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The Importance of
Instructional Design
Adapted in 2001 from "Sportsnight"
© 1999
Do any of you know who Filo Farnsworth was?
He invented television. I don't mean television
like Uncle Miltie; I mean he invented THE
television. He did this in a little house
in Provo, Utah. This was at a time when transmitting
moving pictures through the air would be
like me saying 'I'd figured out a way to
beam us up to the Starship Enterprise'. He
was a visionary. He died broke and without
fanfare even though he developed what is
considered today to be an absolutely essential
household appliance.
The guy I really want to talk about though
is Filo's brother in law, Cliff Gardner.
He looked at Filo's initial drawings
and
supported Filo, even when everyone
else was
laughing at him. "Filo" he
said,
"I know everyone thinks you're
crazy,
but I want to be a part of this. I
don't
have your head for science, so I'm
not going
to be able to help you much with the
design
and mechanics of your invention, but
it looks
to me as if you're going to need glass
tubes."
You see, Filo was inventing the Cathode
Ray
Tube (CRT) receptor, which we use in
all
of our televisions, computer monitors,
and
visual diagnostic equipment in hospitals
and such. Even though Cliff didn't
now what
the CRT meant or even how it worked,
he'd
seen Filo's drawings and he knew Filo
was
going to need glass tubes. But since
television
hadn't been invented yet its not like
you
could get them at the local repair
shop.
"I want to be a part of this"
Cliff
said, "I don't have your head
for science
but how would it be if I taught myself
how
to be a glass blower. Then I could
set up
a little shop beside yours in the back
yard
and I could make the tubes you need
for testing."
There ought to be medals of honour for people
who will go out of their way to help others.
Sometimes we praise athletes for making the
60 yard run to make the touchdown that wins
the Superbowl, yet we seldom, if ever, remember
the skills of that athlete started with a
coach at the pee-wee level, or that they
are maintained by a training staff who make
sure he is eating right and doing the proper
exercise regimen. Does anyone really believe
the President of the United States is making
those snap-second decisions without a thousand
people developing best-case scenarios for
him in a back room? I watch video's of Niel
Armstrong landing on the moon and think to
myself 'its a good thing there was a guy
who learned how to develop a flexible ring
attachment that was airtight for that suit
Armstrong was in, or we might never have
gotten to the moon the way we did.
We should recognize that people who
support
others for a great and noble cause
are just
as important as those who are the pioneers
or the brains of any worthy endeavor.
Cliff
would never have attained greatness
on his
own merits and even today, he is unknown
to 99.9% of the population of this
world.
Filo didn't fare much better as he
is but
a footnote in the history of television.
But Cliff never thought about personal
glory
either; he simply wanted to be a part
of
things and help out a friend.
I develop curriculum and consult to
others
on how best to offer their teaching
ideas
to students. I have developed knowledge
of
many disciplines of study to conceptualize
how best to offer a program of studies
to
students so that their teaching is
successful
and the students gain the most out
of the
experience.
When I walk into a room full of professors
and doctors who all have specializations
in science and technology and who could talk
rings around me in areas of mathematics,
they can still respect my ability to take
their ideas and put them into alternate communications
strategies. It's not because they have to
like me, but because two minutes after I
walk through a door into a meeting they all
know I am someone who knows how to help.
I can't solve their equations, and I can't
develop the lines of knowledge they feel
essential to master their curriculum. But,
in a way I am just as essential to being
able to convey their knowledge to others,
I can organize it, and demonstrate how it
will work through a delivery method of their
choice. I can't design rocket telemetry data,
and I can't hardwire a television's circuit.
I can help them though, and they recognize
that - in my own way I make glass tubes.
All written content © Casey Allen, 1998 -
2006
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