Section 7: New Directions for Instructional Design and Technology

A corporate distributed learning example I found is my district's Intranet page.  It can be accessed from any computer on any campus.  This page has links to district curriculum, technology or maintenance problems, workshops, PDAS, gradebook and other items of importance to employees.  You must have a user name and password to access various parts such as the workshops, PDAS,  and gradebook.  It is nice to go to workshops on other campuses and still access the curriculum, plans I am working on, gradebook and e-mail in one location instead of having to pull up a different window for each area.

For academic distributed learning, I would WGU.  This is an accredited university that is online based completely.  With so many people earning their degrees while working full time or raising a family, online based universities make is convenient to earn a degree from your home or office computer.  They are also nice to use instead of missing work for class or missing family time for class.

An example of distributed resource support was ADICA.  It is an energy consulting company.  They provide technical support in electricity market design and simulation, electricity price forecasting, bidding strategy evaluation, asset acquisition and valuation, contract and portfolio optimization, competitor analysis, generation and transmission investment planning, regional energy/electricity connection studies, fuel assessment and management, energy and electricity demand forecasting, environmental impact assessment and impact of smart grid technology on power plant operations, electricity prices, consumption and environmental emissions.  This company helps many different areas of an electric company in one area.

A hybrid class example are those that are web-enhanced through TAMU-C.  This allows the students to attend some face-to-face classes and also do some online work.  I know as a parent these classes and the completely web-based have made getting my masters easier with two small kids.

Finally an example of a virtual class would be through the University of Phoenix.  This is accredited university that allows the students to attend classes in person, online or by phone.  Again, making it convenient to earn a college degree on a different schedule depending on their lifestyle, career or family.

During my undergraduate class, I took a class in creative arts to fulfill and early childhood education credit.  This class was a lot of fun, but it failed to tell me that as a teacher you may not have as much time to make your own things due to the many other responsibilities.  During this class I learned how to use a lot of art mediums, but I do not think I have used very many since I started teaching.  I think this class would have been more useful to me if it gave examples of using the art items in a classroom with a group of children.  While I enjoyed the class, it has had little reusability in my current job.


This posted could be used in a classroom to help children remember the different features in texts they encounter.  The graphics help a visual learner and the words help all learners.

As a parent nanotechnology would be wonderful.  I cannot tell you how many times I have started cooking dinner and almost burnt it because something happened with one of my kids.  If I had nanotechnology I could stir things before they burned or stuck while at the same time tending to my children.  It would be like have those extra hands that you never seem to have enough of when you have small children.  I just wonder how nanotechnology would change everyday tasks in our lives.  One day we may see that happen.

Kristen Downs