Boise State University, Masters in Educational Technology Portfolio

Kristin Ewing

Boise State University, Masters in Educational Technology Portfolio

April 2012

Introduction

When I entered the Masters in Educational Technology (MET) program at Boise State University, I was an online teacher for K-8 students. I began this program to better integrate best practices in online teaching and learn to utilize the vast amount of possible resources. I have always loved being involved in technology, even when I was in a traditional classroom teaching K-6th grades in the early 1990s. Participating in this program allowed me to explore technology integration with an online program and indulge this passion. Even though the online teaching job ended mid-way through the MET program, I continued to enjoy all I was learning. Currently, I work as an instructional services coach with a large school district helping teachers and administrators use data for instructional decision-making and am finding new ways to use technology integration with adult learning.

Throughout the past two years, I have learned much about educational theory, philosophy, technology and its application in a variety of public and private sector settings. I have gained greater knowledge in using instructional design and program management to integrate technology with education. This portfolio of my work in the Masters in Educational Technology program showcases this learning and integration. It is organized by Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) standards with explanations about the project, research, how it meets the standards and what I learned.

AECT Standard 1: Design

Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to design conditions for learning by applying principles of instructional systems design, message design, instructional strategies, and learner characteristics.

Standard 1.1 Instructional Systems Design

Instructional Systems Design (ISD) is an organized procedure that includes the steps of analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating instruction.

Edtech 503 – Final Instructional Design Project

For my Edtech 503 final instructional design project, I created a curriculum plan for students to identify the theme of a fictional narrative. The major instructional strategy used in these lessons is concept learning, which Smith and Ragan identify as an intellectual skill that “involves the ability to apply knowledge across a variety of instances or circumstances” (2005, p. 172). To identify theme, which is an abstract concept, students must analyze patterns found in the elements of the narrative, and then make generalizations based on what they know about common themes. The learning objectives were created using Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956), and lessons were designed using Keller’s ARCS Model (Keller, 1987).

This project was chosen to represent AECT Standard 1.1 because it included many different elements of the instructional design process identified by Gustafson and Branch (2002) based on ADDIE. These included an “analysis of the setting and learner needs, designing the set of specifications for the learner environment, development of all learner and management materials, and formative and summative evaluations of the results” (p. 15). Going through the ADDIE process and developing the project at this level helped deepen my understanding of how instructional designers play a key role in developing curriculum. Following the class, I was able to use this design to teach a 3rd-6th grade online literature class in mini-lessons and help them learn the skills needed to identify theme. Later, several who returned to the next literature circle were able to apply the same skills.

Standard 1.2 Message Design

Message design involves planning for the manipulation of the physical form of the message.

Edtech 506 - Story Elements Unit Plan website and justification

As part of the final project for Edtech 506, Instructional Message Design, I created a website outlining a unit on Story Elements. Also included was a justification explanation, which includes the research and principles used to create the graphics and images used throughout the unit and site. The overarching message design used the principle of Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity, otherwise known as CARP (Lohr, 2008). Within each of the graphic elements, I focused on using the design concepts of Typography, Selection, Shape, Gestalt/Integration, Color, Space and Depth as outlined by Lohr (2008). For example, in my slide showing the author of the book, I used Typography principles, which recommend a sans-serif font for the heading and a serif font for the text (Lohr, 2008). Sans-serif fonts are too hard to read in longer text passages, and the author passage contained quite a bit of text (Lohr, 2008). Using the elements together provides a clear, cohesive instructional message, presenting information to a learner in a way that can aid in active cognitive processing (Clark Mayer, 2008).

This project maps to AECT Standard 1.2 because it was intentionally developed with instructional message design principles throughout the unit. This project, and the class, strongly deepened my understanding of how CARP and design concepts can either detract from or enhance instruction. Well designed graphics reduce cognitive load and can aid in the understanding of the instructional message (Clark Mayer, 2008; Lohr, 2008). Putting these concepts and principles into practice helped me refine my design skills – which didn’t exist prior to this class. Although I did not use it to teach a class, I did design it to share with other teachers who could use the resources I created. I believe the elements included will enhance the instructional message and help students learn the story elements of a fictional narrative.

Standard 1.3 Instructional Strategies

Instructional strategies are specifications for selecting and sequencing events and activities within a lesson.

Edtech 503 – Types of Learning Strategies Reflection

One of the key steps after analysis of a problem is to determine the type of instructional strategy/strategies to use. As Smith and Ragan (2005) point out, in order for learning to occur a student must choose to attend to the presented stimuli, store information in working memory, interpret the information and be able to retrieve this learning from long-term memory. To help this process, a designer must determine organizational, delivery and management strategies. These strategies are

·  declarative knowledge, which is rote learning

·  conceptual knowledge, which is applied learning

·  procedural knowledge, which is learning in steps

·  principle knowledge, which is applying cause and effect

·  problem-solving, which combines rote, conceptual, and principle learning to solve problems

·  attitude, which is how learners feel about learning

·  psychomotor skill, which is physical movement (Smith & Ragan, 2005).

I chose this artifact for AECT Standard 1.3 because it was my reflection about each of the organizational strategies and how they could be used in the classroom. Reading and reflecting about each of the organizational strategies helped me determine which could best be used and when. As an example, when considering which instructional strategy to use for my final instructional design project, I determined that a conceptual strategy would be best. This was because I wanted students to use the relational attributes of learning about theme in narrative fiction to apply it to future readings.

Standard 1.4 Learner Characteristics

Learner characteristics are those facets of the learner’s experiential background that impact the effectiveness of a learning process.

