Showing papers in "Educational Technology Research and Development in 2002"

Blueprints for Complex Learning: The 4C/ID-Model

Abstract: This article provides an overview description of the four-component instructional design system (4C/ID-model) developed originally by van Merrienboer and others in the early 1990s (van Merrienboer, Jelsma, & Paas, 1992) for the design of training programs for complex skills. It discusses the structure of training blueprints for complex learning and associated instructional methods. The basic claim is that four interrelated components are essential in blueprints for complex learning: (a) learning tasks, (b) supportive information, (c) just-in-time (JIT) information, and (d) part-task practice. Instructional methods for each component are coupled to the basic learning processes involved in complex learning and a fully worked-out example of a training blueprint for “searching for literature” is provided. Readers who benefit from a structured advance organizer should consider reading the appendix at the end of this article before reading the entire article.

Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving

Abstract: With an increased emphasis on problem solving and problem-based learning in the instructional design field, new methods for task analysis and models for designing instruction are needed. An important methodology for both entails the elicitation, analysis, and inclusion of stories as a primary form of instructional support while learning to solve problems. Stories are the most natural and powerful formalism for storing and describing experiential knowledge that is essential to problem solving. The rationale and means for analyzing, organizing, and presenting stories to support problem solving are defined by case-based reasoning. Problems are solved by retrieving similar past experiences in the form of stories and applying the lessons learned from those stories to the new problems. In this paper, after justifying the use of stories as instructional supports, we describe methods for eliciting, indexing, and making stories available as instructional support for learning to solve problems.

Scaffolding Critical Reasoning about History and Social Issues in Multimedia-Supported Learning Environments

Abstract: This article advances a continuing line of research that investigates the potential of hypermedia resources and scaffolding for supporting problem-based social studies and developing critical reasoning. Our line of inquiry consists of a series of generative design experiments that informs problem-based curriculum development. Our findings suggest that expert guidance may be embedded into the learning environment to give students conceptual and strategic road maps that assist them in understanding the process of disciplined inquiry. However, our results also emphasize the difficulties in managing the cognitive challenges posed by ill-structured social problems and suggest limits to the embedded support that can be provided for complex thinking. Complex conceptual tasks may require spontaneous support that can only be provided by a skilled teacher. We suggest that embedded scaffolds may be used to support teachers by reducing the amount of spontaneous scaffolding they must do in an ill-structured environment and discuss other steps that might be taken to encourage problem-based inquiry.

The effects of argumentation scaffolds on argumentation and problem solving

Abstract: An important skill in solving problems, especially ill-structured problems, is the production of coherent arguments to justify solutions and actions. Because direct instruction in argumentation has produced inconsistent results and cannot effectively support online learning, we examined the use of online argumentation scaffolds to engage and support coherent argumentation. In this study, we showed that providing a constraint-based argumentation scaffold during group problem-solving activities increased the generation of coherent arguments. The same scaffold further resulted in significantly more problem-solving actions during collaborative group discussions. The effects of the scaffold varied for problem type. Groups that solved ill-structured problems produced more extensive arguments. When solving ill-structured problems, students need more argumentation support because of the importance of generating and supporting alternative solutions. The close relationship between argumentation and problem solving, especially ill-structured problem solving, is significant. The effects of the argument scaffold consistently transferred to the production of arguments during individual problem solving. Students used the familiar argumentation scripts while solving problems individually.

Expanding preservice teachers' metacognitive awareness of instructional planning through pedagogical agents

Abstract: In this experimental study, 135 preservice teachers developed an instructional plan for a case study within the Multiple Intelligent Mentors Instructing Collaboratively (MIMIC) computer-based environment. Three-dimensional, animated pedagogical agents, representing constructivist and instructivist approaches to instructional planning, served as instructional mentors within the environment and were available to provide advisements. The research design consisted of two factors, (a) instructivist agent (present, absent) and (b) constructivist agent (present, absent), with two primary groups of dependent measures, (a) metacognitive awareness, and (b) attitude. Regarding metacognitive awareness, when the constructivist agent was present, participants tended to report a change in their perspective of instructional planning, reflected less on their thinking, and developed instructional plans rated as more constructivist in underlying pedagogy. Regarding attitude, when the instructivist agent was present, participants reported a more negative disposition regarding instructional planning. Results are discussed in terms of the impact on teaching instructional planning to preservice teachers.

