- How can an instructional design model help you develop your instructional plan? Identify the steps of the DID model and briefly explain each.
As a teacher that entered the field through the alternate route, I received a crash course in instructional design. To my knowledge, instructional design is along the same lines as lesson planning. This is an aspect that I have seen as a weakness in my teaching. I commonly use the design phase and leave it at that for my weekly lesson plans because nothing more is expected of me by my administration. Many times I have seen that this has proven beneficial in that I do not spend a lot of extra time planning out what goes on in my classroom, minute by minute. I have always possessed the ability to find my way through my subject areas that I am teaching. The negative aspect of this is that many times I feel unprepared when situations do not go the way I had planned. Chapter two of Teaching and Learning with Technology points out many different aspects that I can use as a teacher to not only incorporate technology into my classroom, but also enhance my preparation for each unit.
The instructional design model that chapter two discusses is used to guide educators in the planning phase of their unit. As I have described in my first paragraph, this is where I usually stop my preparation. According to the three step plan, an educator should design, plan, and then act. Each step provides a more specific plan of action to teaching a unit. According to the text, the instructional design model is a plan of instruction that results in a complete and precise blue print of what should happen and how to arrange the key critical components necessary to design effective instruction. By using the instructional design model, I can rearrange my unit to effectively instruct according to my students learning styles.
The first step in the DID model is to know the learner. What is meant by this is to understand the different styles in which the students comprehend information. The second step requires an educator to state his/her objective in a clear manner, so that a student will understand what is expected. Thirdly, an educator must establish a learning environment. This learning environment could mean everything from the arrangement of a classroom, to the behavior of the individual student within the classroom. The fourth step of the DID model is to identify teaching and learning strategies. This is where technology can become a major asset to an educator and a student. Because each student learns differently, it is the educator’s responsibility to discover what stimulates a student to learn. The fifth step is to identify and select technologies. Many times, in today’s society, these technologies are limited according to funds provided by a school district. Educators must be selective in purchasing different forms of technology for instruction. The sixth and final step of the DID model is the summative evaluation and revision plan. This is where an educator reflects back on the steps and checks to see if they were effective along the way. If not, this is the time to revise your plan.
I am glad that you made your posting.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brett, for your post. I see that you mentioned the requirements of your administration. I can remember in undergraduate school at the University of Memphis creating extensive lesson plans that would prepare me for the "real-life" classroom. However, I had mentor and veteran teachers tell me before I was in the field that once there, all that's required of you is the "calendar outline" approach to lesson planning in which you jot down the page numbers of the day for each subject taught. Now that I'm in the field, I see that those veteran teachers were right about what is expected of us. However, I feel that if we take the time to carefully design our instruction using a systematic format such as DID, then potential problems will decrease and learning will increase to its highest possible potential.
ReplyDelete