Apply Instructional Design Principles
Identifies and analyzes learning and performance problems
Design, plans, and develops instructional interventions using appropriate strategies and techniques
Develops an evaluation plan for a project based on stated goals and recognized standards
Because of these two artifacts, I have gained more confidence in my decisions as an instructional designer. I also learned to think more freely outside of the language teaching box. Choosing the right framework, being able to rationalize my choices, and communicating effectively with stakeholders should all be based on principled approaches.
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The Project Plan artifact demonstrates my ability to identify gaps in learning and performance issues using high-quality front-end analysis (Harless, 1970). The project is called Business English Self-assessment Tool (BEST), a short assessment tool to gauge the students’ familiarity with the concepts of their intended major and determine gaps in their knowledge of business concepts. Prospective students may sometimes have the required English proficiency to be accepted at the university, but they may need time to prepare for specialized content and vocabulary. In designing and developing this assessment tool, I applied the principles of Andragogy (Knowles, 1984), focusing on involvement, students’ experiences, relevance and impact, and problem-centered. I had authentic instructional designer experience because I had to work with actual SMEs at our university. The goal was to ensure student success, and I needed to be able to operationalize “success” based on the input given to me by the SMEs and other stakeholders. Going through this process was valuable because, having the curricula in place on both ends (Intensive English Program and the College of Business Program), I need to work within these boundaries to develop and implement the appropriate intervention strategies.
My biggest takeaway from developing the Technology Integration Project was having a systematized way of implementing changes to an existing process. The project involved teaching the process-writing approach to adult students whose first language is not English. Before the project, some stages needed to be quantifiable or explicitly taught. For example, in the process of brainstorming, many students start writing without even “warming up” to the topic or task at hand. Identifying and addressing such a gap was not easy because, in online environments, this particular stage was difficult to deliver. This was challenging to pursue because it required searching for appropriate application tools that were free and user-friendly.