The design and development of learning materials

Prof. dr. Martin Valcke

Workshop Innovative teaching and Learning Strategies in Higher Education

Maputo 4-6 August, 2009

1

Structure

• Introductory activity

• Instructional design: decision tree

• Embedded support devices

• Structure of DE materials: principles

• Overall models in DE learning materials

2

Conclusions

• Distance education inherits basic characteristics of traditional instructional approaches.

• Distance education imposes « explicit » planning en « consistency »

• ESD and structure are key decisions• Imposition of a house style• Micro-, meso- and macro-decisions have

to be taken3

Introductory Activity

• Small group activity

• Imagine you are responsible for writing a manual for a Swatch watch in Vietnam.

• Try to think about critical topics you will consider when developing the little manual.

• Structure your ideas.

4

5

...

...

... ...

...

...

Did you think about?• What is the target audience: adults, teenagers, children?• Use of pictures, photo’s, drawings, schemes, … instead

of written language.• Reflections about ‘what’ you were about to tackle in the

users manual (objectives).• How you would structure the users manual: key words

(panel, battery, setting time and alarms), manipulation of the watch, a story, error messages, …)?

• Multiple languages if written language is used.• Use of colours, symbols, …• What if the users manual is lost?• Operational instructions: do this and do that.• How much time can you expect people to use the

manual?• … 6

Wrapping up: decision tree

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target audiencetarget audience objectives

layout of users

manual

anticipating

problems/question

s

activities

language used

structuring

principles

timing

textual/non-textual

elements

texting/evaluation

usersmanualtest users ...

InstructionalDesign

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layout of users

manual

anticipating

problems/question

s

activities

language used

target audience

evaluation of

users

structuring

principles

timing

textual/non-textual

elements

objectives

evaluation of users

manual

Instructional design

• Different decisions trees• Different models• IDI-model (Northern American consortium of

universities): “Consortium for Instructional Development and Technology“.IDI ~‘Instructional Development Institute’

• Focus on subpart in model• Later full model

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Instructional design

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Step 1define the problem

- state needs

- state priorities

- formulate the problem

Step 2analyse environment/context

- who is involved

- conditions

- existing sources

Step 3Organise the work

- task

- responsibilities

- time planning

Step 4state objectives

- final objectives

- intermediate objectives

Step 5specify methods

- for learning

- for instructional-activities

- for media

Step 7test prototypes

- test prototypes

- collect evaluation data

Step 6construct prototypes

-instruction-materials

- evaluation-instruments

Step 8analyse results

- related to objectives

- methods

- evaluation methods

Step 9revise / implement

- revise

- decide

- execute

definition

development

evaluation

Content of learning materials

• Task: take a manual from a traditional instructional setting.

• What is the content of the package; what « types » of content can we distinguish?

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Content

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Additional elements:• Exercices• Examples• Illustrations• Questions• ...

BASIC CONTENT

Content +

• Why do we add the extra elements?– .– .– .– .– .– .– .

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Content in distance education

• Same manual/handbook

• But now there is NO TEACHER

• Student is alone sitting in front of his handboek/manual

• What is missing in his/her learning environment

• Write on a sheet of paper

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15

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structure

questions

summary

test

examples

Content page

graphics

illustration

Advance organizer

feedback

exercise

tasks

keywordStudy advice

Embedded support devices

• Extra elements: ‘embedded support devices’ (ESD).

• Lockwood (1992): ‘activities’ to refer to their basic role as ‘catalysts’ of student involvement

• The basic content is derived from the domain specific knowledge base.

• The ESD are added to support the actual learning process in view of the objectives

• ESD are a kind of in-built teacher

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structure

questions

summary

test

examplesContent page

graphics

illustration

Advance organizer

feedback

exercise

tasks

keyword

Study advice

Embedded support devices

• ESD: a wide variety of add-on, such as questions (pre- and post-), content pages, illustrations, examples, activities, tasks, tests, examples, schemes, cases, etc.

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Embedded support devices• Basic functions and effects of ESD (Valcke,

Martens, Poelmans and Daal,1993):– orienting ESD: learning objectives, references to other

learning materials, references to required prior knowledge, etc.

– processing ESD: indexes, additional learning materials, advance organizers, illustrations, glossaries, introductions, study advice, summaries, tables, examples, etc.

– testing ESD: self-test items, exercise items, answers and feedback.

