Project Summary

Title: Redesigned Instruction for Online Course Discussions in IDE 616

 

Context: A final project for course IDE 631: Instructional Design & Development I

 

Author(s): Amber A. Walton, Lei Wang, Garmondyu Whorway

 

IDD&E Component: Design & Development (14) Select or modify existing instructional materials.

 

Reflection/Self-Assessment:

Overview

In this final course project, we selected 1 or 2 team members with whom to work to develop an instructional design project proposal for a human performance problem.  The performance problem was to be small enough in scope to be able to developed within the semester, would require an instructional intervention, and be within a content area where our team had expertise.  The project proposal required a thorough description of our design rationale and ideas.  The plan was to be developed with enough information that a real design team could put the proposed instruction into operation.  The final deliverables for the course project included a 12-page final report and a 10-minute narrated video to present during class.

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Strengths

The greatest strength of this project was the teamwork shared by my classmates, Garmondyu Whorway and Lei Wang, and myself.  We met face-to-face twice each week during the semester for very productive work meetings.  We shared the work equally and collaborated with ease and enthusiasm.  It was truly a pleasure to work with these two colleagues.

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Because our team chose to target a performance problem that we had all experienced during one of our shared classes in IDD&E, we felt confident in our content expertise and the timeliness/relevance of the topic.  Online course discussions will be an educational method with which we will interact, both as students and as instructors/instructional designers, in much of our future work.  I believe our team was successful in analyzing the performance problem of non-substantive discussion posts and providing research-based solutions for improving discussion board posts and responses to peers' posts.

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Opportunities

It was a challenge for our team to focus and limit the amount of information we provided in the final report, especially with a page limit of 12 pages.  Our report ended up being 17 pages long, excluding references and appendices.  Finding ways to present comprehensive, detailed information without overwhelming the reader with too much information is a tricky balance to find.  Adhering to page limits could be critical in future projects, for example, when writing grant proposals or submitting abstracts for presentation/publication.  

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While this course project gave us experience in a realistic instructional design/ADDIE process, we could have benefitted from real-world implementation of the project to afford us more authentic practice and project plan evaluation.  Our team is ecstatic that we will have the chance to work on real-world applications of our knowledge, skills, and attitudes as we all three embark on doctoral studies in the IDD&E department at Syracuse University, starting in the Fall of 2019.