INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN PORTFOLIO
EDUC 766 - Instructional Strategies and Assessment Methods
ALIGNMENT CHART
A Beginner’s Guide to Acting
Unit One – Story and Character Analysis
Assessments measure how well students have achieved learning objectives. In order to meet the objectives, instructional strategies should support the learning objectives and prepare students for assessments. These three components must align to support student motivation and learning.
An alignment chart helps an instructional designer by confirming that objectives, strategies and assessments are supporting one another.
SAMPLE ACTIVITIES
As a blended course, the context of activities depends on what setting the learner chooses. The course is accessible through synchronous, in-person private lessons with an instructor, or through asynchronous e-learning. In an in-person setting, asynchronous learning materials may be used independently by the learner as reinforcement or as activities guided by the instructor.
Absorb-activities consist primarily of presentations and videos in order to align with Universal Design for Learning. They are self-paced in both synchronous and asynchronous settings, are mobile-optimized, and present information through multiple media.
Do-activities consist of practice quizzes, which also function as formative assessments, as well as discovery and practice activities. Discovery activities ask learners to answer question prompts to explore concepts and principles. Practice activities invite learners to apply knowledge to a specific case study (a performance piece of their choosing).
Connect-activities include decision activities and original work activities. Decision activities ask learners to create analysis choices about their performance pieces. Original work activities serve as authentic assessments in which the learners create performances in the context of an audition or contest setting.
- Terminal Objective: Analyze the character to be performed
- ZEnabling Objective: Describe distinguishing physical features of the character
ABSORB Activity
Presentation: animated slide deck that describes features of physical characterization and story factors that affect characterization; includes guided practice examples. Finished presentation will be recorded with narration and subtitles in consideration of Universal Design for Learning.
DO Activity
Practice Activity: complete Physical Characterization portion of the Character Analysis worksheet. Choices are provided in consideration of Universal Design for Learning, allowing for multiple means of expression. Directions for this activity can be recorded with screen capture, narration and subtitles for UDL.
CONNECT Activity
Original Work Activity: Record a video (or present in-person) performing as the character, demonstrating physical features while narrating the character backstory, describing the character’s personality, and articulating the character’s superobjective. Learners have agency over the characters they choose, in consideration of Universal Design for Learning – multiple means of engagement.
This activity also serves as the assessment for this terminal objective. It can be viewed here as well as in the Assessment example in the next section.
ASSESSMENT
The primary forms of assessment for this course are:
- Quizzes
- Decision Activities
- Original Work Activities
The quizzes function as formative assessments, allowing learners to check their knowledge as they proceed through the course and retake as needed. They are electronic and self-paced; the timing and sequencing is flexible to allow for learner autonomy in an asynchronous setting. In a synchronous setting (private lesson), learners may choose to work through these quizzes independently or with their instructor. Feedback is provided at the completion of each quiz.
Decision activities function as both formative assessments and Connect activities. These assessments ask learners to apply knowledge to a self-selected performance piece. This provides real-world context as they develop material that can be used in settings such as auditions and contests. Instructor feedback is given in narrative form.
Original work activities are used as both formative and summative assessments. Most of these activities are formative because instructor feedback can be incorporated into subsequent original work activities as the learners develop their characters. The final performance of their chosen piece acts as a summative assessment. These orginal work assessments also serve as Connect activities, with learners creating a performance that simulates a real-world audition or contest.
REFLECTION
This coursework is a continuation of the instructional design project that began in the first course of the certificate program. As a small business owner transitioning into an instructional design career, I decided to focus on an area of instruction we provided in our business. We taught the fundamentals of acting to our private lesson students, both in person and through remote online lessons. However, it had long been my goal to provide an asynchronous course for students who could not afford the time, or financial, commitment of private lessons.
According to William Horton (Horton, 2011), the recommended proportion of Absorb, Do and Connect activities is 40-50-10. Many, including Horton, advocate reducing the 40% for Absorb and increasing the amount of time students spend on Do activities. One of the ways he suggests “sneaking” more Do activities into instruction is to include knowledge checks that the learner can perform during an Absorb activity. This interrupts passive learning time to engage the student while also allowing them to practice what they’ve absorbed as they absorb it. I hope that the integration of these knowledge checks will rebalance the Absorb-Do-Connect ratio for this course to 30-60-10.
Planning for accessibility and providing options has always been a part of my instruction. I began my career teaching music in public schools, which required flexibility and accomodations to meet a nearly limitless range of student needs. In my alignment chart, I have consciously chosen activities that can be developed with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in mind. This blended course allows for multiple means of representation through videos and presentations that include narration and captions. Activities can be completed with multiple means of timing, speed and use of technologies. The course also provides multiple means of engagement by allowing learners to choose their performance material and to have agency over the context of their activities and assessments.
I continue to be fascinated by the connection between my content area and principles of instructional design. In this course, I discovered the parallels between acting and UDL. In acting, we teach students to fully develop their performances by considering three items:
- The material to be performed (the “WHAT” of acting)
- The acting choices made (the “HOW”)
- The story context (the “WHY”)
Similarly, CAST.org (CAST, 2018) describes the components of UDL as providing multiple means of:
- Representation (the “WHAT” of learning)
- Action & Expression (the “HOW”)
- Engagement (the “WHY”)
The connection between storytelling and instructional design continues to be reinforced in my mind as I proceed through this course of study.
REFERENCES
CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org
Horton, William. (2011). E-Learning by Design, (2nd ed.). Pfeiffer.
About Steve
Steve Kovacs
Instructional Designer
An experienced classroom teacher, private lesson coach, workshop provider, digital marketer, author and content creator, Steve has a well-rounded skillset that makes him a valuable contributor to projects that require instructional design, development and blended learning implementation.
His study of instructional design at University of Wisconsin-Stout has reinforced the connection between his experiences in storytelling and crafting learning experiences. He uses his understanding of storytelling to design the instructional message. He applies his experience as an acting coach, focusing on learner behaviors the way an actor focuses on character behaviors. And, just as theater should be a transformational experience for the audience, landing the instructional message changes learners forever by closing performance gaps.
