Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Using ISD and ADDIE models

The variety of Instructional System Design models, I believe, is a reflection of the broad range of instructional systems that can be created by this type of design process. This could be both a weakness and a strength. While it is favorable to have some flexibility when using a design model, it may become an overwhelming task trying to selecting a model appropriate for your given task. While looking at the ADDIE models supplied in the EDTC6010 lesson I felt that those models that required more reflection, analyzes, and evaluation would be better suited for designing a large system or unit lesson. Smaller task would only require the minimal steps in the ADDIE model.

In my first year of teaching I often designed lessons that were isolated in themselves, meeting objectives quickly, and not linking to other activities. Now I tend to plan larger units that require students to meet multiple objectives in order to complete a product or assignment. These larger units lend themselves better to ADDIE models. I do find that I do not use as many evaluation stages as many models recommend, but this is replaced with informal assessment of the students and the "thinking on my feet modifications" that take place in a teacher's classroom on a daily basis.

One example of this would be my next classroom project. Prior to this assignment I have had all my students create a piece of writing where I was able to evaluate the gaps my students have in their writing organization and ability to support an idea. I then used the SCOS to make a list of objectives that I would like to have my students meet. After doing some research about the resources available to my students and classroom I created a lesson that require students to research different issues in the world, identify the problem, predict the future if the problem continues, and create a plan to implement and fix the problem. I know using the ADDIE I must first decide what strategies and methods I will use to introduce the objectives and create learning behaviors. I plan on first modeling how to identify the problem, predict the future, and create a plan to fix the issue. This will be done collaboratively with my students. After, I will show public announcement that follow the same steps. In groups students will have to complete these steps collaboratively, demonstrating their understanding of the steps. For a final product and assessment students will create a multimedia presentation communicating their group's findings.

As you can see I first analyzed the needs of my students and compared them to the required learning objectives suggested by the State. I also analyzed the resources and materials accessible to my classroom.

I then designed my lesson based on what learning objectives I wanted to cover and a project based learning method.

To evaluate students at the end of the project the students will be required to present a final product creating a summarize assessment of their grasp of the objectives, but during the course of the project informal formative assessment will take place.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Learners

People learn in a variety or ways. In my undergrad we talked a lot about Blooms taxonomy and different learning styles, but after teaching I have seen that it takes many different styles of teaching with many different teaching methods to fully reach the majority of students in a classroom. In my classroom I concentrate on presenting material in many different ways, which relates to cogitative theory. I am also very concerned with having students discover and interact with topics before I actually teach them anything. I don't know if this is true constructional learning, but I have found that creating an interest in the topic by pulling out students questions prior to a lesson helps them create a context with the material before the lesson even begins. Lastly I repeat, repeat, and repeat vocab, definitions, expectations, and any important objects hence using the behaviorism theory of education. I find that students recognize that students retain information after they have said or done it a thousand times. In the past I felt that constructional learning was going to be the basis of my teaching style, but I find myself more in a partnership between all there, especially behaviorism and cognitivism.