Lately I have been reading a lot about design thinking and the concepts that make up this philosophy. One idea I really liked is the concept of designed touchpoints. This concept is usually associated with brand-driven design but I believe is very relevant for instructional design as well. We are already seeing a shift towards user experience and emotional design in online teaching. If you are a designer and you are not giving some thought to these concepts them you will fall quickly behind with the current trends in design.
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Design, Ideas
As a instructor and student I have come to desire more from my online courses. Using the discussion tools available in most Learning Management Systems just does not give the level of interaction that I want. As a designer I have the ability to integrate other Web 2.0 based technologies that will allow for greater levels of interaction between my students.
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Design, Ideas, Technology voicethread
I am sure most of the designers I work with get tired of hearing me say “pay attention to design.” I want to promote design thinking, I want everyone involved thinking about how we can influence teaching with design.
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Design, Ideas Design Thinking
The 2010 Horizon Report listed electronic books as one of the “Technologies to Watch.” In the detailed report on electronic books, the authors say that the “Time-to-Adoption Horizon” is two to three years. If this is the case then we better get a move on because I fear we are a little behind schedule.
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Design, Ideas, Technology e-Books
I am big fan of Lynda.com. I believe I have mentioned this in other posts. I am in constant acquisition mode, always looking for design ideas and new ways to use technology. To be able to this I have learn to use new software and techniques. I used to read a lot of manuals and books but this became cumbersome and a major cognitive overload. About two years ago I started using Lynda.com. With their short and to-the-point video tutorials, I am able to learn now software easily. I have the added benefit of being able to search very specific features when and where I need them.
Now I can search and watch Lynda.com tutorials using my iPhone. This is great! I can have access to help from anywhere just when I need it.
Lynda.com iPhone App
Design, Ideas, Technology Lynda.com, tutorials
I see a lot of online courses that appear to have no application of any recognizable teaching methodology. I have asked a lot of designers the above question and the answer I usually get is “yes, well maybe, but I am not always sure.”
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Design, Ideas, Technology Constructivist, Gagne, Knowing Knowledge, Knowles, Mind Map, Rogers
I am frequently asked by online faculty for better tools for students to do online presentations. Boring PowerPoints are being replaced with You Tube videos and mash up presentations using Jing videos hosted at screencast.com. VoiceThread is perfect for this type of presentation. Students can easily upload a wide range of materials including videos and PowerPoints and then assembly these into a presentation. Then the students can do a prerecorded presentation with audio and video annotations and can even draw on the screen if they would like to.
VoiceThread Student Presentation Mode Work Flow
Along the same lines group presentations are also enhanced by these same tools students can work as a group in VoiceThread to develop and present media rich presentations. Since VoiceThread is web-based it allows easy access to the workspace for all the group members.
VoiceThread Group Presentation Mode Work Flow
Design, Ideas, Technology voicethread, work flow
This third work flow is pretty simple–use VoiceThread as a polling tool. Just ask students a simple question and have them give a simple response. This is much like the natural prompting you would do in a face to face class. The assignment instructions would be written to elicit a narrow response in the form of a “just the facts” comment in VoiceThread.
Polling Mode Work Flow
Design, Ideas, Technology voicethread, work flow
The second work flow for VoiceThread is the lecture mode. To be more precise, this is the “Instructor Presentation and Collaboration Space and Lecture Mode”. VoiceThread can be used in several ways. In this mode we are using it as a presentation and collaboration tool.
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Design, Ideas, Technology voicethread, work flow
My first work flow is pretty straightforward. I want to ask students a directed discussion question. I want the students to answer the questions right there in the VoiceThread. This is a discussion board on steroids. I have always believed that proximity has always been a problem in learning management systems. The learning content is in one place and the collaboration tools are in another. This is just too clunky. VoiceThread puts everything where in needs to be.
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Design, Ideas, Technology LMS, screencast, voicethread
