When it comes to a delivery system, is important to question whether the delivery system was chosen because it was the most effective way to foster learning, or whether it was just what was available.
You should consider the type of instructors you have first. Then look at the strengths and weaknesses of different media or delivery systems. The instructor may not always have to be in the teaching environment.
Studies from the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine show that lecture and reading have low retention rates (5-10%). Practice by doing have a higher retention rate (75%). Immediate application of learning in a real situation, and teaching others have the highest retention rates (90%).
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Analyzing learners and context: a few thoughts
The important question to ask is if there is a real need for instruction.
The best way to conduct a learner’s analysis is asking the learners, observing them, and taking notes.
See if you can simulate the context. In education, the learning context is usually in a classroom. We should be asking, what is the learners’ core motivation for being there, what are their prior experiences, the entry behavior?
As for learning styles, there is not enough research done on the subject, but no learning style precludes learning in a different style.
Your instruction is not for everybody. The more you can focus on your population, the better off you will be.
The best way to conduct a learner’s analysis is asking the learners, observing them, and taking notes.
See if you can simulate the context. In education, the learning context is usually in a classroom. We should be asking, what is the learners’ core motivation for being there, what are their prior experiences, the entry behavior?
As for learning styles, there is not enough research done on the subject, but no learning style precludes learning in a different style.
Your instruction is not for everybody. The more you can focus on your population, the better off you will be.
A few more thoughts on task analysis
A few comments on The essentials of instructional design article, by Abbie Brown and Timothy Green.
Task analysis is one of the most critical components of instructional design.
There are four approaches to doing task analysis, but they all have the same goal: to gather information about the content and task to be learned.
You should come up with a document, either using an outline, or a flowchart diagram approach with boxes and diamonds. Diagrams may work better for visual learners. An outline may work better to break down steps into substeps.
How to evaluate your task analysis: ask a professional (subject matter expert) to review it, or compare with other information gathered during the instructional design process to see if content and skills were correctly identified, or conduct a summative evaluation after the instruction has been implemented.
Task analysis is one of the most critical components of instructional design.
There are four approaches to doing task analysis, but they all have the same goal: to gather information about the content and task to be learned.
You should come up with a document, either using an outline, or a flowchart diagram approach with boxes and diamonds. Diagrams may work better for visual learners. An outline may work better to break down steps into substeps.
How to evaluate your task analysis: ask a professional (subject matter expert) to review it, or compare with other information gathered during the instructional design process to see if content and skills were correctly identified, or conduct a summative evaluation after the instruction has been implemented.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Technology (educational and instructional)
In an article entitled Educational technology. A question of meaning, by Cass Gentry, I was able to get some ideas of what tecnhology means, and get a better picture of what people mean by instructional and educational technology.
As many people might think, the word technology does not mean the use of machines. It refers mostly to a technique using scientific knowledge. The machine and its applications are made possible by technique. Technology also deals with processes, systems, and management and control mechanisms.
One important point to remember is that we should not use technology simply because it is available. Processes need to be thought over and improved before technology is applied.
Educational technology refers to the methodology and set of techniques used to apply instructional principles.
Instructional technology can be viewed as hardware, as well as the application of the behavioral sciences' research findings to solve the problems of instruction.
I hope this is a little helpful...
As many people might think, the word technology does not mean the use of machines. It refers mostly to a technique using scientific knowledge. The machine and its applications are made possible by technique. Technology also deals with processes, systems, and management and control mechanisms.
One important point to remember is that we should not use technology simply because it is available. Processes need to be thought over and improved before technology is applied.
Educational technology refers to the methodology and set of techniques used to apply instructional principles.
Instructional technology can be viewed as hardware, as well as the application of the behavioral sciences' research findings to solve the problems of instruction.
I hope this is a little helpful...
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
A few notes on task analysis
One of the reasons we do task analysis is to take the ordinary and common and examine it. First thing we need to do is ask what the student already knows, and what they need to know so the task can be learned. We cannot assume the student already knows the subjecte to be taught. One thing to remember is that, although the analysis may be a little complex, in the instructional phase, we need to make the presentation simple.
We need to ask questions and break the steps down into steps and sub-steps.
