ETEC 561 Section 5: Trends & Issues

Chapters in Section V identify trends and issues in IDT in various contexts: business & industry;
military; health care education; P-12 education; and post-secondary education. Select at least 3
of these 5 contexts and compare/contrast the IDT trends and issues. Then explain how they are
similar or different from the IDT trends and issues in the context in which you work.

Business & Industry Trends & Issues

It seems that the trends and issues pertaining to instructional design and training focus on two main factors in Business & Industry. Those factors are culture and cost.

Culture

As corporation become larger or more global there is a greater demand on the instructional designer to be able to design for cross cultural use. Societal cultural factors are important to a diverse organization as there are different norms when it comes to instruction and learning. There is also a need to understand symbols, colors, etc. of the target culture.  For training a cross-cultural group one should focus on the cultural similarities and stay away from the culturally sensitive content.  The designer should also focus on the learners and in an ideal situation should get to know the target leaners. Relying on a subject matter expert (SME) is also an important part of understanding and designing for a culture. Ultimately, understanding the target culture of the leaners will serve the designer best. It is important to have a broad accepting worldview.

As our schools and classrooms become more culturally diverse these same aspects come into play for instructional designers in the educational setting. I have students from many cultures and with many different worldviews, the challenge I have is teaching them a subject that is based around one culture. That culture is the American Culture. In eight grade American History we discuss many topics and events where we as Americans look at it in a favorable light. However, as our classrooms become more diverse I find myself having to consider how my Hispanic students see certain parts of American History and how to engage students that don’t see value in understand parts of how the United States Government works. This I have students from England and Ireland and as we get into the American Revolution I look forward to them being able to contribute their worldview on the part of our history. Unlike the corporate setting where designers are told to stay away from culturally insensitive topics we as American History teachers have to discuss them, but walk the line of using them for educational and instructional purposes.   

Cost

Cost in corporate instructional design can be summed up in the idea “Better, Faster, Cheaper”. This can be achieved in a few different ways. The first is rapid prototyping, here making a working model in essential to the process of cutting down on time used to achieve results. Web-based or technology-based training is a major trend in the corporate world. This kind of training can take many forms in today’s world, but makes for quicker training. Impact evaluation is very important. It is not good enough to just evaluate to see if knowledge has been gained, but that the knowledge in being translated into impact on the organization. Training must achieve results. The designer can also save time by being a researcher for the organization. The research done by the instructional designer should focus on improving performance.

With my other role as an educator being a middle school robotics coach, I relate with the cost aspects of corporate instructional design. I often think how we can build better robots cheaper and faster. We use YouTube videos from other teams and prototypes and examples from the past years to speed up the design process. YouTube videos and other online resources are used to train the students when they are away from the classroom thus reducing the need for in class instruction for certain areas of the robot building process. As the teacher/leader of the robotics program impact evaluation is incredibly important for me to gage the value of the instruction I am providing to my students. If what I am trying to teach them is not being applied then I need to reflect on the overall design and delivery of the instruction. As we try new ideas with in the robotics department for the district, I find that I am often the researcher and SME for the middle school years. I am constantly looking for ways to improve our product and the results it achieves. 

Military Trends & Issues

It is important to understand that the modern militaries of the world today and not simple, but very involved multifaceted organizations that have reasonability to train their soldiers both at home and abroad.

Trends

There are two major trend challenges that face the instructional designer for the military. Those trend challenges are:

·         international responsibilities of national or multinational military force

·         new technologies

Like corporate setting military settings can be culturally diverse. Much of the training and training material handled by America, when designing for the military client the end user has to be taken into account. Technology is another area that is shared with the corporate world, as well as education. No matter where you are at in the world and what you are doing you are being affected by emerging technologies. With the military being on the cutting edge of technology I would assume that this would always be an issue as well as a trend.

Issues

Budgetary issues are concern when providing effective impactful trainings in a military setting. The military is always looking to get the maximum bag for the buck. Another issue is the range of the technology needed for the military and for its training. From paper products to flight simulators or live action trainings could be part of the instructional environment of the military. Environment for the delivery of instruction can be a challenge. Training and knowledge gain is central to the success of the military and is an ongoing process where in the corporate world it tends to be a when needed process. Both corporations and the military can be very complex. Unlike the corporate world though, the military does not always have a single goal for instruction. Often, the military will have many needs to be addressed by one training. Then that information might need to be applied in countless ways. The final major issue is people and finding the best way to address all of their learning needs.

I have a much harder time comparing the military with my world. However, I do see the common theme of technology and budget concerns.

Health Care Trends & Issues

Instructional design has been a part of the Healthcare world for a very long time. It has gone through many trends and has been faced with many issues. The history of medical training is comprised of three distinct eras:

•    Prescientific Phase
•    Scientific Phase
•   Post-Flexner Phase

Trends

As with other heavily science based fields’ problem-based learning and evidence-based practice are central to medical field.  Factors to be considered in the medical field are risk, science, innovation, altruism, professionalism, and sensory perception. A medical student or practitioner has to take all of these factors into account. Again we find that innovation/technology is a key component.

Issues

 Knowledge and research are major factors in medical education because; knowledge is always advancing much like technology in advancing for the military or corporate worlds. Convergence of technologies, as in other settings, is a factor in medical training. Cost is another shared issue. One that is seems to be unique to the medical profession in regulations, standards, and licensure. I would lean that way if we were only looking at the corporate and military environment, however, education has a healthy dose of all three; standards, regulation, and licensure.

Compared to Education

All three of these fields compare to the Educational field. Budget concerns, changes in technologies, diversity of learners, standards, regulation, and licensure are all issues that we deal with on a daily basis. It was nice to read this section and realize what we are doing in the educational setting can translate to other professions so well.