Project Specification
The IT Newsletter was developed in five phases over a fifteen-week semester in response to readings from the semester. It contains eight pages including a home page, my definition of instructional technology, types of careers available to instructional technologists, a history of the field, learning theories for instructional technologists, and their application in instructional design; instructional design models, and their benefits & limits; future directions for the field; and reflections on the environments an instructional technologist can work in, current issues in the field, and advice for those interested in the field.
The newsletter was created in Google Sites. I used Reiser & Dempsey’s Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, 4th ed. (2018) as the source of the information contained in the site, Creative Commons for images and video, and drew from my own experience as an instructor developing courses for online instruction. I selected a consistent appearance across all eight pages, using a simple format for clarity and cohesion.
The page is available through the link only, and not through a web search.
Project Development Process
In mid-September 2022, I created the site with four pages: home, my definition of instructional technology, types of careers available in the field, and a brief history. In early October, I added a page with containing significant learning theories for instructional technologists and strategies for how I have or could applied those theories to designing my own instruction. In late October, I added a page containing significant models of instructional design and my opinion on their utility. In early November, I added a reflections page with my impressions of the various environments an instructional designer might work. Finally, toward the end of November, I added a page in which I briefly described the direction I see instructional technology going; and I added two sections to the reflections page: one on current trends in the field and another offering advice for people interested in designing instruction.
Each section was developed after careful reading and reflection of related sections of the assigned text for the course in response to assigned prompts.
Project’s Connection to Professional Goals & Objectives
The readings and reflection required to create the newsletter helped me assess my own untrained practice of designing instruction. I recognized effective practices and strategies I was already using in my online courses and learned others that I will adopt in future online course design. In addition to sparking ideas to improve my courses, the chapter on MOOCs inspired my work on a teaching grant application.
The foundational knowledge of instructional design and technology I’ve gained through composing the information in this project will be very useful as I continue to develop courses I’ve already created, and as I design new courses for online instruction. It has already affected some of the activities in my Fall 2022 classes, especially regarding interactivity, which I will continue developing for my courses.