Fundamentals of Instructional Design
Preparing a Syllabus (Course Outline)
Fundamentals of Instructional Design
Preparing a Syllabus (Course Outline)
Fundamentals of Instructional Design
Preparing a Syllabus (Course Outline)
Developing a 30-minute online training program is what the director of the centre for faculty development at LaFortune University has requested to support non-tenure track faculty members with the transition to university teaching. The purpose of this training program is to provide guidance and direction to new faculty members and allows non-tenure in administering teaching practices. The request involves devising an online training program to facilitate the preparation of a course outline. With a variety of skill sets, educational backgrounds, and professional experience of newly hired faculty possess, the director would like for new faculty members to be aware of the methodology the educational experience entails. By the end of the training program, individuals will be able to provide a clear framework when creating a course outline regarding the expectations, objectives, and overall curriculum of a course to ensure students meet the requirements to achieve academic success.
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LEARNING NEEDS ASSESSMENT
The five phases of the instructional design process begin with an analysis that describes the project and its requirements to meet the training goal. As my first introduction to the ADDIE model, the learning needs assessment involves developing learning tasks and objectives as well as observing any constraints.
As a first year student, the assessment allowed me to delve into the criteria instructional designers consider. Identifying all necessary information helped me learn about the framework for training purposes. A challenge faced is incorporating objectives for evaluation purposes along with listing main and supporting tasks.
DESIGN
PLAN
A design plan allows for visualizing how the project will present itself with a medium and genre disclosed in accordance with the business need (containing expenses). Drafting the project's format and activities to align with the objectives is the purpose before the program goes to development.
This step allows for the organization of information for the entire program. It is interesting to think of the structure of the program while highlighting details to be used. Choosing resources was enjoyable. The challenge in planning the design of the program is the front and back matter material and how it will resonate with the audience. The instructional approach was entirely up to me and immersing myself in the planning was engaging.
STORYBOARD
In order for everything to materialize, the storyboard is a crucial component in showcasing how the program will be created. Developing course material and prototypes for pilot testing is the intention before implementation. Finalizing details involves outlining steps and including a script that is conveyed to the learner.
With attention to the subject matter, an advantage to the storyboard is demonstrating how content will be relayed. I enjoyed being creative in crafting how the training will be delivered by adding depth to each component. A challenge faced was establishing pertinent information to include and creating additional resources to sustain the learners' interest.
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FORMATIVE EVALUATION
To evaluate the effectiveness of the training, a formative evaluation is meant to assess the accuracy, flow, and usability of the program. A technical review, editorial review, and pilot testing draft is used to measure learning outcomes and view whether objectives are achieved.
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How learners respond to the learning material presented is ultimately what is most valuable. It is interesting to note how many individuals are involved in overseeing the process and I learned about the role of SME's, editors, and course developers. It is a challenge to draft each correspondence and ensure open channels of communication between parties.
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Human Performance Technology
Course Outline Made Simple
The purpose of this performance improvement campaign is to devise interventions that will improve performance levels amongst newly hired non-tenure track faculty members at LaFortune University. The director at the Centre for Faculty Development has requested developing a campaign centralizing around preparing a course outline as a result of new faculty members encountering performance issues. A lack of direction and access to additional resources to help prepare an outline is what the campaign aims to address for new lecturers.
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Main performers enlist of newly hired non-tenure track faculty with various educational backgrounds and professional experiences. Increasing productivity and finding ways to present course outline elements and components to students effectively is the aim of this performance improvement campaign. Moreover, relaying information in an organized manner is key and rendering new lecturers in completing this task without any obstacles is the main goal.
PERFORMANCE NEEDS ASSESSMENT
A fundamental component in setting a foundation, this aspect of the campaign involves thinking of all gaps in performance to adequately address potential solutions to issues that arise. The goal is to detail the current situation and include information in achieving desired results with performance objectives and evaluation instruments. Using Roger Chevalier’s Updated Behavioural Engineering Model was essential.
While time consuming, the assessment provided insight as to how valuable this process is. It is challenging to invent the circumstances newly hired faculty members may experience when preparing a course outline. Despite this, learning a great deal about how to address problems from every point of view was interesting.
HIGH LEVEL DESIGN
Eight interventions aimed to address performance issues in the needs assessment mainly target main performers (new lecturers). The goal of the high level design is to have newly hired non-tenure track faculty members meet exceptions and become fully adept in preparing a course outline.
To achieve job one, developing non-instructional interventions with particular genres and mediums was the most enjoyable. Assuring that all ten objectives were addressed was the only challenge when creating interventions. Proposing solutions to overcome barriers and experimenting with design principles made the project pleasant to do.
DETAILED DESIGN
Highlighting two interventions selected to meet the needs of the primary performers consists of creating a job aid to further reduce errors when preparing a course outline while the second intervention entails connecting with the information disclosed in the job aid. This resource is especially useful when providing additional guidance. An online simulation design of a one-dimensional character avatar that acts as multimedia content for users to engage with help to quickly access information and build understanding from the training program.
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The detailed design required much planning and diligence in order to create material that reflected what was described for these interventions. It was challenging at times to envision exactly how I wanted to present material and also enabled me to view how much brainstorming it takes to implement non-instructional interventions. The fun part was designing every document and graphic and exploring my creative side to see how the final products turned out.
I am especially proud of my work!