Kaizen (改善, Japanese for "improvement") is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. This philosophy applies perfectly to the continuous improvement process for online courses at National University. A primary goal of the university and the Faculty Technology Learning Center is to empower faculty with the training necessary to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of the online courses in which they teach.
Using the Kaizen philosophy, the FTLC has developed a five-step process for helping faculty to approach the continuous improvement efforts of their online courses. The five steps are:
1. Define Instructional Objectives
2. Simplify the User Experience
3. Design Effective Instructional Methods
4. Address Course Visual Design
5. Conduct Formative Evaluation
The tendency is often to skip directly to step three or four and begin adding components to a course that provide a higher level of visual appeal or "pizazz." In our visual and digital world often defining clear instructional objectives is mistaken for adding multimedia elements such as audio and video and other "bells and whistles." Although multimedia can be an effective contributor to a well-rounded instructional experience, adding this alone without clearly defining the instructional goals first can often make the educational experience less effective for students. Especially if the content and instructional flow of a course is already disjointed, overwhelming or confusing to a student, adding additional content just for the sake of sensory stimulation or "wow factor" can severely inhibit the student from achieving the desired learning outcomes.
Since the design and development of effective instructional methods can be the most time-consuming of these five steps, sometimes instructors feel pressure to dive right into this step with the notion that it will yield the most visible results. But by following the five-step process two things will happen. First, instructors will clearly define sound instructional objectives (Step 1) that will help them design the most efficient and effective instructional methods both near-term and long-term. Second, by simplifying the user experience (Step 2) by organizing content and applying proven instructional design methods, instructors will begin to formulate a mental workflow for teaching and better understand the expectations they are asking of the student. Although it requires a little patience, following this process will yield results almost immediately and provide instructors with a much clearer outlook for long-term continuous improvement.
Step 1: Clearly Define Instructional Objectives
Instructional objectives are the detailed description of how an instructor will use instructional activities and instructional methods to reach the desired learning objective(s). Instructional objectives are different than the performance objectives (the Learning Outcomes) in that they define how the transfer of knowledge will occur as opposed to what applications students will achieve.
Since the content for your course has already been written and the learning outcomes already identified, part of the teaching experience is how to identify the most appropriate and effective instructional methods to support those learning outcomes.
The purpose of selecting an instructional method is to identify and employ teaching strategies and techniques that most effectively achieve the performance objectives. Current educational theory and research support the use of instructional methods that make students active learners (e.g., lecture, lab, small group discussion, case-based study, simulations, independent study, etc.).
By employing the most effective instructional methods you can see that multimedia is not the only option for enhancing learning.
So what if your instructional methods don't work as well as you'd like? That's the beauty of Kaizen. You'll have another oppoortunity based on your feedback to improve the instructional methods next time around.
Kaizen (改善, Japanese for "improvement") is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. This philosophy applies perfectly to the continuous improvement process for online courses at National University. A primary goal of the university and the Faculty Technology Learning Center is to empower faculty with the training necessary to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of the online courses in which they teach.
Using the Kaizen philosophy, the FTLC has developed a five-step process for helping faculty to approach the continuous improvement efforts of their online courses. The five steps are:
1. Define Instructional Objectives
2. Simplify the User Experience
3. Design Effective Instructional Methods
4. Address Course Visual Design
5. Conduct Formative Evaluation
The tendency is often to skip directly to step three or four and begin adding components to a course that provide a higher level of visual appeal or "pizazz." In our visual and digital world often defining clear instructional objectives is mistaken for adding multimedia elements such as audio and video and other "bells and whistles." Although multimedia can be an effective contributor to a well-rounded instructional experience, adding this alone without clearly defining the instructional goals first can often make the educational experience less effective for students. Especially if the content and instructional flow of a course is already disjointed, overwhelming or confusing to a student, adding additional content just for the sake of sensory stimulation or "wow factor" can severely inhibit the student from achieving the desired learning outcomes.
Since the design and development of effective instructional methods can be the most time-consuming of these five steps, sometimes instructors feel pressure to dive right into this step with the notion that it will yield the most visible results. But by following the five-step process two things will happen. First, instructors will clearly define sound instructional objectives (Step 1) that will help them design the most efficient and effective instructional methods both near-term and long-term. Second, by simplifying the user experience (Step 2) by organizing content and applying proven instructional design methods, instructors will begin to formulate a mental workflow for teaching and better understand the expectations they are asking of the student. Although it requires a little patience, following this process will yield results almost immediately and provide instructors with a much clearer outlook for long-term continuous improvement.
Step 1: Clearly Define Instructional Objectives
Instructional objectives are the detailed description of how an instructor will use instructional activities and instructional methods to reach the desired learning objective(s). Instructional objectives are different than the performance objectives (the Learning Outcomes) in that they define how the transfer of knowledge will occur as opposed to what applications students will achieve.
Since the content for your course has already been written and the learning outcomes already identified, part of the teaching experience is how to identify the most appropriate and effective instructional methods to support those learning outcomes.
The purpose of selecting an instructional method is to identify and employ teaching strategies and techniques that most effectively achieve the performance objectives. Current educational theory and research support the use of instructional methods that make students active learners (e.g., lecture, lab, small group discussion, case-based study, simulations, independent study, etc.).
By employing the most effective instructional methods you can see that multimedia is not the only option for enhancing learning.
So what if your instructional methods don't work as well as you'd like? That's the beauty of Kaizen. You'll have another oppoortunity based on your feedback to improve the instructional methods next time around.