The Effect of Competition and Contextualized Advisement on the Transfer of Mathematics Skills in a Computer-Based Instructional Simulation Game

Abstract: This study was designed to determine the effect of contextualized advisement and competition on transfer of mathematics skills in a computer-based simulation game in which participants helped their “aunt and uncle” fix up a house. Contextualized advisement referred to whether the participant had access to video-based advisement delivered by the aunt and uncle about how to solve the problem, and competition referred to whether or not the participant was playing against a computer character. A total of 123 seventh-and eighth-grade students were randomly assigned to one of five conditions formed by crossing the two independent variables and adding a control group. Results indicated an interaction between competition and contextualized advisement. Participants in the noncompetitive condition had higher transfer scores when they had access to contextualized advisement, while participants in the competitive condition had higher transfer scores when they had no access to contextualized advisement.

Collaborative knowledge building: A case study

Abstract: What learning conditions are necessary to effectively support the knowledge-building enterprise in a learning community? To answer this question, the case-study method was employed to investigate collaborative knowledge building in a graduate level course designed to incorporate specific constructivist learning principles. These principles included (a) having a collective and authentic community goal to facilitate collaboration and engagement in the community, (b) using cooperative groups to provide for social negotiation and to promote multiple perspectives, (c) personally selecting of course readings and group decision-making to encourage ownership in learning, and (d) employing an integrated set of technology tools to archive the work of the community and facilitate communication. Results indicated that the instructional strategies designed into the course promoted collaborative knowledge building and the acquisition of key concepts through self-directed learning strategies. Results also pointed out the types of technological support required to implement an effective community of learners. A proposed set of guidelines is discussed to assist instructional designers in the design and development of collaborative, knowledge-building environments.

Motivating students at a distance: The case of an international audience

Abstract: Distance education is rapidly becoming an increasingly important and even preferred method of instructional delivery for many educational contexts. In spite of the many student benefits surrounding distance learning programs, however, a great number of distance learning courses suffer from extremely low student completion rates when compared to their traditional classroom-based counterparts. Although it may be tempting to point to instructional content and methods as the source of low distance learning completion rates, it can be shown that it is often motivational problems, and not the instruction itself, which lay at the root of these statistics. This article describes the motivational issues encountered by a representative group of international distance education students, as well as a specific, low-cost motivational intervention that assisted the instructors of these students to improve completion rates by providing effective and efficient motivational student support.

Teacher ratings of student engagement with educational software: An exploratory study

Abstract: The quality of students' learning engagement may significantly influence their learning. Can teachers accurately judge student learning engagement with educational software? In this exploratory study, 3 fifth-grade teachers used a seven-level taxonomy to rate the frequency of different forms of engagement among 42 students interacting with different types of educational software. Teachers spontaneously treated the seven levels of engagement as a continuum, rating students highest on one level or a set of contiguous levels. Teachers generally agreed when ranking students by their typical levels of engagement, but disagreed regarding the actual frequencies of different engagement types. Ratings of software engagement conceived of as interpretive activity were correlated significantly with student reading test scores. Given the authentic classroom conditions in which this study took place, the results are promising for the classroom utility of the seven-level conception of student engagement with software.

Student Performance and Attitudes Using Personalized Mathematics Instruction

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of personalized instruction on the achievement and attitudes of Taiwanese students on two-step mathematics word problems. A total of 136 fourth-graders in a Taiwanese public school participated in the study. Subjects initially completed a Student Survey on which they chose their favorite foods, sports, stores, classmates, and other selections. The most popular items were then used to create personalized math word problems for the pretest, personalized instructional program, and posttest. Subjects were blocked by ability based on their pretest scores and were randomly assigned within ability levels to either a personalized or nonpersonalized version of the print-based instructional program. After finishing the program, subjects completed a student attitude survey and the posttest. A repeated-measures univariate analysis of variance revealed that subjects in the personalized treatment made significantly greater pretest-to-posttest gains than those in the nonpersonalized treatment. Subjects also performed significantly better on the personalized pretest and posttest problems than on the nonpersonalized problems. Personalized subjects and higher-ability students both had significantly more positive attitudes toward the instructional program than did their nonpersonalized and lower-ability counterparts.

