Course Content

How Do You Read the Term?

When you read the term “Instructional Design”, in your mind’s eye, how does it read? Is it ‘Instructional Design’ or is it ‘Instructional Design’… or do you give both words equal weighting?… Or better yet, have you ever thought about which word is emphasized?

Does all learning require instruction?

The big question is whether learning can take place without instruction? If you did the other reading assignment for this cycle, selecting an instructional delivery system, you might better understand what we are getting at here.

Actually, the differentiation is bigger than that. Sometimes, these terms beg smaller questions when actually we should be focusing on the bigger ones. What we are alluding to here is a concept known as design thinking.

For us educators, here is a great start to help start the conversation

Digging Deeper

Click the tabs to delve into this a little more:

in order for learning to take place, is instruction always needed?

To answer that question, one must decide on what 'instruction' is/entails....some of you may have already concluded that instruction in its broader context includes 'facilitation' or in fact ALL activities that an instructor partakes in order to bring about learning. To go that route, one also must decide on what is the issue at hand and what is the desired end result? Sometimes we chase symptoms rather than actual causes (and effects) again bringing us back to the other reading for this cycle on choosing an instructional delivery methodology...
The point is that you must learn to ask the right/big questions... asking the right question will often give you a slightly better chance at arriving at the right answer (which, in turn, begs the question as to if there is always a 'right' answer)...and things that may have been thought not possible previously become obvious...
So, here is a question that comes to mind...

if we are actually serious about implementing something like a constructivist environment in our instruction, then we must change the way we approach the problem... we cannot look at it in the same ol' linear way (do this then do that then do the other thing...) We need to re-frame the question in terms of what is it that the person in charge of setting up the learning environment is trying to accomplish ? NOT what kind of instruction needs to take place.. that is too narrow of a question. What is the ultimate goal and what is the best way to accomplish it? AND is 'instructing' the best way to accomplish it? Even a bigger question than selecting the best instructional delivery methodology as taught in the other lesson.

To give you more insight as to how we can apply design principles to an instructional (or a learning) problem., here is a synopsis of a recent presentation on design thinking in which Brad attempts to make a believer out of you:

Design Thinking: Towards the Construction of Knowledge

1. Introduction

Education and instructional design process can benefit from an understanding of design thinking. Design thinking is viewed as a third way of thinking, different from the sciences and the humanities (Cross, 1982). It involves extensive experimentation and exploration, based on an expanding body of knowledge that develops as part of an iterative process. An explanation of design thinking will be presented, followed by series of activities to illustrate the concept of design thinking.

2. Styling v. thinking; Applied v. integral

In popular use, design is generally thought of as an aesthetic treatment applied after the solution of challenges or problems. "More often, it is equated with 'style'; fashionable clothing or handbags, distinctive typefaces, elegant Philippe Starck furniture or Michael Graves teakettles. " (Berger, 2009, p.3). For example, within the field of instructional design, the graphic designers are brought in at the conclusion of programming and technical work to apply their aesthetic skills. The first level of understanding of design thinking is that design is involved throughout the solution of the problem, not as an afterthought. Design thinking is a divergent way of developing or constructing knowledge, and is particularly valuable in solving complex problems. More and more it deals with the concept of designing in an "invisible century", one where the artifacts are less physical, and more systemic.

3. Changing thinking

A leading direction today is a conscious adoption of aspects of design thinking in a range of divergent professions. Design thinking is a leading trend in the business world and in the field of medicine. For example, the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto offers design classes within the business school; the Mayo Clinic has an ongoing design studio charged with improving medical practices in the organization. Allina Health Systems and Kaiser Permanente also have design studios; the University of Minnesota has a center called Design in Health which examines cognitive retraining of medical professionals for substantial reductions in health care incidents and costs.

To better understand the concept of design thinking, it is valuable to briefly explore some broadly held ideas about the nature of design, and to focus on the fields generally understood to be design, including architecture, graphic design, and industrial design. While other fields such as mechanical engineering or computer science consider aspects of their professions to be design, this presentation focuses on the design professions and specific aspects of design thinking.

4. Defining design thinking

Cross (1982) describes Design Thinking as a mode of thinking different than either the rational, logical, deductive method of science or the inductive, reflective methods of the humanities. "These 'two cultures' have long been recognized as dominating our social, cultural and educational systems." (7) The three directions are different in their focus, their values and in their methods of inquiry. The sciences generally study the natural world, while the humanities examine human experience, and design explores the "artificial" or man-made world.

5. Future oriented thinking

Design values practicality, ingenuity, empathy, and appropriateness in contrast with the scientific values of objectivity, rationality, and a focus on absolute truth. Contrary to scientific thinking, design thinking could be described as forward looking, (Nelson & Stolterman, 2001), seeing answers in possible futures; therefore, many of the results are anticipatory or the products of the imagination. Moldoveanu, & Martin (2008) contrast design thinking with business thinking as two different means of solving problems. Business thinking seeks predictable results as a result of only incremental change through the use of algorithms, whereas design thinking, based in the use of heuristics, seeks possible futures.

