What's the Big Idea in Instructional Design

Concurrent Session 4

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

When designing a course, have you ever had too many ideas and are not sure how to choose between them or have you ever felt uninspired or stuck in the same old pattern? Bringing a technique from museum exhibit design of developing a big idea can create a sense of vision and purpose that inspires course design and provides a powerful tool for editing a collection of potential ideas down to the most essential. 

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Karen Bellnier, University of Rhode Island

A passionate educator. A persistent puzzle-solver. A believer in collaboration. Owner of a bad habit of aiming for the stars. With a starting point in sociocultural psychology (UCSC) and research interest in learning environments, I started my journey of learning about learning along the paths of museum-based learning as a researcher and then as an educator (Junior Museum, Schenectady Museum) and, later, exhibit developer (Amaze Design). Along the way, a parallel exploration into learning design (GWU), outcomes assessment and evaluating quality (American Association of Museums) sparked an interest that would come in handy as I moved into the higher education field by way of instructional design and online learning (Johnson & Wales University)and establishing online learning programming and growing faculty development (CCRI). Currently, I am a doctoral student (URI), a faculty member (UMB), and a learning architect.

Extended Abstract

When designing a course, have you ever had too many ideas and are not sure how to choose between them or have you ever felt uninspired or stuck in the same old pattern? Bringing a technique from museum exhibit design of developing a big idea can create a sense of vision and purpose that inspires course design and provides a powerful tool for editing a collection of potential ideas down to the most essential. A strong ‘big idea’ statement is like poetry – it is short and powerful. It captures the full aspirations of the course, both intellectual and affective. This session will explore the origins of the big idea and how to guide a faculty or SME through the process of developing one illustrated by examples. It will connect the big idea approach to other design guiding concepts such as Fink’s significant learning, Meyer and Land’s threshold concepts, and Wiggins & McTighe’s understanding by design.

Session will present the concept and its context, then provide a series of activities modeling and practicing the approach for participants to develop their skills and ask questions.