Session 14 - Learning Objects

As I read the information on the learning object model, it does seem to share many similar characteristic with the object orientated (OO) software design methodology. The OO design methodology is currently used heavily in the computer software design field. Creating small reusable objects / components are the key to any good OO program. When an object become too large, than its reuse is limited. The black box approach to object design is critical to good OO objects. When you write a program in C++ there is an object library with thousands of defined objects that you can use to develop what ever program you want. The nice thing about object library's, is designers do not have to reinvent the wheel every time a new program is needed. With that in mind, I think the OO idea can be applied to web based instructional design. The challenge is that most C++ objects return some type of data value. The idea of passing instruction content out of learning object will be a little more challenging. I can see this approach requiring highly skilled instructional content design developers, to create reusable instructional content objects.

I feel designing learning objects will be quite complex in their design and thus would take lots of time to build correctly. This approach is well past the proficiency of the average teacher. Creating the learning objects is only half the challenge. How the objects are integrated in a web-based instructional program, will be the true challenging.

Session 13 - Cognitive Flexibility Theory

As I read the information on the cognitive flexibility model, it does seem to have similar characteristic with case based learning and other learning models. Cognitive flexibility theory is also based on using real world cases as part of its model. Analyzing cases that have different perspectives and contexts, can help students engage their higher order thinking and reasoning skills. These skills do require that you already have some basic knowledge to call upon. With that in mind, I also think this model would be more effective in the upper grade levels. That is not to say, they would not work in the elementary grade levels. I feel it will be challenging and time consuming to build and teach base-skills in the cognitive flexibility model, in the elementary grade level.

I feel these models are quite complex in their design and thus would take lots of time to build correctly. I am not sure how proficient the average teacher would be at building online lessons for this model. It almost sounds like design teams would be needed to help ensure the model is adhered to correctly.

Overall, I think this model is good at helping students learn, based on real world situations that are presented using different perspectives and contexts. This model can help students to be more prepared to make critical and effective decisions in the real world.

Session 12 - Case Based Learning

As I read the information on the Case Based Learning model, it does seem to have this umbrella characteristic. It seems that you can include many of the previous instructional models under it. For example, problem based learning and cooperative learning do fit nicely under a case based learning umbrella. I feel that the case based model is an approach to learning that involves applying critical thinking and reasoning skills. These skills do require that you already have basic knowledge to call upon. With this in mind, I think this model can be used more effectively in the upper grade levels. I feel it is hard to teach phonic, addition, basic grammar, and other base skill in a case based learning model in the elementary grade level. Case based reasoning skills do require a person to have a functioning set of basic skills.

Since case based learning involves real world cases, does this bring up any intellectual and personal privacy rights? Would the average citizen mind having their personal finance history used in a college case study on financial bankruptcy?

I can see case based learning taking a lot of time to develop. I think it would be very important to use critically designed guiding questions to help the students find all the areas in the case where critical decisions were made. This also bring up the question as to how do we assess case based learning. I can see case based learning as having sometimes very subjective conclusions. There are many ways and solution to real world problems. How do we know the students have discovered the most appropriate one?

Overall, I think this model is good at helping students learn, based on real world situations. This model can help students to be more prepared to make appropriate and critical decisions in the real world, where they have to live and prosper.  

Session 11 - MOST Model

As I read the information on the MOST Model, it had some similarities to online e-books, where the story is read to the student, along with still shot illustrations, and stories made into movies that have subtitles. The use of web 2.0 tools to help with understanding sequencing and other literacy concepts can be very helpful. These tools can also be helpful in reinforcing learned concepts. I do wonder how well at-risk students using the MOST model; understand different literacy concepts like author’s purpose, inferring meaning of vocabulary words, and inference of meaning buried in between the lines, by the author.  I can see the MOST model, helping at-risk students learn some of these concepts in a visual format. The question I have, does this translate into the same skills being applied when they take a book home to read. Even if at-risk student use MOST models to help learn reading skills, they still need to read text to help improve their reading skills. Most standardized reading EOG assessment tests are not going to be of the MOST model. Reading is the key that opens the door to all other content areas.

                                               

As you can tell, I “wonder” a lot. How does this model work with different learning styles? Is this model more effective with students that are visual learners? How effective is this model with at-risk students that have a strong verbal or auditory learning style? Are there any at-risk student that have strong verbal learning style? I would find it interesting to know, if most at-risk students have a certain type of learning style.

As I read about the MOST model, I was unsure also, if there are any requirements as to the length of the stories that can be used. If the students are in high school, can chapter books be used that contain lots of detail and a longer story line, like “Stone Fox” or “The Black Pearl, which most students find very exciting and interesting?

I feel that creating interesting and effective MOST modules can take a lot of time for the teachers to create. I can see that the MOST model can be beneficial to at-risk students. I also feel implementing them in an elementary school setting, may be easier, than in a high school setting, due to story complexity. I still have questions about how teachers would put together a MOST model on a book like “Stone Fox”. Where would the teacher get the video segments, and other aspects of the story to make it into a MOST model? I think using video story telling is better at holding student interest, than still action shots. Would teachers cut sections out of the movie? How does that play into intellectual property rights?

