Dancing on quicksand gracefully: instructional design for rapidly evolving technology courses

ABSTRACT

One of the challenges of higher education in technology, especially in computer disciplines, is the rapid change of technical content. In technology disciplines with a tradition of experiential learning instructors need to continually redesign courses to ensure the learning experience for the students is current and relevant. This paper discusses an approach to course design that has been applied to a class in Information Technology that experiences significant changes in course content on a regular basis. The design approach allows many aspects of the course design to remain constant, including much of the class presentation and assessment, while including the latest technology developments and applications in the course. Students collaborate in seeking out new applications in technology and in sharing them with the class.

The paper discusses a course module developed using these principles. Different aspects of the design were analyzed. Firstly how successful is this as a mechanism for maintaining course currency with current technological developments, secondly to what extent is this successful for instructors to collaborate with students in acquiring new knowledge in the discipline and thirdly does the instructional design approach adequately support student learning of new application areas in the discipline.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION

General Terms:
Management

Keywords:
constructionism, design layers, evolution, instructional design, rapid-change