Tabatha

Mountain
Reflection EDUC 765

Personal

Finding this instructional design program was a wonderful accident. I was taking a school-wide training
and happened to mention to the instructor that I was jealous of her job. She was training our staff on
the latest and greatest ways to utilize our Promethean boards in our classrooms. She too was once a
public school teacher, looking to repurpose her passion for education and explained how she was just
finishing an Instructional Design Program at UW-Stout and that I should look into it.

Two years later, I couldnt be more ready for this shift on my career path. Being a public school teacher
in a large, urban district there has become little room for best practice and educational theory. While I
have become very aware of how I receive training and professional development, unfortunately in my
own career there are few ways to incorporate what I am currently learning and utilizing. I have made it
a point to compartmentalize my own teaching in different learning theories, and I have a reignited
passion for how people learn. I often catch myself mentally thinking (for example), this behavior
reinforcement is behaviorist learning theory, while my students are learning in the constructivist and
cognitivist learning theories during many of our academic subjects. It not only helps make sense of the
learning theories, but also concretes the idea that people learn so differently and there is a time and
place for all learning theories depending on what the end result is.

Looking back on the past eight weeks, the most valuable concept/idea taken away was definitely the
differentiation in adults and children. My greatest apprehension entering this program was that my
instruction has always been child-based. How was I going to make that leap? The further into the
course I went, the more I realized that you teach adults the way you want to be taught; practical, hands-

on, utilizing prior knowledge and experience, and making the learning as real as possible. The most
valuable learning activity was definitely working with a partner, which made this program very real, and
the exercise very relevant. We worked really well together and I valued her feedback. The opportunity
was invaluable.

This course gave me the confidence and the motivation to continue on the instructional design path.
The emphasis on knowing your audience and how people learn has me looking at instruction through a
completely different lens. My greatest concern is finding my place within the ID career world. I am
worried that perspective employers will not be able to see past my years of elementary education and
lack of adult education experience. I am hopeful to alleviate some of this apprehension by connecting
to people within the program who were or are also teachers and have successfully transitioned into the
business world. I would also like to find opportunities to volunteer my ID skills to gain experience and
continue building my e-portfolio with the end goal of finishing this school year and transitioning into an
ID position next fall.

Portfolio Project
The portfolio project was a really relevant way to make sense of the greater ID approach. All to often
learning is taught in theory and knowing the moments I struggled to understand parts of the ID process,
it all became much clearer when practiced. As I worked on each part of the project, the decisions made
were well thought out, and then usually revamped and readjusted as I continued on to the next part of
the process. In example, I had decided to survey my current staff to gain a better understanding of the
instructional needs. My supervisor initially agreed, then changed her mind, worried I would be opening
a can of worms. Instead of the survey, I went the route of talking to educators in different grades and

completing a goal analysis. The process is always in motion; even as I write this reflection, I cannot help
to think about what else could go into the training and instruction of my portfolio project.

My project is focused on training staff in implementing and integrating iPads within their classrooms.
The staff is exceptionally motivated to learn how to use the iPads to enhance their current teaching due
to very strong administrative pressure. Kellers theory of motivation fit this instructional need and
population well. The training would arouse interest, create relevance, and have the expectancy of
success. The staff is internally motivated as they want to do what is best for their students and
externally motivated as they will be observed using the iPads many times throughout the year so the
technology is not being under utilized (Motivation, 2015). Other learning theories utilized throughout
the portfolio were constructivism- the staff actively builds off of what they already know and
cognitivist- providing attention and using prior knowledge to have the most efficient and effective
training possible. I also hold strong belief to the Multiple Intelligence theory that all people learn most
successfully different and there is a great need to honor that. In my instruction, there would be visual
aids, handouts, verbal instruction, as well as physical (completing an action) when appropriate. Finally,
it is also important to hold a great deal of value to andragogy and honor what adult learners will
respond to and take the most away from the most.

It is important to note that the theories above work for this project. Each situation is completely unique
and needs to be treated as such to accommodate the learners. The front-end analysis was fascinating to
me. To get to learn the learners is one of the biggest take-a ways from this project. Knowing my
audience made a big difference when working on the task analysis then without it. Having a strong
background on the audience of the instruction made making the final goals obtainable and relevant. I
had to figure out what my staff knew, what technology was available and when the training would

hypothetically take place. This knowledge was extremely helpful planning the training on pre-
determined professional development days instead of asking staff to stay late, come early or work on
the training independently. Chances are good after getting to know the audience, many staff members
would opt out due to already being stretched too thin with their time.

Being a concrete-sequential thinker, the systematic approach to ID makes complete sense. By
organizing and compartmentalizing the process, each situation can be unique and tailored to the
instructional need. The systematic approach leaves little to chance and is a constantly moving entity.
There is always room to fine-tune, adapt, and change to have the most effective and efficient instruction
available.



Referneces
Motivation. (2015). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from
http://www.instructionaldesign.ort/concepts/motivation.html