My initial thoughts on instructional design is that I currently use many of the concepts
addressed in much of the professional literature that I read. I may not go deep enough in my presentation or development of my task analysis instructional design. In the past, I have utilized the many of the most current models of instructional design practices in education. I use backward design when designing my lessons. I start with the concept or standard that I am trying to teach. Next, I work from there using some of my favorite backwards design templates. Many times I do not have time to develop my lessons from the planning phase as teachers often have preconceived notions of what they want to teach and how they want to teach it. I often step into the lesson the day of presentation and teach the technological skill that is only a small part of their overall lesson or unit. I also use these models when designing my professional development lessons for staff. I feel as though my current practices have been effective but I can see how an instructional design course may be able to help me enhance my current instructional design practices to develop a deeper understanding of the material.
I will use the Understanding By Design template in my next lesson and implement an instructional design learning concept that is deeper and more meaningful. It seems simple and easy to use. It has a lot of the same questions that I use in my design process. I was not familiar with the "whereto" acronym. Utilizing this acronym should help to refine my learning activities.
Development of the learning activities is my favorite part of the process. It is where most of the learning happens. As an educational technologist, I do not have a classroom. I have many opportunities to coach and co-teach with other teachers using technology. My main concerns regarding the implementation of these materials are the time it takes to develop them as well as the buy-in that I will need to get from the teachers that I work with. Time in education is always a commodity. Group backward design planning often gets left behind in everyday teaching. Teachers have a wide array of styles with varying philosophies in planning, design, and implementation of pedagogy. I hope to continue my journey in instructional design and learn deeper modalities of task analysis as I take part in my instructional design course this year.