Faculty are continually being challenged to be more innovative, to integrate technology and active learning in their classrooms, and to create engaging online courses. This session will be a bootcamp for faculty to teach the basics of instructional design and sound pedagogy used to tackle these complex projects.
According to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), faculty must be equipped with 21st century knowledge and skills and learn how to integrate them into their classroom practice for our nation to realize its goal of successfully meeting the challenges of this century (AACTE, 2010). As a result of this need, faculty are constantly being challenged to enhance, rework, and redesign their academic programs and courses to enhance quality, improve learner outcomes, and broaden access to their courses. Although well-intentioned, these initiatives can often result in courses where improvements are "bolted on" (Twig, 2005). To avoid this, many institutions have developed teams of educational technologists, faculty developers, and instructional designers; though, not all faculty have access to these experts. This session will provide attendees with an Instructional Design BootCamp addressing the many issues that faculty face, and by the end of the session, attendees will have several tools to help them embark upon their next project.
First, this session will describe how course transformation can be viewed as a systematic process by comparing the supporting components of a student-centered learning environment, such as Universal Design for Learning, Bloom's Taxonomy, and Accessibility. Then, we will explore the ADDIE and Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe) models. Student-centered learning uses curriculum planning practices, pedagogy, and assessment methods to move students from passive receivers of information to active participants in their own discovery process (https://www.iste.org/standards/essential-conditions/student-centered-lea...). Understanding the relationship of these models with student-centered learning helps faculty to develop a "road map" for their projects, which will facilitate collaboration with additional stakeholders.
After these models are explored, the Bootcamp will move from theory to practice, by reviewing the instructional design process. Faculty will learn what they can do as an instructor to positively impact their teaching via sound design techniques. Using an instructional approach to design in the environment, regardless of teaching modality (in-class, hybrid, online, synchronous, asynchronous), is a wonderful background to use in an arsenal of good instruction, and identifying best practices in this environment will help faculty to save time, engage learners, and focus on quality teaching. What is more, faculty members can identify the role of purposely integrated technology in a classroom, explain Open Educational Resources and other valuable tools, and construct an online classroom management strategy from interpersonal communications to quality discussions and group work.
Lastly, we will discuss the last piece of the ADDIE model, Evaluation, by sharing course evaluation tools and strategies. Evaluation of a course allows faculty to evaluate the quality of the learning materials and environment and their reception by the students. Ultimately, the goal of instruction is a quality prepared global citizen, and as evaluation informs our instruction, enabling faculty to identify how best to meet the needs of today's learner via evaluation is necessary (Smith, 2008).
Learning Objective(s):
- Analyze constraints and problems affecting design projects
- Explore collaborative approaches with stakeholders throughout the development process
- Identify and develop skills to implement and evaluate course design