Don't run from the change, be the change.

The courses I am currently developing are STEM (science, technology, engineering, & math) and BIM (business information management).  These courses are both taught at the Middle School level and have very different goals and objectives. I have been focusing on creating videos for my BIM class, allowing students to work at their own pace or learn information remotely.  In these classes, the primary learning theory is Constructivism, because many of the assignments are creating real-world projects (Dabbagh, 2018). The STEM class is hands-on where students are designing, building, creating, and programming.  The BIM class centers on learning about business and applying Microsoft Programs in real situations.  However, Behaviorism is needed at times before the students create a project, there is some information that the students learn through direct teaching or researching information.  Also, the grades that are required, provide a reward or consequence for the students learning.

Setting goals and objectives is the foundational component of building any course.  The lack of setting expectations for a course lends chaos and confusion.  If there is no clear path for which you are set to achieve, then you will never be able to move towards something. Goals and objectives lend itself to set up the design for the course.  Structuring a course design allows for the student to learn beyond basic comprehension (Learning Forward, 2018). It is important that the many factors are involved with an effective course design, including the audience learning style, background, technical abilities, and interests.
Knowledge management is such an important skill for people to obtain because information is changing rapidly (Bates, 2015). Information that students learn in college may become obsolete by the time they graduate.  It is necessary for someone to be able to take information, analyze it and then apply the important information.  Those that have the ability to keep up with the continuously growing demands and changes will set themselves up to be successful in any career.  
In addition, Tony Bates addresses the need for Universities to make changes to meet the needs of the diverse 21st-century student and current environment (Bates, 2015).  Many Universities are teaching the same way as hundreds of years ago, despite the advancements in technology.  Furthermore, it is disheartening to see statics showing that the student to professor ratio has increased, despite the increase in tuition.  When the ratio of students increased along with the increased workload, the quality of instruction decreases. There are much greater demands on the teacher while receiving the same salary.  I have witnessed similar increased demands in my teaching career in the K-12 setting.  It seems just when you feel you have found a way to manage the workload, more is added on. I have found that implementing blended learning has transformed the way I teach.  Being able to lean on technology to support my lessons, has allowed time to work with small groups.  When technology is used more effectively teachers are able to provide more individualization and potentially education could be more affordable.


References: 
Bates, T. (2015) Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Designing Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Dabbagh, N. (2018). The Instructional Design Knowledge Base. Retrieved January, 16, 2018 from Nada Dabbagh's Homepage, George Mason University, Instructional Technology Program. Website: http://cehdclass.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/index.htm 
Learning Forward (2018). learningforward.org. Retrieved from https://learningforward.org/standards/learning-designs#.VzHxq2MWVlI