Section 5 Trends and Issues in Various Settings

The chapters in this section identify trends and issues with instructional design and technology in a variety of settings: military, health care, P-12, higher education, and around the world. In this week’s blog post, tell which setting you are working in or intend to work in. Then identify one thing that you learned from reading about each of the other settings and explain how that concept, idea, or approach could be adapted to your setting.

I am working in P-12 setting as a Computer Teacher/Robotics Coach for five years. Our school is a community charter school offering a comprehensive college preparatory program focusing on science, mathematics, and technology to provide opportunities for underserved communities. It offers an alternative form of public schooling.
I taught computer to middle school students first three years. Last two years, I am teaching computer science/robotics to high school students. The administrators in my school are very active of building relations with community and business leaders. We host a lot of visitors at our school.

I am also trying to contact professional to have them visit my classroom and talk to the students about his/her profession. Last year, I invited news/sports reporters to my Video Production class. One news reporter, one sports reporter from Fox television came to my Video Production class, and shared their experiences, daily life in their job, etc. to the class. They also helped me and my students to learn how to make news reports, how to shoot with camera, how to edit videos effectively, etc. It was great opportunity for me and my students.

By reading Section 5, I had a chance to learn how Instructional Design and Technology can improve learning and performance in P-12 setting, as well as learning trends and issues in various settings.

Business and Industry Setting
The one thing that I learned from Business and Industry setting was Rapid Prototyping. In the book, Rapid Prototyping is workable models of the final product or simply shells that demonstrate the projected appearance of the product.

In my Robotics club, we use Rapid Prototyping method to design our robot according to missions of the year. Students in Robotics brainstorm to generate possible solutions missions/problems for Robotics competition. First, we begin developing sketches and drawings about how our robot should look and act during competition. Then, we use these sketches/drawings to build a prototype. At first years, we used trial and error method to design our robot, and it took lots of lots of time to design it. But now, we are using PTC Creo software to design our robot in 3D first, then we test the design by using simulators. We begin assembling our robot in real if the test is successful. Using prototypes save us too much time and energy, and give us more time to practice our robot.
In future, I am going to use Rapid Prototyping more often.With the help of advancement and expansive list of possible Web 2.0 applications, I can use them to facilitate instruction and engage students more effectively in the learning process. By using rapid prototyping as a guide, I can design and develop technology enhanced curriculum lessons.

Military Setting

Image Courtesy of blackboard.com

In this chapter, I learned a lot of things, but I would like to highlight one of them; Lifelong Learning. Continued learning opportunities within the service improve service members within their occupational specialty and open the doors to many opportunities for those who leave service. Many countries has lifelong learning policies in their military. They developed open system for military students to study without borders. This allows military students to continue their personal learning goals while serving their countries abroad.(p 191)

Seniors Computer Class
Image Courtesy of craigdailypress.com

Lifelong Learning is widely used in the world today. E-Learning is available at most of the college and universities or to individuals learning independently. There are even online courses being offered for free by many institutions. Last year, MIT and Harvard founded an online learning platform called "edX". edX offers online learning to on-campus students and to millions of people around the world for free. I am also taking two online courses from edX platform. I can say that I've already learned a lot. Their statistics say that "more than 150,000 students from over 160 countries registered for MITx's first course, 6.002x: Circuits and Electronics. The age range of students certified in this course was from 14 to 74 years-old.". I think edX is a great example of Lifelong learning in education.

Health Care Setting

Image Courtesy of instituteoftechnology.edu

To me, in this chapter, the most important thing was Risk. The health field is one area where errors in learning literally can be a matter of life or death.Health professionals work with hazardous substances routinely. The education of health professionals is serious business (p.201).

In Education, especially in Science classes safety is very important.  Computers are an essential tool in the schools. Although problems can occur through their use, with the proper equipment, ergonomic workstation design, proper techniques and working practices, the risk of problems can be greatly reduced. For Computer Teachers, we developed a computer lab rules for students' safety. For us, prevention is better than cure.

Higher Education Setting

Image Courtesy of jm-aq.com

In the book, it says faculty members are trained in content but not in pedagogy. Also, individuals in this area become more critical. Progression of ranks for faculty is different from one country to another. It seems like not easy in working in Higher Education. Instructors have pressure on them to get their tenure. "Publish or perish"(p.223), this statement should clearly describe what I mean. I also noticed that, students, colleagues, and community appreciate instructors in Higher Education more than corporate setting does.

P-12 and Higher Education settings seem similar to each other. Both settings needs a lot of time, patience, and dedication. I see that not everybody can work in these areas, only people who have passion, love, patience can succeed in these fields. I think we can motivate ourselves if we think like that: We raise, teach future's leaders, engineers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and teachers. We shape them with out passion, patience, and love. What an amazing, honorable, reputable, and blessed job..