As part of feedback I received on my academic paper outline, Dr. Irwin DeVries encouraged me to give myself “some room to explore a little more freely” (personal communication, May 2018). I am going to apply his feedback to my blog and do a bit of uncensored freewriting for this post.
Where to start? I feel like I am behind in this course because I have been overwhelmed working on three instructional design projects for my clients simultaneously. But I am obviously learning something from LRNT526 because I just finished creating a full-day training course that applied the concept of critical inquiry, which is what this course is about.
While creating a training course, I realized having learners create their own learning materials (job aides, checklists, etc.) is not only aligned with constructivism, self-directed learning, and critical inquiry but also is extremely convenient in a time crunch. (I had just five days to create the course from start to finish.)
Preparing a learning plan and outline as part of a larger deliverable for LRNT526 has shown me the practical value of taking time to reflect before moving forward. I have been introduced to critical reflection in other courses, but this is the first time I have had the chance to practice it mindfully in real-life. I spent all day Monday reviewing content inputs and my previous MALAT readings to decide on the instructional design approach I would take, and I am so happy with the results. I hope my clients will be too when I present the course for their sign off tomorrow.
So, what does the training course I created have to do with curated video libraries and digital learning modalities? Absolutely nothing. The course I created will be delivered entirely face-to-face, and given the short turnaround, creating educational videos and getting sign-offs was not possible. That said, what I learned about learner engagement as part of my research into educational video has proven valuable, both professionally and academically.
I struggled initially to settle on a grounding learning theory for my academic paper, so I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole and spent a few (very enjoyable) hours reading a variety of articles about learning theories that support learner engagement.
The articles were not documented in my learning plan, and not all of them will make it into my final paper, but out of genuine curiosity, I found myself digging into the connection between learner engagement and interaction, the interaction equivalency theorem, situated learning, transactional distance, self-directed learning, and learner control.
One quote in particular stood out to me: “effective learning environments are framed within the convergence of four overlapping lenses” (p.47, Anderson, 2006). Those lenses are community-centred, knowledge-centred, learner-centred, and assessment-centred (Anderson, 2006). I realized in my exploration of educational videos as a learning modality, and my focus on learner engagement in particular, I was taking a very learner-centred approach.
In my readings, I also returned to the debate between Kozma (1994) and Clark (1994). They debated whether the medium itself influences learning or whether the choice of how to use media (aka instructional design decisions) influence learning. I do not think the debate was ever fully resolved, as both authors made valid points, but as I conclude this post, I cannot help but notice my discussion of educational video as a learning modality spent less time reflecting on the medium and more time on its supporting theories.
My freewriting has come to an end. My apologies for the long post, but as Blaise Pascal has been attributed as saying, “I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter” (translation by Quote Investigator, 2o12).
References
Anderson, T. A. U. (2006). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd ed., Vol. 2006, pp. 195–215). Edmonton: Athabasca University.
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will Media Influence Learning? Reframing the Debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7–19.
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Education Technology Research and Development, 37, 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299046
QuoteInvestigator (2012). If I Had More Time, I Would Have Written a Shorter Letter. Retrieved from https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/
Amber,
I loved reading your candid note and enjoyed the “uncensored” approach you took to share your process of reflection. I think it’s a great reminder that even somebody like you (who many of us admire for your articulation and strong written communication abilities) might benefit from taking a step back to process all of the information coming in. Sometimes critical inquiry can feel like drinking from a firehose and finally when you get a glimpse of clarity, you feel like you have control and can navigate the next steps to bring it all together. This isn’t a proper academic blog post either but just wanted to say that I enjoyed your reflection 🙂
Katie – well said. I am working hard to ‘drink from the firehose’ (thanks for that great analogy, I’m going to use that now 😊) and I struggled to reflect on all the water rushing out at me. As I move through the program, I personally am starting to feel that my blog area can be a way to escape “proper academic blog posts”, especially as we have strict APA for our assignments. I’m currently challenging myself to figure out a writing style where I can support my statements with evidence but still feel like ‘me’. For myself, learning to adapt this writing style could help me to be able to start sharing effective content (ie. my own posts) on platforms like LinkedIn that would benefit my career.
I enjoyed it too Amber. It definitely is good to rummage around now and then to crack open some new possible lines of thinking or inquiry. It’s good to be surprised from time to time as we conduct our studies and research!
Amber, thank you for your ‘uncensored freewriting’ post – it was very enjoyable to read as someone that is still learning about how to be an effective reflective writer. I admire your ability to synthesize your thoughts into clear insights and will continue to observe your blog throughout the program as this is something I am working hard to do better (as evidenced by the length of this comment ;)). I am also experiencing firsthand the value of applying elements of these courses within my organizational context as well. It really helps to connect the dots more strongly for me, when I can see the things we read about evidenced through happenings in my context. Your observation of learners taking ownership for their learning relating to constructivism was profound – I’ll be pondering that for a while and didn’t consider that connection. Like you, I enjoy exploring my own curiosity and have read many articles that may not make it to my paper, but have transformed the way I will design learning. The Anderson reading was one I used in my learning plan, when I realized I was also take a learner-centred approach. Anderson brought to mind the importance of being user-centered as learning designers, which equates to the human-centered approach of empathetic design (Mattelmaki, Vaajkallio, Koskinen, 2014). You may be interested to read more about user experience design (UX design) as they are very user-centered in their approach as designers. I have found there are lots of ties I found to instructional design strategies. Best of luck in your critical inquiry!
Hello Amber,
What a nice post! Most of what I thought as I read through your exquisite post has been said already. Katie and Nicolette did all the detailed work, and I will try to add something of value instead of just writing: “Ditto!”. I relate very much to your freewriting (academic writing break) because I tend to narrate almost everything I write, and that has caused me trouble, as you can imagine, and I mean not only because of narrating but also due to the APA compliance. On top of that, the battle includes the ESL component which, may I say, is hard not for the lack of English but for the differences in writing styles and standards. Please count me in your admirers club since from day one I have been learning from you, a lot!
Cheers!