Instructional Design Class Project: Does Muscle Fatigue affect Reaction Time?

Reflecting on the Instructional Design Project

Now that EDTECH 503 is over, and I've had some time back in the classroom to actually deliver the project to students, I felt is was important to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the instructional design project I completed.

Overall design:  I felt my project was designed well.  In class we learned about the Addie model and I tried to follow it well; at least I followed it as well as I knew how.   Being a novice in instructional design I really didn't feel confident enough in my own product to say that it was "the most exceptionally designed product, but I did put my heart and soul into trying to learn how this process works.  I'm really glad we were given the opportunity to work on the project in chunks because  I was able to spend time trying to understand how each piece was completed, and how each piece fit together from a learning perspective. Overall, and according to feedback from my peers, my projects design is easy to follow, is laid out well, and has all of the elements of sound instructional design. 

Teacher usability: I believe that because I took the time to focus on each individual part of the project, and fix mistakes when I make them was crucial to developing a product that any teacher can use.  Even if you don't have experience with my particular content, it can be delivered by anyone.  You Don't necessarily need to understand how the muscles and the bones work together to facilitate this project.  Students, on the other hand, do need a bit of background information to successfully understand the process they will participate in.  With that said, I think many instructional design project, if designed well, can be delivered by educators who aren't necessarily experts at the content.  In addition to the project being easy to use, having all the materials necessary for students is valuable. 

Student learning:  Now that I've had the chance to actually deliver this instruction to students, I found it amazing how much more prepared I was to teach it.  Not only that, but my students were much more prepared to learn it!  The goal in any learning environment is student success.  It is vital for educators to consciously think about all of the factors that affect learning.  It does seem overwhelming at first to consider everything that would positively or negatively affect how a student learns, but if done often enough and thoroughly enough, it gets easier and easier the more you do it.  I imagine a classroom where each student's strengths and weaknesses are considered, but in today's fast passed, everybody cram everything you can into the short school day environment, the teacher becomes overwhelmed with the amount of work involved to successfully pull that off.  Even after just one well designed instructional design project, I have learned more about my students that I ever thought possible.  I believe that I have the tools necessary to create instruction suited to each learner.

I hope you enjoy reading my Instruction Design Project.!!