EDIT 451: Survey of Instuctional Media and Technology*

Using Rich Media Wisely

2007-12-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

Using audio effectively in Rich Media can be used as ambient music (environmental: crowds, trains etc..), narration (otherwise known as voice-over in movies) or background music. Knowing that narration is more effective then text on a screen can be helpful, but what about visual learners, the text does not talk about visual learners, kinetic learners, not does it about being able to choose from a variety of both systems within a learning environment.

http://www.strokeassociation.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3029768 - Careful it can happen to you !

I know from experience from creating short movies, documentaries, that minimilistic properties are sometimes the focus of the director, and in this case a designer. If one wants to create a mood - use background music, little visuals without jumping animation, and soothing dialogue/narration, this is effective because most of us from our childhood days remember what soothing generally is. If an uneasiness is to be felt, due to a photo, one may use disharmonic tones within the music, and no narration. I believe most designers, should study cinematic elements and incorporate these elements in their software design, or instructional materials to gain effective control, of learning through the user/student.

The Roles of Instructional Designers in Business and Industry

2007-12-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

As a sole designer, it seems that an instructional designer would have to be the only "permanent" team member.It depends on the SME, subject matter expert, if they will be instructor, they must know the overall scheme of possible problems in implementing the instructional materials.

If the SME is not an instructor, the SME is used only on an as-needed basis. Having most of the control of the design phase, and overlooking, approving, recommending other posts such as the photographer, video crew, graphic artist, or special-effect compositing units, designers have a wide range of responsibilities in such a scenario.

If the designer is a freelance designer, with a credible portfolio and good history of projects that went well from other references, one may think think that a designer may one day run into a scenario where there is more than one client. If this is the case, where an individual is funding a project, and an individual who owns the problem is the client, a designer may run into problems. http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=instructional+design&l=&from=rss
Having to make two clients, with sometimes different agendas content, could cause problems for a designer. What would happen if a funder, for lack of a better word, decided to overstep his/her boundries, or vice-versa with a project manager ? What would happen then ? What if there was no progress being made, and more money was needed ? At what point does the funder pull the plug and go to another firm. These questions are troublesome, because most of us know, it is difficult to work in groups where people have different visions. This is where creative trust is important to the overall project.
DF

The Development and Evolution of Human Performance Improvement

2007-11-29T16:35:00.000-08:00

The goal of Human Performance Improvement is easily clear: to "achieve, through people, increasingly successful accomplishments that are valued by all organizational stakeholders:those who perform, their managers and customers, their peers and colleagues, shareholders, regulatory agencies, and ultimately, society itself. So what exactly does this mean ? If this was an assembly factory, I believe, that the goal of HPI is productivity in the end. More money for the stakeholders,maybe faster production for the employees, more productivity for less money would ultimately be the key.

Learning, another ultimate goal for HPI, and for professional practitioners, is necessary for professional societies to succeed. If the employees learn faster, more efficiently, there will be more productivity, whether it be in the classroom, warehouse, office or other professional industry. It is necessary for HPI, which was not mentioned in the reading, to respect the individual and not exploit the individual. When I state this, I state this in regard to treating people as humans and not as a robot that produces as the corporate entities rake in the cash with disregard to the individual. Ethics in business: http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1018482

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Evaluation in Instructional Design

2007-11-23T17:27:00.001-08:00

Evaluation in instructional design: http://www.skagit.com/~donclark/hrd/sat6.html

Michael Scriven's important concepts in the definition of evaluation is as follows: "Formative evaluation is evaluation designed, done and intended to support the process of improvement, and normally commissioned or done by, and delivered to, someone who can make improvements. "

So on this note, I believe that this formative evaluation concept is a reflection of ideas of how well a software program may be performing. I believe this form of evaluation could help me personally in my goal to create educational software that can be continually perfected through the design stages. I would be the person making the improvements and gaining knowledge on what works and inherent flaws within the design objective or design itself.

Scriven then states this about Summative evaluation: "Summative evaluation is the rest of the evaluation: in terms of intentions, it is evaluation done for, or by, any observers or decision makers (by contrast with developers) who need evaluative conclusions for any reasons besides developent.

So this type of evaluation could aid in a redesign or a platform to recreate a new design for me at least. As an observer or decision maker, it could inform them about the strengths of a product, how many that should be made, and if the competition will overshadow the inherent flaws that may have been produced with summative evaluation. I believe that marketing people and investors will use this information to gauge their promotion, campaign or financial involvment based on risks.

Introduction

2007-10-18T17:08:00.003-07:00

Hello everyone,
The purpose of this blog will be to reflect upon the theoretical foundations of instructional design. This blog will be a place for me to discuss, motivate, participate, share informative and stimulating discussion within the Instructional Design community.
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