OMDE607 - Course Development Project 

 

The ISD Process

 


MODULE 4

Summary of Readings

 

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Denning, P. (1999) Garrison, D. (1993) Johnson,D., Johnson, R. and Smith, K. (1998) Mason, R. (1998) Tam, M. Three Models of Distance Education Matrix Seel & Glasgow

Chapter 7

 Teaching as a Social Process  A cognitive constructionist view of distance education: An analysis of teaching-learning assumptions Cooperative Learning Returns to College.  Models of Online Courses  Constructivism, Instructional Design, and Technology: Implications for Transforming Distance Learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denning, P. (1999) Teaching as a Social Process. Educom Review, May/June.  


Peter Dennig explains the difference between two popular stereotypes of teachers: "The sage (the teacher is an information provider who lectures to a room of students and occasionally tests them to see how much information was received) to guide (the teacher who is the navigator or coach)." He describes the differences between these two metaphors in light of how automation influences the information channels between student and teacher.  The guide is more suited to future teaching and the "good news is that this view opens up the human side of learning because the teacher must deal with the diversity of concerns, learning styles, backgrounds and talents among students.  Although technology is not currently perfected to eliminate the role of a teacher, he believes that it is only " a matter of time until these technologies mature and become capable of automating important parts of what we now call coaching, facilitating and guiding.  Few teachers in traditional settings feel comfortable embracing the role of coach because many of them do not understand it thoroughly; however Denning explains the shift in markets toward a growing number of private educational vendors and corporate universities that value the skill of coaching., and many "graduate and adult students find technology rich, low commute, flexible-scheduling alternatives more attractive than current universities.  These trend and new realities are catching on as the "public also believes that a well-educated workforce is economically competitive in world markets and that the education necessary to support this must continue through a persons career into retirement.  He concludes that "in spite of these stressors, the good news for students and teachers is that learning is more than information transfer, that automation can affect at most the information-transfer part of learning, and that the teacher is indispensable.   

 

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Garrison, D. (1993) A cognitive constructionist view of distance education: An

Garrison's article explains teaching and learning through the application of behavioral and cognitive theories, relating these views to the implications of distance education.  Constructivism is discussed in detail as "the knowledge that is constructed by the individual in context based upon interpretation of experience and previous knowledge structure.  The learner takes responsibility to construct meaning actively, not in isolation, with oneself as well as others.  He believes that the teacher in this view carries a heavy responsibility to structure content that provides a "framework to connect and make sense of ideas and facts.  They must relate new knowledge structures to those already possess by students.  

 

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Johnson,D., Johnson, R. and Smith, K. (1998) Cooperative Learning Returns to College. Change Magazine, July/August.

Johnson & Johnson's article is grounded in rich theory, research, and practice surrounding cooperative learning and how it works in higher education.  They review the principles of cooperative learning efforts and how collaborative learning helps students work together to accomplish shared goals, relates this learning to "natural learning that occurs as an effect of community which students work together in unstructured groups to create an individual learning situation, and explains the complexity of these learning efforts.  The theoretical roots of cooperative learning is founded on three theories: The Social-Independence Theory, The Cognitive Developmental Theory, and Behavioral Learning theories.  Johnson & Johnson further explain the differences among these theories as such: 

They also explain five key elements of internal dynamics that make cooperation work (positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group process) Each of these elements are described further on how faculty members can approach these principles in instruction. 

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Mason, R. (1998) Models of Online Courses. ALN Magazine, 2(2).  

Mason's article reviews the three historical elements of the first online courses that were delivered. These consist of: asynchronous group and individual messaging, access to course materials and real-time interactive events.  He provides an overview of the technological journey "from command line frustration to user empowerment" and explains how improvements in access and usability "has merely allowed other problems in creating online learning environments to emerge more clearly."  He further explains various perspectives on how learning is best encouraged and supported in the online environment.  These include               1.) Careful planning on how to structure online discussions; 2.) Adapting subject areas with appropriate collaborative activities and assignments; 3.) Providing online assessments,        4.)  Selecting and integrating interactive course materials; 4.) Reviewing online pedagogy.  Mason highlights three online course models (The Content + Support Model, The Wrap Around Model, & The Integrated Model) and he provides an example of these course models from the UKOU.  He discusses some of the issues of online teaching and learning (i.e. collaborative working, rolling intake vs. cohort system, tutor workload,  and student motivation) and concludes the article with an overview of this new learning environment with an emphasis on lifelong learning.  The lifelong learning movement with its emphasis on just-in-time learning and a customer centered approach  has helped to develop the interest in online courses using a resource based model.  The underlying aim of such courses is learning how to learn; that is, facilitating knowledge management such as searching, selecting and synthesizing information, discovering how and where to find answer solutions, and understanding, transforming and presenting ideas.  The new learning environment provides both the cause and means for doing this."

 

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Tam, M. Constructivism, Instructional Design, and Technology: Implications for Transforming Distance Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 3(2) 2000.


This paper examines the characteristics and value of designed instruction grounded in constructivist theory.  It explains the principles of constructivism, the construction of technology-supported learning environments, and the practice of distance education.  First it describes the basic characterization of constructivism, identifying main principles of learning by asking questions such as: 

  1. What is Learning? The knowledge and truth that exist within the mind transmitted by the learner 

  2. What is the learning process? An active process- Learner and teachers are active participants in the community of the learning process.

  3. What is the teacher's role in that process? The teacher provides a constructivist learning environment characterized by share knowledge, shared authority, guiding instruction, and grouping students in collaborative assignments. 

  4. What can they do to carry out that role? Teachers encourage, accept and engage students in the learning process, use a wide variety of materials to do this, and assess understanding through open-structured tasks.  

Overall, the primary responsibility of the constructivist perspective of a teacher is to "create and maintain a collaborative problem-solving environment, where students are allowed to construct their knowledge, and the teachers acts as a facilitator or guide "  Tam covers the five principles of this new minds set, he relates the  constructivist elements in the instructional design, and presents the implications for the construction of technology-supported learning environments.    

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Three Models of Distance Education Matrix. Institute for Distance Education, University System of Maryland.


The three models of DE Matrix explains how various distance education models differ not only in the types of technologies they use, but also in the locus of control over the pace and place of instruction. However, there are a number of planning issues common to all models such as logistical support (equality treatment across all students), student support services (easy access on nonacademic matters), faculty support (orientations and training for faculty who volunteer to participate in new modes of delivery), evaluation techniques (technical and administrative support systems should be evaluated by faculty and students), and laboratory experiences (alternative lab experiences for distance learners). 

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Seel & Glasgow: Chapter 7


Chapter 7 of Seel & Glasgow's book describes how a management plan is developed using an ISD model to guide the process.  Because this process provides structure for a project team, these steps should be done early in the phase of development.  "The decision to use an ISD model may depend to some extent on the adoption of learning paradigms such as behaviorism, cognitive science, and constructivism; because these paradigms have different positions on the use of objectives and strategies for instruction and evaluations"  Seel & Glasgow first describe the three forms of models (verbal, visual or three dimensional) and further describe the several purposes of a design model as a representation of the process for you and your team to agree on (p.166).  These include:

There are six core elements to a model. These include:

When selecting an ISD model, Seel & Glasgow provide several models published over the last 40 years.  They outline 

The project management of this process includes three steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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