Summary+of+January+27+class

We kicked off this class by sharing best/worst instructional experiences. I then matched experiences to a simple presentation/practice model. Upon reflection I realized there were some best/worst experiences that combined presentation/practice so that those activities took place simultaneously. Watsatree's story shared how a teacher asked students to look at art history images and ask themselves a question about the image. Like Watsatree, I thought this would be a very effective strategy, because it presents only a question, and in such a compelling way. By doing that, the presentation becomes practice. The learner is instantly thinking about the image.

What I forgot to mention to the class is the whole idea of learner differences. While I thought all of the examples were good, there were examples that seemed particularly effective to me, and there were examples that I thought were good, but were not that special - at least for me. I really liked Watsatree's example because I am very visual, and I prefer to discover rather than to be told. Her "best" experience would naturally appeal to me.

What I want to share here is that we are all different in what works for us as learners. What is very effective for one learner may not be so for another. I share that idea at the top of my model where I state that a designer recognizes that all learners are not the same. What works ideally for one person may not work ideally for another.

This becomes very important when we are instructional designers. We tend to design the way WE like to learn. Early in the class I shared how at the very beginning of my job here as an assistant professor I had a lot of students who were very similar to me in how we thought education was best experienced by learners. Those semesters went really well, because I was doing things that came naturally to me, and that particular group of learners were very positive. This group liked to be given assignments and to discover how to complete them. They did not want any "how to" type of information. I gave them the task of creating a model of instructional design, and that is what we did for an entire semester. They loved it, I loved it.

Several years later, when I thought I was actually doing a better job teaching, I did not get as strong positive feedback from students. I went several years with students who were "linear" and wanted more step by step guidance. Even when I thought I was being linear, these students did not think I was linear at all. Here's a site that discusses some of these ideas.

Most researchers in instructional design do not think tests like the Gregorc inventory (linked above) are valid or reliable. I, however, tend to think that these types of learning styles do have merit. It might seem to you that I have discussed this issue too much. I've taught for 30+ years now, and have been an instructional designer for 25, in many different contexts ... with people in poverty who could not read, with highly educated engineers, with eight graders, with people in their 70s and 80s, on the West Coast, on the East Coast, in the deep South, in business settings, military settings, K12 settings, and higher education. I have taught sewing, cooking, FORTRAN, BASIC programming, economics, computer science ... and where I am right now is with this realization. We can't reach everyone, but we can try different strategies. It is only by testing out our instruction that we are able to figure out what works. It is important to recognize differences and to recognize your own limitations. Because of this, teamwork in instructional design can be very valuable! If you get a team with different learning preferences you are more likely to create balanced instruction.

At the end of the class I assigned teams to work on scenarios related to writing objectives. We decided that our scenarios should focus on explaining the importance of understanding:
 * 1) how the ABCD elements of an objective need to be aligned. For example, strategies (the C part for condition)must be aligned with the learners (the A part - audience). Assessment (the D. part for degree of learning experienced) must align with the Behaviors that are important to elicit.
 * 2) why objectives are important
 * 3) how to share objectives with the learners.

In the next class we will write out these scenarios in the last half of the class. I hope that each team will take their part (1, 2, or 3 above) and will write a situation with three possible responses, then write feedback for each of those. We will be able to use this wiki to get this started. Here's what I've started with. By the way ... I think I'm being linear here.