In creating effective learning environments in K-12 education, as in any other education setting, it is important to have a well thought our instructional design model (IDM) in order to best meet the needs of learners and accomplish the learning goals of the program. This is especially true in my personal context, teaching high school students with cognitive impairment at a culturally diverse large middle and secondary school in northwestern Saskatchewan. In this context, I believe the key to effective instructional design (ID) is flexibility in allowing learners to interpret tasks and create work in ways that are meaningful to them and their personal contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this context, when considering effective design models for learning environments, ADDIE first comes to mind due to its prevalence of use as a \u201cgo to\u201d IDM for many contexts (Heaster-Ekholm, 2020). As a teacher, ADDIE provides a logical, linear workflow that begins at the most important stage of instructional design, analyzing the learners and educational environment to better understand the design challenge and needs of the learner. From here, an educational program can be designed, developed, implemented, and lastly evaluated to see if the goals of the educational program where achieved. It has been stated that ADDIE is more of a design process than a design model and that it forms the framework that many other IDMS are built upon (Heaster-Ekholm, 2020<\/a>; Dousay, 2018). With a flexible, agile approach to each phase of the ADDIE model, as informed by constant formative assessment of the design, ADDIE can provide a foundational IDM for my K-12 creating an effective learning environment in K-12 education. With this in mind, other models of ID , that resonate with me in the K-12 educational context are the Understanding by Design (or Backwards Design) model and utilization of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as an instructional approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Understanding by Design (UbD) model has been significantly promoted by my school division over the last decade or more and is a standard for teacher ID with our division. It is a default approach for myself personally, and I have come to trust it as an effective model both as a teacher and as a learner. As a teacher, UbD focuses on clarifying the objectives of the lesson first, then designing the assessments you will use to assess the extent learners have achieved the objectives, and lastly, curating the learning content and activities that you will engage learners in in order to equip them for the assessments (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). This model works to create an effective learning environment through producing clarity, intentionality, and alignment through the design process, and through the learner experience. As a learner, UbD provides clarity in engaging with content and tasks, and assessments based on course objectives provide the north star for where learning in headed. Further to this, perhaps my favorite aspect of UbD as a learner is that it provides a general design foundation for many aspects of life. This can best be summarized by the phrase, \u201cbegin with the end in mind\u201d (FranklinCovey, n.d.), which is the second habit from Stephen Covey\u2019s bestselling book \u201cThe Seven Habits of Highly Effective People\u201d (2013). As mentioned above, within my current context, as long as students are offered choice and flexibility in the learning content and assessment method based on the analysis of the learner, their culture, and their strengths, especially with students who have cognitive impairments, UbD can provide an excellent model for creating an effective learning environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, when it comes to design flexibility within my current context, beginning to take a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach to ID as a teacher has been highly successful. According to Takacs et al. (2021) \u201cUDL is a curriculum design, development, and delivery framework [and]\u2026seeks to include the maximum number of learners in instruction by offering multiple paths to get to the same learning outcomes\u201d (p.11). UDL has three principles of implementation: \u201cMultiple means of engagement: the why of learning, multiple means of representation: the what of learning, [and] multiple means of action and expression: the how of learning\u201d (p.11). As a teacher, designing with UDL in mind means offering students choice in the content and content modality, the assessment method and helping them to connect the purpose of the learning to their own personal context. This approach can provide the flexibility needed to make learning meaningful for students in a way that motivates their journey towards achieving the learning objectives. It also can provide a means for cultural inclusivity through offering choice and providing opportunities for them to connect learning to their prior knowledge and personal context, thus working to create an effective learning environment (Heaster-Ekholm, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Heaster-Ekholm, K. L. (2020). Popular instructional design models: Their theoretical roots and cultural considerations. International Journal of Education and Development Using Information and Communication Technology, 16<\/em>(3), 50\u201365.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dousay. T. A. (2018). Instructional design models. In R. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: Historical Roots and Current Trends.<\/em> https:\/\/edtechbooks.org\/lidtfoundations\/instructional_design_models<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. https:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/royalroads-ebooks\/detail.action?docID=3002118#<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n FranklinCovey. (n.d.). Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind<\/em>. FranklinCovey. https:\/\/www.franklincovey.com\/the-7-habits\/habit-2\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Covey, S. R. (2013). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change<\/em>. Simon & Schuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takacs, S, Zhang, J., Lee, H., Truong, L., & Smulders, D. (2021) A comprehensive guide to applying universal design for learning<\/em>. Justice Institute of British Columbia. https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcudl\/<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In creating effective learning environments in K-12 education, as in any other education setting, it is important to have a well thought our instructional design model (IDM) in order to best meet the needs of learners and accomplish the learning goals of the program. This is especially true in my personal context, teaching high school … Continue reading Creating Effective Learning Environments in K-12 Education<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru303\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}