P-3 is the People-Process-Product Continuum. My first thought is that this will work well for large-scale eLearning development and requires lots of dollars.
One thing that strikes me about this model is the absence of the instructor in the development process. In my world of K-12 online learning, the instructor is a key person in the process. With varying levels of technical and design support, our instructors create the online course content.
We have engaged in organizational conversations about this approach, as it is quite different from our full-time, fully-funded counterparts in K-12. We have found that when we give instructors ownership over the content and design of their courses, they respond very positively, which spills over into teaching and learning effectiveness. We believe that when teachers are actively engaged in the process, students benefit.
I have taught courses designed by others, and found it very challenging. Perhaps it was due to a difference in teaching and learning philosophy. On the other hand, when I started teaching online, it was necessary to have a model to work from. Our courses have evolved over time and our instructors have experience and expertise in teaching and learning online. And we design courses on a small scale. Perhaps this is why our instructor-as-designer model works for us.
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4 comments:
Jodi, that's a good point about the instructor not being mentioned. I missed that!
I think that in a large-scaled organization you might need all fo the positions, but it's not an environment I've been a part of. In my job, the IDs are responsible for everything except when we need help media. We have a couple of multi-media designers to help with that. I kust say though that we're looking at how we can be more effective. One idea is to have the IDs focus on developing the courses, and then hire someone with different skills to handle the production side...
I'm not sure how the work with flow and whether or not this will work scheduling-wise. In other words, I'm not sure the person doing the production would be a full-time job. I also question whether or not the course releases would be spread out enough so that there weren't a few courses due at the same time.
I agree about the instructor not being mentioned. I liked the way you summed this up. If instructors can help with the course design and content they will have more enthusiasm in the classroom.
The eLearning models used in business and education are really different because in business there is no guarantees you will have the same instructor for the course each time. This is why the teacher/instructor isn’t often mentioned in ID models. :)
A question to ask is: Is it possible to retain the value of the K-12 instruction without having the instructor’s input? While some teachers design well online, others don't and it can hurt the student's achievement. Even in face-to-face courses, there is a feeling that when the instructor is gone and a substitute is there, the value of the learning decreases for the day. Is it possible to change that based on the lessons left by the teacher – the subject matter expert? All just hypothetical questions…
Thanks for your interesting blog thoughts and comments.
Hi Jodi, I noticed the missing instructor/content expert too. It seems weird to me to have a teacher teach somebody else's lessons. I like the questions Laura posed about losing the value of the lesson and the learning when somebody else is teaching. I think people develop their own style, and one person's stylized lesson might just not work for somebody else who teaches a different way. Thanks for your good insight in summarizing this article!
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