Prof Lin Xiao Dong's lecture

Audited Prof Lin's lecture on the "Instructional Design of Educational Technology" and learned several tips on teaching. She reminds me of Prof Tsang - wise, knowledgeable, pragmatic and strategic (practices Sun Zi's Art of War tactics).

The most important thing I learned was the difference between instructional design and curriculum design. David Shaenfield, the TA, explained that curriculum design is mostly focused on curriculum whereas instructional design is focused on the goals and the entire process of achieving the goals. I'm not sure if that's really accurate, need to read up about it.

Traits of good instruction that Prof Lin embodied:

• Good instruction requires pre-post testing. Prof Lin started with a needs assessment quiz.
  
• Prof Lin managed our expectations from the onset, stating upfront frustrations of her previous students. By telling us clearly her teaching style, giving us the course guidelines, telling us about the positive and negative feedback given by her ex-students, we subconsciously managed our own expectations of the course.
  
• She talked about her previous teaching method: asking students to grade themselves and justifying to her why they ought to deserve that grade. Have heard of this idea, love it, should try to practice it next time.
  
• Getting students to prepare a lesson and teaching the lesson, and asking students to reflect on the process.
  

Ideas learned:

• Instructional design is useless if it is not implemented and the implementor is not getting any feedback.
• Understanding key constraints before implementing instruction.
  
• Biggest challenge of instructional design is not being sure who our learners are and what the implementers are like.
  
• There is no one key tool that fits every situation. One can't assume that lectures are worse than groupwork or field work.
  
• HPL (How People Learn) framework: intersection of three domains: learner-centered, knowledge centered, achievement-centered within the community