Designing the Instructional Message (Week 9)

     In this chapter, Morrison, Ross, and Kemp give a detailed explanation of designing the instructional message. They divided the process into three parts: preinstructional strategy, signaling the structure of the text, the use of pictures and graphics.

     Preinstructional Strategies:

     At the beginning of every lesson, there is a warm-up or an icebreaker that helps the learner to prepare for the lesson. The authors mentioned four different procedures of preinstructional strategies. The first one is pretest which includes several questions about the upcoming instruction. The second strategy is a set of objectives which is prefered by more traidional instructors. It is to give a brief oral listed summary of what is coming. Third strategy is the overview, it is a written summary of what is expected. The last strategy is the advanced organizer which is more abstract. They also mentioned about graphic organizer which I have a lot of varieties. Fx:

     Signaling the structure of the text:

     It is all about gaining attention through how you write the instructional text; the headings, words, italic type, etc. We can manipulate the learners’ cognitive process by organizing the structure in a specific way. The authors mentioned “three critical design elements” that creates a finely printed instruction. First one is a set of particular components like words which helps the learner become aware of the structure. Secondly, the harmony of the structure is important which also helps the learners’ recall of information. Third, the content and the learners’ previous knowledge should have something in common to acquire the text clearly.

     The use of pictures and graphics:

     Showing something how to do is always better than giving just a written instruction. In this part, the authors mentioned using pictures and graphics in order to help the learner to acquire the necessary information easily. Here pictures and graphics are facilitators of learning. It also helps me to understand everything clearly, for example, if I am making an IKEA bookcase, the text in the instructions is not enough but the pictures at the end of the page help me to do it. Or in my class, whenever I show a picture about a picture of what I taught, it helps my student to comprehend better.

Instructional Objectives and Writing Performance Objectives (Week 7)

Instructional Objectives

Instructional objectives are a tool to design proper instructions, activities, and resources in order to evaluate the learning. It is a guide showing the appropriate way to the learner. Objectives part in instructional design grouped into three domains: cognitive, psychomotor, affective.

Cognitive Domain:

Cognitive category mostly related to knowledge, information and another kind of aspects of learning. In this part, Bloom’s taxonomy comes forth where the intellectual activities (cognitive objectives)  arranged from simple to advanced: Knowledge (to remember), Comprehension (to comprehend), Application (to apply), Analysis (to analyze), Synthesis (to create), and Evaluation (to evaluate).

Psychomotor Domain:

The psychomotor domain includes the skills about psychical learnings. The cognitive process helps the development of psychomotor skills such as cycling, driving etc. Heinich, Molenda, and Russel granted a taxonomy in terms of the degree of coordination: Imitation, Manipulation, Precision, and Articulation.

Affective Domain:

This area contains the objectives about learners’ psychological situations such as to feel, interest, love a certain value. We all have a psychological level related to knowledge that we acquire. It is the less used area especially in writing performance objectives. Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia presented a taxonomy which includes Receiving (give attention), Responding (will to take action), Valuing (showing a positive or a negative attitude), Organizing (to determine relationships among values), Characterizing (to accept a value as a part of one’s personality).

Writing Performance Objectives:

Writing Performance Objectives firstly orients the instruction and facilitates the design process. Writing part specifies the criteria of evaluation. It can provide a huge contribution to the motivation of the learners and ease the planned studies. To categorize the instructional objectives ensures them to be understood effectively. Categorizing also helps the instructors to know which skills have to be taught.

Assessing Learning from Instruction (Week 6)

                While I was reading “Assessing Learning From Instruction” text, a lot of shapes, charts, and graphics were spinning in my head. So I am going to express myself mostly with these kinds of instruments for this time.

The Differences Between Criterion-Referenced and Norm-Referenced Assessments

Identifying Subordinate Skills and Entry Behaviors (Week 5)

                We have analyzed the goal and determined the skills that are going to be taught. But what if the learners do not know the basic skills to learn the intended skills? At that point identifying subordinate skills come forth.

                There are several approaches to subordinate skills and entry behaviors analysis.

