A letter to Friend Instructional Technology and Instructional Technology. By Hamid Mohammed-Ahmed

Transcription

1 1 A letter to Friend Instructional Technology and Instructional Technology By Hamid Mohammed-Ahmed IST 524: Taught by Dr. Bude Su Dear Robert.

2 Two months ago, I began studying another masters program called Instructional Science and Technology at California State University in Monterey (CSUMB). I know the first thing that will pop up into your mind is that I m switching from teaching to technology. Therefore, you might start to recall my educational and work history which is all related to language and nothing in my record is pertaining to technology. 2 No surprise, like you and many others, I used to think that masters of instructional science and technology (MIST) could not go along with my career as a language teacher. For long time, I resisted the idea of joining this program and I finally settled to it. I thought it was all about technology but I found that technology is just a part of it. I thought it was a different science but I discovered it is a science of what I and every teacher or trainer is doing. Let s see how instructional science and technology works. It begins with instructional technology; some people call it performance technology. From this name, we can easily figure out it is something to do with performance; how people perform in work place. Therefore, we can define instructional technology as instructional systems, methods of instruction, or organizational instruction. This system of instruction (instructional technology) was built on major instructional theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. To apply instructional technology in education or workplace setting, researchers have come up with instructional systems, and the most wellknown application models are Instructional Systems Design (ISD) and

3 Human Performance Technology (HPT). I will give you a simple idea about instructional design theories and instructional design models. 3 The instructional technology theories simply explain how instruction should be. For example, behaviorists believe that learning occurs when we observe change in people s behavior, for example; instructors or teachers give learners a learning task, get a response, and provide feedback to learners. Cognitivists on the other hand, think that learning occurs when there s change in someone s knowledge, for this reason; instructors should help students organize the information in their memory, retrieve and apply it in a new situation. Constructivists maintain the view that knowledge is created by learners and therefore instructors have to help learners make knowledge by linking what they know with what they learn. Building on these approaches, researchers have created Instructional Systems Design (ISD) and Human Performance Technology (HPT) models. Theroies of Insturction INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY Methods of Instruction INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS DESIGN HUMAN PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY While Instructional Technology refers to the theories on which you build your instructional plan, Instructional Design and Human Performance Technology are simply methodological guidance for planning out and executing your instructional plan.

4 Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model is straightforward steps for building instruction or training program. Think about it this way, you have been asked to design a training program for sales employees of a marketing company. Here is what you do. First, you think about the problem. Why should these employees need training in the first place? The answer is that they are not bringing as many customers to the company as they should. So, you determine that there s a problem of performance. Then you identify the problem and its causes, and what you need to know about these employees and their working environment. What you do in this step is called Analysis. Second, you collect information about the employees, their needs, the working environment, and the materials for training. This step is called Design. Third, you build up your training program from the materials you have collected. This step is called Development. Fourth, you deliver or teach your materials to the employees. This step is called Implementation. Fifth, after teaching, you do assessment to make sure that your training meets its objectives. Did these sales employees bring more customers to the company after training? If not, then you should modify your instruction. This step is called Evaluation. These five stages of instructional design are called ADDIE. The following shape shows five instructional design phases (ADDEI): 4

5 1- Analysis 5 5-Evaluation Instructional Design (ADDIE 2-Design 4-Implemtation 3- Development ADDEI Model adapted from Trends and Issues of Instructional Design and Technology (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007) Human Performance Technology (HPT) is another approach of implementing instructional technology. It follows the same way of instructional design but it has three steps instead of five. In the first step, you analyze the performance to see if it meets the goals of the company, if not then you go to the second step to analyze the causes of low performance. In the final or third step you identify what type of solutions needed to address the causes of low performance. Unlike, Instructional Design, solution in Human Performance Technology might not be training; it may take some sort of adding equipment, software, or system to effectuate performance or paying incentives to motivate employees. Human Performance Technology (HPT) Performance Analyis 1 Identifty the problem Cause anlysis 2 Identfiy the causes Intervention 3 Identify the solutions

6 HPT Model of the International Society of Performance Improvement. adapted from Trends and Issues of Instructional Design and Technology (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007) 6 So, a person who implements instructional technology by applying the principles of instructional design such as ISD or HPT, is called Instructional designer. An instructional designer could be a teacher or a curriculum developer in an educational institution, a trainer at a company or a government institution, or anyone whose job is to develop and deliver instruction or training to learners or trainees. Remember, any instructional designer could be a teacher or trainer but not every teacher and trainer is an instructional designer. In other words, a teacher or trainer who does not follow or implement principles of instructional technology cannot be called instructional designer. That is why companies and institutions hire experts to study, plan out, and execute solutions for their performance problems. Today, instructional designers are working as consultants or experts for businesses, military, health, education and other institutions in the United States and globally. Some institutions have a team of instructional designers while others have one instructional expert whose job is to oversee the implementation of the company s projects that are run by external consultants. Do instructional designers need to use technology? The answer is yes. Instructional designers use educational technology as tools to build and deliver instructional materials. This educational technology is called multimedia or instructional media such as producing instructional videos or teaching modules or creating e-learning websites. Today, instructional media plays an important role in long-distance and online education. My current program (MIST) is an example of online education delivered by instructional media.

7 I hope I gave you a general idea about instructional technology in general and instructional designer in particular. To learn more, I suggest the following sources Visit these websites: 1- This website has links to all information one needs to know about instructional design. 2- Designhttp:// This website has an article titled by Morrison, Ross & Kemp Module 4: An Overview of Instructional Systems Design which explains instructional designs systems in details. 2- Read this book. Trends & issues in Instruction Design and Technology, 2 nd edition,.(2007) By Robert A. Reiser & John V. Dempsy. This book has chapters about the history and definition of instructional technology, instructional design, human performance technology, and theories of instruction such as behaviorism, constructivism, cognitivism and others.