Feb_9_Shari_Thoughts

(I mentioned that I read an article about a 'new' personality test akin to Myers-Brigg. You can read the USAToday story with a link to the test here: [] . I just took the test - I'll share my report with you if you share yours with me)

I went into class this week puzzled about the reading. The thoughts were disjointed. The material was not the most organized, but more frustrating to me was that the authors seemed to be more interested in presenting terminology than presenting ideas that can be used. The ensuing discussion helped me to understand the underlying causes for the way the chapter information was presented. In some respects I think it was an afterthought. It is information that needs to be addressed, but the current body of knowledge does not give credence to learner analysis.

The follow up discussion was very enlightening to me. I think there is a convergence of things happening. We know more about learning (and even how the brain works). Our thought processes about truth, about how we know what we know, and how we learn are changing - evolving. It seems that the theory and foundation for Instructional Design is very old school. It is structured and linear. It is based on a positivist foundation that leaves no room for differentiation - learner differences are not important.

Linda's challenge that we need to change was a wake up call to me. That's right, if we don't change it, then how will it change. As the fresh crop of doc students, these are the challenges we need to grasp and explore. Thank heaven, thought processes are changing. The other liberating challenge from Linda was "if there's something you don't understand, don't assume it's because of you, it could be that it (what you're reading) doesn't make sense" or something to that effect.

On top of all of this, we had a great discussion from Agnes regarding her dissertation topic. What interesting questions she raised with respect to how culture shapes the experience. As I listened to her describe the issues faced by female international doctoral students, I found myself thinking - some of those issues are common to women, some of those issues are just plain common to individuals. On the other hand, some of the every day common experiences Agnes shared poignantly highlighted how things that seem so simple to me can be devastating or limiting to someone else. Watching the international students around the table react in agreement with Agnes was eye-opening.

It was serendipity that Agnes's topic dovetailed so nicely with our theme for the evening. Then, during the break, Kim and I discussed the whole idea of Agile Methodologies (in the Software Development/Information Technology world, this is an interative and rapid approach to developing useful software in smaller chunks). Kim had been engaged in some lively discussions regarding Agile methodologies over the week-end, and I had been mulling over why it is that we have developed these approaches in the software development so that we can more effectively meet the user requirements, but nothing similar seems to be happening on the Instructional Design horizon. There are some interesting questions here.

I think there are some interesting research topics in all of this musing, and I think I may have to explore more on the whole idea of learner analysis and explore more deeply the parallels between software development and instructional design. I think I need to add more cogs in my Instructional Design model. My revised model is just not messy enough.