To start off, let me introduce myself and tell you a little bit about me! My name is Victoria Jackson and I received a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education from Auburn University in 2018. WAR EAGLE!
Luckily, I was able to experience Pre-COVID classroom/teaching. I have experience in grades Pre-K through 2nd grade so far in my 4 years of teaching. Technology has always been a big part of my life so when deciding on the program I wanted to do for my Master's Degree, I just kept coming back to Instructional Design due to my love for technology. My co-workers will always recommend me if they have any tech issues in their classroom. I have had the pleasure of seeing technology grow from dial-up internet to what all we have available now. As a teacher, I know that studying Instructional Design will allow me to not only use what I learn in my own classroom but it will also open so many other job opportunities in the educational and corporate world.
Technology is Growing "AS FAST LIKE WEED"
Hopefully my fellow southerners will understand that analogy in the title of this section and enjoy the laugh!
Just in the past few years, especially since COVID, technology has grown more than it ever has grown. So many places have switched to having e-learning options. Now that these options are available, we have to think about Mayer's Design Principals and Bate's SECTION model. All of these resources allow us to ask ourselves the correct questions when planning and to make sure we provide what is needed for our students/learners.
Mayer explains that we need to design multimedia instruction to maximize the learning not only online but beyond. Being a elementary teacher, I learned very quickly when having to do e-learning with students when schools were closed that the instruction give had to be eye-catching and fun for the students. Mayer suggests using multimedia instruction and by saying that he means "learning from words and pictures" and those pictures can include graphics, photos, and videos. (Mayer 2017). For Elementary students who are learning to read, just words on a screen does nothing for them. I could not agree more with Mayer that multimedia instruction allows the learner to gain so much more information. This school year we were reading a book about teeth and rituals from different countries for when you lose a tooth. While there were some pictures, it was hard for them to understand information about the tooth without seeing a picture of a tooth. Behind me on the board, I found a picture of the tooth that had fun "props" on it to help the remember the parts of the tooth. After we looked at the tooth in that new fun way with different graphics they were able to remember what we learned even by the end of the week. Even as adults, we as teachers sit in TONS of trainings, and I know that if there were more graphics and videos I probably would not get as board as I would in a training where you just have to sit and listen to a powerpoint being read.
One thing I wished I had know when I first started teaching and know I will use from here on out is Bates' SECTION model. Yes you always try to think of every posibility when planning a lesson but sometimes you will forget. Bates points out several questions to use when using technology that I honestly never thought of ask myself. Of course you are always thinking about who your students are but Bates takes that a bit further. He mentions these two questions that really stood out to me, "If your students are to be taught at least partly off campus, to which technologies are they likely to have convenient and regular access at home or work?' and "How important is it to enable learners to network beyond a course, with others such as subject specialists, professionals in the field, and relevant people in the community? Can the course, or student learning, benefit from such external connections?" (Bates 2015) Even now that COVID has died down, you still have students who will contract it, and if you ask these question head of time when planning a lesson you will be prepared. I had a student this last year that was quarantined unexpectedly and it was very hard at the drop of the hat to come up with ways for her to still interact and learn the same things we were learning in class. Had I used questions from the SECTION model when making the lessons that would have already been thought of and written in the lesson plan. Those are just two of many amazing questions in the SECTION model that I know will help me to adjust my philosophy when it comes to technology, especially when using it in the classroom.
With that being said, instructional design is used so much more that I thought it was in the classroom. As I learn more and more about it, I think to myself, "Man, if only I had know this when I was having to plan e-learning activities and having to host virtual classes!"
RESOURCES
Mayer, R. E., [University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences]. (2017, Oct. 13). Designing multimedia instruction to maximize learning: Online and beyond. [Video file].
Bates, A.W. (2015). Appendix 2: Questions to guide media selection and use. In Teaching in a Digital Age.
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