Teaching Instructional Design: An Apprenticeship Model

Several cognitive psychologists have written about the importance of placing instruction within “authentic” contexts that mirror real-life situations. They argue that knowledge learned in academic settings does not necessarily transfer to non-academic settings. Whether preparing performance technologists or instructional designers, educators must strive to create meaningful problem-solving contexts that enable students to define, and subsequently solve, real-world problems. In an attempt to address this issue we have modified the way we teach instructional design. This paper discusses a cognitive apprenticeship approach to teaching design, which incorporates elements of modeling, coaching, reflection, articulation, and exploration. We describe how these features are embedded within three phases (orientation, situated training/learning, and exploration) of an introductory instructional design course designed to move our novice designers along a continuum of expertise as they develop and refine their own professional design skills. Although the apprenticeship model described here specifically addresses concerns within the context of preparing instructional designers, we believe that this model can be adapted to address similar issues in the education of performance technologists.     

Skills for Instructional Design Professionals

Competent instructional designers must have specific skills to successfully facilitate learning and to improve the performance of individuals and organizations. While some authors and professional organizations have identified the capabilities required for effective instructional designers, only a few have validated these skills by collecting data from actual practitioners. The purpose of this article is to discuss the results of a research study we conducted to identify and empirically validate competencies for instructional design professionals.     

Supporting students’ assignment writing: what lecturers do in a Master of Education programme

Teachers’ instructional practices surrounding written assignments have been little researched, despite writing remaining the primary means of assessment in higher education, including postgraduate professional development programmes. In this paper, we report a study that explored what a sample of lecturers in a Master of Education programme at an English-medium university in Hong Kong did to support students’ assignment writing. We integrate perspectives provided by the relevant higher education literature, the academic literacies approach and North American rhetorical genre studies to shed light on the findings derived from our analyses of interview and documentary data. We showed that our lecturer participants both engaged in direct instruction on assignment writing and provided indirect support. Our study contributed to the existing literature and raised questions for future research.     

The civic‐minded instructional designers framework: An alternative approach to contemporary instructional designers' education in higher education

This paper argues that an emphasis on training‐for‐the‐job approaches has distracted designers from thinking about the meaning of their profession and the grand purpose of practising instructional design. Drawing from literature in the fields of sociology and educational technology, this paper synthesises discourses on civic professionalism in instructional design and technology, and proposes a conceptual framework that highlights the roles and qualities of a civic‐minded instructional designer. It is claimed that a critical discussion on civic professionalism in the field of educational technology can offer an alternative perspective on educating instructional designers, and have practical implications on instructional design and technology curricula in higher education.     

Instructional design and project management: complementary or divergent?

This paper reports the results of a study to identify the extent to which organizations that develop educational/training products are committed to project management, as measured by their project management implementation maturity, as a methodology that is separate and distinct from the processes of instructional design. A Web survey was conducted among 103 public and private sector organizations worldwide that develop educational/training products. Results show no significant difference by project management maturity level in the roles of instructional designer and project manager, although there is some relationship between maturity level and how organizations perceive the skills/competencies of project managers versus those of instructional designers. Further, organizational decision-makers have very specific expectations about the formal education and training of educational/training product development project leaders. The findings should be of value to institutions of higher education in evaluating programs that prepare students for careers in instructional design.     

从用户到顾问:教学设计人员在当前在线教学中所担当的“新角色”(英文)

本文讨论了教育技术的专业实践如何影响教学设计师的角色。技术前景的动态本质使得教学设计师的工作复杂化,使得他们在应用所学的系统设计模式时有着很大的困难。目前,教学设计师在帮助机构有效采用教育技术方面担当着更加多样的、精细的角色。在假定这些新角色的基础上,教学设计人员应当跨越自身的舒适区,不仅仅是与学科专家合作的设计人员,或者是第一个吃螃蟹使用技术的人,而是真正成为绩效专家,协调机构内的不同力量。     

Blended professionals,technology and online learning: Identifying a socio‐technical third space in higher education

The idea of a ‘third space’ located between academic and professional domains has proven useful in exploring changing academic and professional roles in higher education, including in online learning. However, the role of technology in accounts of third space activity remains under‐explored. Drawing on research into the introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at three UK higher education institutions, it is argued that both social and technical factors must be considered to understand, plan for and manage the third space roles and structures which emerge in such initiatives. This study focuses on learning designers, confirming that they act as third space ‘blended professionals’ in the somewhat distinctive case of MOOC development. However, it also proposes the concept of a socio‐technical third space in which blended professionals act as hubs in a metaphorical network of activity, using social and technical means to shape their own roles and those of others.     

