Week 8: Views of & Issues in Instructional Technology

Welcome to Week 8! We will continue our overview of views and issues in instructional technology by exploring current controversies in the field.

Introduction

Where does instructional technology stand today? What "big ideas" drive the field and what issues confront practitioners? To what extent are these concepts reflected in earlier experience?

We examine how the "big ideas" and issues evolved over time. We are focusing on the controversies surrounding the theory and practice of the media debate, the use of technology in education, and ISD.

The media debate became visible in the early 1980s by the publication of Clark’s controversial article (1983) and Kozma’s follow-up article (1991). As for ISD, the debate began by Gordon and Zemke's (2000) article titled "Attack on ISD”. It aroused enough controversy to merit a follow-up article by Zemke and Rossett (2002) and a special issue of Performance Improvement (the August 2002 issue).

The goal for this module is for you to develop your own stance on these controversial issues to have an answer ready if someone asks you “Is media/technology useful for learning and instruction?” or "Is ISD still relevant?"

Objectives

Overall Objective: Develop a defensible position on the issues of the media debate, the use of technology in education, and the value of ISD.

Objective 1: To characterize the current status of and concerns about instructional technology.

Objective 2: Identify and discuss criticisms of the ISD model; be able to paraphrase the criticisms in your own words.

Objective 3: Present a reasoned position on the value of media/technology and ISD in the setting of your interest (school, college, corporation, or other setting).

Pre-Lesson Exercise

Take a moment to think about your mental picture of the status of the IT field and think about how you would answer the following questions:

1. What are the big issues confronting the IT field today? 2. To what extent is technology actually used in your area of interest (school, college, corporate)? 3. To what extent do people know what ISD is? How do you regard it now?

1 Required Readings

Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. ETR&D, 42(2), 21-29.

Gordon, J., & Zemke, R. (2000). The attack on ISD. Training, 37(4), 42-53.

Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? ETR&D, 42(2), 7-19.

Zemke, R., & Rossett, A. (2002). A hard look at ISD. Training, 39(2), 26-34.

Optional Readings

Baek, E.-O., Cagiltay, K., Boling, E., & Frick, T. (2008). User-centered design and development. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. V. Merriënboer, & M. P. Driscoll (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 659-670). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

In this article, you find the most recent alternatives to ISD models including rapid prototyping.

Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America (chapters 5-7). New York: Teachers Collge Press.

Performance Improvement, 41(7), 2002.

This special issue ("performance-based instructional systems") is another response to Gordon and Zemke’s (2000) "Attack on ISD". The guest editor, Brenda Sugrue, has brought together the thoughts of some of the most illustrious researchers and practitioners in the field. I suggest you to start by reading her introduction, describing all the articles.

U. S. Department of Education. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Retrieved on July 2, 2009, from: http://ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf.

This is a meta-analysis report of current status of online learning in USA.

Additional Resources

Dr. Molenda’s (2009, October) special talk on the history of educational technology and Dr. Collins’ (2009, October) talk on rethinking education in the age of technology at IU are posted in Resources.

J. S. Brown (2009, April), a well-known scholar in situated cognition and community of practice (CoP), gave a special talk on “Learning in the digital age” at IU. You may see the presentation through his homepage at: http://www.johnseelybrown.com/speeches.html.

2 Presentation

Discussion Questions

Now that you've read the articles and studied the lesson, consider the following questions in your own specific area:

1. What is the essence of the media debate? Discuss by positioning yourself either as pro or con. 2. How would you characterize the role that technology plays and should play in learning and instruction in K-12 schools (or higher education or corporate education) today? 3. What are the major criticisms being made of the "systems approach to ISD" and what sorts of alternative paradigms to ISD are being proposed?

DELIVERABLE: MODULE 1C

Creating a Script for an Issues Movie

Objective: To understand the issues, trends, and views surrounding our current field, as well as the history of our field.

Select the issue that you believe to be the most pressing. Develop a script that discusses the issue and presents the different sides. Finish this with a conclusion paragraph by the narrator (YOU) who discusses your stance on the issue. Be sure to include supportive evidence and, if possible, to place the context of this issue within your own specific area of our field.

You may work independently or in groups. There is no page limit for this deliverable. Clarity, parsimony, and persuasiveness are important. Please post your deliverable in your Assignments in OnCourse by Sunday, March 14, 11:55 pm EST. The rubric and an example for this assignment are attached in Assignments.