Welcome! I'm excited to share my passion for creating transformative learning experiences
Innovative educator eager to leverage 10+ years designing engaging, technology-enhanced STEAM learning into instructional design. Skilled at leading teams to transform curriculum through an equity lens and creatively using data to advance differentiated instruction. Recognized for learner-centric mindset and designing real-world, project-based learning to help learners thrive. Passionate about creating dynamic digital content grounded in inquiry-based pedagogy and ID methodologies. Seeking to join a forward-facing organization committed to accessible, challenging learning where everyone feels valued and set up for future success.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Leliadesigns.com is a portfolio website. This work is being completed to facilitate a transition into a new career - from education to instructional design. For that reason, visitors may share as is with attributions, but may not edit, remix, or use for commercial purposes.
Week 1
Behaviorism: Theory & Researchers
1905
1938
Behaviorism: focuses strictly on external behaviors that can be observed and measured as the evidence of learning. It discounts any internal cognitive or emotional processes of the mind. The core idea is that behaviors are shaped by the environment through stimuli (either reinforcement or punishment), leading someone to repeat or reduce certain behaviors.
1897
Ivan Pavlov - Classical Conditioning
Through experiments with dogs, Pavlov demonstrated how conditioning can cause an organism to reflexively respond to a stimulus that originally had no effect. The conditioning to stimuli allows for adaptation to an environment.
Edward Thorndike - Law of Effect
Behaviors followed by positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by negative outcomes are less likely to be repeated. In other words, people tend to repeat actions that lead to rewards, and avoid actions that lead to discomfort.
1913
B.F. Skinner - Radical Behaviorism
Positive Reinforcement
Elaborated on different schedules of reinforcement and punishment to modify behavior. His concepts of operant conditioning demonstrated how targeted rewards and punishments can be used to strengthen desired behaviors and weaken undesired behaviors.
John Watson - Behaviorism
Watson established the psychological school of behaviorism which holds that all human learning and behavior can be explained through observable stimulus-response conditioning while ignoring internal thoughts, emotions, and cognitive processes.
images source: canva
behaviorism in teaching & learning
Behaviorist principles of reinforcement and rewards are still widely used in education today to shape desired student behaviors and improve motivation through incentive programs like stickers or points systems. Concepts of direct instruction and educational technology trace back to behaviorist notions of efficiently transmitting knowledge through guided practice and feedback.
Approaches like personalized adaptive learning platforms and competency-based progression draw from behaviorist research into rates/schedules of reinforcement needed to master skills.
behaviorist
teaching
strategies
Behaviorist teaching strategies may work best for narrow learning objectives that are focused on rote, factual knowledge, or standardized procedures.
Drill Tasks
Matching
Ordering
Gamification
behaviorism: Pros and Cons
Cons:
in A Professional / Corporate Training work Environment
Pros:
- Effective for training repetitive tasks or procedures - Breaking procedures down into chunks of content & using drills allows for mastery through repetition. This works well for standardized processes.
- Measurable outcomes - quantitative results can be useful for employee skills assessments and training metrics.
- Positive reinforcement builds motivation - Scheduled rewards and praise as positive reinforcement can increase employee engagement in learning.
- Individualized adaptation - Employees can drill practice areas or procedural steps they personally struggle with until achieving mastery at their own pace.
- Cost-effectiveness - Computer-based training using behavioral principles of prompts, practice, and feedback is cost effective to use and make accessible across an organization.
- Self-paced options - Employees can complete automated online training modules aligned to behavioral learning approaches flexibly as schedules allow.
- No deeper understanding - Behaviorism focuses just on external behaviors, not building deeper comprehension or engagement with material.
- Lack of adaptability - Strict stimulus-response training could leave employees unable to adapt skills to new contexts that don't perfectly match scenarios on which they were trained.
- No room for creativity - This learning style may hamper the development of creative problem solving, intuition, or innovation capability.
- Mechanical nature - Employees may feel they are behaving mechanically rather than gaining meaning from learning experiences.
- One-Size-Fits-All- Lack of differentiation to deliver information to learners; does not support different learning needs
- No appeal to emotions - Behaviorism disregards emotional dynamics important for adult learning related to relationships, engagement, motivation.
behaviorism: Learning Scenario
Design a learning Scenario for New employees at
Learning Objective: training the customer support team on using Canva's advanced graphic design product features.
