Blog Posts

Quoth the Eagle - Episode Two

6/21/2012

by J. Clark Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

The second installment in my mini-documentary on my journey from Idaho Falls to Boston - starring me, my wife Lindsay, stunning scenery, and a ceramic eagle.

In this episode, we drive through the stunning scenery of Colorado, and I have a heart-to-heart conversation with Joel about the future of our austere ceramic trophy.

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Quoth the Eagle - Episode One

5/27/2012

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by J. Clark Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

This is the first installment in my mini-documentary on my journey from Idaho Falls to Boston - starring me, my wife Lindsay, stunning scenery, and a ceramic eagle.

In this episode, I speak with a man who ran a museum named after George A. Freestone, who, as the world's oldest Eagle Scout, created the ceramic eagle we've been carrying across the country.

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Quoth the Eagle

5/17/2012

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by J. Clark Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

Check out the trailer for "Quoth the Eagle" - a multi-episode mini-documentary chronicling my journey from Idaho Falls to Boston!

Check the EdTech Dojo blog for new episodes May 25 -30!

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First Principles of Instruction in Higher Education

5/16/2012

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by Dr. Joel Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

What do the best teachers do? What are their most important strategies and characteristics? Recent researches identify 5 fundamental strategies for helping students learn, which my brother J. Clark and I spoke about in a recent podcast.

In a recent research study, I studied the teaching strategies and characteristics of award-winning instructors in higher education to see how they use Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. The study confirmed that these principles are used by excellent teachers and provides some powerful examples of how flexible these principles are. You can read the article at the link below:

http://joelleegardner.blogspot.com/2011/10/article-how-award-winning-professors-in.html

What are your experiences with these principles? How do you make sure to apply them consistently and effectively?

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E-Learning vs Live Training

5/8/2012

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by Dr. Joel Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

Instructional designers often face the decision to choose between creating e-learning or traditional training, and often there is a combination of both. I recently asked this question on an online discussion forum and summarized the responses in the following link.

http://joelleegardner.blogspot.com/2012/02/do-i-use-e-learning-or-live-training.html

What guidelines do you follow when making this decision?

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2012 ISPI Conference: Leading Innovation, Endless Possibilities

5/1/2012

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by Dr. Joel Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

I recently attended ISPI’s 2012 International Performance Improvement Conference in Toronto, Canada. The conference focuses on the application of strategies for improving the performance of individuals, work processes, and organizations.

My research and educational background is in instructional technology and design, so I understood much of what was being taught. But it was a significant shift from a more design-focused level to an organizational level.

If you would like to read more, visit my blog posts about the key things I learned each day while at the conference.

I also gave a report on my experiences at the conference in a recent episode of our podcast.

This was one of the best conference I have ever attended - the topics were relevant, insightful, and practical, and by the end of the conference, I felt I had enough knowledge and skills to make a difference at my University.

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Applying Merrill's First Principles of Instruction

4/10/2012

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by Dr. Joel Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

There is a lot of research on how to teach and design instruction effectively, and it can be difficult to determine which approach is most effective and useful.

One well-known researcher, Dr. David Merrill, attempted to synthesize several decades of research into an integrated set of principles and strategies for teaching effectively. He called these the First Principles of Instruction (Merrill, 2002). I have spent several years studying these and other instructional principles, and have found them very powerful; however, they can be difficult to apply in practical ways.

To help make these First Principles more approachable and useful, I did a review of literature that synthesized several articles and demonstrated how these principles can be applied in practical, meaningful ways. This article (Gardner, 2010) was published in Educational Technology Magazine and (1) teaches what these principles are, (2) shares examples from the scholarly literature of how they have been used in the past, (3) and provides a useful template for planning your own training and instruction.

You can access the full article here:

http://joelleegardner.blogspot.com/2011/10/article-applying-merrills-first.html

Reference:
Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

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The EdTech Dojo After Hours

3/30/2012

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While it is true that EdTech Dojo podcast episodes are widely regarded as the epitome of propriety and professionalism, the recording sessions are not without their moments of hilarity.

Here is an excerpt of a session that was suddenly fraught with outside interruptions:

The actual episode that resulted from this session, entitled The Future of PDF as a Platform for Educational Products (featuring special guest George Joeckel), will be available Tuesday, April 3rd.

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Four Strategies for Working with SMB’s (Subject Matter Bigmouths)

3/29/2012

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by J. Clark Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

As instructional designers, we often have the opportunity to work with SME’s (subject matter experts) when developing instruction. This is most often an informative and rewarding experience. But every once in a while it becomes necessary to work with someone whose manner is, well, less than appealing. I have affectionately labeled these folks SMB’s (Subject Matter Bigmouths).

Most of us will have to deal with this type of person at some point or another in our careers. And it can be a very difficult experience. Fortunately, there are those that have gone down that road before us—specifically, my friend Toby,* who for years had to work very closely with one of the most difficult SMB’s it has ever been my fortune to know. And Toby constantly surprised everyone in the office with how patient and positive he was with the poor SMB.

