Education Commons^™

Higher Education – Just How High Is It?, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Some people argue that the nature and purpose of education is to gain a broad range of knowledge. Unfortunately, higher education programs and courses are often afflicted with the myopia of knowledge, or even just brief encounters with it, above everything else. I don’t think knowledge alone represents the true heights of “higher education.”

Practice: An Essential Supporting Cast Member Of Outcomes-Based Instruction, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

I love good movies. Most of us do. Movies represent a complex combination of many elements combined by filmmakers to deliver a viewing experience to the audience that can be very moving, endearing, and memorable. Or the movie can fall flat, or just be mediocre.

Among all the elements that go into moviemaking, the lead talent is key to the success of a show. But so is the supporting talent.

Evaluation: The Bright, Illuminating Principle Of Teaching And Learning, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

A few years ago, the planet Pluto was downgraded to “dwarf planet” status. Pluto is a small body made up of rock and ice, located billions of miles from the sun (Nasa, 2012). In other words, it’s a cold and rocky place, of little significance, far from the center of the system. This sounds like a description of evaluation in the realm of teaching and learning—at least a description of how evaluation is often treated.

Creative Design: Asking “What Is It Like” And “Who Cares?”, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

How do we put creativity into academic courses without getting irrelevant or distracting? Creative design is somewhat of a holy grail in many industries, and this is certainly true in the area of teaching and learning. As designers and consumers of instruction, we seek creativity.

Encouraging Non-Native English Speakers In The Classroom, Marivic Lesho

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

International students are a vital part of the community at American universities. There are innumerable benefits to this intercultural exchange, but for students to have the best experience, instructors need to be prepared to address certain language-related challenges.

An Instructional Design Primer, Rob Wood

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Much has been written in this forum about instructional design; however, for some followers, the primary concepts and principles of instructional design may yet be relatively new. The goal of this post is to provide a little history and a few highlights about the practice of instructional design with an emphasis on higher education.

Introducing The Learning Lounge Podcast, Joel Gardner

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

At Franklin University’s International Institute for Innovative Instruction, we design and develop learning experiences for students and clients all over the world. From clarifying learning goals and shaping a learning strategy to integrating quality content and creating effective materials, this work can be complex. Instructional media is one of these components, and if done right, it can increase learning and make a course more engaging. In my experience, however, creating quality media can be difficult, especially when working with teams of faculty, staff, and instructional designers who are dealing with heavy workloads and competing priorities.

Enter Bradd Birmingham, the Director …

Why Is It Difficult To Measure The Roi Of A Training Program?, Jessie Kong

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Many organizations spend a lot of money to provide training programs to improve their performance in today’s competitive environment. Since investment in training programs has been increasing, upper management want to justify the actual costs and benefits of training programs for their various stakeholders.

Why Study Human Performance Technology?, Joel Gardner

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Many instructional design programs, including Franklin’s master of Instructional Design and Learning Technology, include a course on Human Performance Technology (HPT). However, very often, when I work with students or instructional designers who are learning about HPT, they fail to see the connection between instructional design and HPT. In this video, I explain my perspective on why HPT is critical for learning professionals, including instructional designers.

Baby Steps Toward Sleep: Using Instructional Design In Everyday Life, Carolyn Levally

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

As a mom to a little girl who will be turning one shortly, I’ve realized that I’ve quite suddenly become a teacher of basic life skills for her – how to eat, how to go to sleep, how to walk, etc. For the first few months of her life, I used a cold hard approach to teaching some of these skills, such as “let’s just put a bottle in her mouth and hope that she takes it.” When this tactic failed miserably, I started considering applying instructional design to my teaching strategy, especially the concept of “chunking” learning. Having worked …

Modeling: Online Students Need Demonstrations, Too, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

How many times have you seen children pretending to be their sports heroes while playing basketball or soccer? How many teens or adults have you seen wearing a movie star’s hairstyle or adopting the clothes of another favorite celebrity? How often have you observed people mimicking media personalities in voice, gestures, sayings, etc.? Have you ever found yourself doing something because someone else did it and you thought it was a great idea? Of course you have. Whether it was beneficial or damaging in the long run, you have most likely done something only because someone you esteemed did it.