6. Epistemology

As a distinct mode of thought, design thinking does have it's own epistemology, including (Archer, 1979) that design has it's own distinct "things to know, ways of knowing them, and ways of finding out about them." Design thinking is future oriented; concerned with "the conception and realization of new things". At its core is a focus on "planning, inventing, making, and doing." (Cross, 1982).

7. The Skills of Design Thinking

Developing the skills of design thinking generally occurs through a studio curriculum and practice, but can be examined through a more didactic means. Aspects of design thinking include challenging assumptions, being trans-disciplinary, visualization, empathic research, use of metaphors, designing one's own behavior, facing consequences, embracing constraints, and an action oriented agenda. Each of these will be addressed in the presentation.

8. Iterative, experimental, and visual

The process of design is iterative and extensive, with a series of gambits, of experiments that develop an expanding body of knowledge. Designers learn through the practice of design. Designers learn about given topics as they design solutions, a deep or "thick" method that is consistent with problem based learning or the case study method. Design is centered on doing; results and knowledge generally evolve from tangible artifacts (Löwgren & Stolterman, 2004) such as drawings, models or prototypes.

9. Problem seeking: Stretching the problem space

At the same time, beyond the simplistic definition of design as "problem solving," it is, at skilled levels, problem setting. It is “… the process by which we define the decision to be made, the ends to be achieved, the means which may be chosen” (Schön, 1983, p. 40). A central aspect of the design process, and consistent with most design fields, is a questioning of the design challenge itself; examining the assumption of the problem, and stretching the "problem space" (Cross, 1997, Gero, 2002). Central to the process of design is the questioning of the design problem. Here, the unique "vision" for the project is developed—the idea, the spark, the concept that drives all the work (Löwgren & Stolterman, 2004).

10. References and Resources

Cross, N. (1982) Designerly Ways of thinking. Routledge.
Gero, J. S. (1996). Creativity, emergence and evolution in design: concepts and framework, Knowledge-Based Systems 9(7): 435-448
Löwgren, J. & Stolterman, E. (2004). Thoughtful interaction design: A design perspective on information technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Martin, R. (2007). The opposable mind. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Schön, D. (1985). The design studio: An exploration of its traditions and potentials. London: RIBA Publications for RIBA Building Industry Trust.

• Mayo Clinic design studio
• UM Design and Health
• Stanford D.School

Given that we agree on the above, we need to examine the factors one should in order to make the proper determination:

we cannot leave any discussion of media and technology without discussing the overall, global effect that media may or may not have on instructional design. We have already heard what McLuhan had to say. Now let’s take a look at the very famous Clark – Kozma debates. In a well publicized series of articles these two individuals appeared in Educational Technology Journal (now ETR&D) to take opposite sides in a debate as to the relative effectiveness of educational media. Interesting , especially now that we all seem to agree that the medium is the message… both these folks seem to have over-looked that argument (just my personal opinion here)

• Clark essentially took the position that no learning takes place through media. Using a milk truck analogy, he stated that milk (i.e., technology) is no better tasting or nutritious simply because it is delivered in a bright new delivery truck… and that we are misinterpreting the data… the positive effects of media/technology might have are due to its novelty.
• Kozma, on the other hand, argued that Clark was taking a very simplistic approach, because he (Clark) was looking at bottom line of what had taken place to date, not on what is possible… Kozma took the side of cognitive learning… cognitive distribution as it were. He argued that making the content relative to the student’s own experiences is key to instruction…this may be the tie-breaker into being able to engage the student (relevance). If you build a medium that engages, then learning is more likely to take place… Kozma seemed to bring learner attributes back into the argument.

Here is an interesting hypothetical:

• If we take a kid who knows nothing about the Internet, and leave him/her for four hours… what do you think Kozma or Clark would say Clark say about how much learning that might take place?
• Clark wrote in the early 80s… we didn’t have a lot of the newer technologies we have today… Would Clark’s or Kozma’s position change vis a vis the new technologies?

Here are a few links to help you dig a little deeper:

• The Media Debate
• Is the Debate Still Relevant?
• Does Media Influence Learning? White Paper (downloadable pdf)
• Clark Kozma in the 21st Century (Slideshare)

Do This!

So here is what you need to do:

Write a short reflection (four to five sentences max) on which side you take in this argument. Add this, along with your responses to the other reading assignments to your consolidated Reflection Drop Box on Canvas.
Here are some focusing questions:

• Which one of them is correct? Or are they BOTH correct? Are they really disagreeing? Discuss your answer in terms of the need to develop media that is engaging…
  
• What is it about the content that makes it ‘work’?
  
• Which of the theories presented in this lesson make you think about your response in instructional terms?
  
• Do you think we can deliver the same instruction via radically different media?
  
• As you know there are three learning domains… cognitive, affective and psycho-motor… Which one of the three do you believe are more influenced by the use of media? Focus your thinking on instruction that you believe can or cannot be easily accomplished without the technology:

The main purpose is for you to to take a side in the argument (or not) and explain why.

