IT 500 Course Design
Project
Rhonda Schalk
4/10/2012
For
Dr. Dave Knowlton
IT 500—Major Concept
of IT
Introduction
The design I
have planned through the course of this class has been a slide show on oral
cancer with an emphasis on how smokeless tobacco can cause it. The reader will
find four parts in this paper. The first part describes the initial ideas for
the design including objectives and the background upon which I based the
design. The second part shows how the design developed and changed throughout the
semester. The reader will also see some of the theories and micro theories that
influenced my plan. I include a consideration of creativity for the learner as
well as how the learner will be assessed. The third part is a metaphor for the
design process I have gone through. The final part is a reflection. Functions to set up the paper
Part 1: Initial Ideas
for Design
At the
beginning of this course, I planned on doing a lesson about health,
specifically oral health, dealing with oral cancers. The focus of this lesson
would be how tobacco use can cause oral cancer. The target audience would be
high school aged students.
Objectives:
·
The students will demonstrate understanding
about the consequences of tobacco use by listing 5 of these consequences.
·
The students will be able to list the signs and
symptoms of oral cancer.
·
The students will explain why the dentist
performs the intraoral and extra oral exam.
After
collecting research about tobacco use and oral cancer and many non-copyrighted
photographs I planned on creating a slide show to present information. Expert
opinions and guidance should be obtained to help with the editing of the slide
show. After thorough editing, the slideshow will be published in order for it
to be used in a classroom setting or on the web for use without lecture.
Basis of Design Approach
Having gone
through the elementary education undergraduate program at SIUE, whenever I need
to present a formal lesson, I fall back on what I learned there. I think about what
I would like my learners to learn, what equipment/supplies are necessary, and
how I’m going to present the material in order for the objectives to be met.
Although I don’t remember the exact formula we used, I believe I still
understand the basics.
I wanted to try
to apply some of Montessori’s philosophies as I am a trained instructor in
Montessori Elementary Education. Montessori believed in letting the child guide
their own learning with prompting from the directress (her word because we help
direct the child appropriately). With this in mind, I hoped to give the child
the chance to explore the slide show some on his own by making internal
hyperlinks within the slide show.
I planned to
include many pictures. The background for this comes from how I get interested
in a subject just because of the pictures. In dental hygiene school, we were
presented with many pictures. I can still identify conditions and syndromes because
I became interested in what cause such a thing to happen. I also saw this in my
children when looking at photos. If they are spectacular in some way, they
always want to know more.
Part 2: the Development
of the Design
Foreshadow the metaphor through this part using words like
cutting the fat, adding nutrients
In this part, I
describe how my design has changed throughout the semester. In part 1, I show
that I have a basic idea. Here I show how learning about media, theories,
creativity, and assessment helped me flesh out the design so that it could be
sued in a learning situation.
Media
The media
chosen for this presentation is a slide show presentation. When thinking of the
best way to present the material, I chose the slideshow because there will be
many photographs of lesions. I believe that by having many photos, the
presentation is much more interesting to the student. Clark (2001) said that
the media didn’t matter for the presentation that one could use any type of
media and still be effective. He also said that it was “certain attributes of
media” that can help the learner in the ‘cognitive processes’ (2001). With this
in mind, I believe that using a slideshow presentation would be the best choice
at this point in time. Literature synthesis by pulling
something out of Kozma Of course, as media changes, hopefully the design
will still be solid and can change with the times.
This choice has
not changed since the beginning of the semester. I did consider creating a
website, but felt that he slideshow would be just as effective and probably be
easier to access in a classroom than something on-line. I also felt that a
simple lecture about oral cancer accompanied by a textbook would not have as
much appeal to today’s students. Literature synthesis
by pulling something out of Kozma
Theory and Micro-theory
At first I didn’t
think of any particular theories to apply toward my project. After looking at
constructivist, cognitivist, and behaviorist theories of learning, I chose to
concentrate mainly on cognitivist theory even though I do have some elements of
constructivism. Initially after studying these theories, I thought that the
constructivist theory would be best, but I was worried about finding an “authentic
task” even though I agree with the concept and find it compelling to have
something that the student feels is real. Within the cognitivist theory, it is
mentioned that the learner should be lead or encouraged to think
metacognitively about the topic. Where did this come
from? This was a very hard point for me to come to grips with. Not that
I didn’t understand it and its significance but that I didn’t know how to
incorporate it. Did we read anything to incorporate
metacognition, how did it work for me?
