INSYS 415 – Course Schedule

Course Schedule

 

• Course begins: May 21, 2008
• Course ends: August 20, 2008
• Course length: 13 weeks

NOTE: If you are planning to graduate this semester, please communicate your intent to graduate to your instructor. This will alert your instructor to the need to submit your final grade in time to meet the published graduation deadlines. For more information about graduation policies and deadlines, please see “Graduation” on the World Campus Student Policies Web site.

Module 00: Getting Started

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

This orientation module gives you the opportunity to become familiar with the course environment and your classmates.

Note: This Getting Started week is in the same timeframe as Module 01.

TIMEFRAME: May 21, 2008 – May 27, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Assignments and Activities:
  1. Complete the steps outlined in the Welcome Letter from your instructor to familiarize yourself with the course environment (that letter is surface mailed to every student prior to the beginning of the course)
  2. Complete the activities in the Getting Started folder (see the Lessons tab)

  All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 01: Welcome to the Course! Now What on Earth Is Instructional Design?

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

This first module gives you the opportunity to become familiar with the basic ideas of Instructional Design.

TIMEFRAME: May 21, 2008 – May 27, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading:

 

1. Read Preface and Chapter 1 of Dick & Reiser.

 

 

 

 

 

Module 02: The Importance of Home Insurance

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

This module helps you to explore the importance of home insurance. Not a lot of people take this matter seriously, but for those that have needed it to get out of a major tragedy, such as a fire, its importance is implied. Services exist even, that provide reviews of the best providers, so that you can better decide who you decide to hire. Since sometimes a provider may have a multiple year contract as a requirement it is of particular importance that you make the most informed decision possible. This module should be able to provide all of the information necessary so that you can have a better understanding of how home insurance works, and how it can vary from provider to provider.

At the conclusion of this module you will:

• Describe professional associations affiliated with Instructional Design;
• Describe the appropriate journals read by Instructional Designers;
• Evaluate ID journals for personal interest.

TIMEFRAME: May 28, 2008 – June 03, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Web links to explore:
  • ASSOCIATION:
    1. AECT (Association of Educational Communications and Technology): http://www.aect.org/default.asp
    2. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education): http://www.iste.org/
    3. CCUMC (The consortium of college and university media centers): http://www.ccumc.org/
    4. NAMTC (National Association of Media & Technology Centers): http://www.namtc.org/
    5. AERA (American Educational Research Association): http://aera.net/
    6. NECC (National Educational Computing Conference): http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2005/
    7. AACE (Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education): http://www.aace.org/
       

     

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 03: Setting Instructional Goals

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

For all instruction, goals are absolutely necessary. Without goals, we simply cannot know where we are going. It is essential, therefore, that you learn how to identify and formulate effective learning and instructional goals.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the sources and instructional uses of goals;
   
• Identify different types of learning outcomes and levels of intellectual skills;
   
• Write a clear instructional goal statement for an instructional unit of your choosing (this is the same instruction that must carry through the entire process outlined in Dick & Reiser).

TIMEFRAME: June 04, 2008 – June 10, 2008ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading:

 

1. Read Chapter 2 of Dick & Reiser.
2. Review Chapter 1 of Dick & Reiser.

 

 

• Assignments and Activities:
• 1. Select an instructional design project.
  2. Write ONE instructional goal and provide feedback for your classmates, and submit to the discussion forum entitled “Instructional Goal Drafts.”
  3. Complete an instructional goal statement, and submit it to a dropbox entitled “Instructional Goal.”
  4. Complete a written response to the question: “What is effective instruction?” and submit it to a dropbox entitled “What Is Effective Instruction.”

   

   

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

 

Module 04: Writing Learning Objectives

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

The natural extension of learning goals is more specific learning objectives. These objectives should be carefully written, in order to ensure attention to several specific learner behaviors, assessments, and conditions under which the behavior is accomplished. This module will help you to formulate properly written learning objectives which align with your instructional goal and support its eventual accomplishment.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify objectives that are written in correct three-component form;
   
• Describe how objectives may be used;
   
• Write objectives for various types of instructional goals;
   
• Write several learning objectives which align and support your instructional goal.

