Dr. Judith Boettcher Presents Design for Learning Workshop
The
DIIA invited faculty and staff from UT Austin and St. Edwards University
to participate with its own staff in a workshop offered by Dr. Judith
Boettcher, a pioneer in the field of instructional design. Dr. Boettcher
is a consultant, author, and instructional futurist. "Advancing Teaching
and Learning-Making Good Use of Our Brains and Our Tools" was held
in April at the UT Austin campus.
Along with the instructional tenets she espoused, Dr. Boettcher emphasized the goal of creating instructional design that is effective and efficient. The workshop format allowed participants to brainstorm and interact with colleagues, with time for cross-pollination of ideas and problem-solving within small workgroups. One of the outcomes of the workshop was that the participants shared what seemed to work across disciplines, departments, and universities.
Part of the workshop incorporated faculty demonstrations and a group review segment. The first demonstration was Digimorph presented by Dr. Timothy Rowe from the College of Natural Sciences. DigiMorph is a unique digital library of vertebrate morphology with over 500 animated volumetric visualizations of the vertebrate skeleton in all its forms, from fossils to embryos and adults of living species.
Dr. Lisa Debore from the College of Communication then presented the Articulation Disorders/Speech Disorders Clinical Archive (SDCA) project that is designed to convey examples of characteristics defining mild, moderate, and severe speech disorders in clients of different chronological ages. The multimedia format and comparison of speech patterns and the range of children's ages is an innovation in speech disorder assessment.
Susanna Herndon, associate director of DIIA, realized budgetary constraints would prevent many staff from attending distant conferences for professional development this year- thus she brought Judith Boettcher to the DIIA. "Judith has an ability to decipher technical data and relate it to instructional design theories and concepts," she said. "The faculty and staff enjoyed her hands-on approach as they found it meaningful and engaging."