Doors

Blog Week 7

Reflection

My bachelor’s degree is in engineering and I worked as an engineer for a few years before becoming an educator.  I still think like an engineer and have a difficult time buying into and participating in meta cognitive activities.  Education is all about reflection, engineering is not, well not in the sense that we talk about in education.  Yes in engineering, we study what worked and what did not work, but you look at it from the standpoint of the process and the data based on the tests run.  It is very analytical and fact and number based.  Rarely in engineering are self-reflections done, and I often find this task very difficult to complete.  It is not until very recently have I begin to buy into reflection, as I am not one for many words and I prefer the objective rather than the subjective and prefer to look at everything from a very analytical approach.

Now I was not sure if the exercise was to help me find what I needed to change with my design or if it is something that should be incorporated to help other’s acquire the knowledge that the design is trying to impart.  I find there is always doubt or questions as to whether what has been created, regardless the content, is going to be the right tool or exercise to meet the needs of all students.  I know that a one size fits all approach is not possible or even feasible, but I have to believe that what I have created will meet the needs of the majority and with one on one intervention, that the needs of all will be met.

As I prepare to implement my design, I still have a lot of work to get done.  Helen provided me with excellent feedback.  My client provides a printed “textbook” or packet to each student to be used throughout the course of the year, the only problem is that she does not  yet have the packet completed for the up coming school year.  A lot of the feedback I received was that some of the activities I created are going to be in the packet and she does not necessarily want them as stand alone activities.  I need to get with her and see if she wants to leave them as something for the students to work on independently as the design is supposed to act as a blended lesson.  I do not see a problem with directing the students to complete a specific page or activity in the packet, but I am only the designer not the client. 

Per Helen’s feedback:

  • Changing when the initial pretest is given is not a problem and is an easy change within Canvas.
  • I had already created a “playlist” before Helen suggested it, because the instructor and students need a way to keep track of what they need to complete.  I have created a Google form to monitor their work, but will most likely create a paper version.
  • She was concerned the quizzes were too long, but she saw all the questions and not the actual quizzes.  I have created a bank of questions to draw from.
    • She as requested that I change some of the questions to address more identification of phases and less of changes, I will work on that.
  • The flowchart activity may be changed to creating a foldable, still need to discuss with Helen, or it may be scrapped all together, based on her discretion.  She stated there is an activity to have them create their own flowchart, I need to see if she would prefer that in lieu of.
  • The modeling matter activity will be reduced in length to just having them create models of required mixtures and substances.

Thoughts

Week 5 Blog

Thoughts

I feel like my whole educational career has been teaching and instructional design.  I have taught at two different schools and at both schools I was given courses with no resources other than a textbook, but some did not even have a text book, it was up to me to design all of the instruction for the courses.   Without really knowing it I was using ADDIE.  It was only a few years ago when one of my fellow colleagues left the classroom and entered industry that we both heard about ADDIE.  We got a good laugh because this is what we had been doing for years, with no formal instruction about the process.  Who knew there was a formal method for the process, it was just what we did to make a instruction well thought out and applicable.

Today it makes sense that someone would have coined a process, but like I have said previously it is definitely not a linear process, it requires many revisions and excellent communication, both written and verbal.  As I have been working on my project, I have been in contact with my client.  I wonder if it would be easier to design for this, if I had never taught this course in the past.  I have preconceived ideas of how things should look, but I need to remind myself that this is not for me, but for Helen and it needs to be completed to her wishes.  I spoke to her this week about what format did she want the activities to take on, does she wanted them to be graded assignments or solely for the sake of learning.  Ultimately the material will be used by the entire chemistry department and her opinion was like make it so it can be adaptable by all of the teachers.  That is definitely easier said then done, as they all have very different teaching styles, but this is what I have been tasked with and this is how it will be done.

Create or Curate

As I have been developing the activities, I keep asking myself, do I create or curate.  I see no point in recreating the wheel, but it is definitely hard to find material, especially videos that hit on all the topics needed within a responsible amount of time.  This next week will most likely be spent creating video tutorials of the different concepts.  I don’t really like making videos, because it is awkward talking to yourself.  I remember the first time I did one, my students were like what happened to you, you sound so bored and I replied “I’m talking to myself”.  It is something I need to get used to and better at.

Convergence of Design and Analysis

This week brought me to meeting with my client face to face instead of completing everything over the phone and via text messages.  My client finally had time to meet with the rest of the her team and discuss the intended project and the scope and sequence of the entire course.  After discussion some of them could not come to terms with some of the material (sig figs and dimensional analysis) becoming a zero unit, for fear students would not get the material, however after having taught chemistry for 10+ years, if done properly and knowing the students, I feel they could have done it, but hey I am just the instructional designer and not the client.  The project therefore changes in scope, which in a way is better because I now am focusing on one topic of the module and not multiple.  Having never used ADDIE formally, I find this no different than sitting down and planning for any unit that is going to be created, I guess the order is some what different.  I feel it is important to have some guiding principle to follow, essential questions. In education I go with the thought of what do I want them to remember 4 days, 4 weeks, and 40 years from now.  I know they are not going to remember all of the minutiae, but what is it they need to take away to have an intelligent discussion with someone.  The goals and objectives will help me design for these essential questions.

