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Class and Curricula Design Considerations

Wed, 12/12/2007 - 17:01 — John

This page discusses class and curricula design considerations.

These are not "instructions", but ideas for you to consider as you go about creating online teaching materials. These considerations are discussed in more detail in the paper Web-based Learning Tools and Techniques for Rural and Tribal Adult Learners.

Everyone learns in different ways, and Web-based tools are not appropriate for all teachers, all learners, or all topics. If you plan to use Web-based tools in your classes, consider some of the ideas about learning that I've discovered.

Teaching/Learning Modes and How Web-Based Learning Tools Fit in a Curriculum

There are many philosophies guiding education and learning, and the tools we have available to help teach and learn reflect these philosphies. Many course designers probably do not conscientiously seek to build a curricula that sits firmly within the bounds of one philosophy or another, but the education and upbringing of a course designer or teacher will influence the way instructional tools are used and classes conducted. As you develop a class and choose tools to help you teach or learn, keep some of the following ideas in mind and consider how students from different backgrounds will learn using your curricula. You may also find that your ideas of an ideal class cannot be met given your resources, so consider alternatives that might fit better within your environment and don't discount distance learning because you can't make it work as you first envisioned.

Competing Pedagogies?

Fulton Public School, Middleton, MI (19th Century Classroom)

Most western learners have grown up learning according to behaviorist philosophies. In broad terms, a behaviorist curricula is a system of knowledge transfer that tends to be highly structured, and knowledge transfer success is determined through controlled evaluations of a student's knowledge. The current US public school system and "No Child Left Behind" laws reflect these philosophies: Students are taught to perform at a certain level on controlled, standardized tests. Curricula conforming to behaviorist philosophies will tend to be tailored to impart specific information and skills to students, and students are deemed to be successful if they can repeat the skills and information through standardized testing.

Technology offers education designers very powerful tools to create an ideal lesson for a behaviorist's classroom. Computers and telecommunications networks are very good at storing, transferring, retrieving, and displaying structured information. Computer-based testing leaves little room for subjective evaluations, instead focusing on illiciting an appropriate response based on pre-determined prompts. There are many tools to create and manage lessons and students, among them tools like Flash, Shockwave, Blackboard, Acrobat Connect, PowerPoint, and others that allow a designer to enter static information, relay that information to students, and then track the display of information and student responses.

Compare behaviorist philosophies to the broad ideas of a constructivist philosophy, where teachers guide learners through less structured, often so-called "exploratory learning", with the goal of encouraging a student to find knowledge on his or her own in ways that the student best sees fit. There may be no evaluation of learning success in a constuctivist learning environment, instead a student may be considered having learned if the learning process is documented and an instructor gives a subjective evaluation of a student's development.

Hands-on Learning at Michigan Tech University

Although computer-based technologies make ideal tools for highly structured learning environments, they can also enable self-directed learning and exploration, even when it's not desired. With access to the Internet, ad-hoc networks, and easy-to-use software development tools, students can explore and create in the middle of the most structured lessons. It is becoming increasingly difficult to prevent students from taking advantage of (or being distracted by) the additional learning and collaboritive tools and resources available in their environment. Instructors must therefore learn to account for and adapt their curricula to these added resources.

Elements of behaviorist and constructivist philosophies are often used together. Many schools now use exploratory learning as a component of teaching many subjects, and the students' learning may be evaluated using standardized tests. You don't have to choose on or the other, but if you recognize the advantages and drawbacks of these philosophies, and tailor your instruction to fit your environment, you will get better results.

What YOU Need to Do

Use technology to help you reach your education goals, but keep in mind that technology is a tool that can be used in many ways to reach those goals. In the teaching environment where the tools mentioned on these pages were evaluated, the instructors had limited time, financial, and personnel resources, and the students needed to rapidly learn rapidly evolving tools and topics. The instructors found it difficult to keep up with student needs when they designed and implemented highly structured lessons and systems. When there isn't enough time or resources to create an automated instructional tool that evaluates individual students using pre-programmed quizzes, it might make more sense to simply demonstrate how to complete tasks and accomplish goals, which helps students understand how they might accomplish the same goals using the instructors' successful practices.

Teaching/Learning Examples

At Michigan LTAP and Michigan Tech TTAP, we've experimented with different lesson types to see what works best for our instructors and students. The first two examples are lessons that can be viewed whenever the student would like, one with, and one without student performance evaluations.

Example 1, The Road Safety Audit self-guided module (opens a new window to view the sample)

  • This self-guided module relays information to students using a multimedia web-based lesson (this demonstration does not have interactive quizzes, but the actual module contains quizzes and automated evaluations logged on a per-user basis). The instructor spent considerable time scripting and performing the lesson, designing quizzes, and managing the information delivery. Student learning is evaluated using programmed multiple-choice questions, and the student is deemed successful if the responses meet the expected answers. Each student who views this module can be tracked using a Learning Management System, which helps the instructors and designers if and how students complete the assignments. Upon completing the assignment with a score that meets pre-determined criteria, the student could be awarded a certificate that confirms adequate knowledge transfer. The instrutor used the Adobe Acrobat Connect Presenter plug-in for Microsoft PowerPoint to create this module.
  • Compare this lesson to the 19th century classroom shown above.

