Goal 3

Demonstrates critical reflective and metacognitive thinking

At the beginning of this program, I had very little understanding about what it meant to be a designer. I knew that I was going into an education program so I had an idea that I would be creating lessons of some sort. As my emphasis is Interactive Multimedia Technologies, I made the assumption that I would be learning how to use different media for creation of lessons. I did not understand that the use of the word “technologies” meant design rather than the typical use of it as meaning the hardware and software that we use. I learned the correct meaning of technologies as design in IT 500. I feel that now I understand that being a good designer means being cognizant of theories and using them as appropriate, making sure that every little detail is taken care of, I continue to understand differences between designing and teaching, and remembering the value of writing to learn.

I think this excerpt out of my “Jury Writing #3” from IT 580 sums this goal up very nicely:

As I’ve continued in this program, I’ve been increasingly surprised at how I’ve developed as a designer. I still don’t see myself as one, but I do see the path becoming more and more passable. I started off two years ago knowing nothing about design and creativity. I now see that with each step I’ve taken I’ve learned and built upon the previous ones.

This past semester, I completed IT 597, where my individual project was creating an instructional video on “How to Brush Your Teeth”. I approached this as “what do I want the viewer to know.” So I wrote a script and filmed it. In this class, IT 580, I created a video on “How to Upload a Video to Youtube”. I used the knowledge I gained in IT 510 on designing instruction by loosely using the Morrison, Ross, Kaman, and Kemp Model (2010) to create a paper “how to” instruction. I used this to create a video on my laptop. I then used what I learned in video skills from IT 597 to edit the video. So, I was able to utilize the design and production skills learned for this small section of the project in IT 580.

As I look over this last semester, I see that the biggest gain I’ve achieved is really how thoughtful I’ve become about different design aspects. In IT 430, we concentrated on elements and principles of design. In really looking at these throughout my day, I’ve become much more aware of how they fit into all aspects of design. When helping in our project for IT 580, I feel that this microscopic analysis has really helped create a worthwhile product. I’ve found that in looking not only at what I’ve created but at what others have created, that I’m more prone to analyze the design of the product. I truly ponder this now. I thought about this before, but not in any depth. I think that this shows growth in me as a designer and a person.

Theories

As I progress through the program, I find that I understand more about the theories that form the basis of this field. In learning about the theories and concepts behind design, I find that there is so much more than just figuring out what I want to teach, forming basic objectives and creating a lesson. In my Bachelor’s program in Elementary Education, I was introduced to different theories, taxonomies, and ideas about teaching. However, I didn’t clearly understand how they actually applied to teaching and creating lessons. As I continue through this program, I am gaining a clearer understanding of how they apply when creating a design. I show evidence of this in Goal 1 by applying cognitive theory, situated learning, and adult learning theory to different projects.

Although I didn’t mention constructivist theory in goal 1, I find that I have a better understanding of building on previous knowledge than I did prior to taking these courses. I haven’t really thought, “Oh, I’m applying constructivist theory here” when working on a project, but it’s in the back of my mind. My background is in Montessori. Although her first work was done before the education revolution in the 1960 with cognitivism and constructivism being talked about heavily, her way of guiding children in learning is really much the same concept. As I learn more about the constructive theory, I find more and more how I have always created lessons around that because of my Montessori training.

In learning about theories, I’m able to have the knowledge and research of others to use to make a better design. As I start the design process now I have a base to use to facilitate the design process. By envisioning what my design needs to be and how it needs to presented in a manner using one of the theories, I am better able to create a design that is more likely to succeed in teacher the learner what it’s intended to. By using the theories, I have been learning more and more and understanding them further. I have found that during the design phase, I go back and re-read what I have on the theory or theories that I’ve decided to apply to the design. In doing so I’ve come to integrate them more into my style so my flow seems better than before; it’s less stilted when working. I think that by using the work and research of the authors of the theories, I am becoming a better designer than I would had I just kind of acknowledge that there were theories out there and been done with it.

Details

As an adult, I have always seen myself as a detail oriented person. While going through this program, I find that I wasn’t as detailed as I thought. I feel like I tend to think more deeply and pay attention to details more often.

During the 2012 spring semester, Dr. Knowlton emphasized details in both IT 486 and IT 500. He tried to get me to envision exactly what needed to be in the different projects and why. Using storyboards helped keep me on track by keeping the big picture at my fingertips. By having this outside of my brain, I was then able to think more about the little things that needed to go on the webpages. Also through all of the interaction with classmates as well as with Dave, I was able to weed out superfluous information so that the information I presented was more important. I feel that I have become more efficient by focusing on details.

Since I was taking IT 486 and 500 at the same time, many of the theories that we were studying in one overlapped in my thinking into the other class. In doing so, I feel that I started questioning how the different aspects of the classes fit into whatever we were learning at the time. For example, when we learned about cognitive learning theory in 500, I questioned how I could use this to help make my website better in 486. Prior to entering in this program, I truly doubt I would have tried to overlap classes in this way.

