Week 4: Trends & Issues in IDT

Part A

Military

Over the years, the military in the United States and other developed nations have evolved into huge, technologically sophisticated, multifaceted, integrated organizations with an overwhelming number of responsibilities. The military of all nations will face a number of common challenges. Two of these challenges that may impact the role of designer are:

·         International responsibilities of a national of multinational military force

·         New technologies

The global corporate world thrives on international partnership. Designers must recognize the cultural diversity of the clients and select training of learning solutions that can accommodate dissimilar audiences.  

New technologies exist on every front, in every business, and in every home. Students share classroom experiences with children around the world via the internet. Low-cost, digital communications have placed international friends and relatives within a fingers reach. These new technologies are also available to adversaries. Using secure networks and limiting the number of applications are just two ways in which the military tries to prevent illegal access. But these security solutions may cause instructional designers to adjust the design and delivery of training products. Designers must learn to work within the system.

The challenge of each service in any country is how to best utilize the money is has available for training. In most instances, trade-off decisions must be made in order to stay within budget. A low tech training solution, such as a paper based job aid, may not be the most desirable approach, but may well be the option selected to accomplish the training task and stay within budget. The desire to utilize all capabilities of technology is a temptation that may be hard to resist, but using dollars injudiciously can quickly be the undoing of a design firm. For instructional designer, suggest new approaches to training using low and high tech methods incorporated with the mission equipment is an option that should be considered.

P-12 Education

Across all three initiatives, students in the Ed-Tech classrooms were significantly more engaged in “best practices” activities than were students in comparison groups. Included were student-centered activities such as experimental, hands-on learning, independent inquiry/research and cooperative learning requiring use of computers as a tool and the application of critical thinking skills.

After three decades of numerous well-funded technology initiatives, some impressive accomplishments are noted. Students of all economic levels have greater access to high speed internet connected with the ratio being about one computer per every four students. Some statistics reveal disappointing patterns. At the state level, 2008-2009 data show that only twenty-one states require technology coursework to receive initial teacher licensure and only 10 require technology training or testing for re-certification.

Health Care Education

Some of the most significant factors affecting performance, the development of instruction, and the application of educational technology in health care are knowledge and research, cost, and managed care, regulations and standards, and convergence.

Use of advance computing and network technologies for consulting and education currently are active areas of health science research. Recent work includes representing the entire adult human male and female anatomy digitally to provide an image library for creating educational objects and diagnostic applications, establishing a collaboratory where scientist and teachers in embryology can work together and provide distance learning online and developing immersive, virtual reality environments using 3-D images and haptic feedback for surgical planning and training.

Similar

All of these are similar to where I work because they are all incorporating technology in some form. Each of these use technology for training just like at the school district I work at. We have to use computers to do training and to learn new technology skills to incorporate into our classrooms.

Different

The military is different because it is using technology to help assist with the improvement of communications and exchange between countries. The Health Care Education is using advance computing and network technologies for consulting and education currently are active areas of health science research.

Part B

I believe that our youth can learn how to address the problems of the world if we prepare them for it. Children learn at a very young age and if we instill the necessary problem solving skills into them while they are young then by the time they are adults they will be great problem solvers. The most important thing we can do for our students is educate them and encourage them to be the best that they can be. I think the education system always has room for improvement especially when it comes to educating the students on things they need to know about the world. Education should incorporate more world education and issues in the world because these things are important to know and we shouldn’t send out young students into the world blind as adults. I also believe that practices in Europe and Asia could be incorporated into the U.S education system because every county does different things and there isn’t anything wrong with sharing and incorporating what someone else is doing. I believe this would make out students culturally diverse and well rounded.

Reference:

Reiser , R. A. & Dempsey, J. V. (2002).Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Prentice Hall, c2002