instructional design

Instructional Design Interconnected with eLearning

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Edith Peña, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, MS in Talent and Development program.

eLearning has become an important tool for education and training in today’s world. In the article “Instructional Design: The Brain and Heart of eLearning”, Satyabrata Das (2023) refers to instructional design as the heart and brain of eLearning. No different from an in-person classroom setting, instructional design is a major piece of an eLearning program and one of the most widely used methods for the design is the ADDIE cycle. The design of the program is what makes eLearning successful, engaging, ensures the learners needs are met, and that it is aligned with the instructional objectives. 

The article is published on eLearningIndustry.com, which is one of the largest knowledge sharing platforms for learning and development, and human resources. The articles published on this site are by reputable individuals. Satyabrata Das (2023) is the Founder and CEO of HexaLearn and has experience in planning and implementing programs. This article could be a great resource for individuals in the space of learning and development since it provides insights from experienced individuals. 

Reference

Das, S. (2023, October 4). Instructional design: The brain and heart of eLearning. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/instructional-design-the-brain-and-heart-of-elearning  

Mystery and History of Instructional Design

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Lynn Urban, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, MS in Training and Development program.

Instructional Design (ID) in Higher Education often holds a mysterious existence for students and educators accustomed to traditional learning.  To uncover mystery, it’s helpful to look back and understand how ID became part of what we now know as “e-learning” teaching strategies.  Sharon O’Malley (2017) points to a time in military training where the practice emerged during World War II, “when the military assembled groups of psychologists and academics to create training and assessment materials for troops”. (O’Malley, 2017).  The author traces ID over decades, landing on the popularity of online courses and remote learning infiltration to higher education practices.  

I recommend this article for anyone interested in beginnings of instructional design, and the journey to gain acceptance in higher education. The article is from 2017, when there was still mystery surrounding the field. While written pre-pandemic (and much has developed since that time), the references to ID entering higher education are relevant.  Providing quotes and backgrounds of students and educators, readers can glimpse online technology being new and adaptation being slow.  Post-pandemic we see that ID has taken a larger space in education, but there is value to understanding history behind technology – to appreciate how far we have come.

Reference

O’Malley, S. (2017, August). Still a mystery. Inside Higher Ed.com. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/08/02/what-do-instructional-designers-do

Effective Strategies for Effective Instructional Design

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Cody Stock, graduate student University of St. Francis, MS Training and Development program.

Effective instructional design is accomplished by using the proper teaching methods that align to the objectives of the course being developed. In a recent article, Steph Nagl, discusses instructional design methods that can be integrated into teaching to evoke the best outcomes for learners. The author discusses the following instructional design models: ADDIE model, Merril’s Principles of Instruction, Gagne’s Nine Events of Instructions, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and Backward Design/Understanding by Design. The author concludes that instructional design is most effective when the method that complements the course content and learning style of the students is utilized.

I recommend this article for anyone who works in instructional design and is looking to implement new strategies into their classroom. This article provides useful insights by asking each instructional design method and defining why it is effective when aligned properly to the objectives of the learning material. These instructional design methods are briefly described and are a great starting point for anyone looking to improve their online classroom environment.

Reference:

Nagl, S. (2023, May). Top 5 instructional design methods for effective teaching. Wake Forest University. https://sps.wfu.edu/articles/instructional-design-methods/

Assessing Micro-Learning in a Healthcare Education Environment

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Theresa Anderson, graduate student University of St. Francis, MS Training and Development program.

This article on the healthcare education micro-learning environment measure (HEMLEM) is a research article aimed at creating an evidence-based measurement tool for assessing clinical micro-learning environments across several healthcare professional student groups. The authors suggest there may be gaps between what healthcare professional students should be learning and what they learn. The authors took a mixed methods approach to create a micro-learning environment measure. They acknowledge that teaching quality, staff attitudes, and behaviors are critical for a good micro-learning environment. 

The article is helpful for anyone attempting to measure how micro-learning within the education of a healthcare professional environment affects students’ learning. The authors created a measurement tool through a step-wise approach: literature analyzing existing tools, generating new items through thematic analysis of student experiences, the Delphi process involving healthcare educators, piloting the prototype, and item reduction. The item reduction tool was a twelve-question survey of the students with differing healthcare professions. HEMLEM seems to be an efficient way to measure success or what needs to be improved in a micro-learning environment. 

References

Isba, R., Rousseva, C., Wolf, K., & Byrne-Davis, L. (2020). Development of a brief learning environment measure for use in healthcare professions education: The healthcare education micro learning environment measure (HEMLEM). BMC Medical Education, 20(110). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-01996-8

E-learning Assessments Guide for Beginners

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Theresa Anderson, graduate student University of St. Francis, MS Training and Development program.

Wondering how to determine if your e-learning course is effective? Assessments, such as tests and quizzes, can provide valuable data. However, if you’re new to e-learning, you may be unsure of what constitutes a good assessment and what metrics are essential to measure. In this article, Bianca Woods (2022) addresses the most commonly asked questions about creating a practical e-learning quiz. Woods explains what e-learning assessments are, if assessments are always necessary, when learners should be assessed, what types of questions to include, and how to design effective assessment questions. 

If you’re new to online training and want to evaluate whether your course is well-designed, I highly recommend checking out this article. Woods (2022) recommends incorporating assessments at multiple points throughout the course if it aligns with the instructor’s goals. This article offers tips for beginners, and I plan to implement them in my work.

References

Woods, B. (2022). The beginner’s guide to effective e-learning assessments. E-Learning Heroes. Retrieved June 8, 2023, from https://community.articulate.com/articles/overview-of-e-learning-assessments

Speech-Language Pathology E-Mentorship Capitalizes Virtual Space

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Theresa Anderson, graduate student University of St. Francis, MS Training and Development program.

