From the early part of the 21st century, lovers have been placing “love locks” on bridges, railings, or other structures. They write the lovers’ names on the lock and throw away the key to symbolize the unbreakable love between them. This is not a discussion on whether this constitutes vandalism or not, but rather a metaphor for instructional design (ID) practice and tools.
In 2007, when I first started teaching certification courses for Exposure Device Operators (EDOs), I was handed a stack of overhead slides and the keys to the classroom for an already successful course. Over the next eight years, I took that material and, with the assistance of ID training I sought out and implemented, added various other tools that made that training course one of the most successful in Canada.
To visualize the tools, imagine a bridge or railing connecting two things: the learner before they begin learning about exposure devices and the learner after they successfully complete the training course and become certified. Each “lock” on that railing or bridge is a strong ID tool that I placed there using one of my superpowers (Meyers, 2020). It has the name of a learner on it who inspired the use or development of the tool and it is visible to the learners who come along later and see it there. The locks were things like:
- use of a demonstration device (life-sized, but not radioactive) (superpower: shop teacher)
- “field trips” (superpower: tour guide)
- study groups (superpower: math nerd)
- real-life examples of math required in the industry (superpower: storyteller)
- learner-provided examples of problems to solve (superpower: cheerleader)
- judgement calls – go back to early algebra or not? (superpower: mindreader)
- case study discussion of industry incidents – collection of photos from field work I’ve done (superpower: photographer)
- videos of proper and improper use (superpower: videographer)
“Out of my comfort zone” (Meyers, 2020, 18:40) is a polite understatement for this type of work!
References:
Meyers, Melanie. 2020, April 17. Many Hats: Why Flexibility and an Open Mind Matters. [Video] https://ca.bbcollab.com/collab/ui/session/playback