We need to establish the entry behavior, or what the students must be able to do at the entry level. A question you can ask when determining whether it is an entry behavior, is asking if it is worth the time for you to test it. Entry behavior is different from general characteristic. General characteristic is something found in the entire population you are working with, and does not relate directly to the task.
Here are the steps we use in task analysis:
1- Define your goal (write a sentence)
2- Do a high-level goal analysis (5 to 15 steps)
3- Break it down into smaller steps
4- Analyze your learner and their context
We need to ask questions and break the steps down into steps and sub-steps.
We need to establish the entry behavior, or what the students must be able to do at the entry level. A question you can ask when determining whether it is an entry behavior, is asking if it is worth the time for you to test it. Entry behavior is different from general characteristic. General characteristic is something found in the entire population you are working with, and does not relate directly to the task.
Here are the steps we use in task analysis:
1- Define your goal (write a sentence)
2- Do a high-level goal analysis (5 to 15 steps)
3- Break it down into smaller steps
4- Analyze your learner and their context
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
A little history on Instructional Design
I had the opportunity to read a good article on the history of Instructional Design. The article is entitled, A brief history of instructional development, by Sharon Shrock (1995). I will list the reference at the end of my writing. So here is a little summary of some of the ideas I got from her article.
Shrock spans the history of instructional design from the 1920's to the 1980's.
According to Shrock, before the 1920's, the prevalent idea was that people could improve their mental performance by simply studying certain disciplines, "in the way that calisthenics improve muscle functioniong" (Shrock, 1995, p. 12). The work of a researcher named Thorndlike, from Columbia University, started giving birth to the idea that instruction should be based on prespecified, socially useful goals. Thorndlike was also a strong advocate of educational measurement (cited in Snelbecker, 1974).
In the 1920's the idea of the mind as a muscle started giving way to other thoughts. Here is where we see the roots of job and task analysis, and researchers, such as Franklin Bobbitt (1918) advocating that "the goals for schooling could be derived from an objective analysis of those skills necessary for successful living" (Shrock, 1995, p. 13). Here we start seeing a connection between outcomes and instruction. Several other researchers at the time contributed with their ideas. Mary Ward and Frederick Burk advocated that learners should be able to progress at their own pace with little direction from their teachers. Washburne created a plan for public schools making use of self-paced, self-instructional material that allowed students to take a self-administered test to see if they were ready for testing by the teacher. Another plan was developed by Dalton, introducing the idea of contracts, where students would agree to learn something at their own pace, and only after they learned what they had agreed on, were they able to move on to a more advanced lesson. All these plans of the 1920's emphasize individualized instruction and mastery learning (Shrock, 1995, p. 13).
The Great Depression saw a slowing down of the devopment of instructional design in the 1930's. However, it is here that we see the birth of what we would call today formative evaluation. Ralph Tyler did a study to see if students completing an alternative high school curricula could have more success in college. The study showed that objectives could be clarified in terms of expected student behaviors. The term formative evaluation comes from the introduction of these objectives and their assessment, which were used to revise and refine the new curricula for the students (Shrock, 1995, p. 14).
With the advent of World War II in the 1940's, we see a rapid development of mediated instruction. The military became a good example of what education could accomplish with well-funded research and development effort. Here we see the creation of military training films, and a new role of the technical expert and the producer emerged as distinct from that of the subject matter expert (Shrock, 1995, p. 15).
The 1950's see the influence of Skinner's research into operant conditioning and animal learning, leading him to suggest the use of controlled reinforcement for desired behaviors. Here is where we see the emergence of programed instruction that consisted of "clearly stated objectives, small frames of instruction, self-facing and immediate feedback regarding the correctness of the response" (Shrock, 1995, p.15). The term task analysis is also first used by the Airforce personnel.
By the 1960's, the essence of what we know as instructional design today was already present, mostly because of the support the federal government gave to the this field. It was during this time that the field of audiovisual instruction gained its momentum.
The 1970's is viewed as a time where we see the proliferation of numerous ID models. One important addition to the process of instructional design that took place at this time was the addition of needs assessment (Shrock, 1995, p.17).