Success Criteria: Learners will be able to demonstrate ability to manipulate Canva tools to alter graphics per customer requests.
The focus remains on visible editing behaviors within the software, not reasons or problem solving processes behind actions. Learning is defined as the observable ability to correctly edit graphics in Canva when prompted, not depth of conceptual understanding. Reinforcement guides this skill shaping aligned to behaviorist notions.
Stimulus
When given a sample customer request to transform a design in specified ways
Changing font styles/sizes
Adjusting, adding or resizing visuals
Adding animations or filters
Converting file formats / file size
Response
Skills Assessed:
The employee must use Canva to edit the graphics to match the request.
Task work flow and reinforcement
Presented scenarios increase in complexity
Support is faded out to increase independence
Badges/points earned for each
successful skill
mastered
Reset and repetition of skills if requirement not met; hints given after 2 attempts
Cognitivism: Key Dates & Researchers
Cognitivism: a learning theory that focuses on the inner mental activities of the mind. It is concerned with how people mentally process, store, and retrieve information.
Key Ideas:
- Learning is an internal cognitive process that involves memory, thinking, reflection, abstraction, motivation, and meta-cognition.
- The mind functions like a computer by inputting, processing, storing, retrieving, and transmitting information.
- Learners are active participants in the learning process who construct their own knowledge and understanding.
1936
Jean Piaget -
4 Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget proposed that children develop cognition in distinct stages related to age and maturity. His ideas helped reveal the importance of mental processes in learning.
sensory motor
Pre-operational
concrete operations
formal operations
Ages birth to 2 years children develop 5 senses, working memory, and object permanence
Ages 2 - 7 years children develop imaginative play; understand that words & symbols connect
Ages 7- 11 years children become capable of logical reasoning; can sort & classify objects; empathy develops in this stage
Ages 12 years+ ability for rational thinking develop, about abstract, hypothetical ideas; deductive reasoning
1960
Jerome Bruner - Discovery Learning
Developed the concept of discovery learning, emphasizing that learners construct their own knowledge by organizing and categorizing information. Focused on the role of mental processes in problem-solving. Believed children are active problem solvers.
Learners can assimilate and process information as well as
Predict
Create
Invent
Spiral Curriculum:
Learning should be progressive and interconnected, building on prior knowledge working from concrete to abstract. Learning should be: hands on, image forward, language based
Cognitivism:
Key Dates & Researchers continued
1977
Albert Bandura - Social Learning Theory
Bandura’s social learning theory bridged behaviorist stimulus-response conditioning with observational learning and cognitive processes. Showed learning can occur by observing others
1978
Lev Vygotsky - Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky stressed the role of social interaction in cognitive development and learning. Vygotsky introduced the zone of proximal development (ZPD), scaffolding, and collective problem-solving.
5 Key Tenants of Social Learning Theory
Learning is cognitive and takes place in a social setting
Learning can occur by observing behavior (Bobo Doll experiment)
Learning can happen without an observable change
Reinforcements play a role but are not fully responsible for learning
Cognitive ability, behavior, and environment all impact each other in the process of learning
The lower end of the ZPD is defined by the child's independent capabilities. The upper end is what they can accomplish under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers
Scaffolding is the temporary support a teacher (or peer) offers to promote learning within a student's ZPD. This can involve modeling behaviors, asking leading questions, or providing helpful information to complete a task. Scaffolding is progressively withdrawn as the child gains mastery.
1988
John Sweller - Cognitive Load
Cognitive load theory proposes that effective instructional design considers the inherent limits and capacity of working memory during the learning process. Cognitive load theory considers working memory's limited capacity in effective instructional design. Sweller identified intrinsic, extraneous, and germane loads that impact working memory during learning
Chunk Information: Break content into small, manageable pieces that align with learning objectives
Tap Prior Knowledge: Connect new information to what students already know. This creates schema.
Focus Attention: Guide students about what to focus on. Eliminate unnecessary information
Simple-to-Complex: Introduce concepts from simple to complex, building gradually
Use Multimedia: Present words and relevant graphics together. Don’t rely on text alone
Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load
Cognitivism in corporate training
Key Implications of Cognitivism on Instructional Design:
1. Focus on mental processes - Learning involves perception, memory, problem-solving. Design should facilitate cognitive processes.