Research on mentorship has mainly come from the fields of higher education, intercultural psychology, and counseling. It examines the personal, interpersonal, and professional aspects that contribute to positive and successful relationships. Despite mentorship in all field areas, including student training in clinical and academic settings, speech-language pathology (SLP) literature has not explored these aspects extensively. Mentorship promotes the development of theoretical and clinical knowledge. This article proposes a new “e-mentorship” model, which substitutes remote mentorship for in-person. It outlines the potential roles a mentor and mentee could play and links interpersonal and professional skills in a creative tutorial for e-mentorship in SLP.

This article delves into the different mentoring models and how they can benefit individuals in the field of SLP, regardless of their level of knowledge and experience. The authors explore various methods of utilizing e-mentoring within SLP and emphasize the importance of collaboration between mentors and mentees, who may be clinicians, researchers, faculty members, or students. By adapting their approaches and resources also to suit the needs of their clients and caregivers, they can make the most of e-mentoring opportunities and create a virtual space that goes beyond geographical barriers, leading to an enriching experience in therapeutic and academic environments.

References

Taiebine, M., & Keegan, L. (2022). E-Mentorship in speech-language pathology. Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders, 6(3), Article 8. Retrieved June 4, 2023, from https://doi.org/DOI: 10.30707/TLCSD6.3.1664996985.164457

Teaching Medical Procedures. How Do I Apply Instructional Design?

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Tricia Padgurskis, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, MS in Training and Development program.

When you go to a medical appointment or visit someone in the hospital, do you ever wonder whether the physician or nurse has been properly trained in central or IV-line insertion?

In the Medical Science Educator Journal (a peer-reviewed publication of the International Association of Medical Educators (IAMSE)), Cheung (2016) proposes that using instructional design provides effective and consistent training methods for medical procedures to professionals.  Like many professions, healthcare can have inconsistent training methods which may lead to patient safety concerns.  If you have studied Gagne’s nine events of instruction, you might enjoy the article’s description of a blended instructional design model in an example of how teach a chest tube insertion to staff (Cheung 2016).  Although the design was clearly described, the proposed educational model did not provide outcome results in staff/student actual skill performance.  Cheung only measured the learners’ perceptions of their training in a Likert scale pre- and  post-evaluation (Cheung 2016).  Hopefully, we will see future studies in job performance outcomes with this instructional design.

When you read this article, consider for yourself whether you might apply this instructional design to your clinical workplace!

Cheung L. (2016). Using an Instructional Design Model to Teach Medical Procedures. Medical Science Educator Journal, 26, 175–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0228-9

Where’s the Tech in Informal Learning?

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This post comes to you courtesy of your convivial and continually-learning guest blogger, Daniel Liestman a master’s degree student in the Training and Development program at the University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL). 

Moore & Klein (2020) accept that most learning in the workplace is informal, but realize the bulk of resources are provided for formal training.  In a survey (N=385) and subsequent interviews (n=20) of trainers they found T&D professionals engage in informal learning to foster informal learning by passing along articles or link to targeted individuals.  Trainers also supply just-in-time job aids and tools.  In addition, they create and curate learning objects and related materials for just-in-case situations.  Alternatives not explored might include brown bag sessions or walking about and engaging with staff.  Fostering informal leaning is a resource-efficient approach to counter budget and staffing shortfalls while improving organizational performance.

IMHO (in my humble opinion), Moore & Klein (2020) address an intriguing topic.  The rub is that the suggestions in the survey and those offered in the interviews are pedestrian (email, help sheets, filing away digital objects, etc.)   How might technology be better deployed?  How might online organizations foster those watercooler moments?  Could corporate maker-spaces foster creativity and discovery to grow the bottom line?  How can informal learning be tracked and evaluated?  The profession seems to have a wing-and-a-prayer approach to informal learning.  The research would have been more satisfying had the authors dug more.  I do hope this is not as deep as they could go, and this is all that they can offer.  Perhaps these topics can be pursued in subsequent research?

Moore, A. L., & Klein, J. D. (2020). Facilitating informal learning at work. TechTrends, 64(2), 219-228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00458-3

Emerging Technologies and eLearning-Raising the Bar

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Danielle Victoriano, graduate student University of St. Francis, MS Training and Development program.

E-Learning is evolving to create the ultimate self-driven and self-paced yet interactive design. It is emerging into an interactive model that is intuitive for the learners’ needs. Is this what learners need and want? Will this aid them in achieving their goals? Mangalvedhe examines this in this 2023 article. The author examines how emerging technologies can influence and transform learning and development moving forward. In the article, the author examines how artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, gamification, mobile learning and microlearning will change how we interact and respond within the learning model to a more profound level than we have in eLearning.

This is an excellent article for content creators and instructional designers that are seeking ways to provide interaction and take learning to an application level. The author examines in detail how each technology can be integrated into instructional design. Mangalvedhe (2023) also discusses how each technology can fulfill and appeal to the various needs of learners. Examples are provided to suggest how these technologies can be executed successfully in the created content. These examples will be a starting point to consider using these advanced technologies that workplaces are already utilizing to raise the bar of flexible and efficient learning while expediting the upskilling process.  

References

Mangalvedhe, A. (2023, January 12). The emerging technologies in Elearning. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/the-emerging-technologies-in-elearning

The Pandemic vs Higher Education

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This post is provided by guest blogger, Callie Surber, graduate student at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, MS in Training and Development program.

Almost one thousand higher education administrators and faculty responded to a survey in mid-May 2020 on Covid-19 impacting their spring semesters across college campuses in the United States. The survey results were described and reported by A. W. June in the most recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Continue reading →