• ·         Hierarchical Approach: Used to analyze individual steps in the goal analysis that are categorized as intellectual psychomotor skills. According to the text, there is also Gagne’s hierarchy skills, “..in order to learn how to perform problem-solving skills, the learner must first know how to apply the rules that are required to solve the problem.” The best question that summarizes all is: “What would the learner have to know in order to learn to do the first step in performing the goal.” So if you want to run, first you have to learn walking J
• ·         Cluster Analysis: is a process of grouping a group variable into a group of pre-defined properties. Thus, the variables in a similar structure are combined and clustered together. It helps to better define the verbal information (“learning vocabularies in a new language”)  and reduces the number of variables.
• ·         Attitude Goals (Entry Behaviors): Identify exactly what learners already have to know or are able to do at the beginning of the instruction.
• ·         Combining the techniques

Instructional analysis diagrams categorize the goal and perform. It helps to select the appropriate techniques to identify the subordinate skills.

I have found a video that I want to share with you about this subject :

Task Analysis (Week 5)

Task analysis is a general definition of what is expected from the instructions given (what are the results) at the end of the process. It also consists of setting a goal and strategical planning activities. To set a goal means, to determine what the outputs will be and strategical planning is to settle a suitable method which is necessary to absorb a new skill. Designers should conduct a task analysis to set a goal right after they get all the detailed information from the subject matter expert.

Task analysis determines the information and the skills that are required to be acquired and developed by the learners. During the task analysis, designers should ask themselves that “From where should I start designing?, What is the sequence of the information I have taken from the SME?”

I think there are several benefits of task analysis. This step in instructional design determines the necessary content to solve the instructional problem. Moreover, it makes the subject matter expert take every step into consideration, and thus the designer can see the content from the learner’s point of view.

There are 3 task analysis techniques:

Chapter 3: Conducting a Goal Analysis (Dick & Carey, 2001) (Week 4)

In Chapter 3, “Conducting a Goal Analysis” means determining the crucial steps of the instructional goal by using goal analysis. Why do we teach this subject-matter? Why do we mention about it? What is the goal? What are the benefits of this subject? What will the learner be able to do with the new knowledge he/she acquire after this lesson? The word “goal” here equals another important word “acquisition”; identifying exactly what the learner will be able to do?

Goal analysis has two main steps; 1) “classifying the goal according to the type of learning which will happen at the end of the course”, 2) “identify and sequence the major steps when the learner is performing the goal”. 

1)      Before starting designing a goal statement, we should know that there are certain subordinate skills to be learned. Gagne’s “domains of learning” will help to classify the goal.

2)      Another step of the goal analysis is to “imagine performing the step or explaining it to a learner”.  The designer can use a diagram to sequence the steps that will be learned. 

So the designer has to know everything about the goal. The best way to see if the goal is appropriate is having the learner performing the goal, or make the learner explain what he/she understands like peer teaching.

Chapter 5: Analyzing Learners and Contexts (Dick & Carey, 2001) (Week 3)

In Chapter 5, while analyzing the learners, first you should first determine the “target population”. You cannot teach someone (a child, a teenager, an adult..etc) who does not want to learn. So the instructors should gain the attraction of the learners by relating the subject “to their interests”. Therefore the learners will feel more interested in the subject, and they are going to be more likely to achieve the goal of the instruction.

                During the design of the instruction, designers should also give importance to the setting where the target “skill will be used”. The environment where the learners use their new knowledge is important as well. From my point of view as an English teacher, creating corridors or classes like Oxford Street, London, New York etc. I think teaching the culture of the target language is as important as teaching the language itself. The learners should be exposed to the target language as much as they can be.

                About the Context Analysis of Learning Environment part, the designer should check the current situation of the learning environment, and determine what can be added like “types of equipment and resources” in order to facilitate learning.

                So there was a question in the evaluation part which makes me think about: “How would they describe it in their own words?” If a subject is well-known you can paraphrasing it easily and without any help. So taking and giving feedback is one of the crucial steps of the ID process. 

                  I want to show a video about Analyzing the learner. Hope it will help :)