2. Build on prior knowledge - Connect to students' existing mental structures; don't assume a "blank slate."
3. Promote deeper processing - Engage learners to actively relate new & old knowledge to enable meaningful learning.
4. Develop accurate mental models - help learners organize information into mental representations and models. Use strategies like analogies and concept maps to help learners represent concepts.
5. Teach metacognitive strategies - Incorporate goal-setting, progress monitoring, error analysis to develop self-regulated learning.
Strengths & Limitations of Cognitivism in Corporate Training
Pros:
- Explains role of mental processes critical for knowledge work
- Provides metacognitive and schema-based learning strategies
- Supports transferring training to job application
Cons:
- Individualistic perspective may miss social learning
- Doesn't fully capture applying tech-enabled training
- Underemphasizes motivational/emotional aspects of adult learners
Instructional Material Example
This is a Massachusetts public school district resource that provides information about Lunar New Year, an important Asian holiday celebrating the arrival of spring and start of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. It outlines traditions, suggested classroom activities, and additional references for educators to learn more about how Lunar New Year is celebrated in various Asian cultures over a 15-day period. It is intended to support teachers in their instruction of Lunar New Year in their classrooms.
Supports cognitive load principles:
- Content is chunked into sections (e.g. Resources by grade level), reducing extraneous cognitive load from processing unstructured information.
- Key instructional goals are highlighted (e.g. learning about Lunar New Year traditions), providing focus.
Does not support cognitive load principles:
- No overt signaling of the organizational structure and flow of content, requiring the learner to determine relations between sections.
- Some redundancy in content across sections, increasing extraneous processing demands.
- No use of advance organizers or pre-training to activate prior knowledge schemas.
- Lack of examples to concretize abstract information about Lunar New Year, increasing intrinsic load.
- Open-ended discussion questions without scaffolding for deeper cognitive processing.
- No supportive images are included in the document
constructivism: An Overview
Constructivism theory states that learning is an active process where students construct their own understanding by integrating new information with prior knowledge and experiences. Learners make meaning through exploration, collaboration, dialogue, and real-world problem solving activities facilitated by teachers rather than direct instruction
- Contrasts with behaviorism; students actively construct own knowledge
- Centers on student engagement, reasoning, reflection, justification
- Uses intrinsically motivating exploration, questioning, problem-solving
- Learners build knowledge on existing beliefs and perspectives
- Requires reimagined instruction promoting construction of knowledge via activities, dialogue
- Inquiry frameworks (e.g. 5E model: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate) align with constructivist principles
- Emphasizes student-centeredness, collaboration, application to empower knowledge construction
Constructivism in Teaching and Learning
1. Students actively build knowledge rather than passively receive it from teachers.
2. Assess learners' prior knowledge when introducing new concepts.
3. Scaffold learning experiences tailored to developmental level.
4. Engage with authentic, real-world tasks facilitating inquiry and discovery.
5. Create student-centered environments focused on relevant problems and projects.
constructivism: Key REsearchers
1938
John Dewey
Prominent in developing radical constructivism, which views knowledge as actively constructed by learners, not passively received. Reality is interpreted through individual experiences and schemas
1960
Jerome Bruner
Developed the concept of scaffolding student learning through a spiral curriculum and instructional techniques tailored to a student's ability and background knowledge. Promoted learning through active problem solving and discovery
1964
Jean Piaget
Emphasized individual construction of knowledge. Contributed ideas around schema, assimilation, accommodation, equilibration, and stages of cognitive development. Focused on how students' existing schemas interact with new information to develop understanding.
1974
Ernst von Glasersfeld
Prominent in developing radical constructivism, which views knowledge as actively constructed by learners, not passively received. Reality is interpreted through individual experiences and schemas
1978
Lev Vygotsky - Zone of Proximal Development
Emphasized social/collaborative construction of knowledge. Developed the concept of the zone of proximal development, the gap between what a learner can do independently and with guidance. Stressed the importance of social interactions and culture on cognitive development and meaningful activity for learning.
constructivism:
Strengths & Limitations in Corporate Training
Strengths:
- Encourages active learning and engagement
- Builds on prior knowledge for relevant, better retained learning
- Promotes deeper learning and transferable skills
- Caters to different learning styles and paces
- Strengthens teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills
Limitations:
- Requires more learner work which some may resist
- Hard to design activities suited to learner needs
- More subjective assessment methods
- More time consuming than lectures
- Requires trainers to facilitate vs. control
- Learners may struggle without guidance
- Hard to implement with very large groups
Please click image to expand
infographic
connectivism: Key REsearchers
Connectivism is a learning theory that was developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes in the early 2000s. Here are some key points about connectivism:
- It proposes that learning happens through connections and networking with information sources and other people. It is enabled by technology and emphasizes that knowledge rests in networks rather than only in the head of an individual.
