Home to Instructional Design Australia This analysis will form the evaluation
of the learning module in relation to the project goals outlined in
the design rationale (EDPC6018 Assessment 1).
I will evaluate the ‘process’
and the ‘product’. A significant amount of time has elapsed since
I constructed the module, giving me an objective perspective on the
work. I will investigate the extent to which the solution meets the
aims. Note: In order to differentiate
between the course I am doing and the course I have designed, I will
call EDPC6018 the “course” and the Financial Mathematics course the
“module”. Project Objectives
The
objective of this course is to “develop a model
for technology-delivered instruction” in a familiar context. In
this case Mathematics. This module
addresses the NSW Mathematics Years 7-10 Syllabus, Stage 5, Consumer Arithmetic: Solves
consumer arithmetic problems involving simple interest, compound interest
and depreciation. The objective was not to actually develop the mathematics teaching content.
It was to design and develop the “shell” for the content in such
a way that it adheres to the pedagogical principles outlined in the
design rationale; a Problem Based Learning approach based on Social
Constructivist learning principles. I stopped
short of creating the content, only developing the structure of the
module and the specifications for the content.
Example 1 Resource at http://moodle.edfac.usyd.edu.au/file.php/7/SimpInv.htm
Instructional Design
Generally an instructional designer assists the "subject matter expert" or "content
specialist" to plan a course to achieve educational objectives.
The educational objectives are specified by
the Syllabus. The way in which these objectives are delivered is through
the learning strategies employed by the Instructional Designer. My
personal objective for doing this course was to prepare for a new career
as an Instructional Designer. The
role of an Instructional Designer is to:
·
Analyses learning needs and
the systematically develops instruction.
·
Studies instructional theories,
tools and resources to develop methods to facilitate learning.
·
Relies on current research
in educational psychology, educational theory and systems analysis to
ensure the most suitable teaching methods are used.
·
Bases their decisions on proven
instructional design methods.
·
Uses pedagogically sound teaching
methods and the latest technology to design effective learning products.
·
Has a deep knowledge of the
various strategies that can be applied to course design.
·
Assists the "subject matter
expert" or "content specialist" to plan a course to achieve
educational objectives.
·
Creates:
o
online and distributed learning
courses,
o
tutorials,
o
workshops,
o
training manuals,
o
seminars or
o
computer-based training programs
(CD ROMs)
·
Plans and implements the most
effective training strategies.
·
Integrates feedback, student
support, assessment and course evaluation into the training program.
·
Makes sure that the multimedia
designers and programmers develop a course that will facilitate learning
and deliver the objectives.
·
Evaluates the effectiveness
of the learning product. Traxer (2005) describes an interesting possible outcome. With the use of
Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), it could mean less face-to-face
contact between the teacher and the students, with the development of
content and learning objects done by what he calls ‘para-academics’
(staff skilled in designing learning materials, others in design, graphics,
technologies or content) (Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler 2005, p.30).
The Technologies Used
No authoring is specifically taught in this course so a significant part
of my project was to become familiar and competent with the technologies
to which I ‘applied’ my developing instructional model:
Most of these technologies were new to me, with the
exception of Dreamweaver which I have used before. Working
with the Centre for
Learning Innovation (CLI)
When I approached CLI they told me that Financial
Mathematics using spreadsheets was a module they needed however, by
the time the employment screening process was complete, and I could
begin working closely with them it was 23 May, week 10 of the university
semester. It was essential that I got on with my work
before this time. It did mean
that I was not really able to work closely with the client (CLI) to
determine their needs and obtain the specifications for the project.
I had to work independently with only the syllabus as my guide. In the project that I ended up doing for CLI, a Virtual
Excursion exploring Social and Ethical Issues for the NSW Information
Processes and Technology course, I spent the first two weeks working
closely with CLI officers and reading trough their records to gain an
understanding of the requirements defined by the “Project Reference
Group” (a group of education specialists who decide which syllabus and
section will be addressed). I then took their requirements to the “Project
Focus Group” who helped me shape the finer details of the objectives
to be met by the Virtual Excursion.
