Never a day goes by that I don’t complain of lack of sleep
or leisure time. Being a PT senior means that I must equip myself with all the
necessary competencies before internship (and later on, the real world) comes
around. Doing so unfortunately entails
the sacrifice of some basic needs, which is why it fascinates me that my
professors always look so energetic during lectures and laboratory sessions. After
Monday’s activity, my regard for these unsung heroes grew only greater.
The workshop on “Instructional Design” was less of a
workshop and more of a pressure cooker. The goal of the session was simple
enough: to create an instructional design for my assigned client. Apart from the
day’s output comprising a whopping 35% of my PT 138 grade, the real struggle
for me was in identifying the appropriate objectives of my chosen activity. I
probably spent more than half my time scrutinizing three simple sentences for
correctness of grammar, completeness of thought and elements, and possible methods
of teaching and evaluation. Several times, I was told to revise them because
they didn’t seem thorough or feasible, which only added to my frustrations.
In the end, I did come up with objectives that were SMART—that
is, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely, and the rest of
the content followed from there. It just goes to show that not everything is as
it seems. The hardships that I experience now as a student may not even compare
with the responsibilities of a PT teacher! If my professors, who probably repeat
this process every day, are struggling, they don’t let it on.
Bottom line is, before implementing a structured and
effective teaching session, I must first go back to the basics of a good instructional design and work from there.
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