- Model of learning that learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. Learning organizations and emerging technologies prompt people to think about learning as a process of connecting specialized information sets and of making connections between sources of information.
- It suggests that the capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known, and that nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
- Principles of connectivism include: that learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions, that learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources, that nurturing and maintaining connections is necessary to facilitate continual learning, and that the capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
- The theory was developed in response to the expansion of technology and networked information, and the realization that traditional learning theories (e.g. behaviorism, cognitivism) could not fully explain learning facilitated by technology and networks.
connectivism:
Connections to teaching & learning
Encourages open educational resources and accessing a diversity of opinions/perspectives for learning rather than relying on a single "expert" source
Promotes development of skills to find, filter, interpret, and evaluate relevant information using technology and networks
Supports learner autonomy, self-directed learning, personal knowledge management rather than top-down instruction
Requires educators to model and scaffold connecting to current knowledge sources, diverse viewpoints, and building Personal Learning Networks
Focuses less on transferring knowledge and more on pattern recognition, interpreting new information for meaning, and developing accurate, up-to-date concept maps
Suggests learning activities based on connecting specialized information sets, collaboration with peers, evaluating and synthesizing multiple information flows
Views technology as an enabler of connections between learners, educators, and information sources for co-constructing and sharing knowledge
connectivism:
implication for instructional design
- Curate open education resources rather than create content.
- Design for skills to evaluate multiple digital sources.
- Build in crowd-sourcing, learner content creation.
- Shift from memorization to pattern recognition and interpretation.
- Integrate social networks & mobile access intrinsically.
- Instructors model building networks and making connections.
Strengths in Corporate Training:
- Aligns with access to up-to-date information and networks/experts relevant for jobs
- Develops capacity to find, evaluate, synthesize changing information
- Supports working in dispersed teams using technology
- Workers direct their own learning to stay updated in field
Limitations in Corporate Training:
- Dependence on networks could enable spread of misinformation
- Self-directed focus could enable avoidance of compliance
- Hard to track and quantify networked learning
- Potential lack of structure/assessment could limit certifications
- Challenging to build capacity for networked learning in all workers
- Rapidly evolving information requires constant monitoring and updating
connectivism:
Personal Learning network
Instructional Design Lady
Creator of @IDCollaboratory, tweets about all things instructional design, LX design, EdTech, Assistive Tech., OERs, & computer science in PreK-12.
Instructional Design Central
Community, Resources, & Content for Instructional Design & LX Design Professionals
E-Learning Challenges
Join our weekly E-Learning Challenges to play w/ new ideas, grow your skills, spark your inspiration, & build your e-learning portfolios.
Transforming educators into high-earning instructional designers 🎓 Build your stand-out portfolio to achieve freedom & flexibility
I have added the above people and organizations to my X and LinkedIn PLNs this week.
I am most excited about the E-Learning Challenges group! As I am trying to build my portfolio as an instructional designer, I am hoping that these challenges will provide the prompts I need to create materials to add to the portfolio. I am also excited to see the work of others who participate in these challenges as they may become part of my PLN as well. I am also planning to dig into Devlin Peck’s tutorials and posts to learn more technical aspects of some of the design tools.
image sources: X and LinkedIn
Week 6: Andragogy
For this week’s assignment I decided to create a storyboard of the work that we had to showcase in an attempt to build my ID portfolio. The story board corresponds to the linked presentation. The slides do contain more text than I would normally add to a slide presentation, but I was trying to keep the work organized and the presentation within 10 slides. Enjoy!
Week 7: Assessment & Learning
Click through the presentation for this week’s learning artifact
week 8: Signature Assignment
Teachers Turned Corporate Trainers
Specific Issue or Skill Gap:
Target Audience:
Teachers transitioning into corporate training and the need to understand adult learning environments and how to assess effectiveness of trainings
Teachers who are looking to transition into corporate training roles and/or Educators with a background in instructional design or teaching who want to apply their skills in a corporate setting.
