Week 8 Reflection

Week 8 Reflection

Chapter 18: Instructional Design in Business and Industry

          One of the biggest connections I saw between an instructional designer and a teacher are the multiple “hats” we both have to wear.  In the chapter, they discussed the variety of roles that an instructional designer may have.  They may be the sole designer of a project and be responsible for hiring others or absorbing other responsibilities because of budget cuts.  They could be part of a team working on a project or even a virtual team if necessary.  If they are hired as an external designer, they will use their custom expertise to do their specific part of the project and do their best to work with others on the team.  As teachers we are first and foremost educators but at any given moment could double as a lunch monitor, guidance counselor, copy machine repairman, or janitor.  We perform many jobs throughout the day.  Most teachers are part of a team of teachers where they are also expected to uphold certain duties; my team has split up detention duty, morning duty, and homework letter duty.  We also work together as teams to make sure our students are being successful.  My professional learning community, which is made up of 7^th grade science teachers, works together to make lessons and activities for our students that align to the standards.  We are constantly doing our part to complete the task at hand whether we are in our classroom on our own or working in a group.

          An easy connection between the instructional design industry and educational industry are the fact that both have constraints.  The main constraints I thought both industries deal with currently are the time and resources issue.  Budget cuts seem to come up daily whether we are dealing with a lack of copy paper, students complaining about not going on field trips, or not having enough textbooks.  We also worry about fitting in our entire curriculum before our state wide test.  Instructional designers have to worry about time and money also as most industries do.  When creating a proposal they must take into consideration their clients wants and their necessities to complete the job.  Another constraint that both industries have is the effect of level of expertise.  Whether someone is in their first year or twentieth, can make a difference.  However, I have been lucky enough to work with a range of expertise and seen the benefits of those who have been in the profession for many years and newbies.  Working together with these people has given me the expertise and knowledge I have today.  The old saying two heads are better than one comes to mind, when working together no one has to recreate the wheel or take on the entire load.