I recently spoke with Toby about the experience, and he gave me four strategies for having the most positive experience possible working with a less-than-congenial co-worker.

1) Get to Know the SMB

Toby says he would make a point of getting to know this SMB and asking him about his interests, even though he was very hard to get along with. “Knowing what people enjoy is one of the keys to any relationship,” he explains. “Asking questions and understanding what someone likes is a recipe for a successful relationship that is bound to blossom and grow.”

2) Play the Student

The SMB Toby worked with had years of business experience, and was very willing to share what he called “golden nuggets” of information. “Sometimes I valued these nuggets, but oftentimes the wisdom felt disingenuous and without a point,” says Toby. “I felt that he wanted to pontificate knowledge to somehow increase his own stature, not necessarily to help me.”

We can all relate to Toby’s situation. It can be very tempting to try and go head-to-head and compete with this type of personality. But for the sake of peace, Toby decided to take the high road. “I quickly found that it was much easier to smile and attempt to glean any useful information than to offer any resistance or, heaven forbid, share an experience I had,” he recalls. It wasn’t particularly easy for him, but it was more wise than wasting energy clambering for recognition the SMB wasn’t likely to give.

3) Learn the Gentle Art of Steering

To explain this strategy, Toby recalls a scene from the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when a mother explains to her daughter that while her husband will ostensibly be the “head” of the household, she will be the “neck” that can guide the head in any direction. “My experience with my manager was much the same way,” Toby explains. “Rarely was an idea or proposal that I brought forward ever taken forward on its own. However, most of my ideas were brought to fruition if I guided my manager toward the goal carefully, allowing him to be a part of the process.”

4) Have Perspective and Patience

“I feel strongly that you can learn and glean something from almost anyone,” says Toby. “Be patient if you have to work with a difficult person. Think of yourself as a student and try to find anything you can learn from him or her. And remember, you are not going to work with this person for the rest of your life.”

It has now been several years since Toby has worked with this difficult manager. “The funny thing is, I really respect the guy,” Toby admits. “I have called him for advice on several occasions and have even had a chance to go and visit him. Do I want to work for him again? No thanks. But I can truly say that I am a better person and a better professional because of the things I learned when working with him.”

*Name has been changed to protect the innocent

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Three Ways to Make Your Instructional Goals as Worthless as Possible

3/27/2012

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by J. Clark Gardner, EdTech Dojo co-curator

If you are truly dedicated to having your students fritter away their time in your classroom learning as little as possible, it is absolutely imperative that you carefully create flimsy, worthless instructional goals.

The only way you can even more readily ensure that your students will come to the end of your course carrying away only a few scattered facts and abstract principles that they will have no hope of applying to a single real situation in their lives is to not bother making instructional goals at all.

But if you must make instructional goals, and want the time you spend teaching to be frustrating, aimless, and unfulfilling, follow these simple steps to ensure that your instructional goals are ineffectual in every way:

1) Go Vague or Go Home

Nothing makes an instructional goal so deliciously deficient as rambling, vague language that does little to connect the student with the material. "Learn about planets," "research the Civil War," and "study poetry," - these goals have that poetic ring of abstract uncertainly that successfully delivers a third-rate learning experience.

Avoid specific, learner-focused goals like "identify the eight planets and their order in the solar system," or "describe the events that lead up to the Civil War." This sort of cringe-worthy careful planning leads to internalization and application of the course material.

2) Abhor Application

Another way to make sure that your learners never take course content out of the classroom is to leave any type of critical thinking and application out of your instructional goals. The second you get your students thinking about the content in a way that applies to their own world is the second you are in danger of having them actually learn something. Keep your instructional goals focused on facts and abstract ideas, not on the learners.

3) Set 'em and Forget 'em

If you truly want your instructional goals to be pathetic and fruitless, set them and and forget them. Don't let them guide the design of your curriculum. Don't go back and fine-tune them throughout the process. And whatever you do, don't tell your students what the instructional goals are. Can you imagine what would happen if they knew what they were supposed to be learning? When learners have clear, well-communicated direction, they have a better chance at internalizing content in a meaningful way.

The next time you are designing a lesson and need to craft some truly pointless, inadequate instructional goals, I hope you will remember these three principles. If you make your goals vague, avoid any form of application in them, and forget they exist as soon as they are made, you will be well on your way to designing a forgettable curriculum that is a waste of everyone's time.

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Quoth the Eagle - Episode Two

Quoth the Eagle - Episode One

Quoth the Eagle

First Principles of Instruction in Higher Education

E-Learning vs Live Training

2012 ISPI Conference: Leading Innovation, Endless Possibilities

Applying Merrill's First Principles of Instruction

The EdTech Dojo After Hours

Four Strategies for Working with SMB’s (Subject Matter Bigmouths)

Three Ways to Make Your Instructional Goals as Worthless as Possible

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