My immediate thought is that teachers could use this tool with other colleagues within their department. I can't tell you how many email messages I have received that read, "check this out," with a link to a cool website. So we have all of these random email messages of cool websites, which are legitimately very neat, often containing high levels of educational value. The problem is that when the time comes to make use of that information, it becomes a hassle to remember, "what was that website?" or "who sent that message?" With social bookmarking, anytime someone finds a neat website, they can share it using a technology, such as delicious, and it is always there. I also like that the bookmarks are stored online, so whatever you save at school, is retrievable at home, and vice versa.
Beyond that idea, I am honestly still a little in the dark about all of the benefits of social bookmarking, so I find it difficult to come up with other educational applications. I look forward to reading about other ideas.
Question 2: To what degree do the definitions in this chapter correspond with what you have thought about this area and what is it that you hope to do in your line of work (or in a future career)? Is there anything surprising or very new that you read in this chapter? Does something seem to be missing?
I suppose my favorite definition is the one presented by the authors of this book. Allow me to bold a few phrases that stand out from the full definition, then extract them to explain why:
"The field of instructional design and technology encompasses the analysis of learning and performance problems, and the design, development, implementation, evaluation, and management of instructional and non-instructional processes and resources intended to improve learning and performance in a variety of settings, particularly educational institutions and the workplace. Professionals in the field of instructional design and technology often use the systematic instructional design procedures and employ instructional media to accomplish their goals. Moreover, in recent years, they have paid increasing attention to non-instructional solutions to some performance problems. Research and theory related to each of the aforementioned areas is also an important part of the field.""...design, development, implementation, evaluation, and management..."
This phrase tells me that ID&T is about more than delivering instruction. It includes all facets of the educational process.
"...intended to improve..."
In a sense, this brings us back to the Siegel (2003) article about computer imagination. Instructional design and technology is not simply about being flashy or attention-grabbing, though those are often appreciated side benefits. It is about improving the learning experience by including technologies that make things possible that wouldn't be without it. Or as Siegel explains, "it has to offer features that are a clear advantage over [traditional methods]."
"...and the workplace."
This is important to me in particular, because my background is in Career and Technical Education. For anyone who has every worked in industry, you probably know the dread of attending "mandatory training" that is developed, delivered, and concluded (follow up) poorly. Wouldn't it be great if companies had a greater vision for the value of powerful and effective workplace learning!?
In my current line of work, I hope to use some of these tools immediately in a hybrid fashion to develop a more valuable learning experience for my students. If I ever decide to switch careers, I could see myself moving toward an occupation that incorporates more of this either in a post-secondary educational setting, or a workplace setting.
Overall, I thought that the various definitions were quite appropriately inclusive for their time. I was surprised, however, about the length of the 1977 definition. My initial reaction was something like, "Seriously!? What could you possibly have to say about this topic that would fill 120 pages, especially in 1977?" I suppose we should be grateful that Dr. Peterson didn't ask us to sift through the entire publication!
I thought the same thing about Social Bookmarking. I think this would definitely be most helpful between teachers. It would also be nice to have the same sites at school as you do at home saved in one place.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you mention the problem with keeping links that teachers share via email organized. My mailbox gets cluttered with all the emails that I save containing links. There are some that I haven't had time to look at yet. And there are others that I think I might use at a later date but do not want to add to my already cluttered mess of bookmarks.
ReplyDeleteHaving teachers share via social bookmarking would be a great idea and would also be helpful for encouraging the sharing of web content districtwide. I think teachers would also be more willing to share material in the less formal environment of a social bookmarking site. They would be less concerned about whether or not the material was worthy of a schoolwide or districtwide email.
I'm really interested in the way you linked this week's reading to the Siegel article. The more I read about technology in this class, the more strongly I agree that it should serve a greater purpose than "flash." Your connection about the definition made me think a lot about teachers (and all careers) using technology. Even if everyone embraces technology, will they all try to use it to it's fullest potential as mentioned in "Trends & Issues" and Siegel? It feels like a long road ahead(:
ReplyDeleteI haven't had the problem with too many e-mails saying check this out. Mine are always sharing jokes, which we are not allowed to forward--so are generally deleted before I read them. The others are all ads. I only found the social bookmarking handy because I switch computers so often, depending on where I am working. The bonus I had for them is I got to pick the tags, so they actually mean something to me. Many of mine are history tags as I do a lot of research to create program for my chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. I think the new site Diigo will be handier for that and for our final project--with the ability to add a virtual post it note to remember what we found there to be of use. I had been using the note section in e-learning for that, but found in my last class it was not so handy as you have problems copying things from those files. I ending up printing and retyping them, and was hoping only to copy and paste. (Sorry, technology has made me lazy.)
ReplyDeleteMargie