Session 10 - STAR Model

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• As I read the information on the STAR Legacy Model, it sounded very similar to the Goal-Based and Anchored models. I like how the STAR model evaluates the student’s prior knowledge in a subject area. It is like wetting the soil, before it rains. It helps the speed and efficiency of the soil’s absorption of the rain. I feel this idea also applies to the human mind. I also, like how the model uses a “wrap up” near the end, to have students reflect on what was learned and how a student’s thoughts and beliefs may have changed over the lesson.

What are barriers to its use?

• I feel that creating interesting and effective STAR model challenges are very important in capturing and holding a student’s attention and interest. I feel the challenge should be in a video format, instead of just a text description. I find personally that I am more engaged with a video challenge, then by just reading something to see what the challenge is. The challenge presenter’s passionate voice and body language can be a great way to engage and motivate students. I think the “Perspectives & Resources” part can be very time consuming to build. This part is also important in holding a students interest and helping to motivate them to learn. This section should not be just a list of web links for the students to use.

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe the STAR model can be implemented in a web-based environment. I also believe that this model can be used across many different subject areas other than just math and science applications, which the researchers mostly discussed. For example, in language arts, students could receive a challenge that involves converting a secret letter from first person to third person, where the pronouns and verb tense are part of an encryption code. I feel the STAR model can be used to support individual and group learning. This is a great plus in a diverse learning style classroom, since there are many different ways students receive knowledge. 

Session 9 - Anchored Instruction

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• As I read the articles on anchored learning (AL), it sounded very similar to the problem-based learning and goal-based learning approaches. They all advise using real-world problem learning situations.  I find it really challenging to distinguish between PBL, GBL, and AL. It almost seems like researchers just tweaked the approach a little, and then they slap their name on a slightly different way of looking at things, and call it a new approach.
• I feel that the majority of the students in a class would like to receive there real world problem scenario in a video format, since this is the most familiar method to them. The video would seem to connect the problem to more of the student’s senses, which could make it seem more real to the students.

What are barriers to its use?

• I feel that creating interesting and effective AL modules can take a lot of time for the teachers to create. One big challenge I can see is the commitment needed to create different web modules. I know teachers that have been moved around by there administrations to teacher 4 different grade levels, in a five-year period. Why would a teacher want to make any web modules, when they are not certain what grade level they are teaching each year? I can see this being a real deterrent to creating web module.
• Since our students come from a very diverse background, teachers would need to create many different AL scenarios, so that students can choose what would be of interest to them.
• I have heard from many people that you get more out of reading the book, than just watching the movie made on a book. I wonder if the concept also applies to the current standardized curriculum, we currently teach in school.   Students get exposed to many different terms in a standardized curriculum movie, but do they really get the whole picture by not working with real world detailed situations that are like the story in a book?
• I noticed that AL research seems to focus mostly on science and math learning situations. I wonder how well AL works on reading and writing language arts skills, which are taught heavily in elementary school.

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe AL can be implemented in a web-based environment. The challenge is coming up with interesting real-world situations for students to work with. I wonder how much time teachers can or are willing to spend helping their students understand the real world problem solving steps in the different approaches. When teachers have AYP goals and EOGs breathing down their necks, how do they assess if their students learned/gained all the EOG tested content knowledge, from the different real world learning approaches. I like the AL approach and I can see using it in my elementary classroom on a limited basis. With all the standardized testing taking place these days, I feel teachers may be reluctant to spend many months trying to teach their students how to critically think, and possibly miss their AYP and EOG goals, and then be out on the street, trying to find another job.

Session 8 - Goal Based Learning

What are your initial reactions to this theory/model?

• As I read the articles on goal-based learning (GBL), it sounded similar to the problem-based learning approach. They both recommend using real-world learning situations.  I find it interesting in the types of artificial goals that young students have. I feel teachers can help foster goals for the students. The challenge is that the students are usually only with a teacher for one year. Parents are in a very powerful and unique position, where they have life-long influence on students’ goals. This brings up the age-old question of how can parents instill goals in their children, if they have no goals themselves. I feel children are not born with natural goal setting abilities, thus parents and teachers need to model how achievable goals are created. I feel students need to understand the meaning and purpose of goals, before they can be effective in GBL.

What are barriers to its use?

• I feel that creating interesting and effective GBL modules can take a lot of time to create. The examples that I have seen have different paths for students to select based on their interests. Creating these would require more time and effort on the teacher’s part. Having choices is a good thing, but require a lot of up front planning and development time.
• Another challenge is there are many teachers that are not very tech savvy, in creating web modules that are visually, auditorily, and interactively engaging to the students. If they are just created like web pages, with a bunch of web resource links, students are not going to be very excited and interested in the lesson activity.
• Since students have many varied interests, a teacher should have a variety of different GBL lessons for student to select. When students have choice, they are more likely to be interested in the activity.

Since we are taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?

• I believe GBL can be implemented in a web-based environment. The challenge for teachers is to come up with realistic goals. Extrinsic goals like stickers, food, etc are not always that motivating for students. Intrinsic goals like figuring out how much fence is needed to create a pen to save abused horses can be more motivating for a student. That assumes they like horses. I feel it is important for teachers to have several different goals to allow for a variety for diverse student interests.