As you know, more and more educational institutions are looking to Web-based services to help educate their students. The reasons behind this increase are plenty, not the least of which is the impression that virtual classrooms offer a more economical method for delivering instruction. If one measures cost strictly from a capital expenditures point of view, this may be true. However, it is false and misleading to suggest that teaching online requires less effort on the part of the instructor (and the student for that matter). It is also a misconception that today’s so-called ‘millennials’ automatically know how to maximize the learning experience just because they were brought up in a digital world. In fact, it is becoming such an issue that SACS (the accrediting agency that reviews universities for the southeast) has begun to issue informal ‘feelers’ that it is considering requiring institutions to provide rationale as to why online students who demonstrate inadequate technical/information literacy skills shouldn’t be treated just like other students with ‘exceptionalities’. They also would need to produce evidence of remediation activities to increase these skills on the part of these students.

First, before we get too far into things we should, perhaps, identify some basic terminology associate with online. For some of you, this will be a review, for others brand new materials. The intent here is to ‘level the playing field’ so-to-speak to prevent misunderstandings.

eLearning

From Wikipedia:

E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. The term will still most likely be utilized to reference out-of-classroom and in-classroom educational experiences via technology, even as advances continue in regard to devices and curriculum.

E-learning is essentially the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. E-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio.

Abbreviations like CBT (Computer-Based Training), IBT (Internet-Based Training) or WBT (Web-Based Training) have been used as synonyms to e-learning. Today one can still find these terms being used, along with variations of e-learning such as elearning, Elearning, and eLearning.

This particular article in Wikipedia is pretty good! It covers the history, some alternate terminology, as well as a short discussion on LMS (Learning Management Systems (something we will cover later on)).

Before you continue, click the big circle to the left.

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To repeat: the concept of eLearning is undergoing an evolution. Due to the emergence of digital technology and mobile/hand held devices, elearning is evolving into a much broader context and that does not necessarily tied to the Web. In this class, however, we limit the definition of eLearning to Web-based learning.

Hybrid vs Virtual vs Blended

Here is a great source of information on Blended Learning from Educause

Blended learning refers to the mixing of different learning environments. Normally, it is a combination of traditional face-to-face classroom methods with computer-mediated activities. The strategy creates an integrated approach for both instructors and learners. At one time, technology-based materials played a supporting role to face-to-face instruction. Now, technology plays a larger role.

For example, in a traditional class meeting schedule, a course may normally meet M-W-F, from 1-3 PM. In a blended course, the schedule may be modified so that it meets once per week instead of the usual three-session format. Student contact hours would be made up with online activities. Such activities may be structured around access to online resources, communication via social media or interaction with distance learners in other classrooms or other learning environments.

There are many different approaches to blended learning. It can take on many shapes or forms, depending on the instructors and learners involved. As of now, there is no consensus on a single agreed-upon definition of (or title for) blended learning. The terms “blended,” “hybrid,” and “mixed-mode” are used interchangeably in current research literature.

Flipped Classroom

A flipped classroom is a blended environment where the roles /functions of the online and face to face portions reverse (or are flipped). The lessons are presented online using Podcasts and/or other mediated deliver methods. Then during class time, students actually do their homework in a monitored fashion at the hands of the teacher and/or aides, who ensure that the work is completed accurately and where reflections are asked for to determine whether the materials are synthesized.

It is predicted that, by the middle of this decade, most K-12 and Post Secondary classes will offer several online options. Yet, few teacher preparation programs address online or blended learning

(this is getting serious attention btw, check out the eLearning Certificate at UCF. Also, the Ed Tech Program at FGCU offers several courses on Virtual Learning program.

There is a lack of resources in current teacher training programs dedicated to identifying Best Practices in online learning that address current problems. There remains the need to train teachers and trainers on traditional classroom methods, but also they need to receive enhanced training to develop those skills specifically targeted at online education.

The elements of preparation for online learning fall into two categories:

• First, teachers and trainers need to be trained to use available technology tools.
• Secondly, they need to be trained in online pedagogy; particularly, how to communicate content without the use of visual contextual cues.

According to Watson (2006), many online professional development programs focus on helping teachers “understand how to motivate individual learners, enhance student interaction and understanding without visual cues, tailor instruction to particular learning styles, and develop or modify interactive lessons to meet student needs.”

The additional skills necessary for teachers utilizing online or mobile learning are:

1. Enhanced communication skills: teachers can’t rely on nonverbal or proximal cues with which to address misunderstandings. Teacher preparation programs will need to help teachers develop a clarity in their instructions not required by traditional classrooms.
2. Time management (in asynchronous classes): students can be online at any time, so teachers can’t predict when heavier work loads will occur.
3. Teacher planning (in synchronous classes): lessons need to have a multimedia component which requires more planning than a traditional classroom lesson
4. Differentiation: if students have different learning styles or disabilities, teachers must be able to adapt online content for them. Reaching students with physical or learning disabilities will be much different than in a traditional classroom.

While all these skills are necessary for traditional teaching, they must also incorporate online components.

Resources for Online Instruction

While the list is pretty short, we were able to find a few places to provide some help:

• Seven eLearning and teaching Resources
• Designs on eLearning
• A new Concept in eLearning Solutions

The Teacher/Instructor Becomes a Facilitator

The most important transformation that takes place in installing a blended or totally virtual environment is the concept that the teacher /instructor now becomes a facilitator of learning.