From there I was able to start designing the virtual excursion
and the learning objects. This
process was missing from the Financial Mathematics project because of
the delay starting with CLI. An Authentic
Project The financial Mathematics Project, although not yet
taken up for full development, served well as an authentic project for
me. It provided me with a realistic project from
one of my areas of expertise and teaching experience. My belief that
the module would actually be used gave me a great deal of motivation. I was lucky to have finished the implementation
of the design in Moodle when I discovered CLI no longer needed the resource,
for I immediately lost interest. My
personal agenda was to use this study to launch my career in Instructional
Design. From this experience I have learnt first hand how
important it is to provide authentic learning experiences for all students. What is authentic to one student may not be
authentic for other students. Individual
students have differing learning needs and interests. This means that the authenticity of learning
experiences needs to accommodate diversity amongst learners. I did not gain this understanding from the literature
on authentic learning. Within this Financial Mathematics module there is
a Framing Problem requiring students to use spreadsheets to solve environmental
economics problems. Students
are given freedom over their choice of the
specific perspective they will take within the problem definition. Allowing students this degree gives them a sense
of control over their own learning, thus providing “challenge, motivation and engagement for a wide range of student
groups.” (Hennessy et al, 2007. p.140) The
Moodle Course Management System (CMS)
Using the Moodle e-learning environment
for my project was also a valuable experience because as soon as I started
at CLI I was able to help with
a problem they were trying to solve for a teacher at the Sydney Distance Education
High School . This
teacher was having trouble getting one of the CLI learning resources
to work in the Moodle environment they use to deliver distance education. For my Financial Mathematics project I had used
the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) which “defines communications
between client side content and the Moodle host system (called the run-time
environment)” (Wikipedia Example (Exert
from the imsmanifest.xml) at http://moodle.edfac.usyd.edu.au/file.php/7/imsmanifest.xml <organization
identifier="TOC3" structure="hierarchical"> <title> Investing
Money </title> − <item identifier="TOC3_ITEM5"
identifierref="RESOURCE5"> <title>Simple
Interest for Investment</title> The above code informs the run-time environment that the third section
of the module, called “Investing Money” has a content resource 5 called
“Simple Interest for Investment” <resource identifier="RESOURCE5"
type="webcontent" href="SimpInv.htm"> <file href="SimpInv.htm"/> This code identifies the resource as an html file named “SimpInv.htm”
to be found in the same folder as the imsmanifest.xml. In the case of CLI resources this code would
tell Moodle the file was in a particular learning object folder with
its file name. In my design rationale I said that features, such as discussion Forums, Blogs, Wikis and Chat facilitate a Pedagogical approach based on social constructionist learning theories. In addition to this I used Google Docs and Spreadsheets for teacher demonstrations and collaborative project work. The Learning Objectives
Another aim of this project was to implement the recommendations made
by Everybody Counts (cited in Schoenfeld, 1992. p. 4)
·
Students were asked to ‘Seek solutions, not just memorise procedures’. The primary task for the students was to do
assignments asking them to solve problems.
Resources were provided as examples of procedures used to solve
other problems but the students were not given ‘exercises’ requiring
them to memorise the procedures.
·
Interest formulas were given to the students for
use in the spreadsheets. Changing
values for input into these formulas enabled them to ‘explore patterns, not just memorise formulas’.
·
By posing ‘What if..’ questions and comparing
the results when they changes either the interest rate or the initial
investment, the students were able to ‘formulate
conjectures, not just do exercises’. As suggested by Schoenfeld (1992) the module
offered students “the opportunity
to explore a broad range of problems and problem situations, ranging
from exercises to open-ended problems and exploratory situations” (Schoenfeld,
1992. p. 32).
·
In order to motivate students and give students a
sense of ownership of their own learning, I aimed to give them “a degree of control over their own learning”
(Hennessy et al, 2007. p.140). In
this module the student control is
demonstrated in their ability to make choices about the project;
what they will do it on (writing the project description), who they
will work with, what role they will take within the group etc. Quizzes were important tools for formative
assessment. A diagnostic
entry quiz was created at http://moodle.edfac.usyd.edu.au/mod/quiz/view.php?id=71 to identify if students needed remediation on basic skills required for
the module. A self assessment
Quiz was also included at http://moodle.edfac.usyd.edu.au/mod/quiz/view.php?id=90 to allow students
prepare for the summative assessment
to be done after the module and project were complete. Spreadsheets as Mindtools
The rationale for using spreadsheets as Mindtools is to engage learners
in critical or complex thinking. Spreadsheets
were used to help students gain an understanding of the differences
between:
·
simple and compound interest
·
changed time periods between interest calculations Example from http://moodle.edfac.usyd.edu.au/mod/scorm/player.php?a=2¤torg=TOC4&scoid=54
In this module the spreadsheet is used as a Mindtool
to:
(Johassen, 1996) Problem
Based Learning
This module was delivered within a Problem Based Learning (PBL) framework. Below I will investigate to what extent this module follows the principles
of PBL suggested by Slavery and Duffy (1995).
Conclusion
I am pleased with the outcome from this project.
I did not find it difficult to achieve the goals set out in the
design. I think my studies over
the past eighteen months have prepared me well for this project.
I have a firm basis in the learning sciences and the new learner
centered educational pedagogies, I have carried out detailed investigations
on the various technological tools and how they can be used to enhance
learning, I have embraced Problem Based Learning and Knowledge Building
as my preferred approach to education and life long learning. References Hennessy, S., Wishart,
J., Whitelock, D., Deaney, R., Grawn, R., la Velle, L., McFarlane, A.,
Ruthven, K. and Winterbottom, M. (2007)
Pedagogical approaches for technology-integrated science teaching. Computers & Education 48 (2007) 137-152 Jonassen, D. H.
(2000) Computers as Mindtools for Schools, Engaging Critical thinking
Second Edition.Prentice hill. Johassen, D, H,
(1996) Computers in the Classroom, Mindtools for Critical Thinking.
Prentice-Hall Lewis, T., Petrina,
s. and Hill, A. M. (1998) Problem Posing-Adding a Creative Increment
to Technological Problem solving. Journal
of Industrial Teacher Education, Vol 36 No 1 Fall 1998. Retrieved from
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JITE/v36n1/lewis.html
on 23 March 2007 Pea, R, D. (1985) Learning to Think Mathematically retrieved
from http://www.stanford.edu/~roypea/RoyPDF%20folder/A24_Pea_85c.pdf
Schoenfeld, A. H.
(1992). Learning to think mathematically: Problem solving, metacognition,
and sense-making in mathematics. In D. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook for Research
on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp. 334-370). Savery, J. R. Duffy,
T. M. (1995 ) Problem Based Learning:
an instructional model and its constructivist framework. EDUCATIONAL
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