Week 5: Chapters 18-21

Section 5: Trends and Issues in Various Settings. Due 12/5

Section 5 of your textbook focuses on trends and issues in various where instructional designers are likely to become employed to include business and industry, the military, the medical field, P-12 education, and higher education. This week's posting will focus primarily on military and education; however, I encourage you to read the chapter in the medical field as it's important to be aware of changes going on outside of education.

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

The first thing that came to mind as an example of rapid prototyping as it relates to education is field testing for standardized tests. TEA routinely does this. Each grade level TAKS test contains several questions that are not included in the students’ scores. These are questions that are being field tested and may be used in future tests. TEA is currently field testing preliminary versions of the new End of Course (EOC) exams. These EOC exams will replace the TAKS test and will be officially implemented in Spring 2012.

This practice of field testing serves multiple purposes. First, it allows TEA to see which questions work and which ones don’t. The questions can be revised prior to official implementation. Second, field testing gives teachers and students a preview of the tests before they are officially administered. Teachers and students also have an opportunity to provide feedback on the tests.

• Chapter 19 discusses instructional design opportunities in military education and training environments. I had the opportunity to work two summers in Orlando on a faculty fellowship in the advanced distributed learning lab (ADL) discussed in the book and saw firsthand some of the constraints placed on some of the tools that could be used for learning. 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?

Although electronic access in the field is sometimes limited, the military could still incorporate technology into its training sessions by establishing its own local area network (LAN). This network wouldn’t necessarily require internet access for delivery; the computers in the network would only need to communicate with each other. Bluetooth connectivity might be an option, although security issues might prohibit its use.

Trainers include record podcasts on DVDs; these podcasts could also be loaded onto computers that service personnel would use and would not require Internet access.

In the event that computers are not available for training purposes, service personnel could revert to an “old school” option—paper. However, paper-based materials may present portability and storage issues. Personnel could use printouts and manuals to provide basic information, then follow up with using computers and other technologies once those items are available. It may not be the most optimal method, but it would be better than nothing.

• Navigating through the ranks of a faculty member in higher education can be tricky. A good institution has support for its faculty and provides faculty development opportunities to grow and learn. Research three different university offices for faculty development. Answer the following questions for each office:

Office #1: Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University’s Office of Faculty Development is a division of the Provost’s office. The office presents a variety of services for university faculty, including:

• Confidential consultations on teaching
• Classroom observations/student interviews
• Faculty Mentoring: Tenure-track and tenured faculty are matched with faculty mentors outside their departments to assist with teaching, scholarship, and career planning.
• Open Classroom (classroom observations)
• SALG: Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG): a free course-evaluation tool to gather learning-focused feedback from students.
• Grants: Information and application instructions for internal SCU sources of funding for scholarship and teaching, and links to information about external grants
• Faculty study groups: interdisciplinary groups of faculty who wish to gather regularly for discussions of scholarship or teaching.
• Ethics Across the Curriculum Consultations: Assistance incorporating ethics into SCU undergraduate courses in any department.
• Faculty Development Library
• The Teaching Scholar (Faculty Development Program newsletter)
• Training and support for faculty in the use of information technology.

Events sponsored by Faculty Development include panel discussions and workshops on a wide range of issues in teaching and learning. Event topics for the Fall 2010 semester included the following:

• VITAL Meeting - Vitality in Teaching and Learning (VITAL) is a group of SCU faculty who meet once or twice a quarter to discuss issues in teaching and learning. Open to all interested faculty.
• Using Newstrust as a Teaching Resource - Newstrust is a nonprofit news and social media site with review tools that help people get informed and think more critically about the news. Students can view other people's reactions to the news and share their own with students at other universities, journalists, scholars and others on the site.
• The Power to Find Out: Faculty Information Literacy Workshop
• Faculty Work-Life Research Forum and Lunch: Includes a short presentation about the findings from the Faculty Work-Life surveys and interviews, followed by an open forum to discuss ideas.
• SCU Faculty Course Release Initiative Workshop

Office #2: Harvard University

Harvard University’s Office of Faculty Development and Diversity is a division of the Senior Vice-Provost’s office. The Office of Faculty Development and Diversity (FD&D) serves as Harvard University’s central faculty affairs office. Working closely with colleagues across the University, it oversees and guides institutional policies and practices in all areas of faculty affairs, providing intellectual leadership and coordination across the Schools with the twin goals of increasing accountability and fostering measurable progress in important domains. In all its activities, the FD&D office places a special emphasis on junior faculty and on women and minorities at all academic ranks.

The FD&D Office presents a number of events throughout the year. Following are some of the events held during the Fall 2010 semester:

· From Dissertation to Book

· Junior Faculty Lunches

· Talking to the Media: Strategies for Presenting your Research

· Sustaining Personal and Professional Priorities for Dual Career Couples in the Academy

· Behind the Scenes at the Houghton Library

· The Faculty Search Process: The Art & Science of Selecting Outstanding Faculty

· New Ladder Faculty Institute

· Gender Equality Nudges

Office #3: Wake Forest University

The Wake Forest University Office of Faculty Development is a division of the Provost’s office.

The Teaching and Learning Center is a resource center for Wake Forest faculty at all stages of their careers. The center hosts events designed to bring together faculty and other professionals to share expertise, explore innovations and discuss the challenges of teaching in and across disciplines. This department also produces the TLC Exchange faculty newsletter

The Professional Development Center provides faculty, staff and the broader Winston-Salem community with professional, personal and civic enrichment opportunities through education focused on management training, interpersonal skills, academic and administrative software, general technical skills and various special interest topics. These events are held throughout the semester.