Extend Activity #6 –Thought Vectors and Nuggets – Force the change

A response to the Thought Vectors and Nuggets Activity
created by Oday Aswad (@odayaswad)

Number of views: 155

“Am I an instructional designer? I work in educational technology, talk to people about using tools, and help people design better learning, but does that make me an instructional designer? Educational technology is a place that can often drive pedagogical change, and it’s strange how often it goes unacknowledged as an accomplice in converting people to better pedagogy. How often do you as an instructional designer have a conversation about a piece of technology that forces the person you’re working with to rethink what they’re doing, and how they’re doing it? It may not be the great revelatory exclamation of “Oh my, this is going to change my life!” – but sometimes drastically, subtly, a change is made.”

https://openfacultypatchbook.org/instructional-design/patch-thirty-two-is-everyone-an-instructional-designer/

The author is describing their job role as an LMS technology assistant who helps colleagues use and learn to work through the tool. The author demonstrates the classic tendencies of their colleagues to look for the How-to use the tool without asking why. And here comes the question about instructional teaching strategies.

There are types of instructional teaching strategies such as direct, indirect, experiential, interactive, and independent. Although learning strategies fit into multiple categories, I agree with the author that that the interactive is the least desired by learners. In my teaching, I use action learning strategies in a way that enables learners to develop their objectives, i.e., next steps. In this case the what and why questions become essential for the learner to progress.