Week 4 - IDT Trends and Issues

Within most process contexts, and especially in Instructional Design Technology, where products take time to develop, you will find multiple trends throughout each along with the issues that arise. In business and industry, a few of the IDT trends that have been seen in the last decade are related to more efficiency and quicker turn around on products. This has led to a diverse work force that includes outsourcing to other countries and fully automated production systems. In regards to outsourcing, many IDT specialists have had to adjust to the demands of instructing across country boundaries. This requires people who are culturally aware and educated in how to interact with multiple types of people, ideas, and work philosophies.ID technologists have to consider cultural and linguistic adaptations for their designs and make sure that all users are effectively trained.

Another trend that is recognized is that of producing at the most efficient, yet cheapest rate possible. To train as many people on a system in the shortest amount of time in order to make the most amount of money is the main goal of business and industry leaders and IDT has to keep up with this to remain a commodity.

A few IDT issues worth mentioning are directly related to a lot of the trends such as the cross cultural aspect. Due to the multi-cultural circumstances of business, “factors that may cause issues can be related to ideas, values and rules for learning…the interpretation of patterns… comprehension of ideas and behaviors.” These can create problems in business which can lead to money loss. Along with quick training of employees which can cause a superficial, short term learning, a long term effect can be that a company loses money.

In education, these IDT trends are similarly seen but just in a different context. Teachers must cope with the various cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds that are represented in a classroom and their connection, or lack thereof, to content material being presented. Some students are taught one thing in one culture and another student may have been taught the complete opposite, which in turn can affect the dynamics of a classroom and the lessons presented. When presenting IDT lessons, some students are very aware of the ins and outs of technology, whereas, some students have not been exposed as much. Also, when it comes to training teachers in new technologies, we are sometimes given an hour to understand a new method and then we are supposed to implement it into the classroom daily and effectively. This is the same mentality as in business, quick, superficial training, yet high expectations for implementation.

In regards to the military, the trends seen are much different due to the context in which they are used. Since the military deals with such sensitive issues, the trends seen tend to be towards safer, more effective technologies that can minimize casualties and increase security. International military forces are likely to come about and updated technologies will be the focus, especially in an attempt to keep up with threats across the world. This is a larger scale of what we as teachers have to worry about now, with the increased security at schools and the new training that some teachers have obtained in regards to school shootings. The military has its issues as well, including but not limited to funding, technological range, and especially in delivery environment. As far as funding, IDT is going to suffer because the training presented must be cost effective and done in a timely manner. Same as in education, where teachers would love to have access to more resources (money) thought it is often difficult to come by, and not given out easily by administrations and districts.

One area where the military and educational IDTs are not the same is the delivery of the IDT in a military environment. Though some military environments are within buildings on American soil, many of the most recent technologies are implemented overseas in hostile, dangerous environments. This is a strikingly different environment than a school classroom. IDT implementation in a war environment is unstable and always adapting to new information which can affect the results of the design greatly.

Lastly, comparison between IDT within education and within the healthcare field can bring to light some similarities but, can highlight some differences as well. In healthcare, IDT will span a much larger spectrum than education simply because of the amount of people, adults and children, which come through the system on a daily basis. Someone who is using IDT within healthcare can be providing design or instruction for academic medical centers, government medical centers, as well as biomedical research facilities and pharmaceutical companies. Designing technology that helps others perform better medical care is an important undertaking and needs to be done effectively.

With medical knowledge progressing at a fast rate all the time, IDT needs to keep pace and adjust accordingly. The more and more knowledge that exists for medical students to understand, the quicker the trainings are expected to happen, which is where the IDT is expected to aid in the disbursement of said knowledge.  Obviously the internet is the first place that IDT can originate from to help do this; helping researchers, doctors, as well as the public, in becoming more informed on medical research and information. The trend is for medical organizations to create accessible, user-friendly websites that allows patients to login, register, and view records easily. Another trend is for medical professionals to work simultaneously with each other despite distances and physical boundaries. Teleconferences, video conferences, linked presentations, and wireless capabilities all allow for those in the medical field to communicate seamlessly in their efforts to educate their students and their clients.

           Teachers can begin by changing student perspectives of their world. If students start to see the world’s resources as something that is finite and are shown the possibilities of the future, then they may start to care about how to help conserve those resources. In order for our children to be prepared to face a future of limited resources, our children must first understand the complexity of the situation in which we have placed ourselves. Through the use of IDT, teachers have the capabilities necessary to allow our children to learn and “experience” real-world issues. The technology that is the internet is almost literally, information at our fingertips, and yet, this generation is falling further and further behind. The ability to find information quickly and efficiently is something that is not fully taught to our students and goes against the myth that this generation is “tech savvy”.

          I don’t feel that current educational practices are completely conducive to critical thinking that students will need for the serious issues they will face as they get older. Our current system relies heavily on hypothetical problem solving, which does have a place at times, yet our children really need to be exposed to real situations that they can begin to analyze and evaluate for solutions. Beginning at early ages, students can be presented with real issues that are comprehensible for their brains and teachers can begin building those thought processes. Until something of this nature occurs, kids will continue to become more and more apathetic to the learning processes because they don’t see a purpose to it.

          Many teachers, schools, countries have adopted ways to teach kids that is not the traditional. Leaving the traditional is one thing that will help us move in the right direction towards more innovative, creative, deep thinking. Our societal world has evolved greatly in the last 50 years and our education has to evolve with it or else lose the main clientele - our students. Many European and Asian countries tend to offer a different take on ways to teach and integrate IDT. Teachers in Japan integrate IDT into their classrooms as well as bringing their traditions into their classrooms. Using the various traditions of our students, as well as our own as teachers, we can bring relevance to the use of IDT and make connections from which our students can benefit. Overall, IDT has a huge footprint around the world and is the future of all facets of life.