In presenting
my information to the high school age students, I feel that it should be
presented simply but without soft-peddling the effects of smokeless tobacco
use. In thinking about the learner’s age and stage of learning according to
Piaget (Blessing, 2011), what exactly does Blessing
say? I would like to honor their logical mind that is able to think
abstractly by making stopping points in the slideshow where there would be
guiding questions. The guiding questions help create rehearsal at maintenance
level (Knowlton, 2009). Give examples of maintenance
questions and then more than maintenance They would encourage active
participation among the students (“learning theories knowledgebase”, 2011). By
using the guided questions, students, should come up with questions on their
own about what they are thinking about tobacco use and oral cancer. In creating
their own questions, the students are engaging in creativity by using the
connect, reason, and absorb brainsets (Carson, 2010). More
examples In doing so, the learner is then creating a better connection
to what s/he already knows. This would be considered more
elaborative/generative rehearsal (Knowlton, 2009). More
examples Through this questioning, s/he is leading towards metacognition
(Livingston, 1997). More examples
By the time
students are in high school, they know that smoking can cause lung cancer. They
have been presented with the fact that tobacco contains carcinogens that cause
cancer but may not have connected what they know about smoke tobacco and
smokeless tobacco. To help the students make this connection, I will start off
using a KWL chart (Jones, 2007). Create synthesis
between Jones and Carson This will encourage the learners to think more
cognitively and metacognitively about tobacco use. The learners will be asked
to write down
1.
(K) What they know about tobacco
2.
(W) What they want to know about tobacco, its
use, and in particular smokeless tobacco
a. Chew
b. Snuff
c. Snus
3.
(L) And after the show is complete: What they
learned
This KWL chart
can also be accompanied with a brainstorming session where the students help
create the section on what they already know together to help facilitate
thinking. This helps create a culture of current knowledge and help the teacher
see what attitudes already exist. This comes from the situated Cognition
micro-learning theory (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989)
The teacher
should be willing to veer off a linear track in the lecture if the students so
lead. In this, the students have some control of how they are learning if they come
up with questions that may be relevant “later” in the lecture. To facilitate
this style, hyperlinks will be included in the slideshow. In order to do so,
the format of the slideshow will be PowerPoint. Kozma?
I also liked
the idea of including “real world” applications to the lesson from the constructivist
learning theory and the “authentic task” from the situated cognition
micro-learning theory needs citations for several
things in this sentence By creating real world applications and
authentic tasks, I feel that it makes a greater connection for this age
student. With this in mind, I would like to introduce a case study…a real
person’s story (no names) of his/her oral cancer which would include pertinent
facts such as tobacco use, photos of the lesions, prognosis. After the
presentation, the students would have a chance to write a reflection paper on
how they would feel if this was their story. The paper would be simple in that
it would be like a journal where grammar, syntax and spelling would not count. Cite writing to learn? At the beginning of this semester
would I have thought to have them write a reflection paper where grammar, etc.
would not count? Bring in how this method changed by thinking.
By writing a
reflective paper, the students might also be entering into the stream brainset
from Carson’s CREATES Brainsets (Carson, 2010).
Another
micro-theory that I would like to touch on in this presentation is Adult
Learning Theory. Although the learners are still children, in a sense, they are
also practicing to become adults. Many of the principles of learning apply to
these students as well. According to Collins, the learner needs to be respected—we
need to allow “for opinions to be voiced freely” (Collins, 2004, p. whatever). Within the slideshow there will be
guiding questions, I believe that these will help the students feel as if they
may voice opinions, The biggest thing, I think, that applies to high school
students is showing them how the learning will benefit them (What’s in it for
me?) (Collins, 2004). By having the students relate to the patient in the case study
as if it were them, they hopefully, will connect to that person so they feel as
if they have learned about something that could affect their lives personally. Go back to the discussion board for other adult learning papers.
Synthesize with Carson. Synthesize with situated cognition how it fits nicely, circling
back to that. Seems like an isolated moment in the paper.
