With so many different instructional design methods out there (over 100), it is difficult to say which one I use the most. I think that I use many of them in different situations and I use some of them to a certain degree all the time.
It is no surprise to me that many people use at least some portion of the ADDIE Model. I am no exception to this. I have found with many of my lesson plans that I use this process to improve. For example, I had my students making commercials with the classroom set of iPads. One thing that I noticed was that about 1/4 of the students cropped their videos so that the actor's head was cut off and you could see more of their body than was necessary. From this evaluation, I know that I need to add in a section on the Rule of Thirds so the students can appropriately video any object of person. Because I am constantly improving lesson plans, I like to evaluate how they turn out. After the evaluation, I will go through the process of analysis, design, develop, implement and then evaluate again. This makes things run more smoothly each time. I feel that I am a more effective teacher when I am able to improve my own lesson plans.
I have found in my own learning, that I am able to grasp concepts when I can apply what I am learning to real life. I also learn much more quickly when I can physically interact and use my hands. Merrill's First Principles of Instruction Model focuses on task-centered learning. Because I learn well this way, I try to incorporate task-centered learning into my lesson plans as much as possible. By allowing the students to learn a task, recall previous knowledge, interact with something, use real-life application and then actually integrate what they have learned into their lives, I know that they will remember what they are learning a lot better.
You pointed out a great example of updating a lesson as you go along through analyzing the process and making adjustments where necessary. It is interesting how these lessons progress. Do you keep track of where you started? I only ask because it would be interesting to see how you progressed and how far you've come from the first time you tried a particular lesson.
ReplyDeleteI think that would be interesting to come back to, but I haven't really kept a record of the initial lesson plans. I usually just save right over the top of my old lesson plans when I make changes because I know that I am always going to use the improved version.
DeleteLearning by doing is a great way to insure long term knowledge and the task-centered design supports this. It is great that you approach your students this way and set them up for successful learning in your design process.
ReplyDeleteI had a course mate who wrote his dissertation about novice instructional designers who used Merrill's First Principles. The results of his study indicated that novice instructional designers who used Merrill's First Principles had students who had higher achievement than experienced instructional designers who did not use Merrill's First Principles.
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