In Chapter 14, Human Performance Improvement was discussed as systemic change to increase the performance of organizations. HPI is something that all businesses, educational or industrial, should include in their system plan. It is important that all employees work toward improving their skills, training, and work input and output. We are always looking for ways to make things work better and more smoothly.
When considering HPI for the P-12 educational systems, it is important that people in these organizations work together to improve the quality of education that we provide for our student population. I have been in many professional development meetings and workshops where people are not interested because they do not believe in the basis of what is being covered. They are set against the project before it even begins. This attitude makes it difficult to encourage systemic change because for this to occur, we need everyone to grasp the changing policies in order for them to be successful.
In Chapter 22, Reiser and Dempsey presented essays from a variety of people who work in higher education. I found this chapter to be very interesting and actually enjoyed reading how these people spend their days, the frustrations they deal with, and the aspects of their positions that are fulfilling. Instructional design in this setting sets an example for p-12 education systems to model after. The professors that discussed helping other personnel create and organize the technology aspect of their programs or classes was enlightening. They ask and take into consideration the needs and desires of how the people want their classes to work and then provide suggestions and/or solutions that will help the classes to run as smoothly as possible.
The P-12 educational systems need to take direction from the example that higher education has set forth for instructional design, system design and implementation, in general. It is important that school boards and administrations consider the needs that teachers and support staff recognize within the school systems. Schools should consider these needs to implement change on a holistic level.
Both HPI and the higher education designs approach the changes from a systemic viewpoint. It is extremely important that more p-12 school districts get on board with the systemic change and discover ways to implement change that will have a lasting effect. One of the technology changes my school district has been pushing are computerized classes. The gist of these courses, at present, involve the students staring at computer screens, taking notes, and answering questions. I realize there is a real need for online courses, but these classes are not interactive, and most of the students realize very little growth in learning from these courses. It appears to be a way to get them quick credit and get them out of school. I believe it would be more important to have online courses set up more in line with the type of course we are currently involved in with this class. One were students are interacting with other students and the instructor. Also a course where students are producing output where they can apply their learning and put it into practice.
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As an online teacher I can relate to your concern about the online courses at your school being rather static. I agree that many of them seem to be designed to get students a quick credit and out the door. One awesome aspect of the online program that I am a part of is the complete interaction I have with my students. Each hour long session involves up to 3 students plus myself. We begin the hour getting to know each other in the homeroom before dispersing to each individual classroom. It is here where individualized instruction takes place on a 1:1 level. We work in live time with audio and completely interactive screens. The only thing missing is the ability to see one another (but then I wouldn't be able to work in my pj's so I am happy about that!) I feel like the company I work with is truly providing cutting edge resources to students all across North America and beyond!! A couple of weeks ago I even had a student in Honduras!
ReplyDelete~Jennifer B.
I like how you stated that districts need a system to follow to implement change. I have been part of districts and schools where this was not the case and we were all moving in different directions at different speeds. It was miserable. I also agree with you that everyone needs to be on board if it is gonna happen on a large level. This is where the charter academy I worked for had an upperhand. If you did not like the direction they were going towards or disagreed with it, you were released or asked to leave. That was good motivation enough to follow suit for me. Nice post and great idea for the screen cast.
ReplyDeleteJason