A facilitator combines multiple instructional methods. A typical example of blended learning methodology would be an integrated combination of technology-based materials and face-to-face sessions to present content. An instructor begins the course with a well-structured introductory lesson in the classroom, and then proceeds with follow-up materials online. Blended learning can also be applied to the integration of e-learning with a Learning Management System using computers in a physical classroom, along with face-to-face instruction. Guidance is needed early in the process, to be used more sparingly as learners gain expertise.

Facilitators must focus on teaching information literacy, using both technology and face-to-face instruction, in order to develop independent learners so they can interact with the texts in meaningful ways. The role of the instructor is critical as this requires a transformation process to that of learning facilitator. Quite often, with the increase of baby boomers going back to school and pursuing higher education the skills required for technology use are limited. Instructors then find themselves more in the role of assisting students with computer skills and applications, helping them access the internet, and encouraging them to be independent learners through both guided and individualized instruction.

The facilitator’s role can be broken down into the following four categories:

• developing online course content and structure
• communicating that content using a LMS
• guiding and individualizing learning
• assessing, grading, and promoting

For some this change in roles could be quite traumatic. For those used to being the ‘sage on the stage’, an online course makes it more difficult to actually find a stage to stand on. For the most part, all you can do is present the topics, outline perhaps some considerations, and then let the students begin to discover for themselves the answers and solutions. (just like I have designed this entire course). In other words, online learning environments make a great case for guided inquiry instructional style (hint, hint for those of you trying to decide right now on how your final project might look)

Social Presence

Two of the most researched topics relating to instruction in online environments are the concepts of Social Presence and Teacher/Instructor Immediacy.

The first is a reaction to overcoming the perceived ‘distance’ and isolation among students who take online courses. The research first identified the problem and then has done a pretty good job laying out strategies on how to take this phenomenon into consideration.

Instructor Immediacy relates to how closely a student can identify with his or her instructors, how timely they reply to inquiries and provide feedback.

In truth all social interactions lead to better learning

It is felt that both these concepts pay a significant role in bringing about successful outcomes for online courses. They are well-documented for both online and f2f classes. The trick is to discover the differences and to learn how to employ unique tactics for the online environment. These considerations are significant enough that they belong a significant part of the design of any instruction, regardless of delivery method.

The researcher’s role was to explore the theory and rationale behind live broadcasts to discover the benefits of live broadcasts were worth effort and expense over simply recording footage that would be archived and accessed at a later time. In addition, case studies were produced to investigate the pros and cons of specific interfaces. What they found out was interesting. First of all, they investigated the concept of live broadcasts and what made them unique. What they found was that, after the novelty wore off, the ability to ask questions and interact with the instructor was the main attraction. A second study brought out the fact that the sidebar Chat widget (similar to what is available during our Adobe Connect meetings) was even more attractive to the students. In fact, the chat area takes on a life of its own, providing far more opportunities to explore in more detail the topics that the instructor is presenting from the remote region. Coincidentally, in the local student audience were individuals who were quite familiar with the culture and practices in India. The students began to ask questions of these other local ‘experts’. That chat room became as important to the overall experience as the lecture itself. If you have ever watched a sporting event online on ESPN 3, the very same interface is utilized. The chat widget brings considerable added value to the experience, even more so than watching the event on television or even being at the event live for that matter. (This is similar to the folks who attend live events and simultaneously listen to its broadcast on the radio in order to add to the social experience).

Both these studies have been posted here for your review. Spend some time reading them, as they provide some interesting ah-ha! moments:

Cowboys with Cameras Project in the Moab Desert

Interactive India

• Examining Social Presence in Online Courses
• Making the Grade
• High School Students Describing Their Experiences in Online Courses

Do This!

ADDIE OR ASSURE anyone?

So now that you are ‘convinced’ that eLearning is ‘different’ than teaching face to face, it is time for you to apply some of these principles using the ADDIE/ASSURE design models. Here is the scenario:

You have been put in charge of converting a course (or series of courses) for your school/organization. While we don’t have time here to design a complete program (that is actually your final project for this course), we need to find out about your ability to perform an analysis (the “A” in both acronyms).

Your assignment has two-parts:

PART 1:

Identify six factors that need to be considered when designing the online/hybrid modification of the hypothetical face to face course. Be specific. Identify the goals and objectives for this hypothetical course and how these relate to and/or may be enhanced (or limited) by the move to online/hybrid. Be sure to discuss how your design helps to overcome the social interaction/immediacy issues discussed in the notes above. YOUR CLASSMATES WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW YOUR LIST AND COMMENT ON IT NEXT CYCLE DURING WEEK ONE.

PART 2:

Use these factors to create a chart that specifies how you would integrate the advantages and/or overcome the disadvantages in a hypothetical course you are asked to convert from face to face to online based on a hypothetical needs analysis.

You will be sharing these factors with your colleagues this cycle and will be able to comment on those posed by others and defend your own ideas during the discussion that takes place next cycle. Post these in  the text area of the Drop Box set up on Canvas. 