In IT 510, we studied the Morrison, et al, model of design. One of the things that really hit home with me was creating a task analysis. In this I learned to concentrate on detail. Morrison’s example of a task analysis was making a peanut butter sandwich. He listed each and every little step as well as describing how things should look, feel, be held. I really had never thought that in creating a lesson even the smallest thing needs to be considered during that creation. We were given the assignment to create a task analysis for washing a car and we got to choose which part of the car we would create the analysis for. I chose the tires and tire wells. Initially I thought this would be a fairly simple, maybe half page project. By envisioning even the smallest tasks, my task analysis was almost 3.5 pages long. After discussing it with my classmates, I found that I missed things. I was astonished at how detailed I needed to be and still was able to miss things.

I did a task analysis for my project in IT 510 and found that it was a bit easier to do one when the task had been performed in front of me rather than just in my imagination. One of the things that helped me here was taking screen shots as my SME (subject matter expert) went through the steps of creating an Excel spreadsheet. I was then able to use these screenshots in my task analysis as cue for me later on when creating the lesson booklet.

For IT 430, we created 4 mini projects that were basically some sort of flyers. In Goal 2, I talked about rapid prototyping. This really got at the heart of details in design elements. I found that I needed to take into account all of the little details to create an overall pleasing product that was ultimately useful. I found that I could have a product that contained all the information but was not very useful because it was overloaded with “stuff” (cognitive overload). There was just too much for the user to take in. By getting into the nitty gritty of what was really needed and taking out superfluous information or graphics, I was able to create something that was useful and appealing to the eye.

The group project I am currently working on in IT 530, we have found that we need to have a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to help keep everyone in a project informed of all of the parts of the project. In this, we needed to think of all of the things we needed to do and break it down into all of the parts until the smallest detail was taken care of. The artifact was a group effort so I really can’t take much credit for it except that I helped.

Having worked through this program has really made me become so much more aware of details in my everyday life. I notice in particular things that pertain to the absorb brainset as mentioned in Your Creative Brain (Carson, 2012). I’ve been picking up on the tiniest detail in silly things like when my dryer door is open how it frames the outside door’s locks…it looks like a frowny face. Also things like the way the clouds catch the sun to form a rainbow spectrum in them. But I also have found that I’m more detailed in my writing that I do for work. I need to make notes on what I’ve done with each patient. As I look through my notes from the beginning of my program to now, I find that there is much more detail in what I’ve done or said with the patient. This helps me know better next time what I need to reiterate to the patient or how to handle a particularly reluctant child.

Teaching and Design

I now see design in more thoughtful ways. I understand that designing and teaching are two separate entities rather than one in the same. Designing a lesson or unit of lessons has become clearer to me throughout the work I have done so far in this program. I had the background of education and a specialty in Montessori education. These taught me concepts of teaching, but now I have a better understanding of how to design the lessons that possibly others will teach. In the past, if I was designing a lesson or a unit, I was designing it with the thought that I was the teacher. I now have a better understanding of how to design an instructional task so that it can be taught by another person.

Designing the instruction for IT 510, I created a unit to be self-taught by the learner. By creating this, I was able to begin to understand how to look at the lesson from the learner’s point of view more than I did previously. I had to anticipate where the learner would come upon questions that needed to be answered and be sure to supply those answers since there wasn’t an expert available to answer them.  

The group project for IT 580 was presented to us as Dave being the client with his needs and wants laid out to us as our guide. But we weren’t going to be the teachers, we were just designing the instruction that Dave would use for his IT 100 class. We needed to be clear as to what every artifact he would need for the students as well as give a precise timeline that he would use when teaching this unit. By participating in the creation of this project, I learned how the teacher using another’s design might be thinking and what needs that teacher may have. We had to anticipate the teacher’s questions in this instance and answer them in our packet so that the teacher would have all of the information s/he needed to be able to be effective in presenting this unit.

Writing to Learn

Dr. Knowlton introduced me to the concept of writing to learn initially in IT 486 and 500. He reinforced this concept in EPFR 563 and again in IT 510. By encouraging me to just write and not worry about where I was going with the writing, I have found that Dave has really guided me in stretching my thinking. Sometimes getting thoughts down on paper is the most important part of a project. I can think and think about what it is I want to do, but until I get it written down, it may not actually be the best product I can create.

In the discussions, Dave would insist that we give reasons behind why we liked or disliked a certain post. This caused me to delve deeper into my thinking to come up with reasons that I could write down. The funniest were when I would start out with a question about a post, write out my reasons, then find that I’ve answered my own questions. Or better still completely changed my own mind.

In IT 510, we were talking about how to write the revisions on our project’s goals so that the learner could trace our thinking as we refine them. As I wrote my question and tried to make myself clear, I ended up clarifying the whole thing to myself. Here is that example.By simply writing out what I saw, I was able to understand what it was that Dave was looking for in our revisions. I know that I read through what I had written and by the time I wrote, “So, I guess I kind of answered my own question on clarity” it was clear to me what was expected of me.

Alex Portera (2013) says, “growth and experience come not from the results that you get, but from the process itself” In writing to learn, the results do matter, but as I’m writing out my thoughts, the process, I’m learning as I go along. This helps in the design process because I’m learning what I think and getting it down in a usable format. By doing this, I’m able to go back later and use this information easily. In my brain, I may have an idea about a project, but until I have it written out, the idea cannot truly be viewed by me or, more importantly, others. The writing to learn process gets me from idea to a place where I can actually start working on a project or I can make the project better by finding out what questions I really have. I’ve become more conscious of thinking about what I think through this process and I believe this will make me a much more productive and conscientious designer.

References

Carson, S. (2010). Your creative brain. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Goal 4

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