TIMEFRAME: June 11, 2008 – June 17, 2008

 

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

 

Module 05: Analyzing Student Characteristics

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

Ignore student characteristics at your own risk! This warning is not just in jest. Understanding your learners is an important early step in the systematic design of good instructional materials. Knowing what your learners already know, how they learn best, what their preferences are for learning environments, and so forth, is essential to effective instructional design. This module will help you to identify and crystallize the learner characteristics for the students who sit before you in your classes.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the importance of determining students’ prerequisite skills, knowledge, and attitudes;
   
• Describe how instructional objectives may be modified on the basis of students’ skills, knowledge and attitudes;
   
• Write a clear analysis of learner characteristics.

TIMEFRAME: June 18, 2008 – June 24, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 4 of Dick & Reiser.

   

 

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Participate in a “learner characteristics” discussion within the discussion forum entitled “Student Characteristics Discussion.”
  2. Complete a student characteristic analysis, and submit it in the dropbox entitled “Student Characteristics.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 06: Writing Tests

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

It may seem unnatural in some ways to devise the measurement for our objectives so early in the process of creating instruction. After all you haven’t even begun to really think about strategies or materials. But you know what the goal is, and what the objectives are, and you know enough about your learners now to be able to clearly write a test or assessment which will measure the extent to which the learning goal has been reached. This module will help you identify effective assessment methods for the learning goal and objectives you have already identified.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the various purposes for using tests;
   
• Determine if test items match objectives;
   
• Write assessments to match given objectives;
   
• Write an effective test or assessment for your learning goal and objectives.

TIMEFRAME: June 25, 2008 – July 01, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 5 of Dick & Reiser.

   

 

 

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Participate in a “tests and assessment” discussion within the discussion forum entitled “Tests.”
  2. Write a test or assessment for the instructional unit’s objectives and goal, and submit it in the dropbox entitled “Final Tests.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 07: Selecting Materials

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

For most classroom teachers, textbooks, curricula, and supplemental materials are provided as part of the adoption process in schools. Sometimes this can make us feel disempowered in terms of creating our own materials. But in reality, every classroom is filled with wonderful, creative, innovative materials which have been adopted, adapted, or created by the teacher. This module will help you to identify appropriate already existing materials that can be adopted or adapted and to determine when to create new materials.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe criteria for evaluating textbooks and other printed materials;
   
• Apply the criteria to select a textbook for given objectives and students;
   
• Apply the criteria to select supplementary print materials for given objectives and students;
   
• Select, adapt, adopt, and create new materials aligned with your instructional unit.

TIMEFRAME: July 02, 2008 – July 08, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 6 of Dick & Reiser.

   

 

 

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Answer a question regarding “materials selection” in this lesson and participate a discussion within the discussion forum entitled “Text Discussion.”
  2. Complete a text assessment plan, and submit this assignment in the dropbox titled “Text Assessment.”

   

 

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 08: Developing Instructional Activities

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

Activities, like objectives, tests, and materials, need to support your overall learning goal, the purpose of your instruction. A textbook, curriculum, or other selected material really won’t pre-determine your instructional activities to support those materials. It is up to you to find the right activities for your learners and for your goals. In this module you’ll discuss and decide on the most appropriate instructional activities for your learning goal.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

 

TIMEFRAME: July 09, 2008 – July 15, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 7 of Dick & Reiser.

   

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Ask a question regarding “instructional activities” and offer feedback to your classmates on the discussion forum entitled “Activities Discussion.”
  2. Complete a plan for your instructional unit and submit it to a dropbox entitled “Instructional Activity.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 09: Selecting Media

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

It is important not to confuse the selection of materials with the selection of media. At this point in the process, we have determined the goals and objectives, developed appropriate measurement tests for those objectives, explored learner characteristics, and selected appropriate materials. Based on all of these, we have determined what appropriate learning activities will be and now we need to determine how we can translate these activities into a specific media. It is all too often the case that we want to START with the media selection. For example, we say, “I want to create a website to teach this, I need to have a video for this instruction.” This is the wrong place to begin, though. We first have to clarify the goals and so forth. This module will help you to logically and responsibly identify appropriate media. Too often we are lured by the excitement of a new or innovative media when a simple, more cost effective one will do.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify the questions you should ask when deciding to use an instructional medium;
   
• Identify whether specific media are appropriate for use in a given instructional situation, and provide a rationale for your answer;
   
• Write a justified media selection document.

TIMEFRAME: July 16, 2008 – July 22, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 8 of Dick & Reiser.

   

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Select three different media for your instructional unit and answer each of the questions from the Dick & Reiser text for each of the media selected, and post these answers and offer feedback to your classmates in the discussion forum entitled “Media Selection Discussion.”
  2. Complete a media selection document, and submit it into the dropbox entitled “Select Media.”
  3. Post any materials that you have developed into the “Designed Materials” dropbox.

