Designing Instruction For Open Sharing PDF
Preview Designing Instruction For Open Sharing
Shalin Hai-Jew Designing Instruction For Open Sharing Designing Instruction For Open Sharing Shalin Hai-Jew Designing Instruction For Open Sharing Shalin Hai-Jew Information Technology Services (ITS) Kansas State University Manhattan, KS, USA ISBN 978-3-030-02712-4 ISBN 978-3-030-02713-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02713-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018959754 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface One of the more salutary aspects of the age of the current Social Web (or Web 2.0) has been in the sharing of learning resources. Amateurs to experts create learning contents, and they share their experiences with others—through narrated demo vid- eos, slideshows, simulations, games, and codes. People can go online to acquire new knowledge and skills, shore up old ones, and explore other people’s specialties, expertise, experiences, interests, and perspectives. For some of the more basic activ- ities, one may emulate others’ skills and gain self-confidence: “That looks pretty easy! Hey, I can do that!” That confidence may extend further to, “Hey, I can create learning objects and sequences for others online!” After all, people all have their own expertise that may interest others. If this is something you have considered, then this how-to book may be for you. The vision for an online world of open-shared learning objects has been around for decades, and it goes something like this. Content experts from around the world have insights to share, and they individually and in teams co-create contents that others may use at no cost, through the affordances of the Web and Internet. The reusability enables there to be less wasted human effort in creating similar learning resources. These endeavors are complementary to the commercial space and occa- sionally competitive to it. The open sharing efforts are informed by humanistic ide- als to entice learners to explore, to bring others in the field forward, to advance the fields themselves, to enable broader spaces for author voices and expression, and to better unite humanity across shared interests for learning. Those who may not directly access higher education and other learning endeavors may discover and develop their inner talents. This effort democratizes the world’s knowledge, and it lessens some of the vagaries of birth by introducing increased and egalitarian access. Open-shared learning resources are predicated on having more level playing fields. In terms of contributors, this is an inclusive space. Anyone who wants to contrib- ute may, in the same way that anyone who wants to be electronically social may engage; however, the space is also highly competitive, with people individually and collectively being highly protective of their attention and time. Just because some- thing is free does not mean that it will necessarily be taken up and used. For the v vi Preface potential contributors, the bare outlines of the open-shared learning resources chal- lenge reads like this: For a budget of $0, an individual or a team peruses the online learning environment, identi- fies a possible gap in publicly available information, defines a number of learning audiences with possible interest in the topic, and conceptualizes a learning object that he or she may create in a unique and learner-centered way. He or she (or they) collects information and creates digital learning objects and learning sequences in a way that stands up to legal scru- tiny around issues of copyright, information privacy, media law, and others and is risk- controlled. He or she tunes the learning to a wide potential range of learners. Along the way, he or she uses research resources that can easily top thousands of dollars, software suites and stand-alone programs that range in the thousands of dollars, and professional time that equals some thousands of dollars. The created learning resources are released to the public with all its potential scrutiny. In most cases, the work is in the environment but does not result in any public notice or acclaim. Bylines are sometimes used, but such objects are not usually cited nor credited. Digital learning objects are not usually cited to advance careers. Typical usage may be in the double digits up to the quadruple digits of users. If that is a value proposition that sounds appealing, then this book may be the one for you. The essential premise of this text is that there are approaches and methods that may be taken to design more effective instruction for open sharing on the Web and Internet. If the current age is about user-generated contents being shared widely on social media platforms, it is actually also the age of generous sharing of expert insights by individuals and groups, who enable free and global access to their works. For some, such a share is a one-off, and for others, such shares are part of regular work. The open share of an online learning object or learning sequence requires more forethought and effort than a social media share, such as a quick image cap- ture or Tweet or posting or up/down vote. So for such a complex topic, where is a reasonable place to start? Full disclosure: