Module 7 Reflection

Studying Beth Owens' case in this module was a very enjoyable experience for me. It focused on a real obstacle that I face in my own instructional design practices. That obstacle is my own educational philosophy and beliefs about how learning best occurs. Spending time with Owens' case caused me to reflect on instances where I know such stubbornness jeopardized the learning goals of a project or unit of study that I was responsible for teaching. Similarly, I have corrupted the learning experience of my students by adopting a results-only mentality as seen with Chef Reiner.

While there are no clear answers to situations involving educational preferences and whether the process is more important than the outcome, we should always work to be cognizant of such needs. Doing so reflects a learning-focused mindset which, though it will make mistakes, will generally benefit students by enhancing the teaching and learning process.

A strong realization that I had in the course of completing this module is data's ability to help us approach instructional design with objectivity. Though still subject to interpretation, data keeps our instructional design practices grounded and focused on learning and achievement. I once heard an administrator share that he does not care whether or not a teacher feels like Johnny is growing in reading comprehension. He cares about the data that shows that Johnny is growing. This isn't meant to be interpreted as callousness or objectification of students as data points. Rather, it is intended to communicate that the narrative of a student's learning and achievement tells a clearer story when it is quantified and measured instead of supposed from intuition.

As an instructional designer and classroom teacher, I want to welcome research and data on students' learning, growth, and achievement into my professional practice more systematically. Rather than paying attention only to the data that supports my feelings about how students learn or how something should be done, I want to base my beliefs and decisions on what research says is working best for each individual learner. Only then will I be able to design instruction with objectivity toward the most successful teaching and learning practices.