Activity 1: Cameras in the Classroom + Bates & Thomas + Reflections on the Past

A  post for my LRNT524 Innovation, Design and Learning Environments class

The readings for this week focused on instructional system design (ISD) models. My key take-away is the following statement from Thomas (2010): “The effectiveness of a model is heavily dependent on the context in which it is applied; instructional design methods are situational and not universal” (p. 187).

Cameras in the Classroom

The technological advances of recent years (I could even say months) are changing the way we teach and learn. Just this week, I was surprised by a learner in a Presentation Skills course that I developed for a local organization. I had designed an activity to provide a non-threatening approach to presenting and to introduce the power of storytelling.

Twelve learners were divided into three tables of four. At each table, one learner rolled six Rory Story Cubes which were then used by each learner at the table to write a story to present to the class. One learner didn’t like the cubes that were rolled, so she took a picture of them on her iPhone for her fellow learners, then picked up the cubes and rolled them again. Another learner liked the idea, took a picture of the second roll of the cubes and rolled them again. Soon the learners were choosing between sets of cubes from pictures instead of being limited by the physical cubes on the table.

I welcomed their adaptation of the exercise. As a result, when they presented they shared a picture of their set of cubes with their classmates before they told their story. One learner who was terrified of presenting voluteered to present instead of waiting to be asked because she was having fun with the activity.

I am improvisational by nature and welcomed the learners adaptation of the exercise. If I had been stuck in a prescriptive model that did not allow for learner input, I believe the ‘terrified learner’ would have remained terrified and the other learners would not have been nearly as engaged. In the end, they owned the activity and their technology–their own smartphones–became an integral part of the learning environment.

Notes from Bates & Thomas:

Bates (2014) claimed that “the [ADDIE] model is too inflexible for the digital age” because learning environments and learner needs are changing more rapidly than in the past.

Thomas (2010) made a similar claim for the 11 pedagogical and 11 ISD models summarized in the author’s dissertation on web-based blended learning. In short, although useful for classroom learning, traditional ISD and pedagogical models lack flexibility for keeping up with technological advancements and learners needs in online learning environments.

Thomas (2010) offers grounded design as a valid approach for blended and online learning environments because “grounded design can be applied to any learning theory platform as well as cross-platform, because it does not promote any single theoretical stance or practical methodology over another”; it is founded on “psychological, pedagogical, technological, cultural, and pragmatic considerations” (Thomas, 2010, p. 234)

Land and Hannafin in Thomas (2010) describe the five foundations of grounded design as:

•  Psychological foundations reflect views about how individuals acquire, organize and deploy skills and knowledge
• Pedagogical foundations include the instructional practices that the designers use to support learning
• Technological foundations addresses the potential of technology to transform teaching and learning, the capabilities of specific technology tools, and the limitations of interactive multimedia technology
• Cultural foundations reflect the prevailing values of a community and its culture
• Pragmatic foundations dictate the extent to which various alternatives can be implemented in order to address the needs of learners in a given learning system (Thomas, 2010, pp. 235-238).

Reflections on the Past

The more I read about pedagogical models and instructional design, the more thankful I am for my choice to take a BFA instead of B.ED as my first degree. From 1979-1983 I was part of an experiential program at UVIC–a conservatory style theatre program. My focus was acting. Everyday, with twelve other students, I did 2 hours of movement, 1.5 hours of voice work, 2 hours of acting, and 1.5 hours of stage craft, theatre history, lighting, or other theatre-related course. I chose Hebrew, Latin and Canadian Literature as my electives; it is the theatre classes I remember the most.

In movement classes, the behaviourist approach was predominant as we learned gymnastics, dance, acrobatics, fencing, stage-fighting, and other physical skills required for acting. I imagine the instructional design model was fairly simple: 1) show learners how to do the moves 2) learners practice the moves 3) evaluate how the learners execute the moves.

In voice and acting classes, the predominant approach was constructivist as very little work was individual. Most assignments required a partner or a team to bring pre-existing stories and scripts to life or to create new stories and scripts then bring them to life. Again, I imagine the instructional design was fairly simple: 1) provide students with a script 2) learners interpret and present the script 3) critique the learners’ interpretation and performance 4) learners revise using feedback 5) evaluate final performances.

Because of the every-changing content, my classes were always challenging, often exciting, and sometimes frustrating. It took me two semesters before I was able to do a slow-motion forward somersault without using any momentum; I was unable to learn trapeze work as I prefer my feet to be on solid ground. I did get B for my efforts :-).

The principles I learned in those classes have served me well in my academic and professional life. Regardless of what we are learning and what models are being used to teach us, interest in the topic and engaged instructors/facilitators are key to our success.

References:

Bates, T. (2014, September 9). Is the ADDIE model appropriate for teaching in a digital age? [Blog post]

Thomas, P. Y. (2010). Learning and instructional systems design. In Towards developing a web-based blended learning environment at the University of Botswana. (Doctoral dissertation).