This course is about preparing learners for a future world of change. It seeks to expose learners to trends and innovations in the field in order to inspire ideas and consequently, modernise the body of knowledge. Learners’ research skills will be enhanced as new and current opportunities are explored. Moreover, learners will be afforded opportunities to assess the reliability and effectiveness of trends and innovations and use models such as Gartner’s Hype Cycle Model to make predictions and identify weaknesses and strengths. As a course participant, I felt empowered as the course allowed opportunities for learner-led discussions. In small groups, we facilitated and engaged other course participants in discussions of technology-related themes and topics. Discussions usually allowed participants to share glimpses into their contexts, particularly their countries and communities. I still have vivid images of the significance of the digital divide in Jamaica and its impact on students during the COVID-19 pandemic because of those peer discussions.
The most rewarding takeaways that I received from this course are skills to analyse, critique and evaluate that help me not to blindly accept knowledge. This is exemplified by my initial thoughts and assumptions entering the course and my re-evaluation of those thoughts by the end of the course. The course commenced with a review of the history of instructional design and the role of instructional technology. At this point, I would say that I assumed that because emerging trends were popular, widely accepted and in some instances, had influential individuals advocating them, that they would be beneficial and impactful globally, take for example Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). By the end of the course however, I had acquired knowledge, skills and strategies to objectively assess, look at trends from more than one perspective, especially through learners and teachers’ lenses and to use my own experiences to evaluate and make inferences.
Select the artefact that follows for my evaluation of a MOOCs effectiveness which considers the course’s design, philosophical underpinnings, teaching strategies, learning theories and assessments among others.
EDID 6501
EDID 6502
EDID 6503
EDID 6504
EDID 6505
EDID 6506
EDID 6506
Issues, Trends, Innovations and Research in Instructional Design, Instructional Technology and Distance Education