David's Blog

Continue reading “Instructional Design & the History of Communication”

As part of LRNT 524 at Royal Roads University, one of our assigned readings was “Design thinking research: Measuring performance in context” (2102) by Goldman. It was interesting to see what their study confirmed what myself and my assignment partner concluded for our recent analysis. As part of Assignment 2, we were asked to come up with a prototype to help student in our respective organizations develop a sense of inclusion. Our proposed idea was to teach the process of web design. However, what we concluded, and what was reaffirmed by feedback on our blogpost, was that the strength of our strategy was to teach the design model known as ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). My personal observation was that this process was precisely the same that I adopt in my field of work. And through the assignment, I have finally come to appreciate the value that process brings not only in my own line of work, and instructional design as well, but ultimately to any design process. Continue reading “Discovering Design Thinking”

I have been working in the field of web development for the last 12 years, but the field of Instructional Design (ID) is completely new to me. But I’m surprised at the degree to which the two fields have developed independently, despite the fact that their is significant overlap in their technology and methods. Continue reading “Agile Instructional Design?”

For LRNT 523, for the Learning & Technology program at Royal Roads University, we were asked to create a video role-playing a debate focusing on a myth or debate in the field. We chose to tackle the notion that “technology will replace teachers.” We both believe the possibility is remote, but nevertheless, that the exercise helps elucidate the relative value of both technology and the role of teachers. Continue reading “Technology Will Replace Teachers”

In 1991, writing in the Wall Street Journal, Robert Cwiklik declared in a headline: “Dewey Wins!: If the ‘New’ Teaching Methods Pushed by High-Tech Gurus Sound Familiar, It Isn’t Surprising.” The title of his article was a reference to the famous headline in the Chicago Daily Tribune, which incorrectly announced on November 3, 1948, “Dewey Defeats Truman,” the day after Harry S. Truman won the election for president in an upset victory over Thomas E. Dewey. Though intended to be playful, Cwiklik’s play on words is intended as an announcement of some similar historical significance. That is, the widespread adoption of John Dewey’s philosophy, whose ideas on education appear to have been years ahead of their time. Continue reading “John Dewey: a Man Ahead of His Time, a Man of His Time”

I chose Randy Garrison because he’s a pioneer in the field. Garrison is now professor emeritus at the University of Calgary and was director of university’s Teaching and Learning Centre. Beginning nearly 30 years ago, when the Internet was merely in its infancy, Garrison, was already creating a framework for online and blended education (UToday, 2009). Garrison is the author of many books, articles and papers, having published extensively on distance education (Parry, 2010). His recent books are: E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Community of Inquiry Framework for Research and Practice (3rd Edition) (2017). Thinking Collaboratively: Learning in a Community of Inquiry (2016); Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry (2013); Educational Communities of Inquiry: Theoretical Framework, Research and Practice (2013); E-Learning in the 21st century (2nd Ed.) (2011); An Introduction to Distance Education: Understanding Teaching and Learning in a New Era (2010); and Blended Learning in Higher Education (2008). His current research focus is on the Communities of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework, which has been the leading theory guiding research and practice in the field (UToday, 2009). As discovered by Bozkurt et al. (2015), Garrison was the most cited author in journals of the field of distance education research, between 2009 and 2013 (Bozkurt et al., 2015, p. 353). In 2009, Garrison received the award for most outstanding achievement in online learning by an individual at the Sloan-C Annual International Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Continue reading “D. Randy Garrison: EdTech Pioneer”

For Activity 7, we formed a team as Christy Boyce, Brandon Carson, Andrea Livingstone, David Livingstone and Michael Murray. We were tasked with reading about the ‘great media debate’ in the field of learning and technology through reading the claims of Clark (1994) and Kozma (1994) as they debate whether or not media influences learning. Our second task was to find four articles that were in stark contrast to either Clark or Kozma’s views in the media debate. Continue reading “The Great Media Debate: Is it Still Relevant?”

In my field of work, which is web development, the pace of change is quick. Whatever foundational degree anyone may have gained prior to entering the field, would provide only an introduction to the subject. Given the speed of change, it is necessary that programmers remain in a constant state of learning. An additional consequence of this pace of change is the challenge that besets formal educational institutions, who cannot keep pace (Committee on the Growth of Computer Science Undergraduate Enrolments, 2018). As a result, it tends to be necessary for developers to conduct their own learning in a self-directed manner, and often from informal sources (The Conference Board of Canada, 2018). Continue reading “The Relative Strengths of Cognitivism and Constructivism”

https://youtu.be/laC6Brkfmy4

Weller (2014) illustrated the recent history of educational technology by listing the different educational technology, theory, or concept for each year between 1998 through 2018. What’s telling is that Weller did not include e-learning content authoring tools. Despite the grand expectations about their potential, the omission seams to be indicative of a failure, to consider the fundamental affordances of computers. Continue reading “History of Adobe Captivate”