Posted on 27th September 2008 by admin in Instructional Strategies
Why is it that when people think of e-learning, they picture an online presentation with a post-test and intermittent knowledge checks? After doing this for 8 years, I think the reason is because 90% of online learning is focused on the knowledge domain and in many cases designers can’t even get that right. Let’s review Bloom’s taxonomy (Google it). Bloom defines 6 different cognitive learning domains (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation). Ask your e-learning designer to give you examples of teaching to each domain using a learning technology application. More then likely they will not be able to do it. Or they will say, most people don’t ask for e-learning to do anything more then present information. So was Dr. Merrill wrong when he said that “information is not instruction?”
I actually sat in a meeting yesterday where I was asked how to make a course, that clearly fell into the Application domain, a course that only focused on “knowledge transfer”. The sad part about the conversation was that the individual asking for a simple “knowledge transfer” course, (whatever that is), has an MS in Instructional Design and about 10 years experience developing training. He does not however have a strong background in Cognitive Technology studies. (e.g., Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller), Component Display Theory (Merrill), Multimodal Learning principles (Mayer & Moreno) .. etc.)
We need some solid research publicly presented to put this argument to rest.
The personal computer has come a long way since the Commodore64 and the Mac128. I had one of those first Macintosh computers in 1984. It was amazing and the learning applications developed in Pascal (an object oriented programming language) were in many ways much more engaging then the e-learning courses we see cluttering LMSs around the globe today. For my digital circuits course we used an application called “LogiMac”.
I could take my state tables and build a digital circuit that worked. It was an excellent example of a learning technology supporting the Synthesis learning domain. That was on a computer with 128K of RAM and no harddrive. The operating system had to be on the same floppy disk with the software application. So what’s changed in 24 years. How did we forget how to create good learning technology applications?
Posted on 27th September 2008 by admin in Learning Objects
The area in Computer Sciences of relevance in this discussion is that of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) methodologies. This is a very extensive topic. The first programming language to adopt this technology goes back to the mid 1960s. Some current programming languages that use OOP are C++, Java and most recently Version 3.0 of Flash Action Script. My explanation of what an object is, in the strange world of computer programming is a representation of a physical object in software form. For example if you want to create a software version of a light switch, you would first identify the attributes of a light switch. What are the different types of light switches, (two way, three way, dimmer ..)? What can light switches do or rather how do they function? Once you know all of these attributes and functionalities you can then sit down and right this into programming or code. The code is referred to as a Class. The class in this case would be the Light Switch Class. A light switch has attributes such as color, type, and amp rating. Those attributes can be converted into variables in code format. Switches have one simple function which is to change state, open or closed.
OK, that was pretty simple and it’s fine if you want to teach someone how to turn a light switch on and off. Dr. David Merrill in his classic presentations on his Component Display Theory he used a switch object and a light bulb object to show this principle. However in order to learn how light switches work with light bulbs you need another Class Object that is not a tangible object. It could be called the Electric Circuits Class which could have the definitions of what happens when a switch object is closed and connected to a light in a circuit.
Now let’s take this concept one step further. Take a look at this office scene. The objects in this scene are somewhat obvious. There’s a person, a desk, a computer, a printer. Each object has it’s own attributes. Each object can do something. You the user or learner can do something with the objects, (e.g., turn on the computer, talk to the person). However if we programmed these objects to function in this simulated environment we still do not have a Learning Application. We need a learning object that is virtual. We need an Instructional Strategy object that monitors the objects in the environment and monitors your actions as a learner. In programming language this is referred to a Listener object.
What if we created a software object called a “Learning Challenge Class”. There would be different types of learning challenges. And here’s the key …. classes are reusable. If you embed research in cognitive sciences into your Learning Challenge Class non-cognitive scientists could reuse the objects over and over again to create learning applications that actually engage learners in activities that promote long term memory learning.
