Section 5: Trends and Issues in Various Settings

                                                                                  Rapid Prototyping

Chapter 18 in our text discusses instructional design in business and industry. Rapid prototyping involves the use of a model that is mainly used in the early stages of a project to help with the analysis, design, development, and the evaluation of an instructional innovation. One example of rapid prototyping that can be used in education is one of NASA’s new educational outreach applications. This prototype was designed to engage 4^th through 8^th grade students in fun learning activities based on future NASA technology through the use of gaming technology. The prototype uses the Kinect sensors from the gaming system, XBOX 360. Students are able to experience the difference in gravity between Earth and Mars by jumping and watching how high their figures were able to jump on the Martian surface. Overall, the student testers of the prototype had positive responses that this type of gaming technology would help educate and inspire the scientists of tomorrow. NASA was very successful in using the rapid prototypes. Rapid prototyping helped NASA in knowing whether or not students would enjoy this type of education, and are now able to make the needed minor changes before producing the final product.      

Military Education & Training Environments

Technology can be a great asset to instructional design; however it is not always available. Being a consultant can be a tough job, especially when electronic access is hard to reach. If I was to use the Full Spectrum diagram to help make a successful program for the military I would make use of blended solutions. These solutions would include different content and design for the different military environments, rankings, and skill levels. When working with members of the military who are in a classroom setting, technology could obviously be used more because of the availability. However when working with members who are deployed, there may be a need for other options. Some alternatives may include active learning, consistent and repetitive visual clues, and cooperative grouping. Members of lower rankings, lower skill levels, and those who are located in more hostile environments will use the alternative designs more often. Members of higher ranking and those with higher skill levels would benefit from using the electronic access during instruction; this would then allow them the opportunity to teach the lower ranking members when the electronic access becomes more widely available. 

Staff Development

Topics: Step-Up-To-Excellence Methodology & Guidance System for Transforming Education

Introduction Activity: As a group we will play the “I Have, Who Has” trivia game. Each person will receive a card that has specific facts (both questions & answers) related to each methodology. Picture cues will be given on each card to help assist with the answers. This game will help the teachers gain a basic set of knowledge before the methodologies are formally presented. 

Collaborative Activity: Window Pane Strategy- Teachers and administrators attending the training will create a window pane poster after the presentation of both methodologies is given. Groups of four will be assigned and each group will create their poster. We will have a few groups share their poster after creating them.

The poster must include the following in a window pane format:  

Definition of: Step-Up-To-Excellence	Definition of: Guidance System for Transforming Education (GSTE)
Describe & Illustrate how your school can implement the Step-Up-To Excellence methodology.	Describe & Illustrate how your school can implement the GSTE.

                      Higher Education & Faculty Members

Some examples of good support for the faculty of an institution include:

1. Harvard University  

• What are the different names used for faculty development?
• “Faculty Institutes”
• What division is it under?
• School of Education
• What services does it offer?
• Development classes
• Mentoring programs
• How often are programs given and what specifically are they?
• Throughout the academic school year
• Introduction to the culture and systems of Harvard University        
• Accountability models for student growth
• “Growth Models” to improve school & classroom level incentives

2. Miami University

• What are the different names used for faculty development?
• Staff Development Workshops
• TRAIN systems
• What division is it under?
• The department of human resources  
• What services does it offer?
• Developmental workshops
• Communication workshops
• Customer Service workshops
• Team Building workshops
• How often are programs given and what specifically are they?
• January to March & September to November
• Behavioral interviewing
• Courageous conversations
• Email etiquette
• Conflict management
• Stress management 

3. Michigan State University

• What are the different names used for faculty development?
• F&OD
• Faculty and Instructional Development
• Organizational and Leadership Development
• What division is it under?
• Academic Human Resources
• Office of the Provost
• What services does it offer?
• Seminars
• Workshops
• Cohort Programs
• Consultations services
• How often are programs given and what specifically are they?
• Throughout the academic school year
• Executive leadership academy
• Programs for academic specialists
• Faculty learning communities
• Survive & Thrive workshop