As we approach week 11 in the course, the material has been making more connections within the course to the readings and activities. The topics that I have been reflecting on more frequently throughout the semester as I learn more about what it means to be an Instructional Designer are the instructional analysis class activity and chapter 5 covering processes and tools in the text by Saul Carliner and Margaret Driscoll.

Several learning philosophies and tools of practice are covered by Carliner and Driscoll such as behaviorism, constructivism, andragogy, and Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction. The Nine Events of Instruction combine several models and philosophies such as behaviorist, cognitivist, as well as the information processing model (Carliner & Driscoll, 2019). Reading about this process earlier in the semester caught my attention but recently reading more information about each of the events provided an opportunity to reflect on some of the work I currently help produce as well as future work that might involve designing instruction based on skills. What stood out the most about Gagne’s events was that while it seems like a procedure at first glance it can be modified based on the needs of the instruction and learner. After reading the brief examples for each of the nine events, I found myself reflecting on how familiar many of the events seemed in past learning experiences.

Alongside Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction is the Information Processing Model. This model while briefly described references cognitivism. The topic and study of cognition is still very new and remains an interesting topic regarding ways to describe how learning happens. Learning more about the three stages of information in cognitive processing has helped make the terms short-term and long-term memory become meaningful terms. Combining the cognitive stages of information processing with many other topics this semester such as the approaches to assessments has helped clarify why many design models and processes are cyclical rather than linear due to the needs of the design processes to maintain the alignment between outcomes, activities, and assessments.

Another topic that helped me better understand the process of determining objectives and outcomes is the instructional analysis activity from class. Reading about the topic helped identify the value of the process but the activity in class was more impactful in learning about the context of the step in the stages of designing outcomes and assessments. While learning and realizing that no singular step is more important than others, the instructional analysis is one we do not want to skip as we design assessments based on the skills learner’s gain while working towards the outcome of the instruction.

As we work towards the end of the semester, I anticipate many of these topics and new ones will continue to connect with each other. One new term that I learned this semester is andragogy which is the theory of adult learning. So far, many of the topics that have caught my attention are related to cognitive models or theories.

References

Carliner, S., & Driscoll, M. (2019). An overview of training and development: Why training matters [Kindle DX Version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com