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

 

Module 10: Implementing Your Instructional Solution

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

This is the messy middle part! Actually putting your plans into place and using the new instructional materials, strategies, and media to meet the goals, objectives, and tests you’ve created is not always as easy as you might think. Actual classroom practices which will help to enhance student learning is the critical element in effective implementation of your new instructional solution. This module will focus on the strategies that you can use to ease the implementation of your new solution.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe classroom practices that enhance student learning;
   
• Write an implementation plan that you can use in your classroom.

TIMEFRAME: July 23, 2008 – July 29, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading:

 

1. Read Chapter 9 of Dick & Reiser.

 

 

 

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Post your implementation draft, along with a discussion of what you’ve learned through the drafting of the implementation plan, and offer feedback to your classmates in the discussion forum entitled “Implementation Drafts.”
  2. Complete an implementation plan, and submit it to the dropbox entitled “Implementation Plan.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 11: Revising Instruction

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

Most instruction doesn’t work perfectly the first time around. This module will help you to see the ways that the instruction can be improved, ways to gather more information about what’s working and what’s not working well in your proposed solution, and to actually do the revisions necessary to make the instruction better-we call it formative evaluation.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the types of information that should be collected from students during and after instruction which can be used to improve the instruction;
   
• Describe how you would interpret the data collected from students and indicate how an instructional plan might be improved;
   
• Write a plan for revising your instruction.

TIMEFRAME: July 30, 2008 – August 05, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 10 of Dick & Reiser.

   

 

 

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Participate in a “formative evaluation” discussion within the discussion forum entitled “Revising My Unit.”
  2. Complete plan for collecting data and revising your instruction, and submit it in the dropbox entitled “Draft Plan of Revising Instruction.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 12: Putting it All Together!

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

An instructional design project cannot be considered complete when each of the pieces exist independently. The purpose of this module is to help you put the “connecting tissues” for the final product together to make a more professional, scalable, and flexible instructional unit together.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the systematic steps for planning effective instruction;
   
• Compile all the parts of your instructional design product into a cohesive whole.

TIMEFRAME: August 06, 2008 – August 12, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Read Chapter 11 of Dick & Reiser.

   

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Participate in a “the process of planning effective instruction” discussion within the discussion forum entitled “Reflecting on the Process.”
  2. Submit the completed instructional unit in the dropbox named “Final Project.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

 

Module 13: Critiques/Limitations of this Model

SUMMARY & OBJECTIVES:

We have learned, and hopefully mastered one model of instructional design and development. The Dick & Reiser model for creating classroom materials is one of the best known and effective systematic models of instructional design and development. However, it is most certainly not the only model. And there are plenty of folks who suggest that there are better ways to accomplish instructional materials creation, and that this model has significant limitations. This module will highlight several of the limitations and two alternative models for instructional design and development.

At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:

• Critically analyze the systematic process;
   
• Identify weaknesses in the systematic process;
   
• Compare the systematic process to constructivism as one alternative;
   
• Compare the systematic process to user-design as another possible alternative.

TIMEFRAME: August 13, 2008 – August 20, 2008

ASSIGNMENTS and ACTIVITIES

• Required Reading: 
  1. Constructivist learning in science and mathematics:ERIC Digest: http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-3/views.html
  2. Constructivism: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/construct.html
  3. On Constructivism: http://www.towson.edu/csme/mctp/Essays/Constructivism.txt
  4. Constructivism, A new paradigm: http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc703old97/spring97/7/mill7.htm
  5. Constructivism: http://www.mcps.org/fbranch/Gus/Constructivism.html
  6. Carr, A.A. (1997). User-Design in the Creation of Human Learning Systems. Educational Technology Research and Development, 45 (3), 5-22.
  7. Carr-Chellman, A.A. & Savoy, M. (2004). User-design research. In Jonassen, D.H. (Ed.), Handbook of research for education, communications and technology, 2nd ed., pp. 701-716. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

   

• Assignments and Activities: 
  1. Participate in a discussion of the Dick & Reiser model vis a vis the possibilities of constructivism, and the promise of user-design discussions within the discussion forum entitled “Final Discussion.”

   

 

All assignments due by 11:59p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the last day in this timeframe.

Formal instruction will end on the last day of class. You will continue to be able to access the course materials for one year from the day the course began — with the exception of library reserves.