Possible Learning Theories to Support Training:
Andragogy
This theory emphasizes that adults are self-directed and learn best when they see the relevance of the content to their own lives and experiences. Teachers transitioning into corporate training can benefit from understanding this theory to design training programs that are relevant and engaging for adult learners.
Strengths:
Relevance: stresses the significance of content relevance to adult learners, aiding trainers in crafting meaningful, applicable material for learners' work contexts.
Self-direction: Adults are viewed as self-directed learners, empowering them to own their learning process and engage more profoundly with the material.
Experience: Andragogy acknowledges adults' rich experience in learning environments, enriching learning with real-world examples and case studies.
Limitations:
Not universally applicable: Critics argue that andragogy's principles may not universally suit all adult learners due to varying preferences and styles.
Dependency on motivation: Andragogy presupposes intrinsic motivation among adult learners, which might not always hold in corporate training, where external factors can sway motivation.
Limited emphasis on cognitive development: Andragogy prioritizes practical learning aspects, potentially neglecting adult learners' cognitive development needs in intricate corporate settings.
Constructivism
This theory suggests that learners construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. Teachers transitioning into corporate training can apply this theory by designing training programs that encourage learners to actively engage with the content and construct their understanding.
Strengths:
Active learning: Constructivism fosters active engagement, prompting learners to construct their understanding, potentially leading to deeper learning.
Real-world relevance: Emphasizing knowledge construction from experiences, constructivism aids trainers in designing activities relevant and applicable to learners' work contexts.
Critical thinking: Constructivism urges learners to question and assess their understanding, fostering critical thinking skills valuable in corporate training.
Limitations:
Time-consuming: Constructivist learning can be time-consuming, often requiring extensive reflection and discussion, which may not always be practical in corporate training.
Dependence on prior knowledge: Heavily relies on learners' prior knowledge and experiences, which can be limiting if they have limited relevant experience in the corporate context.
Difficulty in assessment: Assessing learning in a constructivist framework can be challenging, as it involves evaluating learners' ability to apply knowledge in new contexts, which may not align with traditional assessment methods.
Constructivism, with a side of Andragogy
- Both andragogy and constructivism can be helpful when designing a minicourse for teachers transitioning into corporate training, but constructivism may be particularly beneficial.
- Constructivism's emphasis on active learning and the construction of knowledge from experiences aligns well with the practical nature of corporate training. Designing the minicourse with constructivist principles can help engage learners more deeply with the material, making the learning experience more meaningful and applicable to their work context.
- Additionally, constructivism's focus on critical thinking can be valuable for teachers transitioning into corporate training, as it can help them develop the skills needed to design and deliver effective training programs that challenge learners' assumptions and promote deeper understanding.
include these elements of andragogy
Self-directed learning: Encouraging teachers transitioning into corporate training to take ownership of their learning process and seek resources that align with their needs and interests.
Relevance: Emphasizing the importance of designing the minicourse content to be directly relevant to the teachers' future roles in corporate training, ensuring that it addresses their specific needs and challenges.
Experience: Recognize teachers' wealth of experience in transitioning to corporate training and leverage it to enrich the learning process. This can be done through reflection activities or case studies that draw upon their past teaching experiences.
Course Type Selection: Hybrid Mini-Course
Based on the analysis of learning theories such as constructivism and andragogy, the most appropriate format for the minicourse for teachers transitioning into corporate training would be a hybrid format.
A hybrid format would allow for a combination of online asynchronous components and face-to-face interactions. This format would cater to the needs of adult learners by providing flexibility in terms of when and where they engage with the course content, while also allowing for opportunities for active learning and collaboration during face-to-face sessions.
asynchronous:
Face - to - face:
- could include self-paced modules that introduce key concepts and theories, along with interactive activities and case studies that encourage learners to apply these concepts to real-world scenarios.
- could be used for more in-depth discussions, group activities, and practical exercises that help reinforce learning and provide opportunities for learners to receive feedback from instructors and peers.
Overall, a hybrid format would leverage the strengths of both online and face-to-face learning modalities, providing a comprehensive and engaging learning experience for teachers transitioning into corporate training.