Key Points of Interest
During this week, several chapters from the book Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology become the main readings. All of them are interesting and educative to me in specific ways due to the authors’ intentions to discuss the role of instructional design in various educational activities and practices. Some of the main issues and points of interest will be discussed in this work to prove the urgency of additional research and my personal academic involvement.
In modern training programs, many designers and educators pose the same question about the appropriateness of formal or informal learning. The issue that surprises me in this reading is the statement that despite the fact that “formal and informal learning are distinct from one another”, these two types continue interacting in important ways and including the elements of each other (Carliner, 2018, p. 143). This reading also contains strong ideas on how technology and instructional designers may facilitate informal learning, making it convenient for learners and based on “findability” and “usability” factors (Carliner, 2018). Such explanation focuses my attention on the investigation on the peculiarities of formal and informal learning taking into consideration the abilities of instructional designers and technology use. In addition, the role of leadership has to be further discussed to understand how instructional designers can use technology to support people and recognize the need for informal learning.
It is also necessary not to forget about the role of ethics in a learning process. Smaldino, Donaldson, and Herring (2018) state that though many educators and designers know how to teach and develop effective strategies, some of them still neglect and remain unaware of the code of ethics and professional behaviors in the chosen field. This idea arouses my interest because of the inability to stop the development and improvement of a technology environment and the necessity to understand ethical competencies (Smaldino et al., 2018). Educators, as well as learners, should identify ethical issues that can be involved in the learning environment. At the same time, it is necessary to consider the commitment to society, to an individual, and to the profession. However, leaders should not stop thinking about a variety of practical implications of all these issues. Theoretical background plays an important role, but the way of how their implementation looks in practice has to be further researched.
Finally, I have to mention the chapter that touches upon the issues of the economics of materials in the field of education. I like the part where Wiley (2018) discusses the challenge of open educational resources (OER) as a response to the negative impact of copyright and the necessity to realize what the nature of education is in modern society. Sharing is defined as a critical step in a learning process, and students, as well as educators, must know how to all the sharing in a right form. Though OER principles change the core values of education, the role of instructional designers is to determine their use, limitations, and benefits.
In general, the application of instructional design and technology to the field of education may have different forms. This week is a good chance to learn how designers and educators should combine ethics, diversity, and resource access with various types of learning. To conclude, I should say that additional research and thorough examinations of learning and technology can never stop because of the possibility to find out new aspects every day.
References
Carliner, S. (2018). Informal learning. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.) (pp.142-151). New York, NY: Pearson.
Smaldino, S. E., Donaldson, J. A., & Herring, M. (2018). Professional ethics: Rules applied to practice. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.) (pp. 303-308). New York, NY: Pearson.
Wiley, D. (2018). The evolving economics of educational materials and open educational resources: Toward closer alignment with the core values of education. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.) (pp. 316-322). New York, NY: Pearson.