Advantages of authentic assessment for improving the learning experience and employability skills of higher education students: A systematic literature review

This study is a systematic review of literature that investigates the advantages of implementing authentic assessment for improving two major categories that are relevant to academic and professional success of higher education students: learning experience and employability skills. Authentic assessment involves students in challenging tasks that closely resemble those of the workplace settings. 26 papers from 2010 to 2019 that were relevant to the topic of this paper were selected for the review process. Findings of this review indicate that authentic assessment can play a role in improving the learning experience of higher education students through enhancing their engagement in learning and improving their satisfaction as well as positively influencing their efforts to achieve educational goals. We also discuss the benefits of authentic assessment for equipping students with essential skills for their future professional life, such as communication skills, collaboration skills, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, self-awareness, and self-confidence.     

Instructional Design Practice: Career Environments,Job Roles,and a Climate of Change

Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) professionals practice their skills in a broad range of career environments and job roles. The resulting collection of competency lists and wide range of practice environments, coupled with the frequent changes that have always characterized the field, produce complexity that is difficult to communicate to IDT students. However, students need to understand these complex aspects of the field so that they can make informed decisions about their career goals and educational direction. This review of the current literature looks at the current issues impacting practice and preparation. It concludes that the path professional academic preparation programs choose will depend on their orientation to instructional design and performance improvement, and whether they see themselves as preparing students for specific career environments or are pursuing a generalist program.     

Personality traits and job exploration among Latino business students: An exploratory investigation

We examine the role of the Big Five personality traits in the job exploration process of Latino undergraduate business students to ascertain the personality traits and socio‐cognitive variables that lead to greater success of students in their job searches. We find that personalities such as extraversion and conscientiousness are positively associated with career self‐efficacy, career expectations, and interests in both academic and professional skills, which in turn positively influence job exploration behaviors. Additionally, we find that personalities such as agreeableness and neuroticism have a negative influence on career exploration behaviors. Our findings provide Latino business students with college vocational guidance that can help enhance their career confidence, job beliefs, and career interests in the job‐seeking process.     

Is building relationships the key to leadership?

Instructional designers are at the forefront of many interactions both within an organization and client‐facing. They are responsible for providing noteworthy learning experiences and ensuring the success of instructional programs. However, are instructional designers at a disadvantage because of a lack of interpersonal and building‐relationships skills? This article begins to uncover the notable absences of leadership and relationship‐building skills in professional and educational instructional design environments and the consequences to practicing and budding instructional designers.     

Teachers’ role in curriculum design in Portuguese schools

Teachers’ role in curriculum design is a broad question that inspires political educational reforms among European countries, a trend that even extends to higher education politics. The perspective on teachers’ role in curriculum, both at the level of the policies and of the practices, shapes recent educational reforms in Portugal. These are the concerns underlying our research that intends to substantiate school teachers’ involvement in curriculum development as it is experienced by them, and while comparing their views to the roles they are attributed in the political and academic dominant discourses. To reach teachers’ perceptions, we distributed questionnaires which were completed by 214 teachers in primary and secondary schools. We could conclude that the enactment of a professional identity on the basis of teacher assumption of their role as real curriculum designers is still far from being achieved.     

The relevance of identity style and professional identity to academic commitment and academic achievement in a higher education setting

Student retention remains an ongoing concern for higher education institutions worldwide. In the present study, we examine the predictive utility of identity styles, professional identity and academic commitment to academic achievement. We asked 120 second-year students in the profession of engineering in an augmented degree programme to complete the Identity Styles Inventory, the Engineering Identity Factors Inventory and the Academic Commitment Scale. We found that a normative identity style predicted professional engineering identity and meaningfulness, which predicted the participants’ investments in their studies. Additionally, a diffuse-avoidant identity style negatively predicted professional identity, meaningfulness and satisfaction, which provides empirical evidence of the contribution of identity to academic commitment. None of the variables we studied predicted academic achievement. Our findings are relevant, given current debates on access, equity and decolonisation in higher education, because it suggests that students’ sense of identity largely influences whether they feel a sense of belonging at university. Although identity styles and meaningfulness are not significant direct predictors of academic achievement, they probably do have an indirect effect on academic achievement through their direct influence on investment.     

