Competency 8:
apply computer-based technologies and media to the solution of ID problems
8.3: Demonstrates understanding of social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology and applies it in practice
Artifact: Practicum Final Report - 57300
As a freelance instructional designer, I have been confronted with ethical considerations on more than one occasion when I have determined that training is not the solution the client needs. As easy as it is to simply proceed and design the solution the client wants, I feel it is the ethical responsibility of instructional designers to be truthful with our clients about the likely effectiveness of the solution they expect. Doing so enhances our credibility as professionals. For the e-learning course I designed and developed for my final practicum, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the project transformed itself from the design and development of a relatively straightforward online certification course to one that was bound up with social, ethical, legal, and human issues.
For my practicum project, I partnered with CraftSpirits Corporation (CSC), a Los Angeles–based small business that sponsors a series of competitions for micro-liquor brands. The owner of the company had long expressed an interest in expanding his business into server training and liquor certification courses marketed to bar and restaurant managers and their employees. For this project, I would design and develop an online, asynchronous beverage server training course.
Initially, the owner’s business goal for the course was simply to establish an additional revenue stream for his company. However, during the process of the formal needs analysis that I conducted for the project, I discovered that beverage server training had become a statutory requirement in several states for anyone who works in an establishment licensed to serve alcohol. In states where beverage server training was not compulsory, such a program was strongly encouraged by the state or required for insurance purposes, or both. Once I realized both the legal and human issues implicated in offering this type of course, I sat down with the owner, and we refined the goals of the project to foreground the potential social benefit of the course:
“Provide a valuable public service by promoting safe and responsible alcohol serving and consumption. By providing such a public service, CraftSpirits can support a critical, mission-based business goal and, more important, play a part in helping to educate servers about the range of health and safety issues associated with irresponsible alcohol consumption and service.”
By providing this certification course, CSC could provide training opportunities for employees of licensed establishments, both to meet state statutory requirements and to help mitigate administrative, civil, and even criminal risk resulting from serving underage customers or for failing to adequately monitor excessive alcohol consumption. Moreover, by providing a responsible beverage server training course, CSC could help employers create an atmosphere of compliance and safety that promotes the effective, efficient, and responsible service of alcohol. Finally, by offering the course online, CSC could effectively amplify its goal to educate servers about the range of health and safety issues associated with irresponsible alcohol consumption and service by offering the course nationwide.
The web-enhanced lesson I created in the Partnering with Web-Based Tools for Learner Centered Environments course demonstrates my ability to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies. For this lesson, I designed, planned, and developed a workshop for a school that teaches English as a second language (ESL). Because the school had not yet opened, the owner of the school wanted to involve teachers in the school planning process, particularly in the design and development of the ESL curriculum. This training activity focused on encouraging teachers to collaborate on and design the first element of curriculum development: the instructional approach that will be used in the classroom. Because I incorporated a range of 21st-century skills and Web 2.0 tools for learners to cooperate, collaborate, and conduct sustained inquiry into the driving questions of the training, I also needed to facilitate a range of evaluation strategies to monitor and assess individual, pair, group, and whole-class work.
In designing assessment activities for the lesson, I needed to ensure that the assessment aligned with the lesson objectives, activities, and scaffolds. I followed the principles of what Carless (2007) referred to as learning-oriented assessment (LOA). LOA eschews the irregular, nonholistic, metric-driven nature of formative and summative evaluation and makes learning the subject rather than the object of the assessment process. LOA activities are often aligned with authentic, real-world tasks and actively involve learners in the assessment process by promoting self-reflection and evaluation (Keppell & Carless, 2006). Because the lesson was executed using Web 2.0 technology, I also designed self, peer, and collaborative assessment activities to be performed using Web 2.0 technologies. Learners produced digital presentations, created graphic organizers, and wrote reflections; and they also performed peer review and evaluations on colleagues using checklists and rubrics designed specifically for the assessment activities.
Designing assessment strategies in this project challenged my instructional design skills because I did not have any experience designing assessment activities for a project-based lesson that was facilitated using Web 2.0 technology. As with the design of the lesson itself, I learned that designing effective assessment required incorporating scaffolding, both to support the various assessment activities and to ensure that assessment was aligned with the overall objectives. One of my short-term goals is to incorporate the type of holistic assessment that I designed for this course in an e-learning context to see how well the strategies translate in a self-directed, self-paced learning environment.
References
Carless, D. (2007). Learning-oriented assessment: Conceptual bases and practical implications. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 44(1), 57–66.
Keppell, M., & Carless, D. (2006). Learning-oriented assessment: A technology-based case study. Assessment in Education, 13(2), 179–191.
8.2: Applies technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies
Artifact: Web-Enhanced Lesson-Assessment Measures Plan - EDCI 56800
8.1: Plans and designs effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology
Artifact: Video Tutorial Assignment - EDCI 56800
To demonstrate my ability to plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology, I have chosen a video tutorial that I created in the Partnering with Web-Based Tools for Learner Centered Environments course. The purpose of the video was to present Web 2.0 technology to teach other teachers or trainers about a specific Web 2.0 tool. For the subject of my tutorial, I selected Edynco (www.edynco.com), which is a web-based learning map creator that a teacher or instructional designer can use to create dynamic interactive lessons on any topic.
In the tutorial, I covered the essential elements of a how-to tutorial:
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step-by-step instructions for getting started
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essential features of the tool
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benefits and drawbacks of using the tool in an educational setting
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educational uses of the tool
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summary of the main elements of the tool
In planning and designing my tutorial, I had to select a technology that would create an effective learning environment in which I could demonstrate the tool I had selected as the subject of my tutorial. Because the tutorial needed to incorporate audio and keep the viewer’s attention, I designed and developed the video using GoAnimate (www.goanimate.com), which is a web-based animation application. Because I was able to create animated characters that could both present and interact with all of the key information the viewer would need to successfully use Edynco as an instructional design tool, I feel I was successful in creating an engaging user experience.
I found creating a how-to tutorial to be challenging, particularly because such a tutorial needs to be both concise and informative. Reflecting on the end product, I am pleased with visual look of the tutorial, and I feel I covered the essential information. However, if I had to revise the tutorial, I would probably shorten it to maximize view focus. One of my self-imposed goals for the near future is to create another how-to tutorial and see if I can keep the total time under five minutes.
For this competency, I have selected a series of written and digital artifacts that demonstrate my ability to apply computer-based technologies and media to the solution of ID problems.