R/D4

In the context of music, assuming students had access to computers and cameras, I can think of multiple uses for photo sharing. One of the units that I teach is called “Found Sound.” I ask students to try to find something at home that can be used to make music. A handful of kids remember to bring their found sounds into class; they bring in everything from a couple crayons to tap together to homemade guitars to pot lids. If students were able to take PICTURES of the multiple things they find at home that can be musical, I think I would get a much better response. Many things, like banging on the sink with a utensil or opening and shutting the cupboard door are impossible to show the class- unless we could share pictures!
As with anything on the internet, teachers and students have to be careful about what they share and where they explore. I would be concerned with students sharing appropriate pictures and not adventuring into unknown territory. But, I would make sure to research the particular photo sharing site so that it was as secure as possible. I could allow the students to share and view pictures with a simple password. Also, if I screened the pictures they emailed or uploaded or handed to me and then posted them to my blog, I would be certain only appropriate pictures would be showcased. (That would also allow me to weed out repeats, etc.)
Another possible use in music would be to have students share pictures of musical events they have attended. I love to let students ‘show and tell’ about their real world music experiences. This type of activity really engages the students and, with pictures, I can see all kinds of lessons coming to life.
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Chapter two in our Trends and Issues book helped me to expand my understanding of what ‘Instructional Design” incorporates. I have developed a few educational lesson plans for other teachers and have used some of the ADDIE phases. In most cases, my process of ANALYSIS and “conducting a needs assessment” was just waiting to hear from 2 or 3 teachers about the same problem. The next two steps, DESIGN and DEVELOPMENT, took the longest for me. But even then, all I was doing was writing step-by-step instructions for the solution to their problem. For IMPLEMENTATION, I handed or emailed them the instructions and left it up to them to try it out and contact me with any questions.
The last step of EVALUATION is very important, and something I haven’t done with my (informal) experience in instructional design. It only makes sense that, after putting in so much time and research, that you would follow-up with collecting data to make sure your plan works.

I appreciated the last part of the chapter outlining the characteristics of Instructional Design. I think those 6 characteristics are a great overview of Instructional Design- almost like a mission statement. In my future instructional design experiences, I will keep the ADDIE steps in mind as well as these characteristics.
-Suzy