Creativity maybe
synthesize this into the micro-theory section because it’s redundant to tighten
the structure of the paper and create stronger synthesis of the literature
At the
beginning, I didn’t have any plan for allowing creativity within this
presentation. I didn’t even consider it. Now, I understand that even with
something as straightforward as oral cancer there needs to be some creativity allowed
to help the learner integrate the information into his/her being.
The reflection
paper mentioned above helps the student enter into the envision, as well as,
the stream brainsets by playing a “what if” game (Strainchamps, 2011). After
having viewed the slideshow they will be given a picture of a lesion in the
mouth as well as a case study explaining the lesion. Their job is to pretend
they are the patient. “What if this person was you?” might
integrate above in the reflection Another activity under the envision
brainset is to create a role play situation where the students can counsel each
other: “What if your friend was addicted to tobacco and you were concerned
about their health?”
In conjunction
with the envision brainset, the role play activity could also work with reason,
connect and evaluate. On Carson’s site she says about the reason brainset, “This
is the state of purposeful planning…” (Carson). By planning how one would talk
to a peer about quitting tobacco use, the students are activating their
reasoning brain. They need to come up with ideas to help the person “see the
light” about the evils of all tobacco use. By doing so, they are using
metacognition and reasoning out what needs to be done.
To help the
students enter the evaluate brainset, there will be a session after the role
play where they discuss what worked or didn’t work in their persuasive
arguments for quitting nicotine use. They will need to be able to discuss with
their partner how they did in the arguments and evaluate themselves to see if
they were indeed persuasive. They should write a short paper with this that
also reflects what things they might do differently if they were placed into
this situation in real life.
Assessment this
might be better under micro-theory section with all that was said under
creativity
In my
objectives at the beginning of this course, I said that the students “will list”
and will explain. (See top of paper) So for assessment, I need to continue to
follow these objectives. Why? This is a more
behaviorist approach. Needs to be defined if I feel that I need to do this. I
feel that the objectives are solid and should remain. Confusing because the rest in the assessment
doesn’t hold onto the objectives. I said I would go toward more cognitivist or
constructivist. In the real world our behavior isn’t guided by objectives.
For the task
assigned on assessment, I would like to use the case study and students
presenting their feelings on how they would feel if that case study were
actually them. For assessment, I would follow my objectives by clearly having a
rubric that states that during the role play, the students need to clearly
state the signs and symptoms of oral cancer (they may use the photograph if it
helps). They will also need to verbalize why it was important that the dentist
who found this lesion performed the extraoral and intraoral exams. This follows
Gulikers, et al, assessment results as well as their criteria and standards (Gulikers,
Bastiaens, Kirschner, 2004).
Gulikers, et al
mention the first part of assessment is an authentic task (Gulikers, Bastiaens,
Kirschner, 2004). Opposite of objectives By
having the students role play, they are given a task within a context
approximating one that is performed in many different areas of life: in the dental
office, in the doctor’s office a counseling session, in the home (Gulikers,
Bastiaens, Kirschner, 2004). Getting away from
objective
To help with
social context in the assessment phase, the students will work together to
create the role plays (Gulikers, Bastiaens, Kirschner, 2004). Do I mean that they will create the role plays or I will give
them scenarios to role play? This helps lend authenticity to the task
because in the dental office, the dentist, hygienist, assistants and patient
all work together in identifying oral lesions and treating them.
The teacher
will assess the role play using a specified rubric (although she will have
control to change it as the situation deems). The students should also be
involved in reviewing their peers whom they worked with on the task (Gulikers,
Bastiaens, Kirschner, 2004).
As one will
notice from the initial idea in part 1 tot eh creation of part 2, my design has
morphed from a small idea with no principles guiding it to a larger scale plan
led by the cognitivist theory and several pieces of micro-theories.
Implementing ways for creativity within the learning environment was something
that I have strived to do in the past, but now I have a concrete way using
Carson’s brainsets to incorporate it into my design.
Part 3: The Nature of
Design
Design is like
cooking a casserole that I have no recipe for. I know how to cook and what
types of things go well together, what he expects to
see in part 2 is putting things together well: synthesis. Taking the CREATES
stuff and integrating it into the micro-theory stuff. but cooking
without a recipe means using knowledge I have and creating something new. I
know the basic elements that I want to put in it, but I also have to know what
I have in my pantry and refrigerator. For designing instruction, I know that I
need to have a topic, need to know my audience, and I need to know about learning
theories these are all of my basic ingredients.