Edtech 501 – Online Learning in the K-12 Environment – A Synthesis of Research in Online Learning

When reviewing research about online learning in the K-12 environment, particular importance is placed on learner characteristics, e.g. what is a “successful” online learner? Studies by the Sloan Consortium in 2005 and 2008 provide an overview of who these students might be. Picciano and Seaman (2009) make further determinations of their characteristics.

This artifact was selected because it outlines possible characteristics of a successful online learner, which maps to AECT Standard 1.4. I learned that, when designing online curriculum or an online program, designers and administrators should keep these characteristics in mind. In addition, this topic introduced me to the concept of “Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge” (TPAK) as outlined by Archambault and Crippen (2009). Within the TPAK framework, teachers examine their subject matter and technological expertise and determine how to integrate technology into their teaching in a way that best meets the instructional needs of their learners. As part of Standard 1.4, this is part of considering the interaction of learner characteristics in the learning situation. As an online teacher for several years, this was a topic of considerable interest. I was able to use this information to develop an in-service for staff, which outlined how to use best practices in online teaching to meet the needs of the learners.

AECT Standard 2: Development

Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to develop instructional materials and experiences using print, audiovisual, computer-based, and integrated technologies.

Standard 2.1 Print Technologies

Print technologies are ways to produce or deliver materials, such as books and static visual materials, primarily through mechanical or photographic printing processes.

Edtech 506 - Story Elements Character Analysis Worksheet

The Story Elements Character Analysis worksheet was created as part of a unit on Story Elements of a Fictional Narrative and a lesson on identifying character traits. I chose this artifact to represent AECT Standard 2.1 because it is a handout that can be printed as part of the lesson.

It was created using the message design principles of color and typography, using Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity (CARP) (Lohr, 2008). In creating this worksheet, I gained a deeper understanding in the use of color theory outlined by Lohr (2008). I used green to enhance acuity and recognition of the smiley face as representing a character, and the split-complementary colors of reddish-purple and reddish-orange for contrast between clues and traits. In reflecting CARP, each of the boxes and text is aligned, and the rectangle shape reinforces repetition. Because this was designed for younger learners, I wanted to keep it very simple.

Edtech 541 –Culture Video Handout

This worksheet was designed to be printed as a handout for students to capture notes as they watched educational videos. As part of a research project learning about countries, students learn about the concept of culture. To enhance their visual and conceptual understanding of culture, they explore anthropological terms (O’Neil 2006), and watch videos showing the culture of different countries.

I chose this artifact to represent AECT Standard 2.1 because it guides students to think about what they know, to take notes about what they learn, and then reflect on their learning and how they can incorporate it into their research project. Designing this worksheet helped me reflect on video integration as a way to engage student thinking through visualizing a concept, gain access to a unique information source, and gain visual literacy skills as outlined in Roblyer and Doering (2010, p. 14-16). Although I’ve used a similar idea in the past, I now have a greater understanding of the research and theory behind the concept.

Standard 2.2 Audiovisual Technologies

Audiovisual technologies are ways to produce or deliver materials by using mechanical devices or electronic machines to present auditory and visual messages.

Edtech 513 – Digital Story – Introduction to WAVA Literature Circles

For this project, I designed and developed an introductory video for online students to learn more about a literature circle class we offered. I chose this artifact as representative of AECT Standard 2.2 because it demonstrates how I was able to deliver an instructional message in both an auditory and visual way.

Although I was familiar with storyboarding, and had developed numerous presentations, I had never put them together in movie form. I referred to multiple resources, including the e-learning design principles of multimedia, modality and redundancy to understand how to combine narration with visuals, as outlined in Clark and Mayer (2008). Through this, I tried to keep my graphics and images uncluttered, keep my narration with the image that represented the concept, and make my message simple and cohesive. Using these skills I can now design other instructional messages through the use of audiovisual technologies utilizing the theories and processes used for this one.

Standard 2.3 Computer-Based Technologies

Computer-based technologies are ways to produce or deliver materials using microprocessor-based resources.

Edtech 513 – “The Infinite Word” Podcast

This was one of my favorite projects! I had wanted to learn about creating and sharing podcasting for a long time, and this was my opportunity. Using the segmenting and personalization principles as outlined in Clark and Mayer (2008), I picked a topic, broke it into three separate but related segments, and used a conversational tone to narrate my podcast. I recorded it using Audacity software and then Lame encoder to convert it to an MP3. In this way, I used computer-based technologies, meeting AECT Standard 2.3.

Although I had great intentions to continue with this podcast series, I have not yet created any new episodes. But, I have the ability and skills to do so if I find a need or want to later down the road. I can see using this as a way to connect with online students supporting a weekly topic or challenge, or in my new job, providing motivation for exploring a new skill.

Standard 2.4 Integrated Technologies

Integrated technologies are ways to produce and deliver materials, which encompass several forms of media under the control of a computer.

Edtech 522 - Tutorial on using Blackboard Elluminate

After four years of using Elluminate to teach online classes, I have a high level of familiarity with the tool and wanted to share that knowledge with others. I developed this tutorial to walk a beginning user through how to use the basic tools. After watching this and experimenting with the Elluminate or Blackboard Collaborate tools, a user should feel a basic comfort level with using the product.

To create this tutorial, I used Adobe Connect to direct my instruction using a webcam, while highlighting elements onscreen. This required the use of several skills and using the modality principle to present words as audio rather than text, the redundancy principle to explain visuals with words in audio or text, not both, and the congruity principle to align words with corresponding graphics as outlined in Clark and Mayer (2008). Although I used a PowerPoint to provide a visual, I tried to mostly use narration and graphic visuals through the use of the pointer tool to demonstrate the use of the product. This is an example of using integrated technologies to manage instruction and create a resource, meeting AECT Standard 2.3.