It makes sense to me that Reiser would emphasize a broad interpretation of the term “instructional design” to include the teacher and the means of instruction along with instructional media, as the trend within the instructional design and technology world indicates “that (a) teachers should be viewed on an equal footing with instructional media—as just one of many possible means of presenting instruction; and (b) teachers should not be given sole authority for deciding what instructional media will be employed in classrooms.”
Instructional Technology is defined as “the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning.” Reiser's use of the terms as interchangeable, the synonymous nature of instructional technology with educational technology, has altered my personal understanding of the definition of instructional technology and has therefore broadened my view of the field of educational technology.
As Reiser has pointed out, the rise of instructional media from a tool to be selected and utilized by a teacher to that of a viable means of instructional delivery in and of itself has been slow, but is becoming more the case. Teachers are not in the position they were prior to the 90’s, where curriculum planning and implementation was created and implemented by individual teachers. Now, as a result of NCLB, state educational authorities are demanding that district-wide alignment in content areas conform directly to state guidelines and benchmarks. In Washington state conformation to the Essential Learning and Academic Requirements and the Grade Level Expectations is mandatory in most content areas and is being implemented in the rest, including the arts. Quantifiable and measurable progress needs to be documented using state mandated standardized measuring tools such as the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) and CBAs (Classroom Based Assessments). This is having an effect on the classroom in that has led to a greater emphasis on the systems approach to education. While the implementation of instructional media has been relatively slow over the last 50 years, these changes in education are forcing a greater focus on instructional technology and design in the classroom, leading to an exponential rate of increase in the use of technology and media based instruction as a means for instructional delivery.
2 comments:
"the synonymous nature of instructional technology with educational technology" I am so pleased you uncovered this. Try to maintain this framework as you proceed through the program.
Like the blog name too :)
"These changes in education are forcing a greater focus on instructional technology and design in the classroom, leading to an exponential rate of increase in the use of technology and media based instruction as a means for instructional delivery." While I don't see an exponential rate of increase for the use of technology in my district, I do have to agree that NCLB has caused states to use a systems approach to reach its performance goals. Another example of this to add to the ones you listed comes from last school year in our district; our district started to create the "common assessments" that every 6th grade math and science class will use by every teacher, in every classroom throughout the upcoming year in our district. (This could also be your CBA's but we've just developed ours.) While some teachers feel that this takes away their creativity (and I am one of them); I can see the positive aspects that this can give. If the state creates these assessments for me, that's less time for me to have to create them and...if I teach the core content, then students will be able to have no problem passing the test. This leaves me more time to be creative to use more instructional media in my classroom so that students can reach their goals and perform proficiently (or hopefully better) and be more ready for the world in which they will contribute, no matter what test they are taking. I do believe, however, that this can only force that greater focus on the use of instructional technology in the classroom if professionals make it a priority; only then will it grow exponentially.
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