Journal Assignment
(40% of course grade)
You can learn a lot by organizing a reading, integrating that reading with your own ideas, and/or elaborating on a reading by making new connections. The journal assignment in this course is based on the theory that generating while reading articles/chapters about the field of Instructional Design and Learning Technologies (ID<) facilitates your own learning. As you create each journal entry, consider the following guidelines:
A few journals might deviate from the instructions on this handout; for the most part, though, your journal will consist of a computer-generated (usually “word processed,” but other software such as PowerPoint, Inspiration, or DreamWeaver might be useful) summary and reaction.• Create
a brief summary of the reading.
Use a heading of "Summary" to show where your summary begins.
Your summary might only be a paragraph, a concept map, or a list of major
points that the article covered.
• Write a reaction to the
article. Use a heading of
"Reaction" to show where your reaction begins.
Your reaction might be--but you are not limited to--a discussion of any
one of the following:
- How the ideas in the article fit or don't
fit ideas from other readings.
- How the ideas fit or don't fit with your
prior experiences and/or your philosophy of education.
- Why the ideas are not applicable in your
professional (or personal) endeavors.
- Why the ideas in the reading make you
uncomfortable (or why you disagree with those ideas).
- Why the ideas in the reading pleasantly
surprised, confused you, or frustrated you.
- A description of innovative exercises,
assignments, or activities based on the reading.
- What happened in your classroom/training center/etc. when you applied the ideas in the reading?
Regardless of the point of your reaction, use specific details
as support for what you write. Avoid
the temptation to simply regurgitate the author's ideas without reacting to
them.
Consider
the following thoughts about your journal:
• The representation of your ideas is
more important than correctness. So,
don’t feel a need to heavily edit your journal entries.
I read right over typos and other gaffes.
• Journals are due during class.
If you miss class, you should e-mail your journal to me as an RTF or Word
attachment. Your e-mail should be
"dated" prior to the start of class.
• I may want to share your insights with
the class and other ID< professionals, so if you write something that you
do not want shared, indicate the content that I should treat confidentially.
• Don't confuse long length with good
quality. They are not the same.
• Your journal should help you produce
your course design project. Your
journal also should help you prepare for class discussion.
Since IT500 is the main theory course in the ID< program, your
journals also might be useful to you in future courses, as you prepare for
juries, and as you work in the design studio—don’t throw them away; who
knows: They may save you from having to read the exact same article
twice.
• I want you focused on learning, not
receiving a grade; but one of my responsibilities is to grade you.
On each entry, I will mark a + for a superior journal, a √ for a
journal that meets expectations, and a - for a journal that falls short of
expectations. At the end of the
semester, I will assign a grade based on (a) the total number of entries that
you submitted, and (b) the quality of the entries.