The chart should look something like this:

Advantage/Disadvantage/Consideration	Need that is Addressed
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

is that necessarily a bad idea?

Hopefully not. What we hope to accomplish is to get you to think about message design in different ways…

Symbol Systems

In order to understand how media affects learning, and communicating, you need to gain an understanding of the concept of symbolism.

• Here is a link to a great site that studies visual perception from multiple points of view.. Take some time reviewing these materials and try to outline what you knew before and what new ideas these readings have added to your personal knowledge of the topic
  Here are some of the major points:

  • Confronted by a visual image, we seem to need to separate a dominant shape (a ‘figure’ with a definite contour) from a ‘background’ (or ‘ground’).
  • Gestalt psychologists outlined several fundamental and universal principles (sometimes even called ‘laws’) of perceptual organization. The main ones are as follows (some of the terms vary a little): proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure, smallness, ‘surroundedness’, symmetry and pragnanz.
  • Categorization is a ‘top-down’ process involved with perception. In this view particularity and uniqueness is gained with regards to perception and recall. For Romantics, it is also regarded as inducing a sense of distance from the world. For realists, the way we categorize phenomena is a ‘natural’ ‘reflection of reality’.
  • The three dimensions in a printed or viewed image on a screen is an artificial construct. Linear perspective is only one kind of depth cue in a static two-dimensional image such as a painting, drawing or photograph. Relative size is another depth cue. Where an image features several objects of similar shape, the tendency is to assume that the smaller objects are further away. Height in field (or plane) is another cue to judging depth.
  • We seem as a species to be driven by a desire to make meanings: above all, we are surely Homo significans – meaning-makers. Distinctively, we make meanings through our creation and interpretation of ‘signs’.
  • Reading an image, like the reception of any other message, is dependent on prior knowledge of possibilities; i.e., we can only recognize what we know.

• Once you have explored this site and reviewed the above, perhaps additional questions come to mind: The following is a general discussion of Solomon’s Ideas on Symbol Systems

• Take a look at this short description of symbol systems…under the definition of symbol systems above, does text fit in as a ‘symbol system’?

how can you be sure your words are being understood? what about the icons you may be using? are they UNIVERSALLY understood?

what about fidelity (how true to reality — clarity, resolution)?

• What are the effects of using highlighting/using icons to focus attention?. Can we focus attention using highlighted text? Does it actually enhance learning? can it actually get in the way of those who are literate in the topics?

Here is an interesting discussion about preferences and effects of purchasing used textbooks with highlighting already in it

Here is one that delves into effects of highlighting hyperlinks on Web pages

Which is more effective, text warning messages or icons?

Instructional Media & Instructional Design Theory

Instructional design is a process. it is very prescriptive in nature and helps decide how the end product should look like. There should be no question as to what comes first.. but many look at the media and then try to deign instruction around it.. should e the other way around.. you look at the needed instruction and THEN decide on the best media to use. Take Second Life for example. When you think of it, do you first say to yourself “boy there’s GOT to be something I can teach with this.”

or do you think:


I need a certain way to get students to create artifacts that demonstrate their understanding of what I am trying to teach them. What is the best digital sandbox that I can provide for the to do this?

(this is a concept ‘borrowed’ from business and industry by your instructor to describe a ‘fail safe’ classroom environment in which students can design and share without the fear of making mistakes)

The Design Process (Shön 1990):

• Design is the process by which things are made.
• In your design thinking perhaps you can create media that does not need a teacher. In others, their being present as guides might make a difference. What about video games? are they best used as standalone or are they better at helping to reinforce what you are teaching? These are important distinctions and must be made before media is selected. And also influences message design.
• history has shown that instructional media has a greater influence on helping teachers teach than on directly teaching students learn on their own. In other words, media designers usually exert more direct influence over materials and tools used by teachers than over interactions between learners and students. Again, take video games as an example…. can you name more than a handful of titles that have actually been shown by the research to be great standalone teaching devices? The more successful ones are those that are implemented by teachers as a part of an overall strategy.
• These decisions have consequences. Anything you do will create a result of some type. It is up to you to decide what kind of result you are looking for and to learn through research, experimentation, or trial and error to find out whether your decisions are affecting the results you anticipate. Feedback is an important concept

We generally pay attention to stimulus design (including message and interface) because we have no choice when we encounter it (i.e., it is psychologically and emotionally based and inescapable). On the other hand, certain aspects of the instructional system lie somewhat within our power to influence. Therefore, we need more grounding in learning theory & more flexibility with regards to design heuristics to deal with problems & short-comings.

