Last Class of the Semester

In our final class for the semester, we discussed the final career presentations. I really enjoyed learning about lean manufacturing and I felt that it has a lot to do with instructional design. It was interesting that this particular type of manufacturing relied so much on Behaviorist principles. I wonder if that was more successful in one set of people than with another set of people. It just goes to show that sometimes behaviorist principles, though they may not acknowledge the agency of the learner, they work! The principle of making processes more efficient was also interesting to me. I know in a previous job, I observed that there was a lot of waste in the production of instructional products. While it was nice to have that freedom to make mistakes, I think lean manufacturing could improve the processes and make people more aware of the consequences of certain design/production choices.

I have really enjoyed this class this semester. Looking back on my notes I really feel like I've learned a lot. I've been able to understand topics well enough to develop my own opinions towards them, and teach others about ideas I have learned.

Just the other day, both of my parents asked me questions about technology in education. I shared with my father the thoughts I had about how the moral dimensions of instructional design were applicable to family life, and he liked my ideas and asked me for a way that as a family we could each post our "crafts," what skills we've each gained that would be useful for each other, and where we could each post goals that we'd like to receive help achieving. I told my Dad about the Web 2.0 technologies I'd learned. Using NetMeeting, I showed him how to create a blog and I also showed him the capabilities of a wiki and we compared the two and decided that we're going to create a family blog for this purpose. My mother teaches Math to Special Needs students in middle school. She has one student who cannot yet read and she was wondering if I knew of a way to create a story with sound and pictures to teach the student how different sounds go together. I was able to tell her about Photostory and imovie, and I told her that I would gladly help her create such a story. But I explained that some of the other ideas we learn about in Instructional Technology include allowing students to learn by helping them create the stories about how sounds go together for themselves. I could tell my mother hadn't yet explored that idea, but she was really excited to try it.

I feel that the things I've learned this semester have helped me see things in a new perspective. I've enjoyed the people and topics in the class very much. I believe that from what I've learned I can have added value and influence in any context in the world.