Tribune submission (continued)
The current classroom paradigm for teaching and learning has many
constraints. Many have adapted to these constraints and accepted them.
Yet the principles of effective learning suggest that new environments
that supplement the classroom are needed. Consider the difficulty of
holding small group discussions in a large lecture hall with immovable
seats. How effective is collaborative work in a computer lab where
students cannot see their classmates over the monitors? How interactive
can a class of 400 students be in the hour allotted for class? What
interactive strategies for learning large amounts of content are useful
to students?
These are only a few examples of the many challenges associated with
implementing interactive learning, the engaged learning now so strongly
recommended by researchers. The wonder and power of the online
environment is that it provides an entirely new context for teaching
and learning. It removes the physical and time constraints for
instructors as well as learners. Moving a course to the web presents
the perfect opportunity to re-examine the core principles of teaching
and learning and to create a new pedagogical framework for practices.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION OF LEARNING
Pedagogy is the art or science of teaching. It can guide us in
rethinking the teaching and learning process for new environments. The
fundamental unit of pedagogy is the educational experience, which
contains these four elements:
*
*
*
*
The learner
The teacher
A task to be completed with the help of a teacher
The knowledge needed to complete the task
This description of the four core components of the teaching and
learning process is from Vygotsky (1962) and his theory of the Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD).
Viewing all teaching and learning as a series of educational
experiences sounds elegant and, in fact, it is. Every learning
experience engaged in by a learner has these four elements. The learner
is a given. The teacher element is either (1) explicitly present
synchronously or asynchronously, at a distance or face to face, or (2)
implicitly present by virtue of directed instruction or by virtue of
being accessible if needed. The task to be completed is in a student's
zone of proximal development, and the knowledge to complete the task is
present in the form of resources and tools available to the student.
This description of any learning experience combines the basic
principle of readiness with the principle of manageable steps in
learning supported by a teacher.
You might observe that teaching and learning with these four critical
elements can happen anywhere, anytime. Learning happens when a young
child helps a toddler build a tower of blocks; when parents show
teenagers how to barbecue chicken or drive a car; and when adults learn
how to use new software, repair marine engines, or integrate new tools
into teaching and learning processes. Teaching and learning experiences
occur every day in many scenarios. Some of these experiences are
structured and formal, while others are unstructured, informal, and
casual. All fit the definition of a learning experience.
Vygotsky's four-element learning model provides a good place to start a
quest for the fundamentals of learning. The most significant aspect of
this learning model is the focus on the task to be performed by the
learner. Nothing so focuses a designer of instructional events as
knowing the particular task or problem that a student must learn to
solve. This task focuses and engages the learner and specifies an
assessment of the learning. The learner who solves the problem or
completes the task can move on to another problem or task.
Thus, our design task centers on the learning and the learner wherever
the learner may be, and reduces the importance of the physical where of
teaching.
STRATEGIES FOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
The field of pedagogy includes the principles of instructional design
that specify instructional strategies for teaching and learning. An
instructional strategy is a simple concept: It is a communication
activity that engages the learner in a task and assists the learner in
acquiring the knowledge, skill, or attitude necessary to complete the
task. Instructional strategies include, for example, lectures,
discussions, problem solving, interviews, panel presentations, study
projects, and assessments. The instructional strategies that assist
learning are generally based on one or more of these three basic modes
of dialogue and communication in teaching and learning:
* The dialogue between the instructor and the student
* The dialogue between the student and instructional resources
* The dialogue between and among students
Scholars have suggested that a useful design goal for undergraduate
education be an approximate balance of these three dialogues (Pelikan,
1992, p. 61). It can also be a useful design goal for courses,
especially online courses (Boettcher, 1995). Designing learning
experiences with a balance of these three modes of communication can be
just as easy or even easier in an online environment than for campus
courses. In the online environment, the spatial and physical
limitations of the classroom vanish. Communication in the online
environment can be synchronous or asynchronous, can be one-to-one
dialogue, or one-to-small group, or one-to-many dialogue, as in
broadcast email or website communication.
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN FOR FACULTY
A principal characteristic of instructional design is its iterative and
multileveled nature. In other words, instructional design is seldom
truly complete, and effective instructional design usually requires
design at institutional and infrastructure levels as well as at
program, course, activity, and assessment levels (Boettcher, 2003). The
process that follows applies primarily to the design at the course,
activity, and assessment levels. This overview is provided here as
grounding for thinking about learning theory. Instructional design can
be described as a four-step process:
1. ANALYZE THE COURSE. Course analysis is usually done by the faculty
member. For many online programs, a more extensive marketing and
mission analysis is completed at the program level. This analysis asks
questions about whether the program is a match with the students and
their needs and expectations, whether it will attract sufficient
students, and whether there is sufficient experienced faculty to
support the program. The initial course analysis examines the
following:
* Learner characteristics
* The learning contexts of the expected learner - where and when
students will be learning
* The knowledge, skill goals, and expectations of the learners
* The knowledge and skill requirements of the instructor
* The relationship of the course to the context of the larger
certificate or degree program
2. DETERMINE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. The second step asks the following
Instructional Design 101 questions. If you ask no other questions while
planning a course, these are the most useful and fundamental. At the
end of the course,
* What do I want my students to know?
* What do I want my students to be able to do?
* What do I want my students to think as a result of the instruction?
3. DESIGN THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES. The third step focuses on the
design of the unit or modules and the learning experiences within those
units. During this design step, faculty generally do the following:
* Frame the body of knowledge and select the core and recommended
content.
* Identify and select a set of teaching strategies and resources.
* Determine the procedures and processes for assessing student
learning.
4. PLAN EVALUATION OF COURSE. The fourth step focuses on evaluating the
design and effectiveness of the course and the program. The plan
includes evaluating three dimensions of the program:
* Program design
* Instructor evaluation
* Delivery of the program
In the process of instructional design, we all make decisions based on
our own theories and practices of learning. Immersing yourself in a
learning theory or embracing principles from a set of theories can be
the basis of your own theory and can inform the design of your courses,
whether on campus or online.
Judith V. Boettcher mailto:judith@designingforlearning.info is a
lecturer at the University of Florida in distance, continuing, and
executive education, and an independent consultant with Designing for
Learning. Rita- Marie Conrad mailto:rconrad@mailer.fsu.edu is the
principal for RMC eDesign, where she focuses on the issues related to
online course design, instruction, and evaluation.
This abstract is from the forthcoming League book, Faculty Guide for
Moving Teaching and Learning to the Web, an update of the well-received
1999 guide. Both books are co-authored by Boettcher and Conrad.
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