So I know that
I need to have something that is going to be the bulk of the casserole, like
pasta…this is the theory behind the design. It has to have substance. It needs
to be something that is going to fill my family (the audience) up. Having a
strong learning theory behind a design gives it substance/weight. It helps
create a valuable learning tool for the audience. Without a strong theory, the
design might be weakened. To be able to use the best products from my pantry
(the best theories) for my casserole (design) will help make it more palatable
to the person digesting it and hopefully more nutritious. With more substance
behind the theory the design will more likely be proven to be a quality
learning experience.
There might be
micro-theories to go with this that also lend substance?
Was weight, but Dave said it waters it down…like maybe I want some
cheese in it. As with adding cheese to a casserole to make it that much
tastier, adding micro-theories to a design gives it that much more substance
when it comes to the usability of the design. Now the design is more able to
target the audience specifically so that, hopefully, the learning desired will
happen. He said, is that what we are doing when
cooking? Targeting things?
Then there are
the vegetables. Gotta have the vitamins. It doesn’t matter which vegetables
they are kind of like which media is going to be used. I know that some media
are better for my design than others, but in the long run, I just need
something. In creating a casserole, I know that I need to add as many vitamins
as possible to help my family grown strong and stay healthy. In design, I must
choose the vest media available to help facilitate learning. I believe that
Clark was right in that the media doesn’t make learning happen, but I also feel
that Kozma was right in that the right media can help speed learning along more
efficiently (Clark, 2001; Kozma, 2001). Opportunities
to add substance to this in a sense of engagement by thinking more carefully of
the parallel structure of the two parts (2 & 3).
Then there are
the spices. The spices are foundation of flavor to the casserole. The spices
are like the concepts taught. Of course I need to have the concepts, otherwise
what’s the point of the design? Although this is my last point, in cooking, I
always add the spices first. This way they have time to seep into the dish
giving it full flavor. In designing instruction, one of the first things I know
I need is what concepts are going to be taught in the design. Did I address the content in part 2? Foreshadow the metaphor
in part 2.
Not sure he sees the structure of how one prepares a meal
being analogous to the structure of how one designs.
Reynolds said, “learn
all the ‘rules’ and know when and why to break them” (2009). With my cooking
analogy, I said that I know how to cook and what types of things go well
together. By creating my own recipes as I am cooking, I’m applying the “rules”
of cooking but also know that they don’t always apply. This is the same in
design, I need to know that certain theories should be followed but I can mix
it up a little if it works better for my design. Are
there places in part 2 where breaking the rules are pointed out? Needs
discussion of breaking rules in part 2.
Maybe take this part out of this section and just talk about
how good cooks have someone taste test the dish along the way…As I
create a new casserole, I find that I need to test it along the way. I need to
make sure that it tastes good. Throughout this class, I have found that in
creating a design, there has to be places to test it to make sure that it is
viable. Norman mentioned the need to test out the new products before going to
market (Norman, 1998). In creating the casserole, I could also follow Norman’s
design steps:
1.
What should the product be? (What type of
casserole?)
2.
Determine how it is to be used. (Is it a main
dish or is it a side dish?)
3.
Test it out (do some tasting along the way to be
sure there is nothing that needs to be added…more garlic anyone?) (Norman,
1998) Is this in part 2? Where is there a discussion of
this? If not in part 4 can be put there, and say, I didn’t do this but should
have.
I do realize
that this analogy is not terribly creative. In following the design process,
one is following a recipe of sorts. This sentence may
need to be taken out. Do not trash this metaphor. Even in creating
something new in the kitchen, there is a basic recipe in the back of my mind.
There are always certain steps that need to be taken in both designing as well
as cooking. That makes this a strong analogy if not an obvious one. The biggest
limitation of this depiction is that it didn’t allow for other cooks in the
kitchen. I have found through this class that I really need my peers to review
my steps in the design process and keep me on the correct path.
Part 4: What I Have
Learned and Personal Reflection
This section of
the paper deals with what I have learned about design. It talks about how my
thoughts have changed, or not. I also reflect on how the design experiences shows
who I am.
