledge, I will be able to create very effective lessons for my students.

I have always had trouble writing objectives in the past, but the textbook, Designing

Effective Instruction (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, Kemp, 2011), and the discussions in the

classroom led by the teacher, Pete Dirindin, has made it much easier to create objectives that are

concise and to the point. One of the pieces I was missing in the past was the verb and another

was what an objective actually was. I was mixing up goals and objectives. According to

Morrison (2011), objectives are specifically to select and organize instructional activities and

resources that facilitate effective learning. I now understand that a goal is the big picture idea

you want to accomplish in the end, but the objectives are the specific steps in how to achieve the

goal.

Once the data analysis was completed I compared all the information and created a list of

needs, prioritized them and was then ready to make my plan. Between the feedback and my

previous brainstorming, the idea of creating a website to distribute the information in a more

timely and accessible manner was born.

When it came to the planning step, I only needed to be organized. I have used outlines for

most projects that I create because they seem to come naturally to me. The biggest issue with this

project became the time it took to create all of the pieces for the website. I needed pictures,

videos, forms, and information for all the different pages on the website. I had to learn how to

upload pictures, edit them, create a slideshow and then embed them into the website. I also had


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to learn how to upload videos on the internet and then embed them as well. This took a lot more

time than I thought it would, but I can now do this with a couple of different programs. During

the planning process I also considered design elements and principles, especially with color and

layout, how to keep the audience coming back for more, and how to achieve my objective. I

believe from the response I received from the class during the presentation, I was successful with

these pieces of the design project.

Since this project is a website, it will be constantly changing. As new developments

occur, it can be changed to stay as up to date as possible. One of the concerns that the class had

was how I would be able to handle the updates without making too much work for myself. I plan

on giving the team captains editing rights for the website and calendar. This should alleviate

some of the time issues for me personally and still keep the site current. Adding a blog section

for comments on the site and accept input from staff emails, I will take suggestions as to what we

can add or take out to make the site better. This continual evaluation will make this site as

effective as possible.

The implementation of this site will be fairly simple. I will demonstrate the site to the

staff during a staff meeting in the fall. They can in turn, show it to their seminar classes so

everyone will know where to find the site, why it is there, and how to use it. Once we begin to

form teams, I will have a captains meeting to explain the proper use of editing and activity sign-

ups for them. This will allow them to take ownership of the project, fine tune their leadership

skills for their team and their future, and use many of the 21st

Century Skills to navigate the site.

I really feel this project is going to achieve the objective of organizing the Relay for Life

information into one easily accessible place, a website, for all DRHS community members to


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access with ease; creating more interest and earning more money than the past years event. I am

looking forward to evaluating the summative numbers next year.

Throughout this class, Dirindin allowed us to discuss, create, and bounce ideas off each

other. With a class made up of seasoned teachers, the ability to use each other as sources, to

collaborate and brainstorm is extremely enlightening. I really enjoyed his questioning techniques

because they made us use our brains and think! The Socratic seminars were interesting to

practice as well. I had heard about them, observed then once before, but I had never participated

in one. My biggest issue with these was the fact that since you were not supposed to interrupt

anyone, it was hard to get your turn. If I use this in my class, I may try some sort of pattern for

speakers, number of times allowed to speak, around the circle, or other method to make sure

everyone gets a chance to speak.

I also enjoyed most of the textbook. Some chapters were a little repetitive from previous

classes, but review is always good. I liked the examples they used to explain the instructional

design process as well, even though many were written for business, it made you think outside

the educational box and understand how this process works everywhere. The Casebook was

good, made you reach down deep to critique the studies and created interesting discussions.

Unfortunately, I was not real happy about purchasing the book for only three studies. I think

examples could be given to the class or the study could be read out loud from the teachers

edition and then the discussions could still be completed.

When thinking about the other presentations, I felt I connected most with Fayes.

She had to create and upload videos, survey people for input, produce Google forms, and get

approval from her administrative boss. I thought the humor she added to her videos personalized


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the presentation and will make the veteran trainers more willing to participate in this training

even though they may think they know it all. The step by step process she needed to use to figure

out how to determine which student would be in what category was similar to how I had to

determine what pages and attachments I needed in my website. I thought she did a really nice job

presenting and will be very successful with this program for their trainers. I am anxious to hear

how it works next winter.

This class was very helpful and I know I will use the information in many areas of my

life as well as teaching. One thing I really liked about the class set up was how we were able to

present some of the projects on each of the last three classes. This allowed the class to give a

more in-depth analysis and evaluation for each presenter. When the class design requires every

person to present one after another on the same day, it makes people lose their focus towards the

end and the feedback becomes watered down. Everyone just wants to be done. I hope this can be

worked into the syllabus for this class next time. The students can be presented with the project

idea the first week and told to make a decision as to which week they would like to sign up to

present by the second week.

According to the course syllabus,

this course focuses on the process of solving instructional problems by analyzing

and applying instructional design models and principles to meet educational and

training goals in K12 education, higher education, and / or corporate education.

This objective was successfully reached within this course. I feel confident I can use these

methods and techniques to create an instructional design plan for school or the corporate world

when needed.


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References

Ertmer, P. A., & Quinn, J. (2007). The ID casebook: Case studies in instructional design. Upper Saddle

River, N.J.: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

This textbook allowed me to understand the instructional design process better by reading

examples from others.

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011).Designing effective instruction.

Hoboken, N. J.: John Wiley & Sons.

This textbook was used for reference throughout the class, for my project, and for my paper.

NETS for students. (2011). Retrieved June, 2011, from International society for technology in education

website: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

NETS for students were used to evaluate the preparation of this project and paper.

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