Megan's Blog

As an employee of a large organization, I am required to review several mandatory online courses annually, such as ethics and conduct training, safety training, and cybersecurity training, via our internal Qualification and Learning Management System (QLMS). I understand that some of these learning concepts require employees’ knowledge be refreshed at a prescribed frequency to meet company’s compliance policy obligations and reach expected workplace behaviour. However, the readings in these first two weeks of LRNT 524 course have provoked my thoughts on a few aspects regarding instructional design models (IDMs): 1) how are training courses designed in my organization, 2) what IDM does my organization use and what role does it play in the design decision process, and 3) what other IDMs that could be useful in the design decision process for a workplace learning environment?

After completing the readings of unit 3, I decide to explore the possible futures of workplace learning in 2030. Workplace learning has been perceived as a luxury for organizations, thus the learning and development budgets are usually the first to be cut. The Horizon Report in 2020 has indicated a substantial growth of adult learners returning for additional learning such as post-secondary education, graduate degrees, and other credentialing to keep pace with the job market. Impacts of the pandemic and the significant technology advances also triggered a higher demand on remote work and learning going forward (Educause, 2021). The perspective of workplace learning is changing and becoming a necessity rather than luxury (Arist, 2021). How do organizations respond to the increasing demand of workplace learning when it is going to play a major role for sustained business growth in the next decade?

For this unit, we have been exploring the great media debate. The great media debate started in the 80s and centered on media’s impact on learning. On the one hand, Clark (1994) viewed media as a delivery tool for knowledge. He found that there were no learning benefits to the use of technology and that the media is a “mere vehicle that delivers instruction but does not influence student’s achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causing changes in nutrition” (Clark, 1983, p. 445). On the other hand, Kozma (1994) believed that the debate should be reframed to “will media influence learning” (p. 2). Kozma (1994) viewed media and learning as an interaction between learners’ environments and their cognitive processes (p. 3), including the media used for instruction. He suggests that there is no relationship between media and learning because one has not been made yet (p. 3). For this post, we have been asked to find two articles that show techno-deterministic thinking and consider how the two opposing sides of the great media debate would respond to these articles.

After reading the second 1/3 of Weller’s book, one lesson that I see as having immediate relevance is the Learning Management System (LMS) 2002 in chapter 9. Weller (2020) stated that the LMS provided an enterprise solution for e-learning for universities and stands as the central e-learning technology (p. 63). My organization has also adopted the LMS as an e-learning enterprise solution with multiple operating systems such as Quality Learning Management System (QLMS), UDUTU LMS (a platform for e-learning), etc. in the early 2000’s. Conole, de Laat, Dillon, and Darby noted in the chapter that the LMS was often used as a place to dump notes…rather than engage in the more experimental pedagogies in constructivism (p. 64). For example, the LMS in my company seems to be a ‘good enough’ (p. 64) in-house system which allows their employees and contractors to sign up for training courses as needed (some conduct and safety courses would be mandatory). It also supports training completion tracking and recording for each individual. However, it does not make effective use of asynchronous communication to enhance employee and/ or contractor interaction and collaborative learning in this case. 

After reading the first 1/3 of Weller’s book, 25 Years of Ed Tech, I realized I have taken education technology for granted without knowing a lot of history about it. Reflecting on my education and work, Ed Tech has always been a part of learning since I started elementary school more than 25 years ago. For example, I learned shapes and colours through some memory games in a computer, and I played running race game using two keys in the keyboard. According to Alcanja (n.d.), the definition of Ed Tech is “when computer hardware and/or software are integrated into the educational sector to facilitate learning”. Thus, if I were to write a similar book, I would start in the 1980s because Ed Tech has already started before the internet was born.