Learning opportunities are all around you if you take the time to look for them. If you go out looking for the places that are trying to relay important information to a learner, you will notice many things that you were not aware were there.
I was walking through the mall today and went to eat at a restaurant and noticed a change in their menu. They have added all of the nutritional information for all of the items on their menu including the totals for all combo meals. There was also a place that explained what the numbers mean and how to properly balance your diet. This has been a big push lately with labels being placed on all food items so consumers know exactly what each food item has in terms of caloric intake. The board at the restaurant was somewhat effective. It gave the consumer the numbers for their different food items but it didn’t really do a lot to help people learn about balancing a diet. You were expected to have that prior knowledge before looking at that information. The issue becomes, what happens when a consumer does not have that prior knowledge? How do they help get them that knowledge?
I also attended a class at a home improvement store recently. They clearly had their goal stated on the dry erase board that was located at the training center in the store. The training was on how to properly paint a wall that already has paint on it. The person that was leading the training session was knowledgeable about the process but it was clear that the knowledge had come from reading a training type manual and not from heavy personal experience. They had some experience with painting interior rooms before but not with some of the more specific or difficult questions that were asked. It felt as the training was something that was written by someone else that had extensive knowledge on the subject and then gave to other who had very little training. I did learn some very important skills but I was a low-end user walking into the training. It worked well for me but there were some others there that did not get as much out of the training as I did. It was definitely a beginner level course and should have been marketed that way better so attendees could understand better the nature of the course.
Instructional design is all around us everywhere we go. We are constantly being taught and expected to learn different things. These two retailers are just an example of how many places are venturing into educating their customers. Many home improvement stores and even home improvement channels have moved from just showing or selling home improvement supplies to educating their customers how to complete different projects and help them in their home improvement journey. They want the customer’s projects to be successful so they will come back for their next task. They want to create loyal customers not just by providing the best prices but by helping educate their customers.
Instructional design is one of the most important things that occur in education. Educators need to sit down to design effective instruction with all of the tools at their disposal to create meaningful and engaging lessons and units to make sure that students get the information they need from the courses. Good instructional design should be at the cornerstone of all educational planning. I have been working to incorporate technology in my classes and in other educator’s classes for the past 4 years. I totally designed 3 courses to be totally taught using technology at the primary tool for instruction at the middle school that I was teaching and now I work with many teachers to help design their lessons. Designing the lesson to fit properly in the lesson cycle is very important. It is also important to make sure that all of the tools, technology especially, is not just put in there to have it in the lesson. It needs to be the best tool for the job and have a very specific purpose in the lesson cycle. Many teachers do not truly understand how to properly use technology in their lessons and just place it in there to have it because it is the new thing to have in your lesson. Having teachers think about how to design their lessons with the technology used in meaningful ways, is an important step towards changing the way students learn.
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