Thoughts on Instructional Design and Other Stuff

  When it comes to an instructional design project (ID), one of the project manager's roles is to manage the schedule, budget, and task breakdown. There are various tools and resources that can make a significant difference in creating the "ideal" schedule that a project manager could use. This week, I explored different resources and found two that would be useful for future ID projects. Trello: www.trello.com   Trello is a user-friendly project management tool with a visually appealing interface that users would find helpful (Trello, n.d). I set up a free trial with Trello and found many features that would make a project manager's role more effective. It can help a project manager break down tasks into boards, lists, and cards, which would help organize and prioritize different tasks (Trello, n.d). Trello can allow the user to map out tasks, assign responsibilities, and track progress in real-time. Trello has templates for users to use and share, and it inte...

This week, I have spent some time with an exercise, "The Art of Effective Communication," to help me explore how communication modality affects message interpretation within project management contexts. In this exercise, I was able to observe a piece of communication in three different modalities: as a written text, as audio, and as a video. Using this exercise, I explored and understood more about how effective communication with stakeholders and instructional designers is vital for project success and how it influences team coordination and the success of project objectives (Greer, 2010).   The exercise "The Art of Effective Communication" was a multimedia program that showed a message in three different modalities: email, voicemail, and face-to-face video. Reflecting on these different modalities, I recognized how the choice of communication modality plays a significant role in clarity and effectiveness for project teams such as stakeholders (Aakhus & Bzdak...

 Starting a new project, especially with a friend, can be a very exciting and rewarding experience. However, as anyone who has tried to start and launch a new project knows, the road to success may not be as smooth as you would like it to be . Just like a race that went bad, the best way to learn is to reflect on what went wrong and learn from the experience. My friend and I are both marathon runners, had an idea during one of our runs to start a running website aimed at helping first-time marathoners. Unfortunately, despite our passion for running, the project didn't work out as we had hoped. Here's what I learned from the experience and what we could have done differently. The idea behind our website was simple , with the goal of creating a website where first-time marathoners could find support, advice, and inspiration. Running a marathon is not easy , and the idea can be very daunting. My friend and I know this from experience, and we wanted to share our experienc...

  As an instructor who teaches both face-to-face and online courses, one key factor that I must consider every semester is cheating and plagiarism. Nowadays, students can easily find tools that can help them plagiarize or cheat on papers, exams, and discussion forums, such as ChatGPT and Google Bard (Claybourn, 20024). Due to this, several plagiarism detection tools are available to online instructors. These tools and others can help instructors identify potential cases of plagiarism. Some common tools are Turnitin, EVE (Essay Verification Engine), and Grammarly (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). Turnitin is a well-known plagiarism detection software that can check a student’s work against an extensive database of sources. It can also prove the instructor's feedback on citation and referencing issues (Baker et al., 2008). These tools help instructors identify potential cases of plagiarism and should be used in conjunction with clear polices to prevent cheating in the first place. These p...

Instructors must consider several factors when it comes to creating an online course. Some of these factors are choosing an online platform that is suitable and accessible for students, developing and creating engaging learning materials, and implementing technology. Creating an online course affects how the students engage with the course material and their overall experience with the course. In online learning, technology and multimedia are tools that can play a key part in the effectiveness of the course. For instance, games and simulations in online education have become a popular strategy to engage students and improve learning outcomes (De Freitas, 2006). Games can be defined as tasks that engage students, involve decision-making, and promote knowledge acquisition from a new perspective. In contrast, simulations can be defined as an activity to explore and replicate real-life situations (Conrad & Donaldson, 2011). These tools cater to di...

Getting off to a good start for an online learning experience involves key presences such as social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence (Mehta et al., 2017). As an instructor or instructional designer, the starting point should identify and state the desired learning outcomes regarding online learning and the course design. Once the learning outcomes are determined, the instructor can design the objectives for achieving those learning outcomes and choose the technology tools.  Instructors can use technology to engage students in learning and create knowledge (Mucundanyi, 2021). Knowing the available technology is key when designing an online course because the course depends on the technology. Boettcher and Conrad (2011) mention that instructors should begin a course with simpler tools, gradually increasing to more complex tools as the course progresses. Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Canvas and Blackboard can help instructors create an effective, smooth,...