In the 1980's we see the advent of microcomputers and the proliferation of instructional design in businesses and other non-school agencies. The use of microcomputers facilitated the use of cognitive psychology and knowledge engineering strategies, broadening its theoretical and analytical bases (Shrock, 1995, p. 18).
The 1990's to our present day will find the same themes here presented, but in much more complex and sophisticated forms (Shrock, 1995, p. 18).
So here was a short summary of the history. Feel free to make any comments...
Reference
Shrock, S. (1995). A brief history of instructional development. Instructional technology: Past, present and future (2nd ed.), pp. 11-18, Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Shrock spans the history of instructional design from the 1920's to the 1980's.
According to Shrock, before the 1920's, the prevalent idea was that people could improve their mental performance by simply studying certain disciplines, "in the way that calisthenics improve muscle functioniong" (Shrock, 1995, p. 12). The work of a researcher named Thorndlike, from Columbia University, started giving birth to the idea that instruction should be based on prespecified, socially useful goals. Thorndlike was also a strong advocate of educational measurement (cited in Snelbecker, 1974).
In the 1920's the idea of the mind as a muscle started giving way to other thoughts. Here is where we see the roots of job and task analysis, and researchers, such as Franklin Bobbitt (1918) advocating that "the goals for schooling could be derived from an objective analysis of those skills necessary for successful living" (Shrock, 1995, p. 13). Here we start seeing a connection between outcomes and instruction. Several other researchers at the time contributed with their ideas. Mary Ward and Frederick Burk advocated that learners should be able to progress at their own pace with little direction from their teachers. Washburne created a plan for public schools making use of self-paced, self-instructional material that allowed students to take a self-administered test to see if they were ready for testing by the teacher. Another plan was developed by Dalton, introducing the idea of contracts, where students would agree to learn something at their own pace, and only after they learned what they had agreed on, were they able to move on to a more advanced lesson. All these plans of the 1920's emphasize individualized instruction and mastery learning (Shrock, 1995, p. 13).
The Great Depression saw a slowing down of the devopment of instructional design in the 1930's. However, it is here that we see the birth of what we would call today formative evaluation. Ralph Tyler did a study to see if students completing an alternative high school curricula could have more success in college. The study showed that objectives could be clarified in terms of expected student behaviors. The term formative evaluation comes from the introduction of these objectives and their assessment, which were used to revise and refine the new curricula for the students (Shrock, 1995, p. 14).
With the advent of World War II in the 1940's, we see a rapid development of mediated instruction. The military became a good example of what education could accomplish with well-funded research and development effort. Here we see the creation of military training films, and a new role of the technical expert and the producer emerged as distinct from that of the subject matter expert (Shrock, 1995, p. 15).
The 1950's see the influence of Skinner's research into operant conditioning and animal learning, leading him to suggest the use of controlled reinforcement for desired behaviors. Here is where we see the emergence of programed instruction that consisted of "clearly stated objectives, small frames of instruction, self-facing and immediate feedback regarding the correctness of the response" (Shrock, 1995, p.15). The term task analysis is also first used by the Airforce personnel.
By the 1960's, the essence of what we know as instructional design today was already present, mostly because of the support the federal government gave to the this field. It was during this time that the field of audiovisual instruction gained its momentum.
The 1970's is viewed as a time where we see the proliferation of numerous ID models. One important addition to the process of instructional design that took place at this time was the addition of needs assessment (Shrock, 1995, p.17).
In the 1980's we see the advent of microcomputers and the proliferation of instructional design in businesses and other non-school agencies. The use of microcomputers facilitated the use of cognitive psychology and knowledge engineering strategies, broadening its theoretical and analytical bases (Shrock, 1995, p. 18).
The 1990's to our present day will find the same themes here presented, but in much more complex and sophisticated forms (Shrock, 1995, p. 18).
So here was a short summary of the history. Feel free to make any comments...
Reference
Shrock, S. (1995). A brief history of instructional development. Instructional technology: Past, present and future (2nd ed.), pp. 11-18, Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Rick's Instructional Design Class
As the title indicates, I have created this blog to register some of my reflections on what I've been learning from my Instructional Design class. Here I will add a little bit of the history of instructional design, a few thoughts on technology and what instructional designers do, what I've been learning in class, and what I may be able to do with the skills and knowledge I get from the class. So here goes...
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