Quantifying Creativity: A Left-Brain Approach To Learning Objectives, Rob Wood

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

I am a teacher. I love the time when the proverbial light goes on in a student’s mind and a theory or concept or method or technique suddenly makes sense. I witness the moment that a few sparks of knowledge kindle a fire of learning.

Tips For Effective Collaboration With Subject Matter Experts, Tasha Weaver

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are critical members of any course design team, for their contributions to both the course content and the cost of the project (Bedell, 2018). A SME can identify and prioritize the content needed to address critical course learning objectives, and she can do this efficiently, saving the designer hours of research. The question is: how can you, as the designer, best partner with the SME to create an effective learning experience for students? The following presents some tips and best practices for collaboration.

How Much Work To Assign In Our Courses?, Jesse Fuhrman

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

No matter what type of course we are designing, we have to keep in mind how much time we are expecting learners to spend. When thinking about time expectations, there are a number of things to consider, beginning with the expectation set by those who are asking for the course or training module.

Graduate Assistant Experience At The Institute - An Interview With Amie Tope, Amie Tope

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Amie Tope, 2018 graduate of Franklin University’s Master of Science in Instructional Design & Learning Technology (IDLT) program, recently sat down for an interview with the IDLT program chair, Dr. Yi Yang. Amie not only graduated with a 4.0 GPA and gave a speech at the Winter 2018 Commencement—she also accepted a job offer before she graduated from the program! During this interview, she talks about her experience working as a graduate assistant for the International Institute for Innovative Instruction (the Institute), and offers suggestions for future graduate assistants.

Bridging Learners And Clients: Challenges And Strategies, Xiaopeng Ni

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

As discussed in my previous post, “Clients as an Instructional Resource,” integrating clients into the curriculum is promising and potentially innovative. A client-based course emphasizes a pedagogical orientation to gain real-word experience through meeting the “expressed needs” from the outside of the classroom. Students create impactful work, collaborate with clients, and sense professional culture. During the past several months, by collaborating with other faculty members, I had opportunities to implement some of these ideas in two graduate courses: Marketing Communication Planning and Instructional Design Capstone. The results, based on students’ feedback, are positive and well demonstrate its pedagogical values.

Do You Apply Learning Theories To Your Online Course?, Jessie Kong

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Emerging technology is changing almost every aspect of our lives. As a result, we should not be surprised that new technology has an impact on how people learn. The development of online learning has rapidly increased through the advancement of technology. Indeed, technology is a powerful tool for instruction—it helps students actively engage in class activities, collaborate with their peers, and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Of course, technology can also save time and money by delivering online instruction anytime and anywhere. Therefore, we cannot ignore the use of technology that can create many instructional strategies and activities.

The Emotional Roller Coaster Of Getting Stuff Done, Kevin Stoker

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Getting things done is both daunting and empowering…and sometimes overwhelming. It’s likely rare that you have too little to do. Every day you look at that pile of work on your desk or the 500 emails that you need to respond to and you wonder how you’ll get through it. When you look at the totality of the things you need to accomplish it can sometimes feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

What International Teaching Has Taught Me About Instructional Design, Niccole Hyatt

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

As instructional designers, we rarely get an opportunity to interact with the learners who actually experience what we develop. We typically rely on learner evaluations, input from teaching faculty, or future enrollment numbers as evidence of positive instructional design interventions. However, there are many reasons why learning events succeed or fail. If a course is well designed, but the instructor is not up to par, can we blame the development of the course? What if the designer of a particular course is also the individual who teaches it? Taking it a step (or a flight) further, what if the class …

Applying Project Management Strategies In A Large Curriculum Conversion Project In Higher Education, Joel Gardner, Patrick A. Bennet, Niccole Hyatt, Kevin Stoker

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Higher education is undergoing great changes that require universities to adapt quickly, and making these changes can be difficult. One discipline that can aid in executing change is project management, which has developed a set of clear processes and strategies for completing initiatives quickly and effectively. Several authors have identified project management competencies as key in the practice of instructional design. However, in our experience it can be difficult to operationalize project management, particularly in instructional design projects that are large in scope and require a quick turnaround.

