ILI Blog - Week 7 - the Understand phase

Questions
What aspects of the Understand phase do you feel most and least confident about? Describe an "aha" moment you had this week, if any.

Answers
(FYI: The Understand phase is the first in the USER method, followed by Structure, Engage, and Reflect, a framework for curriculum/lesson design from Booth's 2011 "Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning".)

The Understand phase seems pretty straight forward - first you "identify the problem", or look for why instruction is needed and what learner needs are, and then you "analyze the scenario", where you try to figure out pertinent information and potential issues about the learner(s), the context of the learning (physical/digital), the content of the learning, and yourself as the educator.

I guess so far I feel pretty confident in the basic structure of the process as laid out in the chapter, though it has some elements/complexities that seem a little overwhelming in the beginning but that I'm sure will become more familiar with use, such as looking at different dimensions of needs and the different ways you can assess them. Booth walks through steps with example types of lessons she has done, and it's all fine and well to read about and be exposed to examples, but I think it will still be awkward to try and implement at first, to fully utilize all of the sections and subsections. I may need to make an outline template to work with. I think it may also be a little difficult to decide what information really is directly pertinent to the learning situation - I feel like, as detailed as I can be, I could write a small paper in the Understand phase, and end up with too much information, some of which might obscure more relevant information. I think also, with time and use, I would become better able to shorthand some of the information for myself, become better at anticipating the variety of needs and challenges of learning situations and recognize what likely works better than not in those cases.