REFLECTION
THOUGHTS ON TEACHING
Align the outcomes, assessments, and teaching / learning strategies to establish clear expectations for the students
“The outcomes, assessments, and teaching/learning strategies in your design should reflect each other or be aligned, so that they support the learner in mastering the required knowledge and skills” (Larson & Lockee, 2014, p. 115).
I finally found out why I have performed better on comprehensive final examinations than individual examinations. The teachers have stopped moving the waste basket! Larson and Lockee (2014) provide a very insightful example of ‘missing the target’ where an instructional designer asked the college teachers to throw their marshmallows into the waste basket. The designer went from providing no waste basket, to moving it around, before it became stationary. From a student perspective, I have taken countless undergraduate classes where I would study content that would never be assessed. I would be relieved when the finals were given because the most important topics would elevate to the surface for testing. I generally knew what those were, whereas the module exams were the moving targets. The premise of the moving target is that the instructor must align the outcomes, assessments, and teaching/ learning strategies. I learned that it is a best practice to establish clear expectations for the students to learn (Larson & Lockee, 2014, p.117). This translates to linking the learning objectives and the assessments through an appropriate instructional design.
Larson, M. & Lockee, B. (2014). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. New York: Routledge.
Customize the instruction based on the level of prerequisite knowledge and experience
According to learning theorist David Ausubel, “If I had to reduce all of educational psychology to just one principle, I would say this: The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him/her accordingly” (1968, p. vi) (Larson & Lockee, 2014, p. 53).
In the training session team project (Artifact 3.1), we asked the learners how much experience they have regarding virtual field trips and Google’s Tour Builder. The questions played a role in establishing the learners’ prerequisite knowledge. Are they novices or experts? The training sessions were designed for novice learners. When communicating with novice learners the information must be scaffolded in a different manner than for experts. I learned that it is appropriate to customize the instruction based on the level of prerequisite knowledge and experience. For example, an instructivist pedagogical approach is suitable when the “learners have low levels of prior knowledge/ experience with the content” (Larson & Lockee, 2014, p. 80).
Larson, M. & Lockee, B. (2014). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. New York: Routledge.
Too much exposure to simultaneous information inhibits learning
In architecture, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe popularized the phrase ‘Less is more’ to reflect the elegance of a spartan design philosophy. He designed the notable Barcelona Pavilion, Crown Hall, and the Seagram Building. I believe there is a parallel with his architectural design success and cognitive load theory and the Gestalt principles. Cognitive load theory (Sweller, 2011) suggests that there are limitations to the processing on novel information. Cognitive load theory postulates that we have three basic assumptions for processing information (1) humans have two independent avenues for processing visual and aural information, (2) we possess a limited capacity within our working memory, and (3) we seek meaningful connections with our own knowledge and experiences. Gestalt (Lynda.com, 2012) has basic principles involving symmetry, figure ground, continuation, closure, etc. I learned that too much exposure to simultaneous information inhibits learning. Although my whiteboard lectures at Drury might satisfy the cognitive load suggestions, my PowerPoint presentations do not. A better means of learning is to remove the text from the PowerPoints. I include text because for situations where there are no verbal communications, which would be okay for at-home use. I need to resolve this conflict.
lynda.com. (2012, February 14). Interaction design and Gestalt principles [video]. Retrieved February 24, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlzuJqZ797U&feature=youtu.be
Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory. In Psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 55, pp. 37-76). Academic Press.
THOUGHTS ON ONLINE COURSES
Online courses should include a synchronous human-to-human activity to foster a social presence
“There needs to be a focus on establishing human-to-human contact before the interaction involved with the course begins” (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 12).
Palloff and Pratt are making a point that communication between the students does not necessarily indicate that the students have a sense of belonging or social presence in the class. The human-to-human contact in distance learning implies a synchronous event. In one class, we used the Zoom video teleconferencing platform to hold our first team meeting before we started any of the individual work, and for later progress and final meetings. Zoom was outside of the learning management system. One unexpected Zoom experience was that two of us heard thunder at the same time and realized that we were living in the same town some 180 miles away from the Mizzou.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities (2nd ed.). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Online courses need a tiered escalation of engagement opportunities to build a sense of community
The “Key to the learning process are [sic] the interactions among the students themselves, the interaction between the faculty and students, and collaboration in learning that results from these interactions” (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 4).
For students to become engaged in a course, the instructor should establish a variety of course activities with peers and the instructor that builds a sense of community. The online class must be more collaborative in nature than the traditional classroom. For example, a gradated scale of engagements may include beginning course with ice breakers and topical threaded discussion boards with the entire learning community that contracts into smaller group projects and then individual assignments.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities (2nd ed.). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Online content should be available in a variety of formats to accommodate students’ learning preferences thereby encouraging independent learning
“By allowing learners to interact with content in their preferred learning style, teachers are increasing the likelihood that they will become independent learners” (Howland, 2020, LU4).
When the students become the independent learners, they permit what Palloff and Pratt (2007, p. 16) posit about the shift from being a traditional teacher-centered to a learner-centered online process is founded on self-directed behaviors as the teacher shift to the role of a facilitator. Accommodating for every student’s learning preference could be attempted by offering a variety of content formats to permit the learner to select a medium that is aligned with their preference. For example, some students may prefer to read digital course writings or uploaded PDF journal articles while others may prefer to watch videos or view blogs.
Howland, J. (2020). Learning unit 4: Instructional strategies and assessing learning. In ISLT 9484 Teaching Online Courses. Columbia: University of Missouri.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities (2nd ed.). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.