Initially, this was to be an edited text, but when the initial calls for proposals did not reveal committed interest by potential contributors, I asked the publisher if they would be willing to go with an authored one, and they said yes! (Timing is everything, and the mass mood for a topic has to be right to attract sufficient commitment to an authored project. Also, with the shift to an authored text, what is gained is a more individual author point-of-view, but what is lost are some of the diversities of voices that could have been—had the momentum been different.) My point-of-view informs the text’s framework. I assume that real-world infor- mation is critical to this work, so I draw on decades of educational and instructional design experiences in this space. I strive to surface relevant tacit knowledge (in a generalizable way), and I assume that practical decision-making will be important. I assume that many readers will be working as designer/developers on their own open-shared projects, in part because many such objects are often single bylined and because teams are hard to bring together for such work and are less common. I also assume that there may be the occasional team, so I address both approaches. Another general assumption is that readers will be working on single projects or short learning sequences—not major instructional design projects—in part because this seems to be a more common sharing market than large-scale funded o pen- shared Preface vii learning endeavors (like many massive open online courses or “MOOCs”). I am envisioning creative projects: apps for engaging a physical environment, serious games, assessments, AI bots engaging in immersive virtual worlds, virtual tutors, game-based learning scenarios, slideshows, interactive webpages, exploratory learning spaces, digital photo albums, electronic books, interactive kiosk experi- ences, and anything else people may want to build to share. I am informed by my work life, which has included decades of work in higher education, the public sector, and the private sector. The field of instructional design is not a settled one. It is lively with a range of different accepted approaches and much on-ground decision-making by its practitioners. This book provides the best state of the art that I could create in this year of development, and the writing pro- vides general guidelines and approaches, but the decision-making and choices are left rightly in the reader’s hands. The goal is to avoid superficial and click-bait contents and go for building some- thing that will last and have a longer impact than fleeting views. The insights in the text can apply to the larger-funded projects, but the main focus is on the smaller efforts. The level of generality is purposeful, to be as inclusive as possible, given that there are so many types digital objects. This book also takes a “dot your i’s and cross your t’s” sort of approach because the professional field requires that, because accu- racy serves learners well, and because precision protects the designer/developer. This text is structured as a fairly comprehensive but general work sequence, beginning with the initial interest in possibly creating a learning object or sequence for open sharing, going through exploratory and planning stages, reviewing the extant applied laws and ethics, designing the object, developing it, testing it, launch- ing it into the world, and considering how to support its users and ultimately learn from the experience. This textbook is practically hands-on, with various learning features at chapter level: defined learning objectives, keywords, interspersed reader tasks, practical assignments, explanatory visuals, what-if scenarios, sidebars, web resources, main point reviews, critical thinking questions, and reference resources, among others. The tasks are indicated by a clipboard icon with a checkmark. The “Live Examples (on the Web)” resources are indicated by a WWW icon. viii Preface The what-if scenarios are indicated by customized word clouds created from the respective chapters. These represent the contents of the chapter because the decision- making scenarios draw from the contents of the chapter. Other visuals in this work are data visualizations. These are cited and described in the text near the figures and tables. The Table of Contents (TOC): This textbook does not focus on any particular subject matter areas or learning domains or disciplines, and it is written at a fairly general level—so as to be usable in a variety of applied contexts. A wide range of types of objects, sequences, and contexts are considered, but the main focus is on using a disciplined approach to build to pedagogical quality and legal standards (albeit without tedious prescriptions). The process described includes everything from conceptualization to launch, with a special focus on testing to ensure quality. In a sense, this text contains nothing novel in and of itself, but the novelty may be in the open sharing approach, informed by decades of instructional design and updated technologies. Preface ix The general Table of Contents (TOC), set up as a comprehensive sequence of steps for creating an open-shared learning object, follows: Preface Part I: The Open Sharing Ecosystem