Relationship Between Learning Theory and Media Message Design

When looking at the following list of concepts, note how old the citations are.. While we generally look at more recent adaptations etc of learning theory. However, the one thing that should become apparent is that there are certain truths that transcend digital innovation..The fact that Marshall McLuhan never saw the Internet or PC does not deprecate the truths that he espoused.
• Salomon (1979): perceptions (i.e., what a message’s content means to a person) is determined by that person’s internal representation of the content & and is matched to what the person already knows. This should have come out in your reading in the links that started out this lesson.
• Marr (1982): discussed what he called computational psychology – transforming a message as it passes the stages of perceptual processing – perceptual organization. There exists a strong relationship between the amount of mental effort required & achievement regarding receiving messages. (Look at Attribution Theory in the Learning Theory Lesson). This seems to tie to Nicholls’ (1984) ideas that success is attributable to outside forces (in this case, mediated forces).
• Burbank & Pett (1986) Motivation = attitudes beliefs & expectations, value motives. The effective use of media implies an increased motivation to learn; achievement. In terms of research, motivation is NOT motivation the dependent variable (i.e., it is necessary but insufficient by itself). Motivation is a means not an end. According to Gagne, motivation is only one part of a process. If media’s role is at best, a motivator, then media, too is only a means to an end. Does this start to feel and look like the ARCS model?
• Kelly (1983) proposed that there be a relationship between the instructional objectives and students’ goals.
• Cronbach & Snow (1976) described an aptitude – treatment interaction. I their research, they found no strong correlation strong enough to support generalizations about the universal effectiveness of media except for those that best match one’s learning styles.
• Yerkes & Dodson (1908) Espoused a theory that low motivation equated to low performance. They also first described conditions where too too high arousal relates to low motivation (stress). Look at the date here? (do you think things might have changed in the last 100 years is their thinking too old fashioned?)
• Reigeluth (1983) provides insight to Elaboration Theory that states that the use of existing knowledge is important concept when considering the condition/outcome/method and connects all three. Media design plays an important role .
• Bruner (1966) differentiates between active vs passive learners: what we know and what we do with what we know. What role does media message design play in this process?
• Rollo (1975) stated that creativity actually arises out of the tension between spontaneity & limitations. So if, according to a constructivist, it is true that all knowledge is constructed by learners (which makes constructivism more of a more of a philosophy than a strategy), then what is the role of media in this environment? The answer is pretty simple. From your reading above regarding visual processing, you should realize that reality, knowledge,and the sciences are all filled with individual biases & filters & shared meanings. (If you are looking for an example, take the concept of Global Warming and all the disparate theories that exist and shroud these truths). A mediate instructional strategy that imposes structure may actually help learners make the constructions that are needed for learning, and to do what Scriver (1973) proposed almost thirty years ago.. to establish what he referred to as goal-free program evaluation – a process to take biases out of one’s discovery.
• Tom Gilbert long ago (1962) proposed a mastery model of design for media (.i.e., one that results in major outcomes) to apply probing diagnostic questions that permits the instructional designer to define the problem exactly. His model for media proposed a progression of learning… fundamentals –> preliminary skills –> essentials –> mastery. Today’s media can help enforce this progression.
• We cannot leave any discussion about media message design without mentioning Paivio (1971; 1983). His discussions on dual coding of text & pictures are seminal.
• Larkin & Simon (1987) are two more that showed up in the message design discussions about information processing. They suggested that learning occurred through the satisfaction/accomplishment of a series of ordered conditions that are prerequisite to the achievement of a specific goal. In other words… task analysis leads to a solution. Pretty orderly…. but to take this down to the classroom level, what they had to say about graphs is revealing…. graphs must show relationships, not just quantities.

• So, what about text? In earlier studies, Levin (1989) found that the simple act of adding illustrations to text did not help children to learn to read. NOW THAT IS INTERESTING AND COUNTER-INTUITIVE FOR YOU I BET… So what were the conditions that occurred that would make this true?
• So what about sequencing of instruction? The implications have been discussed in detail by Bruner, Reigeluth, Scandura, and Gagne.
Message Design Principles

Now that we have some of the theory behind us, let’s go ahead and cover some specifics about message design . Here are a couple of some great links:
• Principles of Visual Communication This is a practical guide for instructional designers on how to actually put your principles into action.
• Instructional Instructional Message Design

But perhaps the seminal book on the topic is Instructional Message Design edited by Fleming & Levie. The book is out of print now but is occasionally available on Amazon. Here is a link to a place where you can get a sense of what the books is about.

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Self Reflection




Having looked at all of this material, you may have more questions than answers.. so to change course a little here, you need to outline the answers in your head to the three questions below as they relate to instructional design so you can get ready for the self-check activity:

1. How will visual message design considerations modify the ultimate design of your final project?
2. Which of the design theories are you most uncomfortable with (i.e., symbolism, gestalt, dual coding, elaboration, etc.), why?
3. What role does media design play in motivating students?

The goal of this module is to convince you that:

1. developing a course that merely covers all the models is not appropriate.. even if it is an introductory course such as this one

and

2. introducing all the various models is better suited to be added towards the end of this course rather than the beginning… mainly because you will have a better understanding as to why those in the field study the models and what makes them appropriate.

Over the years several ‘classic’ instructional design models have evolved.. some more famous than others. In fact, most intro courses covering Instructional Design are entirely built on a textbook from which you are assigned chapters with the goal of introducing you to the seminal models. We designed this course with the idea of showing you the considerations first, THEN introducing the model so you at least have some basis for selecting the one(s) you wish to follow for your final project.

How are models developed?