Mind Maps Allow Our Students To Paint A Picture!, Barbara Carder

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

When Fred Barnard said that “a picture is worth a thousand words” back in 1927, odds are that he wasn’t thinking about mind maps in higher education, but his idiom was true then and it remains true today.

Five Challenges For New Online Instructors, Constance Wanstreet

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

A boot camp for new online instructors focused on five challenges related to transitioning to online teaching, building spaces for learning, preparing students for the work of online learning, managing the classroom & assessing learner outcomes.

Learner Responsibility: Questions And Implications, Jesse Fuhrman

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Recently, I was discussing the issue of personal responsibility with a colleague. Specifically, we were discussing the responsibility of students to know where certain kinds of information is found within a course, or how a certain type of action is accomplished within a given learning management system. At what point is it no longer the responsibility of the course designer to create learning objects to convey this information? When does the student bear the responsibility to either already know or to learn this information on their own?

My Reflections On The Association For Educational Communications And Technology (Aect) 2017 International Convention, Lewis Chongwony

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

From November 6 – 11, 2017, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida was a beehive of activity, as members of the AECT, one of the oldest professional organizations, passionate about uncovering better ways of helping people learn, congregated for the 2017 convention. With close to 400 concurrent sessions, several workshops, and more than 1,000 attendees, the place was beaming and brimming with excitement and an aura of freshness as attendees imbibed from pots of research, best practices, and experiences of speakers and peers both in sessions and during breaks. Looking around, I could easily tell that the 2017 …

O Designer, Look In The Mirror, Matthew Barclay

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

What chef ever made a meal that he or she would not be happy to eat or was doubtful the paying customer would relish? It may happen but it is likely rare. People in the profession of cooking and creating excellent meals take pride in their work to satisfy their customers. They strive for the joy of those they serve.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Instructional Design Reflections, Rob Wood

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Franklin University graduate student Amie Tope is preparing to enter the instructional design field in early 2018. Dr. Rob Wood has been practicing instructional design since 1988 and serves as a faculty member at Franklin University. Amie and Rob recently sat down for an informal, collegial discussion to talk about their perspectives. While Amie looks forward to stepping across the threshold and formally beginning her instructional design career, Rob is looking back over nearly 30 years as an instructional designer and considering what eventual retirement might look like.

Clients As An Instructional Resource, Xiaopeng Ni

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Higher education is under pressure to change from both within and outside (Christensen & Eyring, 2011). One such pressure is from future employers. According to the survey conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education (Supiano, 2013), most employers significantly value students’ authentic experience over their classroom activities or grades. Authentic learning experience is a direction for teaching and learning innovations. As I discussed in my previous blog post (“Let’s Get Real about Learning”), authentic learning facilitates the transfer of learning and provides students contextual knowledge and skills. Students who learned decontextualized knowledge can answer items on a test but may …

Human Resource Development For Learning And Performance Improvement, Jessie Kong

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Having studied Human Resource Development (HRD) in my Ph.D. program, I have received many questions from students, colleagues, and others about what HRD is. Therefore, this post briefly discusses the definition and functions of HRD as they relate to the role of an instructional design leader

7 Skills Of Knowledge Work, Joel Gardner

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

We are now working in the knowledge society, in which information and knowledge are the primary commodity. The majority of employees in this society are knowledge workers, which means their primary function is to gather and create new knowledge. The nature of work in the knowledge society is cross-disciplinary, complex, varied, and ambiguous, and knowledge workers must be able to access and use broad knowledge in flexible yet disciplined manner.

Everyone Needs An Editor, Gregory Kurtz

The International Institute for Innovative Instruction Blog

Walt Disney once said, “Everyone needs deadlines.” That statement may seem straightforward enough, but it’s important to note that the entertainment legend was referring not merely to arbitrary dates on a calendar. Rather, Disney was talking about the benchmarks to which each contributor to a project must adhere in order for a creative process to reach its ultimate goal—the delivery of a product or production on time and with a minimum of frantic, last-minute activity. Failing to recognize and meet deadlines can easily lead to ill-advised shortcuts and the resulting deliverable either falling short of its full potential or even …