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Week 1 - Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2

Hi, Everyone!

My name is Carmina and this... is my first blog for course CECS 5211.  This week I got introduced to the Canvas LMS, this is my first time in this learning environment.  I have to admit that is taking me a little while to get used to this new LMS.  I am so used to the Blackboard environment since I have been using it for 15 years.  I find the Canvas design to be clean but at the same time clutter, particular in how discussion board posts are displayed.  But I can already see some features that are well designed and that I wish Blackboard would follow.

This week we did a short video introduction or ourselves.  Just like most people, I dislike hearing the sound of my voice.  I also notice I get fidgety when talking about myself on video.  I much rather talk about technical instructions.  But regardless of whether we like to hear ourselves or not, in this career, you have to do a lot of video recordings, so we might as well get used to it!

For week one, we read chapters one and two of Rapid Instructional Design.  It seems like the book is tailored more towards corporate training although it does go over basic design principles.  According to the author, the most basic definition of instructional design is “a set of rules or procedures for creating training” (Piskurich, 2000, p. 3).  The author suggests that instructional design should be looked at more like a system that allows designers to ask the right questions which will then lead to producing the right content/product.

There are many models for creating instructional design training but they all use the same basic principles.  These basic principles were interestingly enough created by the military in the 1940s.  Instructional Systems Design (ISD) is a straight-line model with five different phases:  analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.  Some important terms covered in chapter one includes the term 'facilitator,' the person whose main role is to assist in helping others learn.  The facilitator doesn’t need to be a content expert.  The designer is the person putting the training together for the instructor, and the subject-matter expert (SME) is the person who knows the content well.

In chapter two, we move on to the pre-design phase, needs analysis and needs assessment.  Here is where the designer determines what training is or is not needed.  The author mentions never to ask the question “what training needs do you have?” because the question is too limited.  A better question would be “What does your organization need?”  All of this information will eventually lead us into becoming a better instructional designer.

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