This chapter describes the procedures that are used to design a theory-based instructional strategy for different types of learning outcomes. Dick and Carey use the term Instructional Strategy to describe the process of sequencing and organizing content, specifying learning activities, and deciding how to deliver the content and activities. An instructional strategy can perform several functions:
The planning of an instructional strategy is an important part of the overall instructional design process. Gagne calls the planning and analysis steps the "architecture" of the course, while the instructional strategies are the "bricks and mortar". This is where you deal with how to actually instruct the student. Previous steps in the instructional design process have deliberately left out any discussion of how the instruction would be done.
- It can be used as a prescription to develop instructional materials.
- It can be used as a set of criteria to evaluate existing materials.
- It can be used as a set of criteria and a prescription to revise existing materials.
- It can be used as a framework from which to plan class lecture notes, interactive group exercises, and homework assignments.
The planning of an instructional strategy is an important part of the overall instructional design process. Gagne calls the planning and analysis steps the "architecture" of the course, while the instructional strategies are the "bricks and mortar". This is where you deal with how to actually instruct the student. Previous steps in the instructional design process have deliberately left out any discussion of how the instruction would be done.
The concept of an instructional strategy originated with the events of instruction described by R.M. Gagne's Condition of Learning (1985).
Gagne's Condition of Learning Theory
Robert Gagne’s theory outlines a step-by-step process that involves these nine steps that instructional designers must complete during the instructional design process. Gagne’s nine instructional events help instructional designers prescribe appropriate instructional strategies when designing and developing instructional materials.
Gagne distinguishes between two types of conditions, internal and external.
- Internal conditions of learning refer to the learner's internal states and cognitive processes. These internal states consist of prior knowledge, motivation, attitudes, etc. Cognitive processes refer to the ways in which the learner interacts with their environment.
- External conditions refer to the things taking place in the learning environment, and include the arrangement and timing of stimulus events. Gagne's theory proposes that learning takes place at all times, because learners are constantly engaged with their environments.
The theory is based on information processing models that focus on the cognitive event that happen when learners are presented with a stimulus. Gagne’s theory is widely used in the instructional technology field because it can be adapted for all types of learning environments as well as all types of learning.
Five Major Learning Components of ID
- Preinstructional Activities- Three important factors: motivating the learners, informing what the learners will learn and stimulating recall of knowledge skills. See Keller's ARCS Model of Student Motivation below.
- Content Presentation-This entails what information, concepts, rules, and principles presented to the learner. Two patterns of content presentation: deductive and inductive.
- Learner Participation-providing feedback or information about learner's performance.
- Assessment-This is about the four basic Criterion-referenced tests: entry skills tests, pretests, practice tests, and posttests.
- Follow-Through Activities-This is the final learning component. This is a review of the entire strategy to determine memory skills and transfer of learning.
EXTENDED KNOWLEDGE
Moore and Kearsley's (2012) Theory of Transactional Distance. Moore's theory of transactional distance is grounded in the concept of transaction, derived from Dewey and developed by Boyd and Apps in 1980 (Moore and Kearsley, 1996, p. 200). Transaction "connotes the interplay among the environment, the individuals, and the patterns of behaviors in a situation" (Boyd and Apps, 1980, as cited in Moore and Kearsley, 1996, p. 200).
Further, the transaction known as distance education is "the interplay between people who are teachers and learners, in environments that have the special characteristic of being separate from one another, and a consequent set of special teaching and learning behaviors" (Moore and Kearsley, p. 200). The physical distance inherent in distance education "leads to communication gaps, a psychological space of potential misunderstandings between the behaviors of instructors and those of the learners" (Moore and Kearsley, p. 200). This is the transactional distance.
To overcome this transactional distance, which is pedagogical not geographic, Moore and Kearsley (p. 200) recommend instructional design and interaction procedures. Although there is some transactional distance in any educational event, Moore and Kearsley (p. 200) note that in distance education the separation of teacher and learner significantly affects their behaviors:
The separation actually dictates that teachers plan, present content, interact, and perform the other processes of teaching in significantly different ways from the face-to-face environment. The degree of transaction distance dictates just how much and what kinds of instructor-provided dialog and structure are needed in order to accommodate for the distance (Moore and Kearsley, pp. 200-201).
Moore and Kearsley (p. 201) define dialog as a term that "helps us focus on the interplay of words, actions, and ideas and any other interactions between teacher and learner when one gives instruction and the other responds." The extent and nature of this dialog is determined by:
- the educational philosophy of the individual or group responsible for the design of the course,
- the personalities of teacher and learner,
- the subject matter of the course, and
- the environmental factors.
The Distance Education Course Taxonomy
Learning Components for Constructivist Strategies
REFLECTION
I'm amazed at how I learn as I reflect and think about what I am learning. This chapter is filled with valuable information in instructional strategy. Overall, the planning of an instructional strategy is an important part of the instructional design process. It is at this point that the me as an instructional designer must be able to combine knowledge of learning and design theory with my experience of learners and objectives.
Needless to say, creativity in lesson design will enhance my knowledge and experience. "Perhaps it is this component of creativity that separates the art of instructional design from the science of instructional design. It is clear that the best lesson designs will demonstrate knowledge about the learners, the tasks reflected in the objectives, and the effectiveness of teaching strategies."
I learn in my other class that the formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners as in: accommodation and assimilation, Assimilation occurs when individuals' experiences are aligned with their internal representation of the world. They assimilate the new experience into an already existing framework. On the other hand, accommodation is the process of reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences. As we speak, I am accommodating this new experience and reframing my model of the way the world works. Often, I am continually learning from the experience of failure. But I am glad to be an active participant in this process.
In addition, I am drawn to the guiding principles of constructivism in education as follows:
1. Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must start with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct meaning.
2. Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts.
3. The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the “right” answers and regurgitate someone else’s meaning.
Overall, as I evaluate how I was learning, I am drawn to my own process of learning in terms of: coding, transforming, rehearsing, storing and retrieving my information. This reflection page of my readings help me sort my thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and values that are influential in my own learning process and/or learning strategies.
I'm amazed at how I learn as I reflect and think about what I am learning. This chapter is filled with valuable information in instructional strategy. Overall, the planning of an instructional strategy is an important part of the instructional design process. It is at this point that the me as an instructional designer must be able to combine knowledge of learning and design theory with my experience of learners and objectives.
Needless to say, creativity in lesson design will enhance my knowledge and experience. "Perhaps it is this component of creativity that separates the art of instructional design from the science of instructional design. It is clear that the best lesson designs will demonstrate knowledge about the learners, the tasks reflected in the objectives, and the effectiveness of teaching strategies."
I learn in my other class that the formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners as in: accommodation and assimilation, Assimilation occurs when individuals' experiences are aligned with their internal representation of the world. They assimilate the new experience into an already existing framework. On the other hand, accommodation is the process of reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences. As we speak, I am accommodating this new experience and reframing my model of the way the world works. Often, I am continually learning from the experience of failure. But I am glad to be an active participant in this process.
In addition, I am drawn to the guiding principles of constructivism in education as follows:
1. Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must start with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct meaning.
2. Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts.
3. The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the “right” answers and regurgitate someone else’s meaning.
Overall, as I evaluate how I was learning, I am drawn to my own process of learning in terms of: coding, transforming, rehearsing, storing and retrieving my information. This reflection page of my readings help me sort my thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and values that are influential in my own learning process and/or learning strategies.