Student Evaluations as Effective Indicators of Learning Outcomes:Evidence from Japanese University Students in English Language Courses

The term"student learning outcomes"refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilitiesthat students achieve during a course, and is typically assessed based on student evaluations conducted at the end of the semester. Previous studies in this area have investigated the effects of instructional quality and academic demands separately and have been limited primarily to examining findings using student samples fromthe United States. With Japanese college students' perceptions of self-improvementin English language courses as the dependent variable, the present study directly tests the hypothesis that students who perceive instructional quality to be higher, andcourse demands to be greater, also estimate higher levels of self-improvement in English language skills. The analysis provides strong support for this hypothesis.Higher ratings of instruction and academic demands have already beenshown to increase levels of student learning(Greimel-Fuhrmann and Geyer 2003;Nois and Hudson 2006; Mc Fadden and Dart 1992). The present study is the first toprovide direct evidence of the relative importance of student evaluations ofinstructional quality and academic demands as predictors of student learning and thefirst ever to do so with a sample of Japanese college students enrolled in a required English as a foreign language course. Our hypothesis is that Japanese students whoperceive instructional quality to be higher, and course demands to be greater,estimate higher levels of self-improvement in English language skills. Thus we test Japanese students' attitudes toward instructional quality and course demands asindependent variables predicting their perceptions of self-improvement in English language courses. The research focuses on Japanese students' improvement in English language skills because English education in Japan is an arena in which thedebate over limited English proficiency rages on, and because other research suggests reconsideration of English education in light of the demands of the rapidly expanding global era(Amaki 2008).     

基于CDIO理念的工程专业教师角色转型

CDIO是以产品研发到产品运行的生命周期为载体,以主动的、实践的、课程之间有机联系的方式督促学生学习的一整套工程教育理念和实施体系。中国引入CDIO理念对高等工程教育改革具有极其重要的意义。在CDIO教育模式下,高等工程专业教师必须提升自己的能力,努力转变其角色定位,从单一讲授者转型为课程设计者、学生的引导者、学生学习效果的评估者等复合型角色。     

努力做好科研工作促进电大事业发展

教育创新是现代教育的指导思想，在教育改革和发展中处于主手地位。发展现代远程教育，需用教育创新理论指导科研。各级领导应率先垂范，努力搞好科研工作。     

高职学生职业生涯规划设计的必要性和注意的问题

随着高校的扩招,毕业生迅速增加,高职学生就业面临着机遇和挑战.高等职业教育的人才培养素质和职业岗位要求的特殊性、规定性,导致高职学生必须结合自身的实际特点来制定符合高职学生特色的职业生涯规划,必须充分认识高职学生职业生涯规划设计的意义和必要性,同时在职业生涯设计时应注意职业定位、发挥主观能动性、明确阶段目标、构建合理的知识结构、培养职业能力、积极开展职业训练等方面问题.将有助于高职学生的就业、择业、事业的成功.     

Using a Retrospective Pretest to Measure Learning in Professional Development Programs

Millions of dollars are spent annually on professional development, and designers of training events recognize they must demonstrate to all stakeholders the value added by these programs. The purpose of this study was to measure the learning that occurred during professional development seminars for community college academic department chairs. The research question was the following: What increases in knowledge and skills did program participants attribute to their training experience? Using Alliger and Janak's model for levels of learning as a conceptual framework, data were collected through a preliminary questionnaire on learning needs, session and overall evaluations, and a retrospective pretest addressing 35 knowledge and skill areas. Statistical analysis of retrospective pretest results for six areas identified by participants as priorities indicated that participants felt learning had occurred as a result of the seminar (significant at .0001 level). The retrospective pretest instrument was deemed an effective tool for evaluating learning in continuing education offerings, higher education professional development events, and similar settings.     

The antecedents of teacher satisfaction with professional development programs

Literature has shown that on-the-job professional development programs are most beneficial when they are long-term, focused on students’ learning, and linked to the curricula. We hypothesized that the higher the control teachers have over job professional development processes, and the greater the resemblance of these processes to the typical teaching culture in classrooms, the greater the teachers’ satisfaction with job professional development processes. The findings of this study demonstrate that the main factors affecting teachers’ satisfaction with the instructional programs are related to their desire to maintain instructional processes “close to home”, and to shape these processes in accordance with their needs and expectations. The implications of the study are discussed with relation to decision-makers in the school setting and at the local authorities’ level.