At first I
viewed designing as looking at the “problem”—what is it that I want to teach—and
coming up with objectives then a strategy of achieving those objectives. I don’t
know that this has changed so much. I still feel that in the design process, I
need to find out what the problem does this go along
with the metaphor, or is it just taking advantage of a situation. Feels a
disconnect from earlier is and make a solution through use of clear
objectives and a strategy to achieve them. Moor and Knowlton described basic
model as similar to Instructional Systems Design (Moore & Knowlton, 2006).
What I think that I have added to this is that it is a process of trial and
error put this in terms of the metaphor as the
design is being created as Edelson (2002) said, “design is a sequence of
decisions made to balance goals and constraints” (p. 108). I know that I also
need to test out the design in some fashion as described by Norman (1998) by
taking it to my target audience before it’s a finished product. Could bring in the fact that I didn’t let enough people taste
test the design before putting it out there or maybe that was what the discussion
boards were for? This will save time in the long run by not thinking it’s
complete and then having someone use it and find errors. By creating a
prototype of the design and having members of the target audience complete the
instruction (Norman, 1998), it gives me the opportunity to learn better ways to
create learning opportunities (Edelson, 2002).
My part 1 of my
design said that I would apply what I learned in elementary education courses
as well as my Montessori training. Some of the theories that we have explored
in this class were also introduced in the elementary education classes I took
at SIUE in the early 1990’s such as the behaviorist theory. If we had learned
cognitivist and constructivist theory, I don’t remember. What I learned and
this can be seen in my part 2, about those two theories is that they are more
based on getting the learner to think on a higher plane (Jonassen, 2001; Cobb
& Bowers, 1999; Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989). Don’t remember there was anything in part 2 about thinking on a higher
plane. In taking the learner into a higher plane of thinking, they are
able to assimilate the lesson into their being and therefore have learned more
from it than just data dump/regurgitation method of the past. Destroys metaphor, chefs think on spiciness or sweetness. Can
include the metaphor here. Don’t want the learner to throw up our meal?
I feel that by
creating a way for the students to connect to the people who have contracted
oral cancer through the use of smokeless tobacco, they are able to internalize
the information better than if I had simply given them that information. As
seen in my part 2, using a case study and a reflection paper, gives them the
chance to use their logical minds that are capable of abstraction (Blessing,
2011). Lost the connection of what Edelson says we
should learn when designing. Can I connect this back to Edelson? Which type of
theory from Edelson? Although I did know that I needed to present the
information in a manner that is consistent with this level, I didn’t think in
terms of how they were going to internalize the information in a way that it
would stick with them and, hopefully, help them lead healthy lives.
I also learned
that, although the choice of media to facilitate the instruction is important,
the specific media does not need to be constant with this design (Clark, 2001;
Kozma, 2001). With all the fancy and fun media out there, it’s easy to get
sucked into using the latest and greatest without consideration of what it is
that we want our learners to learn. By keeping in mind Clark’s (2001) arguments
“That any necessary teaching method could be designed into a variety of media
presentations” (p. 206) I know that my basic design needs to be solid so that
others may take it and use it with whatever media they have that can present
the ides. The idea of using a slideshow has not changed over the course of the
semester. With the media that is available currently, I feel that this is the
best way to present it to the most people. Feels like
part 2 material no personal reflection I could go with a Flash program,
but that might not be something that all schools who I wish to market to could
use. I believe that most schools have the capabilities to at least have a
PowerPoint viewer. If this is not the case, they can simply print it out and
use it in that manner.
For part 3, I
learned that designing is a creative process just as cooking is. As different
elements ingredients are added or subtracted it
enhances the design so that what is served up is exactly what the learner has
been craving…whether they knew it or not.
Because I am a
Registered Dental Hygienist, I am very concerned with the health and well-being
of people. I am most interested in the lives of children and young adults and
how I can help them lead healthy happy lives. By creating a design where these young
people learn about oral cancer and how it affects their whole being, I feel
that I am able to be a strong influence in their lives. It is my hope that they
internalize the consequences of poor choices and therefore choose to be
healthy. The journey journey? I thought your metaphor
was about cooking? that I have taken this semester has led me to
understand how I can better help these people, and maybe even their parents
through a solid design on oral health.
References are in the final draft