Analysis and design go hand in hand, because if I don’t determine what materials you have available during the needs assessment, I might find myself in a situation where I design a fabulous activity only come to find out it is not possible to implement due to lack of resources.  Resources take in any number of things such as the setting, funding, technology, and expertise to name a few.  By formulating what may be designed during the analysis phase I can hope to create instruction that meet all of the needs of the client within the constrains of their resources.   The whole design process is not linear but is more circular and will take on a spider web like appearance, because I am always going to have to go back to my analysis to make sure I am achieving the goals and objectives.   I also find it important to keep analysis and design close together due to the abstractness of chemistry.  My client wants to place emphasis on the non-linguistic representation of the subject matter.  I need to keep this in mind to ensure that a) I have the resources to implement said task, but b) I incorporate this into all of the created resources and activities.  Determining whether I create or curate resources is going to come down to do they have the non-linguistic representation of matter.  Like was stated in Information R/Evolution, the possibilities are limitless and my created work can stifle learning.

Analysis and Design

Why Analysis and Design:

Based on the article Effects of Technology Integration Education on the Attitudes of Teachers and Students by Rhonda Christensen, it discusses the importance of completing a needs assessment before beginning any design work.  Based on her research Christensen found that as teachers are better prepared to use and integrate technology in the classroom, there is greater use in the classroom, and greater buy in the from the students.  If tech does not aid in learning and buy in there is little reason to implement it.   However the author did find that this can increase the amount of teacher anxiety as student buy-in increases.  One may think that added technology would decrease anxiety, there are a lot of moving parts incorporating tech into the classroom and if one part goes down, if not adequately prepared for contingencies, the whole ship goes down.   There is also fear of what if the students don’t like it, is it going to benefit learning, or is it going to be a bigger distraction in the classroom.  Prior to implementation proper instruction on technology use needs to be tailored to the needs of the instructor.  Too often training is delivered as a cookie cutter approach with a one size fits all model.  While this may be appropriate for novice learners it is not beneficial to everyone as a whole.  Learners need to have tailored instruction to meet their individual needs.  This is easier said than done but how is this possible when having a case load of 150+ individuals:  Instructional Design.

Completing an analysis and needs assessment can greatly assist the designer in meeting the desired needs of the instructor.  It is necessary to build the foundation on which instruction will be built by determine the desired end goal and learning objectives.  Once the objectives are established in is much easier to design instruction to reach the end goal.  I am not saying that this is a start at the end and work backwards approach, but if the end goal is not clearly defined, it is not possible to determine the path that will end at the desired destination.  As instruction becomes tailored more to individual needs, the path created will be different for many individuals and blended.  The paths do not have to run parallel or perpendicular to each other, but will cross back and forth many times as students move through the material.  Designing with this in mind will reach more learners and hopefully achieve higher success and buy-in.

References

Christensen, R. (2002). Effects of Technology Integration Education on the. Journal of Research and Technology in Education, 34(4), 411-433.

Personal Learning Theory

Ocho vacas blancas comen pasto en el rancho.  Eight white cows eat grass in the field, that was the first sentence I learned to vocalize in Spanish.  Why does this stick in my mind, dual coding theory (DCT).  I did not know it at the time, but I can recognize how DCT helped me learn this sentence.  My first job out of undergrad was working as a petroleum engineer in Mexico, only minor detail was I did not speak Spanish.  I tried to pick it up from my coworkers but words in and of themselves are very abstract and difficult to gain meaning without context.  Here I was, one day in a field, and there were eight white cows eating grass.  One of the operators and I stood there looking and describing in words what the cows were doing.  We kept adding more detail to the sentence, because there was now context and visuals and not just words.   The abstract idea of words became concrete with the added visual.

Characteristics of Learning

Paivio (2006)suggests that for learning to occur, we as learners, need to be aware of both verbal and non-verbal components in the learning process.  Cognition is the interplay of these two systems and how they are used can create a rich learning environment, on in which all are capable of learning.  How must one design curriculum and instruction so that the two are always being used?  A combination of observation, classical conditioning, operant learning, and imitation (Paivio, 2006, p. 7), but how do all of these get effectively incorporated into learning?  Instruction needs to be designed using rich learning experiences full of imagery and the abstract to support the development of concrete language (Paivio, 2006, p. 10). 

Learning is active, social, and reflective.  When learning students need to be able to be a part of the learning and engaged.  When the student is able to do they are better able to incorporate it into a schema and learning shifts from just covering material to working with the idea/material.  Learning is also social.  Students need to be able to interact with others to make connections, communicate ideas to strengthen their own knowledge, and how it fits into their understanding of the world.  The saying you only get out of it what you put into it, I feel, sums up the reflective portion of learning.  A critical aspect of learning is to go back and review and revise what was learned, I feel many of my students, and the population at large, miss this aspect of learning because it takes time and they are in the mindset tell me what I need to know for this test and let me move on and forget.  Because they are moving on and forgetting they have not truly learned.

