Reflection Paper

This class is interesting to me. From trying to understand the functions of instructional learning to learning how to apply it to my everyday life/profession. I have always been of the mindset that no matter what I am learning, make an effort to apply it to my daily life and other areas of my life. I get asked the question what major are you in and what does it mean? Honestly, I would make up something to surpass the question.

During my daily profession, I did not know how much of what I was doing was connected to instructional design. I am designing new programs and workshops for my students from older presentations mainly by paper. Now, reading out the Real World Instructional Design book for class the second chapter stood out a bit to me because it talked more into getting to know the people who will be learning the material you are producing. The statement, “the instructional designer identifies the gap between the current state of affairs and the ideal situation, with the gap representing the need.” (Katherine Cennamo and Debby Kalk, 2017) hit home the closet for me. Dealing with students from different backgrounds and many do not have an understanding that being in college is the beginning of a new way of thinking and moving. So, I must learn how to bridge that gap so that I can help as many students as possible.

I hear and have read a lot about the ADDIE model of instructional design and it does help when you have to put together a project. I see how in the long run it can save you a lot of headaches in trying to design the right project for your organization. Also, I’ve had one of those lightbulb moments when I had to come up with an assessment for how my student are learning. Reading the material for this week has me to think about the best way to assess the learning styles of my students. I started to look at the learning objectives and outcomes that I wanted them to know by the time they finished the workshop or attended a presentation. Fortunately, that has made me revamp all of the workshops along with the handouts that come with each of them.

I do understand that my outlook upon what is being learned inside of this program is kind of one-sided. However, it has had me to look at different techniques to use with my students so that they can learn as much as possible.  I have learned that your learning outcomes have to be measured in such a way that it helps you to shape for future workshops and productivity. I am interested to see how the rest of this semester shapes my forward motion and creativity.

Works Cited

Katherine Cennamo and Debby Kalk. (2017). Real World Instructional Design An Iterative Approach to Designing Learning Experiences. New York: Routledge.