ED 795A is a graduate seminar and practicum that serves as a culminating experience for students in Educational Technology. Students work with clients, read and reflect on instructional design theory, and practice on cases typical of challenges in our field.
ED 795A focuses on five arenas:
1. Establishing and maintaining an effective, professional consulting relationship with a client and other instructional designers;
2. Analyzing the client's situation and then developing effective strategies, materials and recommendations for him/her/them;
3. Reflecting on a series of cases with a dual focus or emphasis: instructional design theory in action and consultation and evaluation;
4. Examining the art and science of design, development and evaluation, particularly in light of new technologies; and
5. Self-assessing your competencies and your readiness to take your place as a professional in the field.
ED 795A is based on one intense practice (instructional and/or informational design, development, evaluation). Graduate students are paired with clients and expected to devote from 75-100 hours outside class to tackle a narrow yet significant "problem" for a member of the community. Just like the real world, client challenges will vary; as important, few will be crystal clear.
Practically speaking, you'll work with the client to define a right-sized chunk of work. Some efforts will be primarily performance analysis and needs assessment; others will be less focused on the front end, with more emphasis on development of a script or web prototype. A few might include evaluation of some type. Figuring out what to do, so that it serves your client and flexes and enhances your ID muscles, is a big part of your challenge. I stand ready to work with you on this.
Because of the down side of only ONE intense practice, we will work on numerous smaller exposures to challenges through cases and case readings, mostly presented in the Ertmer & Quinn book. These cases and briefings based on them will be sprinkled throughout the semester.
The final component of the class is reading/discussions about instructional design theory and consulting. We will read and talk together and with visiting practitioners. You'll want to take advantage of all the resources available to you--including your texts and the ECR articles/chapters that supplement them, session slides, interactions with professionals in the field, and other information you find by exploring SDSU's Love Library and its many databases, including the newly-revamped Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC).
ED 795A is the course where you take all the ideas you've gleaned from the EDTEC classes you already taken ... and try them out in the real world.