Friday, July 5, 2013

Week 5

1. Section VIII addresses new directions and emerging technologies for IDT. Select three of the following and reflect on how you might apply them in your current or future position in the IDT field:

  • distributed or e-learning environment
  • reusable design or learning objects
  • networks or Web 2.0 technologies
  • rich media
  • digital games or simulations
    virtual worlds

What learning goals or objectives could the technologies you selected help learners foster? Could the technology facilitate attainment of that learning goal better than traditional instruction? Why or why not?


2. Section IX focuses on issues related to instructional design, rather than new technologies: professional ethics, diversity and accessibility, the nature of design, and providing instructional guidance. For each of the technologies you selected above, discuss what ethical issues using the technology might present. Does the technology enhance accessibility and accommodate diverse learning needs? How and/or can you design instruction using that technology? How much guidance would instruction with that technology require? What kinds of guidance would be necessary?

I would say that each of these directions or technologies could be utilized in any type of position. I currently work in higher education which means that I am communication and contact with both faculty and staff. I feel like in my current job when trying to reach the interest in student learning in higher education that rich media can help make a connection and keep the attention span. The research shows that using rich media you can remember more and relate more to the context that is being taught.  In my position not only will rich media help in marketing events but it will also help with learning the content. There was a study conducted to where the students in school were give 8 different learning tools. It was funny that textbooks rated the lowest. If you are interested in reading more about this study you can find it at: http://www.eurodl.org/?article=568.

 
I would say that the second one I would use would be distributed or e-learning environments. I have found that many of the students and or faculty at the higher education level are moving toward the convenient or online focused. I know from personal experience that learning online poses some very challenging obstacles, however, the accessibility of it makes it that much work it. As technology becomes easier to use the success rate for programs and classrooms depends on the university, departments, and faculty by in. In my current position as the employer relations coordinator I am currently over the work study student worker trainings. I was looking into this process and thought how can I make this better or more interesting. I went to my director and told her that we need to make this an onling process.  At first she was resistant to it, however, after surveing the students they indicated that they would retain more knowledge from the online learning processs. It allowed the information and examples to be at thier finger tips. My degree is all online and I love it. It makes it flexbile but the part I love the most is it forces each of us to think outside the box and be creative. 


The third one I would use would be digital games. In today's education society it is so important to allow faculty to bring in digital technology in fun interesting ways. I think most faculty are use to just lecture and textbook, however, research shows that it is not enough these days. Faculty and Staff need to be more engaging by using digital games which is a simple fix. May people have budget limitations however, there are free game creators online. In my experience when I use to work for the Center for Applied Leadership we had purchased a game system that would work like jeopardy. That game system could be utilized to create their own questions and answers that relate to the corresponding material. Why not make content interactive and exciting. I would like to use this in a career stand point of what or how to with interviewing and applying! Learning would need to be goal oriented and contextualized.


 I would say for each of the three choices I have selected that you would have to be aware and sensitive to code of ethics. You one would want to make sure that you are not violating any persons rights, you are fair, and thinking of the society. You want to be open, honest, and understanding. I think this would and could be a challenge since as professionals we are not always aware of the ethics at hand. You would want to make sure that you are not biased or using anything for personal gain. I would also image that an issue would be peoples privacy. I would think with any of these three especially with elearning that peoples privacy could be overstepped. Fairness would also be something to consider. Not every student or faculty will be as up to date in skills however, you can not grade each person the same all the time.  Another thing you would want to keep in mind as a challenge to overcome is students or people with disabilities. There are many people in the world with a form of a disability so you would want to be cautious and correct with your procedures to aid in that area.