I’ve written a lot about my Flutter project, but so far I haven’t said anything about my other big project this semester, which is an online “mini-course” for my Systematic Design of Instruction class. The mini-course is hosted on the class wiki, and you can watch it grow here as I build it throughout the semester.
In the class itself, we’re learning about instructional design in general, and focusing specifically on the ADDIE method, which stands for:
- Analyze
- Design
- Develop
- Implement
- Evaluate
In my experience, ADDIE and other instructional design methods incorporate some of the most useful processes from software development into the education design process, allowing for a much more responsive approach to instruction and encouraging continuous improvement by focusing on whether or not the learning design and materials are working well for the learners. I wish we gave more teachers the tools and flexibility to approach their practices this way!
I remember being a K-12 student and all of the stress that assessments and grades caused me. Even in college, when I became a much better student, tests, major assignments, and grades seemed to be designed only to measure the success or failure of the students and not a reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum, instruction, and learning design of the classes themselves.
Now that I am in a position of teaching students and designing instruction, I am constantly trying to evaluate what I could be doing to make each learning encounter more successful. It’s not only a matter of ensuring students understand the materials, either! If students don’t feel confident in the knowledge and skills they are building, it’s difficult to motivate them to keep working toward more advanced skills. And as I’ve learned since my very first teaching experiences, sometimes the students doing the best work have the lowest confidence in themselves and their abilities!
For this mini-course, I’m in the process of identifying learning objectives and assessments that will support the building of meaningful proficiency. The textbook for the class is Streamlined ID, by Miriam B. Larson and Barbara B. Lockee, and one of the strategies they include is a three-column table to organize your learning objectives, assessments, and teaching/learning strategies to help ensure that you build alignment between the different parts of your design process.
I’m excited to keep working on this and learn more about how I can make these three elements support one another and provide a better learning experience for future teachers who may use my course!