This Post was Inspired By...

The Weave!! Shoutout to her for the blog post from yesterday! It really resonated with me, combined with Dr. Dennen's manuscript. I think that the ability to be flexible with what you create has its hands everywhere, but ESPECIALLY in teaching and instructional design. Knowing that what you create has the ability to teach others concepts and ideas is something that shouldn't be taken lightly. 

However, I think that with that in mind, teachers and instructional designers should never think of what they create as "finished". There is always room for tweaks and improvements. I think that is the beauty of these two fields. Instruction can constantly be improved and changed to fit the needs of the learners. 

Taking into account what the learners needs is the biggest factor, to me at least. Of course the content is important but making sure that they have the tools they need to be successful should be top priority. If they don't have the necessary tools, then the content doesn't matter. 

Like The Weave, I taught digital students in the 2020-2021 school year and it was a series of challenges the whole year. At the beginning of the year, we didn't have 1-1 devices for all of the students yet, so we were giving out desktop computers and making sure that students got WiFi access if they didn't have it. Once we got past all of those challenges, I had to make sure that my students had EXPLICIT directions, or they weren't going to complete anything. It was crazy. Making sure I was flexible on due dates and with internet issues was something that I had to adjust to, but I knew that they needed that to be successful.

Comments

  1. The WeaveJune 23, 2022 at 5:22 PM

    I can't imagine not having devices ready to go. I may have walked out! lol Our Chromebooks arrived . literally, the morning of the first day of school. Granted, most of the kids at home had to try and connect with us via Zoom that day, so they needed SOMETHING. I think what helped us (me and my teamie) was that we personally reached out and called every parent, in-house and digital to express our support and flexibility. We were very clear that we were in this together, and we would make it through. I think that helped us tremendously.

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