Instructional Design Tools: A Critique and Projections for the Future.

Abstract: This article critiques the instructional design tools described in the special issue of Educational Technology Research and Development, Volume 50 Number 4, “Computer-Based Tools for Instructional Design.” Although focusing on four tools, (a) digital management systems, (b) CASCADE, (c) knowledge management systems, and (d) ADAPTIT, the author also comments on the introductory article (van Merrienboer and Martens), and compares the four described tools with earlier models.

Computer Support for Curriculum Developers: CASCADE

Abstract: This paper examines research on a family of computer-based tools, CASCADE (Computer ASsisted Curriculum Analysis, Design and Evaluation), designed to assist in the complex task of curriculum development. It begins with discussion of curriculum developers and their activities, followed by examination of how the computer can offer support for their tasks. The main elements of four related systems for computer supported curriculum development are discussed and approaches to designing tools of this nature are considered. Following an overview of main findings, this article concludes with thoughts on fruitful directions for research on computer supported curriculum development, emphasizing the need for increased attention to implementation and impact studies.

A Living-Systems Design Model for Web-based Knowledge Management Systems

Abstract: Most of the currently available instructional design models were conceptualized to develop instructional solutions to needs and requirements that remain relatively stable over time. Faced with the problem of designing a knowledge management (KM) system that needed to accommodate continuously changing requirements over its fielded lifetime, we developed a new design model that is based on a living-systems approach. In this article, we briefly review currently available instructional systems design models and describe this new model and the mechanisms it contains for accommodating change and growth. We illustrate the application of the phases of the model (analyze initial requirements, design the information architecture, develop the information design, develop the interaction design, implement the Web-based system, and conduct a developmental evaluation of the system) in the development of a KM system with living-system features.

Computer-based tools for instructional design: An introduction to the special issue

Abstract: Modern instructional theories are characterized by their focus on rich, multidisciplinary and often collaborative learning tasks that are somehow representative for authentic, real life tasks. This new view on learning heavily increases the complexity of the design process and the resulting instructional systems. It is argued that computer-based instructional design (ID) tools may help to deal with this growing complexity. A framework to distinguish different kinds of ID tools is presented. This framework is then used to introduce the contributions to this special issue.

Knowledge Management Tools for Instructional Design

Abstract: Advances in computer technology typically find their way into education after a short generation of success in other settings. This is an elaboration of one such technology—knowledge management systems (KMS)—and its application to instructional design. An examination of the development of KMS from information systems. computer-supported collaborative work environments and object-oriented systems, leads to a discussion of reusability. The focus is on the use of KMS by instructional designers. A conceptual framework for distributed instructional design is provided along with examples of support tools. These tools and the associated design framework are in use, and anecdotal evidence of effects and impact is provided. As such tools become more widely used to support the planning, implementation and management of instructional systems and learning environments, it is reasonable to expect the nature of instructional design practice to change.

Post-IT: Putting Postmodern Perspectives To Use in Instructional Technology--A Response to Solomon's "Toward a Post-Modern Agenda in Instructional Technology."

Abstract: Following the publication of David Solomon’swinning Young Scholar paper, “Toward aPost-modern Agenda in InstructionalTechnology,” in issue 48(4) of ETR&D,several readers inquired asking for moreconcrete information on the meaning ofpostmodernism and its implications forpractice and research in instructionaltechnology. One reader in particular, RickVoithofer from Ohio State University, asked ifhe could submit a reaction to Solomon’s paper.I agreed to examine a draft, on which Iprovided feedback and encouragement tocontinue. I then invited David Solomon toprovide a brief rejoinder. The products of theseefforts follow.Steven RossResearch Editor

Effects of classroom evaluation strategies on student achievement and attitudes

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of teacher evaluation and the combination of teacher evaluation and student self-evaluation on student performance and attitudes. Participants in the study were 189 Latvian high school students and their six teachers.

ADAPT IT : Tools for Training Design and Evaluation

Abstract: This article describes a set of computerized tools that support the design and evaluation of competency-based training programs. The training of complex skills such as air traffic control and process control requires a competency-based approach that focuses on the integration and coordination of constituent skills and transfer of learning. At the heart of the training are authentic whole-task practice situations. The instructional design tools are based on van Merrienboer's 4C/ID* methodology (1997). The article describes a training design tool (Core) that supports the analysis and design for competency-based training programs and an evaluation tool (Eval) that supports the subsequent revision of this training design.

