Educational Technology Revision and Reflection

Now at the end of this course, there is a lot to reflect on. This course was interesting as it tied in parts from other
courses and acted as a nice summation. To cap, the individual paper was the biggest learning moment for me. I elected
to write on Knowledge Management Systems, which ended up integrating the concepts of Organizational Learning and
Process Improvement, all key business methodologies.

I began researching Knowledge Management and during, I discovered that this discipline falls under a broader subject,
Organizational Learning. Without the precursor for the need to learn, knowledge would not be obtained and the aspect
of managing knowledge would be moot. So, this was a benefit to me to tie in the parts of organizational socialization, to
the inception of ideas, to the capturing and utilization of that knowledge in a way that all can benefit from.

Reflecting back on my initial perspectives of Educational Technology, I will be honest to say that not much has changed
in reference to my initial definition of the subject. In week one of the course I wrote: The technology that allows
Instructional Designers to analyze learning opportunities, development solutions to these opportunities, design products
using digital resources, implement, and evaluate in an analytical fashion. This was based upon my career experience
and understanding of the ADDIE model. However, I now have greater insight into systematic design.

So, to revise, I would now say that Educational Technology is The technology and methodologies that allows
Instructional Designers to analyze organizational learning opportunities, development solutions to these opportunities,
design products and scalable knowledge solutions using digital resources, implement, and evaluate in an analytical
fashion. I included the word organizational to the concept of analyze and scalable knowledge solutions to the concept
of design.

To put in perspective, I am learning and wishing to be involved with organizational development, so thinking at this level
is the reason for the addition. As my term paper was on Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, the role
of the Instructional Designer should be more than just singular-product design.

Personally, my most important lesson was the reinforcement of my career choice. Meaning, I switched careers to L&D
and this course helped me sustain that choice. Working with my peers in the class, I was exposed to tools that otherwise
I would not be aware of, such as Prezi. This is a tool that we have starting using in our department to create material!

To expand on my learning related to Instructional Design, I would like to incorporate the information obtained in my
paper (Knowledge Management) at my organization. We are rolling out varied content sites and I think that I will be able
to learn more from the actual implementation utilizing the research already made. So, I will call this discovery learning.