Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

31 – Looking Forward: Stories of Practice
as well as to real-life situations in a variety of settings. For
this reason, I chose to use an adventure metaphor to represent
the introductory travels through the field of ID and
its associated methods and techniques. As with all adventures,
there is no linear path to success. In instructional
design there is no systematic method for applying
one technique at one time and then moving forward. The
reality is that we use all of the techniques and models in a
complex, ever-changing environment.
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE
The online version of EDER 673 was designed around
units to be completed each week in order to give people
time off on the weekends for reading, contemplating
and reflecting. In order to be able to participate in the
online activities and discussion required for each, the
participants had to complete the readings prior to beginning
of the week’s unit.
In the course documents section of the LMS, the unit
for each week built on:
• a preamble introducing the topic and its relevance
• a backgrounder explaining the rationale behind the
readings selections
• a variety of activities to be completed as part of participating
in the discussion forum for the week
In order to keep the discussion forums manageable, they
were set up so that there was one discussion forum per
week of the course. Participants were responsible for participating
in 10 of the 13 discussion groups. Forums for
each assignment were also set up so that questions relating
to the assignments could be dealt with in their respective
forum, where all participants could learn from the dialogue.
The course also included scheduled, synchronous online
discussions using Elluminate technology at three times
during the course. These discussions provided an opportunity
to touch base and see how all are doing, clarify assignment
requirements and host guest speakers in various topic
areas relevant to the course content. These sessions were all
recorded and archived for review in case participants were
unable to join in at the scheduled day and time.
My role, after the course had been designed and posted
to the LMS, was that of facilitator. I was actively involved
in the discussions while at the same time creating space
for participants to discuss and sort through their developing
understandings of ID—a tricky balance. I tended to
be more heavily involved in leading the discussions during
the first few weeks of the course and then gradually
moved into a participatory role as I attempted to build
and foster a discussion space and culture that valued all
contributions as we developed our shared understandings
of the content and topics. My turnaround time for assignments
was one week. For discussion postings or
emails, it was 48 hours at the latest, but more often was
within the same day. Virtual office hours were twice a
week—although rarely used—and the synchronous sessions
were well attended, as I tried to get guest speakers
that were in keeping with both the topic area as well as the
undercurrent of discussion at that time.
The course centred around two assignments prepared
in three phases each: 1) the creation of an instructional
blueprint for a piece of instruction, and 2) the development
of an original instructional design model based on
the characteristics and constraints of participants’ work
environments.
Course feedback has been consistently positive over
the past eight offerings. A common comment is that
students really appreciate the overall structure of the
course and the flow of the weeks. The final assignment,
developing their own model of instructional design, gets
rave reviews each time. One participant in particular
used her final assignment to outline her approach to
instructional design in an interview within her school
district, and she was the successful candidate for the
position of Assistant Principal—Online Learning. For
me, the take away from this experience was that in this
case, with this audience and the content being covered, a
facilitated instruction approach was effective.
A story of blended instruction
Typically described as an instructional strategy that incorporates
the best of face-to-face learning and online
content and discussion groups, blended instruction often
meets with mixed success. A key challenge to designing
blended learning strategies is to sort out what
content is best suited to which format—online or faceto-face.
If that decision is not well considered at the design
level, the workload for both the teacher and students
may seem overwhelming, and the learning
experience may be inconsistent with the curricular goals.
In blended learning, typically the face-to-face component
is supported by supplementary online content.
This is usually contained within an LMS, often with
asynchronous discussion groups and synchronous sessions,
and it may take the form of blogs, podcasts and
multimedia simulations. Conversely, a blended course
might exist primarily online, with a few face-to-face
meetings for more experiential learning opportunities
such as labs, visits to specific sites, or face-to-face orientation
sessions so students can meet each other and
the instructor.
498 Education for a Digital World