As the owner of how my students are taught and learn I need to embrace technology in the learning space to help students achieve their full potential.  Having taught chemistry for years, it feels to many as a mathematics class taught in a foreign language with its own alphabet and jargon.  Reflecting back, what is missing is the non-verbal component, the students need to be able to see what is happening to gain full understanding, unfortunately it is hard to see in the microscopic world.  Could technology and multimedia aided my students?  Mayer (Paivio, 2006, p. 11) suggests images need to accompany text instead of text alone, images and text need to share the same space, cut out extraneous details, and present text as speech within animations.  The use of Mayer’s suggestions alone is not enough to reach all but could be the  beginning of a learning revolution. 

Housing all the above on a learning platform allows for the student to begin and take control of their learning and acts as the foundation for blended learning, an environment in which the student to take stock of what they know, what they need to know, and how they are going to learn it (Hannafin, Hannafin, & Gabbitas, 2009, p. 768).  Using this process students need to worry less about grades and focus on the outcome of learning and the experiences gained (Hannafin, Hannafin, & Gabbitas, 2009, p. 775).  I have tried to implement this idea in my freshman engineering class with mixed success. I provide the majority of the learning tools via an LMS and control whether or not the student can advance to the next topic by creating a learning pathway with mastery.  Until mastery is achieved the student needs to continue working on the task at hand, for some mastery takes a long time and students begin to fall behind.  What I have yet to successfully achieve is creating all of the rich multimedia content to aid the learning process.  I know that the creation of and finding of the tech tools will be a dynamic process and I need to have patience.

This was implemented with moderate success.  Most times, the class was chaos with “some” organization.  Turning the reigns over to the students to take control gave me a different role in the class.  Everyone was working on something different at all times with me acting as moderator, problem solver, and project manager to name a few.  It allows me to monitor, observe, and offer real time feedback.  This real time feedback is crucial for success, because students are no longer waiting to know what they know, but now can learn and adjust on the fly.  While it is hard to relinquish control, it is even harder at times to convince 14 yr olds that they do not know everything ,  they need to stop and use the tools given to them, and they may need to ask for help and that is ok.  At the end of the day, with much guidance, student achievement and mastery increased and they began to realize failure is learning and does not mean the end of the world.

References

Hannafin, M., Hannafin, K., & Gabbitas, B. (2009). Re-examining cognition during student-centered, Web-based learning. Educational Communications and Technology, 768-785.

Paivio, A. (2006). Dual Coding Theory and Education. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan School of Education.

Thoughts on Instructional Design

Week 1 Reflection 1

This week my contact with businesses has been limited due to being on vacation to celebrate my mom’s birthday with my sisters, but I did go to the airport.  The airport, especially the ticket counters and TSA check points are is filled with instructional design.  However, it is dependent on the traveler being observant and prepared.  Some of governments attempts to have passengers prepared are successful and other’s not so much.

While standing in the long line waiting to pass through security there are a few informational signs throughout the queue instructing passengers of their rights under 504, the technology used in the full body scanner and the device to test sealed bottles of liquid, i.e. breast milk.   While the signs are somewhat informational they are not large enough, lack contrasting colors for easy visibility, and the placement in the middle of the queue is too late for some.  It was very nice of the TSA to post a sign about the full body scanner but the information was not visible until right at the point of passing through the device.  How is someone to make an informed decision about the technology on that split second decision with a queue of people waiting, impatiently, to get through.  Yes, I know someone could take the time and research this prior to arriving at the airport, but seriously how many people do that.  Location and visibility is key.  The one sign I do not recall seeing or maybe I was just not that observant is the need to follow 3-1-1 rule for carry on luggage.  Depending on how experienced the traveler is this rule causes a lot of traffic jams and heartache at the inspection point including for my sister. 

My sister and her husband are avid rowers and want everyone to have the same love and obsession with it that they have.  To help them in this quest they purchased a special rowing shell to help others learn to row, but the shell did not come with rigging and they purchased the Oarmaster V to go with the boat.  This brings me to my next experience with instructional design, the assembly of the Oarmaster V.  My brother in law likes to joke how many Carriere’s does it take to complete a task, this one took all 4.

We unpackaged the pieces organized all the parts and began the task of assembling the rigging, only problem was the directions were a mixture of the 2nd and 3rd iteration of the device not the current iteration.  The directions did include an addendum with pictures of the current model assembly, but provided limited views.  The directions would have been satisfactory for the 2nd or 3rd iteration, but because components had changed and some pieces came preassembled the directions were not helpful.  Had the directions provided actual sizes of the hardware and the correct parts with accompanying photos, the directions would have been workable.  While following the directions or lack thereof, I almost called and asked if I could recreate their directions as my project, but we were too far into the assembly process to take it apart and start over.

To me instructional design takes on a lot of faces.  I think most people think about it terms of creating courses and how material is going to be taught and presented, but it goes beyond that, it is instructions, signage, and training to name a few.  How one designs is dependent on the needs of the client and the intended audience. If the audience is familiar with the material the design and instruction will take on a different form and look compared to that for a novice.