You should know that the focus of doctoral students is to create something new and different using their innate desire to ‘make an impact’ on their field so they can graduate … and the focus of an emerging assistant professor is often to create something new and different using their innate desire to get published (and promoted)… Ok.. being a bit cynical here.. but the truth is that sometimes (not always) a new theory or model evolves out of one’s personal goal of wanting to cut across the learning domain slightly differently just to get published… that is why many of the models you will read about will seem eerily similar…

You also need to know that many times you will be in a course in which a certain model or series of models will be utilized because that happens to be the ‘favorite’ of that professor… we must admit we do have our favorite. We consider ourselves to be successful in this introduction that, if at the end of the course, you are not too sure which one that is! Our goal is that we want you to make sure you make your selection based on your knowing the elements and issues that go into design

To be sure all of these have value, your job is to review as many as you can in the time allotted and make some decisions as to which ones you would place inside your instructional design ‘tool bag’ and explain why you have made your choice based on information we have presented earlier in this course. In the end, though, it would be best that you select one (and do your justification) as a part of your final project.

This is a great link as it synthesizes all the important models on to one document

http://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/htm/IDC_instructionaldesignmodels.htm

This summary list is growing all the time

http://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/

Finally, Educational Design Research considers the models in terms of their practicality/usefulness in the formative stages of instructional design

Because it incorporates elements of iterative design (rapid prototyping and the spiral model model of design into a comprehensive action research model.

After Completing this set of Readings You are Expected to Do the Following

The self-check activity is designed to create a context for you to be thinking about this lesson as the one on visual message design.

Once you are satisfied that you have a good understanding of these two lessons, go ahead and take that self-check quiz. Post a reflection in the Drop Box set up in Canvas, answering the questions posted there.

The link to purchase Articulate Storyline 3 is https://articulate.com/p/storyline-3. They have agreed to extend our discount with them through December, 2017. The price per license with our discount is $299. A regular priced license is $1,400 so this is a significant savings. We need to call them and order using my FGCU email address and the discount code. This was approved by Peter Anderson at Articulate.

Articulate Storyline is the industry-standard software for creating interactive courses on any device. All of our students learn how to use this software. It is highly requested by our Educational Technology Advisory Board and listed as a requirement for today’s instructional design positions. All of our established internship opportunities require the use of Storyline.

The intent of this lesson is not to lecture you and provide you all the answers. It is expected that this lesson may raise more questions than provide answers.. so the first question to pose is .. is that necessarily a bad idea? Hopefully, we can get you to think about message design in different ways…

Instructional design is a process. it is very prescriptive in nature and helps decide how the end product should look like. There should be no question as to what comes first.. but many look at the media and then try to deign instruction around it.. should be the other way around.. you look at the needed instruction and THEN decide on the best media to use. Take Second Life for example. When you think of it, do you first say to yourself

“boy there’s GOT to be something I can teach with this.”

or do you think

“I need a certain way to get students to create artifacts that demonstrate their understanding of what I am trying to teach them. What is the best digital sandbox^* I can provide for them to do this?”

The Design Process (Shön 1990):

• Design is the process by which things are made.
• In your design thinking perhaps you can create media that does not need a teacher. In others, media’s presence as a guides might make a difference. What about video games? are they best used as standalone or are they better at helping to reinforce what you are teaching? These are important distinctions and must be made before media is selected. And also influences message design.
• history has shown that instructional media has a greater influence on helping teachers teach than on directly teaching students learn on their own. In other words, media designers usually exert more direct influence over materials and tools used by teachers than over interactions between learners and students. Again, take video games as an example…. can you name more than a handful of titles that have actually been shown by the research to be great standalone teaching devices? The more successful ones are those that are implemented by teachers as a part of an overall strategy.
• These decisions have consequences. Anything you do will create a result of some type. It is up to you to decide what kind of result you are looking for and to learn through research, experimentation, or trial and error to find out whether your decisions are affecting the results you anticipate. Feedback is an important concept

The ASSURE Model

Instructional Designers have long been using a model to help select media for lesson development. ASSURE, as you will see, is an acronym. take a look at a couple of introductions to provide you further information:

• The ASSURE Model of Learning
• For you visual learners, this is a posting page with dozens of visuals and chart that outline the concept
• ASSURE Model: Discovering Instructional Design

Marshall McLuhan’s Ideas About Media and Knowing

One of the things that sticks out when reviewing most Instructional Design Models (especially ADDIE) is that you first need to analyze your audience. In doing that, you must pay attention to those things that affect how your students think, learn, and communicate.

One of the most influential thinkers on the subject of how media influences the thinking of the people who most use it was Marshall McLuhan. The interesting thing about his work is that he died a long time prior to the Internet, PCs, iPads, iPhones, and all the pervasive media around us today. Yet, he seems to have sensed where we were going as a mediated culture.

If we are indeed living in a digitally mediated world, then there are things about these kids that we should be learning about in order to reach them and build media products for them. The best place to start is to discover Marshall McLuhan, the father of these ideas.

