Section 5: Trends and Issues in Various Settings.

1) Chapter 18 discusses instructional design in business and industry. Give an example of rapid prototyping and discuss how this could be used in education.

Example of Rapid Prototyping (RP) in Instructional Design (ID): http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmargeru/prototyping/#mydl

   As of 6/19/2008 - in 4th Generation
    Quickly progressed from basic design to more detailed, complex, graphic and interactive elements based on the feedback from successive prototype designs.

The RP in ID seems to me like a much more effective model for creating instructional protocols and systems. It can even be applied to individual classes and lessons. For example, we tend to run through a lesson with each of our classes for a year, taking notes as we go along and making changes that we feel would improve the lesson for the following year, unless we forget about those notes tucked away in a notebook somewhere. Instead, why not: 1) use the lesson as is with the first class , taking feedback from the consumers of the lesson (the students) and making note of what worked and what needs tweaking; 2) with the next class implement the lesson with the noted changes, starting the process over and taking feedback from this new group, and then implementing those suggestions with the third class, etc. until we feel that we have made the lesson the best that it can be for the time being. In this way, we could manage one to three years worth of  work in the space of a day or two, in terms of lesson design and improvement. I try to do something similar to this, but often find that in a school the size of the one at which I work, the students already know what was done in the previous class and it would take more time to try to explain that I am working to improve the lesson as I go along than it would to simply re-teach the parts of the lesson that don't get through to them on the first go-round. When I was in a larger school where word did not get around so quickly, or sometimes at all, I would sometimes make changes from one class period to the next, but not to the most efficient degree possible.

2) Pretend you are hired as a consultant for the military. They want to use technology in its training, but electronic access is not always available. Using the Full Spectrum diagram, what alternatives could you suggest for a successful program?

    Use the technology (computer-based learning modules, etc.) where it is available. Be sure that the higher-level personnel are trained first in the most important aspects of what most/all personnel under their command need to know. Then, also be sure that those higher-level personnel are trained in training techniques so that they will have the knowledge and tools to train personnel on the ground as needed and to give refresher and update training during breaks in activity and during "down-time." Include, as part of the available technolgy, some for the Marines' Deployable Learning Resource Centers (DLRCs) which are mobily deployable networks that can operate in the field and, when connections are available, can connect back to the "home" network to update databases and training materials.

3) Chapter 21 looks at radical educational change in P-12 settings. I visited the Chugach School District in Alaska and know Richard DeLorenzo very well. I can assure you that this change can occur in our schools. Review the Step-Up-To-Excellence methodology and the GSTE. Outline a staff development activity that will introduce both methodologies to your colleagues.

     Because many of our teachers see themselves as troubleshooters/problem solvers, I would recommend a role-play development acitivity wherein the teachers/staff become part of a community in which there are so many little problems/issues affecting the health/stability of the community that there is no truly effective choice other than a systemic restructuring. But, we would not simply tell them that these problems exist. Rather, we would set up different groups to be responsible for creating or perpetuating one or more of the problems. One of the biggest problems that would exist with nearly every group is that the individuals in each group will be completely comfortable with the way things are because things have been this way for so long that they cannot imagine anything different. And, since they are "comfortable in their madness," they will also be unwilling to work with each other to find any common solution until they have reached a crisis-point. The crisis-point will come into play through the medium of the young people of the community beginning to leave in large numbers because there is a community just down the road that is working to make the changes necessary to survive.
 

    At this point, the staff will realize or be informed that if they do not choose to make changes to improve, their community will gradually dissipate. Each group will have to make suggestions to improve. The likelihood is that each group will choose to focus on one issue rather than global change. When it is clear that the individual issue solution will not work because all issues affect and magnify each other, the trainer will present the idea of systemic change which is embodied in the concepts of "Guidance System for Transforming Education" (GSTE) and "Step-Up-To-Excellence" (SUTE). The presenter will explain that each system is a different way of approaching what is needed in this situation, global change throughout the community. 

 

Since the changes that are needed in education are drastic rather than simple adjustments to what is already in place, the role-play scenario would also be one in which drastic changes are required from all members in order for any changes to be truly effective rather than temporary fixes that will need readjustment very soon.

4) Research three different university offices for faculty development. Answer the following questions:
          o What are the different names used for faculty development?

        As best as I can figure it, this subject comes in under "Faculty Development", "Research", "Workshops and Conferences" and probably a variety of other headings that will differ on the subject/focus of the particular department in which it is housed.

          o What division is it under?

        In the departments where I was able to find anything that I thought was related to Faculty Development, I usually found it under either the Faculty page or mainly through the "Provost & Vice-President for Academic Affairs" "Faculty Development Committee."

          o What services does it offer?

        "The range of activities extends from informal social functions and topical luncheons to book discussion groups, retreats, teleconferences, teaching workshops, visiting lectures, new faculty orientation and international student experiences."

          o How often are programs given and what specifically are they?

        It would appear that there are programs of one type or another available at least once a month during the regular Fall and Spring semesters. I found workshops that from the Fall semester that were directed at creating and growing collaborative learning communities and instructional/course design.