Learning Kearn(el)s

Online classes are no longer a far-fetched idea for the future.  Learning on the go is a current phenomenon that is growing, morphing, changing on a daily basis to meet the needs of students that are on the go and tech savvy.  The modern instructional designer must be as adaptable as the medium through which they work, a nearly insurmountable task considering that technology becomes outdated as quickly as it is released for public use! There are some basics that assist the educator/designer, however.  Online instructional design is not "mission impossible."  The body of literature available for the modern education designer provides a wealth of guidelines and practices that carry forth as the technology continues to morph. There are many trends and implications for the ever growing field of online and mobile learning. I will take a brief amount of time to focus on mobile learning, incorporating various methods of instructional design, and adaptability and ...

The Contenders: In this corner... Merrill! Merrill's First Principles of Learning present a method of design that makes it easy for the designer to focus on real-world learning.  Merrill's presents a problem or task as the method of engagement in the learning process, therefore the mind is automatically stimulated into problem-solving mode. Once the brain enters the problem-solving mode, educators/designers are then able to use the learner's prior knowledge to present new information.  This practice enhances learning as information is in context of known information rather than as an abstract idea unrelated to the  student's knowledge.  Without a point of reference, students easily forget the new information or have difficulty applying the knowledge.  Merrill's First Principles circumvents this difficulty making the new information both applicable and relate-able.   And in this corner... Bloom!  One of the primary compo...