Is it not obvious that there are always enough moral problems without also taking a moral stand on technological grounds? […] Print is the extreme phase of alphabet culture that detribalizes or decollectivizes man in the first instance. Print raises the visual features of alphabet to highest intensity of definition. Thus print carries the individuating power of the phonetic alphabet much further than manuscript culture could ever do. Print is the technology of individualism. If men decided to modify this visual technology by an electric technology, individualism would also be modified. To raise a moral complaint about this is like cussing a buzz-saw for lopping off fingers. “But”, someone says, “we didn’t know it would happen.” Yet even witlessness is not a moral issue. It is a problem, but not a moral problem; and it would be nice to clear away some of the moral fogs that surround our technologies. It would be good for morality.

The moral valence of technology’s effects on cognition is, for McLuhan, a matter of perspective. For instance, McLuhan contrasts the considerable alarm and revulsion that the growing quantity of books aroused in the latter seventeenth century with the modern concern for the “end of the book.” If there can be no universal moral sentence passed on technology, McLuhan believes that “there can only be disaster arising from unawareness of the causalities and effects inherent in our technologies.”

Though the World Wide Web was invented thirty years after his Gutenberg Galaxy was published, McLuhan may have coined and certainly popularized the usage of the term “surfing” to refer to rapid, irregular and multidirectional movement through a heterogeneous body of documents or knowledge, e.g., statements like “Heidegger surf-boards along on the electronic wave as triumphantly as Descartes rode the mechanical wave.” Paul Levinson’s 1999 book Digital McLuhan explores the ways that McLuhan’s work can be better understood through the lens of the digital revolution. Later, Bill Stewart’s 2007 “Living Internet” website describes how McLuhan’s “insights made the concept of a global village, interconnected by an electronic nervous system, part of our popular culture well before it actually happened.”

Understanding Media (1964)

McLuhan’s most widely known work, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), is a pioneering study in media theory. In it McLuhan proposed that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study—popularly quoted as “the medium is the message”. McLuhan’s insight was that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. McLuhan pointed to the light bulb as a clear demonstration of this concept. A light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan states that “a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence.” More controversially, he postulated that content had little effect on society—in other words, it did not matter if television broadcasts children’s shows or violent programming, to illustrate one example—the effect of television on society would be identical. He noted that all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in different ways; for instance, a passage in a book could be reread at will, but a movie had to be screened again in its entirety to study any individual part of it.

Tetrad of Media Effects

THIS is the work we must look into here and utilize as a part of our instructional design efforts….come back to this tetrad and think about it for a while. After all, how do we measure the importance of media/technology? How d we analyze it for use in our instruction? How do we know when to move forward? to adopt newer technologies?

In Laws of Media (1988), published posthumously by his son Eric, McLuhan summarized his ideas about how to evaluate the effects of media in a concise tetrad (i.e., list containing four “laws” ) of media effects. The tetrad is a means to examine the effects on society of any technology (i.e., any medium) by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously. McLuhan designed the tetrad as a pedagogical tool, phrasing his laws as questions with which to consider any medium:

1. What does the medium enhance?
2. What does the medium make obsolete?
3. What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier?
4. What does the medium flip into when pushed to extremes?

To put it another way:

1. What does the medium bring to the table?
2. What does the medium make obsolete?
3. What does the medium bring back?
4. What happens when we over-depend on it?

The laws of the tetrad exist simultaneously, not successively or chronologically, and allow the questioner to explore the “grammar and syntax” of the “language” of media. McLuhan departs from his mentor Harold Innis in suggesting that a medium “overheats”, or reverses into an opposing form, when taken to its extreme. Visually, a tetrad can be depicted as four diamonds forming an X, with the name of a medium in the center. The two diamonds on the left of a tetrad are the Enhancement and Retrieval qualities of the medium, both Figure qualities. The two diamonds on the right of a tetrad are the Obsolescence and Reversal qualities, both Ground qualities.

Using the example of radio:

• Enhancement (figure): What the medium amplifies or intensifies. Radio amplifies news and music via sound.
• Obsolescence (ground): What the medium drives out of prominence. Radio reduces the importance of print and the visual.
• Retrieval (figure): What the medium recovers which was previously lost. Radio returns the spoken word to the forefront.
• Reversal (ground): What the medium does when pushed to its limits. Acoustic radio flips into audio-visual TV.

Here is where we overlap a little bit with EME 6465 Designing Interactive Learning Environments. In that course we dig much deeper into Shedroff’s ideas. But seeing as that course may be an elective in your program of study (or not part of it at all), the thinking here is to not let you graduate without at least hearing/reading some of his ideas:

Nathan Shedroff is a well-respected designer, producer, consultant, and teacher of what he calls Experience Design. His work is cited by others in the field and revolves around a holistic view of designing interactive experiences. If we are to consider technology/media in our instructional design efforts, taking that holistic view might be a way to go here.

Here are some useful links to explore Shedroff’s world view:

• Shedroff – Unified Theory of Design for Business (but there is relevance for educators too!)
• Design and Meaning – An Interview with Nathan Shedroff
• Designing for Meaningful Experience

Do This!

Post your impressions in the Drop Box on Canvas some ah-ha moments you had regarding how this holistic design view would affect your design of instruction. Post at least three ideas.