Blogs: Gateway to Professional Learning
As graduate student of Instructional design, it is imperative to keep abreast with recent developments in the field of education and especially the design of instruction to meet specific needs. Therefore, to be an effective instructional designer, one must be able to exploit the numerous technology tools and resources that are available on the internet by networking with other professionals to share ideas and experiences. This is where blogs become an important tool. Recently, I explored a number of blogs and sites that contain materials and resources relevant to the field of instructional design. The following is a brief overview of the type of content found in three of the blogs I visited.
The blog at http://ideas.blogs.com/lo/ is a site which reflects on e-learning strategies and instructional design technology. It provides various resources for the evaluation of e-learning environments, the development of learning objects for interoperability, planning and management in Distance Education and learning. The instructional design for e-learning approaches also highlight e-learning planning and management which underscores the strategies for delivering knowledge in the digital age with focus on requirements for building a viable e-learning strategy, how e-learning will change the nature of training organizations and knowledge management and other forms of e-learning. According to Rosenberg (2010);
Most organizations that need to train their employees are experimenting with some form of web delivered learning. But most organizations have focused on the technological challenges, buying the right software, getting enough bandwidth allocated for web-based training, designing course ware etc. These are important first steps but the larger strategic issues remain unsolved-how to make e-learning part of the daily work culture and fully implement its power..
The purpose of multimedia in instructional design is discussed in the blog http://elearningbuzz.wordpress.com/ . As an instructional designer with specialization in online learning, it is expected that multimedia will play an important role in the delivery of knowledge. Although multimedia can positively impact and increase the quantity and quality of information that can be made available to learners, it is necessary to encourage learners to develop their own multimedia images which they can easily use and recall whenever required. By this way learners will be participants in the transfer of knowledge. The purpose of multimedia is “not only to insert cool effects but to apply individual medium to its advantage in such a manner that the potential learning becomes better and more effective than using a single element”. The blog gives an overview of what instructional designers must do while designing web pages and online courses in order to support a learning requirement. It also lists some non-relevant media overload that distracts from learning. This resource will guide the instructional designer to carefully select materials to use and guard against media overload in instructional web pages while designing online courses.
The blog http://ijklo.org/volume1/v1p001-022kraus.pdf/ presents a study conducted by Ferdinand Krauss and Mohammed Ally – A study of the Design and Evaluation of Learning Object and Implications for Content Development. The paper reports “a case study that examined the process of designing and evaluating a learning object to help students understand the therapeutic principles of drug administration. The challenges and issues associated with creating learning objects using interactive multimedia software”. I found this discourse very educating because it brought to the fore the challenges of designing learning objects to meet required instructional needs, how theories of learning impact on the design of learning objects and how to assess the quality of a learning object and how designers can improve them. The ideas highlighted in this case study will surely assist an instructional designer in developing learning resources and objects that will address instructional problems in order to achieve desired outcomes.
As graduate student of Instructional design, it is imperative to keep abreast with recent developments in the field of education and especially the design of instruction to meet specific needs. Therefore, to be an effective instructional designer, one must be able to exploit the numerous technology tools and resources that are available on the internet by networking with other professionals to share ideas and experiences. This is where blogs become an important tool. Recently, I explored a number of blogs and sites that contain materials and resources relevant to the field of instructional design. The following is a brief overview of the type of content found in three of the blogs I visited.
The blog at http://ideas.blogs.com/lo/ is a site which reflects on e-learning strategies and instructional design technology. It provides various resources for the evaluation of e-learning environments, the development of learning objects for interoperability, planning and management in Distance Education and learning. The instructional design for e-learning approaches also highlight e-learning planning and management which underscores the strategies for delivering knowledge in the digital age with focus on requirements for building a viable e-learning strategy, how e-learning will change the nature of training organizations and knowledge management and other forms of e-learning. According to Rosenberg (2010);
Most organizations that need to train their employees are experimenting with some form of web delivered learning. But most organizations have focused on the technological challenges, buying the right software, getting enough bandwidth allocated for web-based training, designing course ware etc. These are important first steps but the larger strategic issues remain unsolved-how to make e-learning part of the daily work culture and fully implement its power..
The purpose of multimedia in instructional design is discussed in the blog http://elearningbuzz.wordpress.com/ . As an instructional designer with specialization in online learning, it is expected that multimedia will play an important role in the delivery of knowledge. Although multimedia can positively impact and increase the quantity and quality of information that can be made available to learners, it is necessary to encourage learners to develop their own multimedia images which they can easily use and recall whenever required. By this way learners will be participants in the transfer of knowledge. The purpose of multimedia is “not only to insert cool effects but to apply individual medium to its advantage in such a manner that the potential learning becomes better and more effective than using a single element”. The blog gives an overview of what instructional designers must do while designing web pages and online courses in order to support a learning requirement. It also lists some non-relevant media overload that distracts from learning. This resource will guide the instructional designer to carefully select materials to use and guard against media overload in instructional web pages while designing online courses.
The blog http://ijklo.org/volume1/v1p001-022kraus.pdf/ presents a study conducted by Ferdinand Krauss and Mohammed Ally – A study of the Design and Evaluation of Learning Object and Implications for Content Development. The paper reports “a case study that examined the process of designing and evaluating a learning object to help students understand the therapeutic principles of drug administration. The challenges and issues associated with creating learning objects using interactive multimedia software”. I found this discourse very educating because it brought to the fore the challenges of designing learning objects to meet required instructional needs, how theories of learning impact on the design of learning objects and how to assess the quality of a learning object and how designers can improve them. The ideas highlighted in this case study will surely assist an instructional designer in developing learning resources and objects that will address instructional problems in order to achieve desired outcomes.
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