Chapter 1 Understanding the Open Sharing Learning Environment Online and Local Starts Chapter 2 Profiling Target and Potential Learners Today and into the Future Part II: Building to Standards Chapter 3 Thinking About the Learning Design: Theories, Models, Frameworks, and Heuristics Chapter 4 “Street Legal” Open-Shared Learning Chapter 5 Core Technology Considerations: Equipment, Authoring Tools, Digital Editing Tools, and Hosting Platforms Chapter 6 Establishing and Applying Contemporaneous E-Learning Standards: Evolving Stylebooks and Planning Work Part III: Design, Development, and Testing Chapter 7 Early Designs, Prototypes, and Learning Sequences for Exploration and Decision Making Chapter 8 Content Development (with Work Documentation) Chapter 9 Alpha Testing, Beta Testing, and Customized Testing Part IV: Launching to an Open-Shared Future Chapter 10 Open Sharing: Launching, Outreach, Publicity, Usage Monitoring, and Post-Launch Care Chapter 11 Some Possible Futures of Openly Sharing Learning Epilogue These are more guidelines than full step-by-step delineations. The chapters, of course, do not fully specify the potential work involved; that would not be possible because of the diversity of work in this space. The contents were written here at a generalist level. The characteristics of the target projects will most certainly change how the chapter sequences are viewed. Also, in all likelihood, going down a few levels in granularity will affect the different projects in very different ways. Given the dynamism in the technologies used in this space, it is not likely possible to have a base source for all the design and development work using particular tools. These steps will be beneficial in helping an individual or team get started and walk through x Preface a sequence with the necessary specificity as practiced in the field. However, this book does not describe all the respective branches. Representing sequential work steps, the respective chapters may be thought of as a modular structure, with additional pieces that may be interspersed with the existing sequences and with pieces and parts that may be taken out. It is assumed that there are as many ways to approach instructional design and development as there are designers and developers and work contexts to support this work. (In one sense, every learning design is “boutique” and original; in a converse sense, every learning design is generic.) This systematized approach is not to be applied in lockstep, and this should not be conceptualized formulaically. The same textbook may be har- nessed by different users, and even with the same defined contents and learning objectives, they will likely come out with very different learning objects and sequences. There will be equifinality of quality (as defined by the designer/devel- oper) but not of method, content, or style. There is something very expressive and human in learning designs, as it should be. There will also be some transparency about how decisions were arrived at and insights about the instructional design work. Target Readers. This work does not assume that the reader has any background in either instructional design or in open sharing of learning objects and/or learning sequences. Rather, the assumption is generally that the reader is a content expert in a field and is attracted to the idea of sharing some insights about his/her/their field. If the reader has some instructional design experience or some open sharing experience, this textbook may still be helpful and shed new light on some aspects of this work. The “idealized reader” is a known approach for writers, so that they can write beyond themselves as the “first reader” but to a sense of an audience. My ideal reader for this book is someone who is open-minded, curious, well read, explor- atory, engaged with the world, analytical, and generous, someone who has some- thing to share with the broad public and is willing to work hard to enable that. The share may be a one-off, something that a reader has on a bucket list, or it may be a continuing share, with new shares over time. (Each learning object or designed sequence after the first one seems to come a little easier. Even more important, with each newly shared object or sequence, the individual and/or team can go more ambitious and risk-taking—with growing earned confidence and senses of self-efficacy.) Also, this textbook may be used in a formal higher education setting, for both undergraduate and graduate work. It may be used in nonformal learning contexts, such as trainings, noncredit short courses, seminars, and conferences. It may be used in an informal learning context, as part of self-discovery learning or lifelong learning. The Original Inspiration. For me, books start as intense inspirations but hazy ideas. I know that the information is there, but until I actually try to articulate them, I do not know what I know or think, in depth. “Write what you know” goes the old advice of my writing teachers. Better yet, look back at what you have been doing for the past many years, and draw out the salient themes from those times. Indeed, I have been working on the design and development of online learning contents since
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