In any given
discipline there are things that one needs to learn as one goes from
a novice to an expert. As an expert you know what is important to
understanding how to solve a given problem, understand a topic or
demonstrate proficiency in your area of expertise. As an instructor
you can identify what you expect a student to know at the end of a
given course. These are the basis for your goals. Instructional
design starts with identifying these goals for a given unit of
instruction.
Identifying
goals is something only you, as a disciplinary expert, can do. What
do you expect students to know about your field of expertise? What
knowledge and skill do you think is important for them to know if
they are to be well educated in your discipline? What knowledge do
you hold to be required of an expert? Instructional design starts
with you articulating this at the very start of the process.
In your
design process placing your expectations at the start of the process
is very important because it determines everything else that comes
afterwards. While we might use similar techniques across disciplines
and courses they only make sense if we know our goals in advance. No
technology or medium is inherently capable of being a tool for
instruction any more than a hammer is capable of hitting a nail by
itself.
A key part
of any design strategy is to think about specific knowledge, skills
and performances you expect students to know and to put them in
explicit terms that are detailed and specific. Some of us can
express larger goals quite well, but we often have a hard time
identifying the specific things that we expect a student to
accomplish. You have to be as detailed as possible.
A good tool
to help you identify your goals is a rubric. It is a simple means to
chart your expectations, and as you will see it will prove to be
useful throughout the design process. It is not just a design tool,
but also identifies what you need to include in the assessment
process.
Students
tend to perform better when they know what is expected of them and
have an idea of what the standard are, but you will also teach
better once you’ve clearly articulated for yourself what exactly
you’d like to see at the end of your semester. Rubrics also have a
powerful role to play in your academic discipline as they can be
shared with your colleagues to see if you have similar goals and
expectations for the students in your discipline. Rubrics are a
central part of helping your students understand by design, but they
are also helpful in creating an academic culture of shared
expectations.
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