Example 2, How to Add a Culvert using a RoadSoft self-guided module (opens a new window to view the sample)

  • This example demonstrates specific steps required to complete a task using an on-demand multimedia demonstration. If the student views the entire demonstration, she may be able to perform the task on her own, but the instructional designers of this module do not track student progress, success, or access. Because there are no evaluations and the instruction is "learn by example," the instructor spends less time preparing this lesson. The most time-consuming part of creating this lesson is writing the script and narration. The instructor used Adobe Captivate to produce this lesson.
  • Compare this lesson to a printed instruction manual.

The next three examples are recordings of workshops and individualized instruction. Example 3 was attended by many students from multiple locations, and Example 4 was attended by two students at the same location. Example 5 was attended by students in the same room as the instructor, as well as by remote students. We have found that the instructors are much more involved with the
actual teaching process and with their students when they are not required to
generate standardized instruction for on-demand replay by students. These examples of live lessons are produced and presented by the subject matter experts, who are the instructors, whereas Examples 1 and 2 could be prepared by subject matter experts, but produced by technicians and monitored by instructors.


Example 3, Live Workshop recording

  • The third lesson is a recording of a live workshop. The instructors demonstrate using software tools through a scripted performance of using that tool "in the field." The instructors in this demonstration cannot take all of the students onto the streets of each students' jurisdictions, but they can demonstrate how they would do the same type of task in instructors' own environment. Because taking the actual demonstration outdoors would be difficult, the instructors performed a scenario using web-based tools that allowed them to simulate the actual tasks. Using sound effects and a script, the students were given the impression that the instructors were traveling around the streets of Houghton performing data collection tasks. The students could understand how to perform these tasks in their own towns by placing themselves in the the same situations that the instructors were demonstrating. Adding an element of "acting" to this demonstration helps students place themselves in the same type of environment. The instructors used Adobe Acrobat Connect and a telephone conference call to conduct this workshop.
  • Compare this lesson to a laboratory-type classroom where the student observes an instructor demonstrating an experiment.


Example 3, Live Workshop via Webinar (recording)
   
Example 4, Live Individualized Instruction recording

  • The fourth lesson is a recording of live individualized instruction. The instructor in this lesson is guiding students as they work on their own computers at a location 500 miles away. The instructor can view a duplication of the students' computer screen on his own computer, and can interact with the students' computer using his own mouse when requested. The instructor can also show his own computer screen and additional materials by changing the presentation mode. This lesson requires little preparation for the students or instructor, and the instructor can immediately evaluate whether the students can complete tasks by simply watching them in real-time.
  • Note the equipment and room layout of the "classroom" in this lesson. The instructor cannot see the students. The screen projection shows the students' computer monitor and their mouse movements. The speakerphone enables dialog between students and teacher. The instructor is using his computer to perform demonstrations, manage the connection between students and teacher, monitor the students' actions, and interact with the students' computer. The instructor's assistant sits at the second computer to monitor any other students who might use the chat interface, and to manage the telecommunications and systems required to conduct the the lesson. The instructor is using Adobe Acrobat Connect in Application Sharing mode and telephone connection for audio. The telephone connection allows the instructor to maintain contact with the students should the computer systems fail or if the students are required to reboot their computer (which they did during this lesson).
  • Compare this lesson to the students building the brick wall above.

 


Example 4, Live, Individualized Instruction via a Remote Computer Connection (recording)
   


Example 5, Live Classroom Simulcast

  • This example demonstrates how an instructor can conduct a live classroom lesson and web-based lesson at the same time. This lesson was prepared by an instructor for delivery to students attending the class at his location, and simulcast via the Internet, allowing remote students to take part. Questions by remote students are fielded first by a technician monitoring a chat window and separate audio channel. The technician interrupts the instructor when a remote student has a question. The remote students can chat among themselves using the audio or chat interface without distracting the instructor.
  • Compare this lesson to a classroom lesson and to the web-only formats above. Consider the fact that local students and remote students will have very different experiences.

These examples are intended to give you an idea of what kinds of things you can do with a small staff and relatively simple desktop tools. All of these examples could have been prepared, produced, and delivered by one or two people, but additional staff can certainly help make things smoother for both instructors and students. For each type of lesson, it's important to focus on the instructional and content goals, and to choose the delivery and production methods based on your available resources. Keep in mind that these samples prmarily reflect early attempts to apply this technology to an LTAP or TTAP audience, so you can expect similar results when you start, and better results as you gain experience. 

 


Example 5, Live Classroom Simulcast (recording)

  To get started using web-based teaching tools, go to the Links page of this guide and continue to learn about philosophical and technical aspects of distance learning, or sign up for the FHWA service, or if you don't have access to that service, sign up for a free Adobe Acrobat Connect trial account. The best way to get started is to try these tools yourself with content you are already comfortable with.