I've learned a great deal about designing instruction during my journey in CECS 5110. Some of the most interesting things I've learned are the actual design principles- choosing appropriate color, balancing items on the page, following my gut on what does and doesn't look good. I really want to follow this class up by reading some books on design to enhance my skills. Of course, the technology I've learned to use has been amazing as well. Using the different tools that the Adobe Creative Cloud suite has offered me has opened my eyes to what is possible within instructional design and has inspired me to try even more new ideas.
The main difference between where I'm at now and where I was when I started this class is the new perspective I bring to the table. Now that I know what technology is out there and available to be utilized, I look at new instructional design challenges and see more solutions than before. Designing instruction is not just a matter of developing a needs analysis and working through developing and implementing the training... it is also about considering what forms of delivery work best, what types of media are the most appropriate in each situation, and at the most basic level, what we need to make the final package look best.
But there are always some truths about instruction, regardless of the forms we use to deliver it, that remain the same. Technology is great, and it makes several aspects of designing our material much easier than I would have imagined. But at the end of the day, the technology is just a tool. Without the proper instructional design principles behind them, I am just as likely to create something that will confuse the learner or hinder their development. It is more important to understand fundamental instructional design principles and cognitive theory than it is to learn how to use a tool, no matter how easy or pretty it makes things out to be.
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