Don Morrison?Ǭ�
has made available his speaker notes for a presentation on "What do
Instructional Designers design?" Much of what he says resonates with my
own experience and perspective. First, that tradional instructional
systems design cannot address the multitude of?Ǭ� alternatives available to us today – such as knowledge management,
performance support, blogs, workflow learning, communities of practice,
etc.
Morrison also says that Google is a learning tool [I agree, it’s how I
learned HTML], and that it favours information
over instruction. This is an
interesting point. A few years back, I had a conversation with the
design team at Tecsult-Eduplus
about their learning programs for astronauts. They recounted how they
had initially designed some courses which adhered to the "standard"
rules of using only 7 points of information per screen. The feedback of
the astronauts was that they wanted not only more information, but the
maximum information possible per slide. For these bright students, time
was of the essence and they couldn’t waste it by clicking on the next button.?Ǭ� I have noticed
that medical school students are the same in their learning style –
they absorb information like sponges, and later reflect on it. Speaking
for instuctional designers, Morrison says:
That if Google is being perceived as
the best learning tool ever, it’s because it has developed relevant
notions like
adjacency, weight
and
PageRank, implemented them
in a smart, innovative process which is embedded in a lightning-fast,
user-friendly interface.
What LMS, what LCMS, what competency engine, what third-party or custom
course library or curriculum, what instructional design theory has done
anything close in terms in responding to today’s learning needs??Ǭ�
I think you and I both know the answer. Not one.
In comparison, our response has been linear, turgid and unimaginative.
Morrison goes on to discuss a number of design models, including some
more advanced models (and lesser known within many instructional design
teams) such as van
Merrienboer’s Four-Component Instructional Design Model , as well
as more general Cognitive Load Theory. The whole text is worth a read,
and worth the effort of reviewing or researching Morrison’s references.
This text should also be read by anyone in higher education where
educational technology is taught, to show that there is a heck of a lot
more to learn than how to put courses online.
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