Designing a digital instructional management system to optimize early education

Abstract: The individualization of curriculum features and the matching of those features with learner characteristics (optimization) may help to stimulate learning processes, in particular for children at risk. In a pilot study in two Dutch kindergartens, specific individualization and optimization conditions were codeveloped with teachers and school management. In order to realize the desired changes, a prototype of a digital instructional management system called the Digital Planning Board was developed, implemented and evaluated. Future research aims at the further development of a pedagogical-didactic kernel structure, integrating instructional management software in new instructional practices.

Rediscovering Post-modern Perspectives in IT: Deconstructing Voithofer and Foley

Abstract: My original paper, “Toward a Post-Modern Agenda in Instructional Technology” (Solomon, 2000), was an interdisciplinary review of the literature and offered multiple perspectives of the subject, a post-modern approach sometimes referred to as multivocality. I found several themes inherent in the literature, which I presented as eight general assumptions about post-modernism for consideration, discussion, and adoption. Then, I concluded the paper with a discussion about the potential contributions of post-modern concepts in instructional technology. In a reaction to my paper, Voithofer and Foley (this issue) misinterpreted some of the purposes and assumptions expressed, by seeing my view as an effort to construct a model of a post-modern agenda, which could not be further from my original purpose. This paper serves to clarify my position as a sequel to their response.

Analysis of emerging practices in globalizing instructional materials

Abstract: Since the end of the Cold War, international decisions and forces have fostered a free market economy and facilitated expansion for corporations into new markets (Marquardt, 1995). In addition, new technologies, especially the Internet, allow anyone with access to those available technologies to have a global Web presence and communicate simultaneously. Merely placing a Web page on the Internet could be deemed as having “gone global,” because anyone in the world can access it through the Internet. These factors, and others, have brought human societies throughout the world closer together in time and space and have fostered globalization.

Designing effective instruction

Abstract: We have usedDesigning Effective Instruction in introductory ID courses and experienced its use from both the instructors' and the learners' perspective. Our overall conclusion is that it is highly usable and accessible to beginning ID students, including those whose first language may not be English. The ID model presented is clear and the focus on the learner throughout is appropriate and in line with current research emphases and trends. The inclusion of Microsoft Project tm makes a clear and concrete statement that ID can benefit from technology, not only in the delivery of instruction, but in the planning of structured learning activities and in managing instructional development efforts.

Technology, learning and corruption: Opportunities and hurdles in the search for the development of mind in an international development context

Abstract: This brief communication on work ac-complished and work in progress was originallyprepared at the request of the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organiza-tion (UNESCO) for its Global Forum on Learn-ing Technology: “To Reach the Unreached,”held in Karlsruhe, Germany, on February 6 and7, 2002. I reflect on some work I have done to“reach the unreached,” that is, attending topeople’s learning needs, progressively trying toget to the heart of what it means to be learning,using, among other modalities, available infor-mation and communication technologies (ICTs)in the various contexts in which I was working. Igo back in history roughly 30 years. Conse-quently, I take a broad view of the concept, ICTs.Technologies to transmit, record, store, retrieve,and help process information, and those thatallow people to enter into dialogue with eachother, have existed for thousands of years. Everytime a new technology emerged it was invariab-ly called “new” (see e.g. UNESCO: InternationalInstitute for Educational Planning, 1967a and1967b), raising the level of anxiety among bothskeptics, who advocated caution, and en-thusiasts, who advocated immediate adoption.My position is that one should be neither a tech-nology skeptic nor a technology enthusiast, butrather that technology options should be con-templated in a critical manner based on con-siderations regarding how and why we learn. Istart by raising questions about who are the un-reached and express concerns about attitudes inthe international development community thatlead to voicing development problems in termsof reaching the unreached. My choice of optionsfor the review of past experience is biasedtoward one of my current interests, namely, topromote patterns of thinking characteristic ofthe scientific mind. I thus end with a series of as-sumptions that currently motivate my work inthis area. Both a retrospective and prospectivereview is being offered in the interest of generat-ing debate on pertinent issues of educationaldevelopment in an international context.