• ESD up to 45% of the learning materials

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ESD: listAdvance organisers•Ausubel 1960•Activation of prior knowledgeExamples:In the chapter about ‘cognitive learning approaches’ in the course on instructional science students start by playing a little game. They are asked to learn by heart 10 different words. After one minute they have to take a sheet of paper and write down the words they can remember.Next, they have are given the task to write down HOW they memorised the list of words. When a lecturer puts together the approaches of 10 different students he gets a very nice overview of theoretical and empirical knowledge acquisition processes as defined by cognitive psychologists BUT now in the wording of the students themselves.20

ESD: list

Introduction• Introductions orientation as to what, how and why

the materials are presented• other comparable ESD: content page, scheme,

objectives, assessment criteria, …Summary• Provide summary or let students develop

summary• Incomplete summary

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ESD: listContent pages• Give content page• Ask students to build content page, overviews,

scheme or mind-mapsTiming• How much time on average should be spent on

specific tasks, sets of learning materials• Support individual study planning (time

management)• Realistic time frames• Study load of courses.

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ESD: listSchemes• Structure scheme, a process scheme, a classification

scheme, an incomplete scheme, a mind-map, …Recapitulation section – wrap up section• Students go backwards and forwards in the overall

structure of the contentDialogue• Talk to the student in a written way:• What would you do if you were in this position?• Could you help me here or will you leave me behind

with this problem?• Could you think about three examples for me, please. I

will need them further on in the text.23

ESD: listKey words• Left column with ‘key words’• Role of key words: structure, important basic concepts,

index to the text• Statements about prior knowledge• Be explicit about assumptions about prior knowledge• Especially when we introduce complex problem settings

(real life cases, problems, …). Developers can no longer control the overall situation.

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ESD: list

Objectives• Objectives at the start • To orient their further reading activities, the way

they process the activities, • Students are pragmatic

Activities• Questions, tasks, problems• Feedback (structural feedback or solution?)

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ESD: list

Feedback• Questions, tasks, activities, assessment

provisions, … bring forward the idea about giving students adequate feedback.

• Immediate or delayed feedback.• Learners should learn to judge themselves• Gradual development of self-reflection skill

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ESD: listQuestions• Continuous active involvement of the students• Pre- and post-questionsSelf-assessment• Students are invited to check mastery objectives• Examples of final assessment• Students study in a assessment-driven way• The test as a relevant ‘learning’ experience• Examples of a final test ~ representative for real

final test• Feedback: redirect to relevant learning section

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ESD: list

Enrichment (facultative activities)

• Resources for learning.

• Beyond the body of knowledge needed to attain the objectives

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ESD: list

Examples

• Examples translate abstract concepts, features, relations, structures in real world terms and experiences

• Link new abstract knowledge to student experiences

• Role examples: learn by heart?

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ESD: list

Study advice• How to deal with your learning

package?• Examples of how to go ahead, to plan

their work, to check their progress, to involve colleagues, contact staff, support people, ..

• Based on real life student comments about experiences with this package

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ESD: list

Self-reflection

• Self reflection as a pro-active activity: how will we proceed?

• Or as a retro-active process: how did I deal with this task, content.

• Development of meta-cognitive knowledge skills.

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Design of a « house style »

• Choice for a set of ESD ~house style

• Students prefer consistent materials

• Internal consistency

• Quality!!

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Develop your own house style

• Take your learning materials

• Redevelop 2-3 pages

• Make an outline of how you would enrich the materials with ESD

• Make a difference between local ESD and ESD at chapter/unit level

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Basic content

• Structure?

• How can we structure the basic content?How is it structured in your handbooks?

• Can you think of alternative approaches?

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Basic content: structure

• Scientific content

• Procedure (e.g. Law, Scientific research, chemical process,, ...)

• Cases

• Problems

• Time line

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Basic content: structure

• Book: chapters

• Learning book: learning units, themes, ...

• What is best structure?

• What is the structure in your manuals and handbooks? What is the basis of this structure?

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Basic content: structure

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Structure: Problems• Problems• Problem-based learning: starting point is a real-life

problem:• “A bee-keeper of 65 strolls on a nice morning in May

through his garden. In front of his hives, he suddenly stumbles and falls against one hive that tumbles upside down. The bees are furious and attack. The man is able to get away, but heavily bitten, he falls in the kitchen after closing the kitchen door. His wife alarms the doctor who arrives within 5 minutes and sees how the man is getting unconscious.”

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Structure: problems• The student read this text and follow a 6-step procedure.

This procedure is mostly supported by a group– Analyse the situation– Define the problem– Apply the knowledge readily available– Define learning objectives– Look for additional knowledge to apply in view of the learning

objectives– Report about the results

• Study process supported with in-built tutor• Assessment based on problem resolution (feedback) +

tests that assesses mastery declarative knowledge

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Structure: Cases• Case-based Harvard University• Originally economics and business sciences• Now in wide variety of domains (medicine,

psychology, ..).• Gradual build-up• Three dimensions:

– Conceptual dimension– Procedural dimension– Information dimension

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Structure: cases

• All learning starts with a well-prepared case:

• These cases can be small or very elaborated.

• Students get a resource package that can be very detailed or rather empty as it is expected that they look up the resources themselves.

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Structure: cases• The conceptual base can be considered ‘acquired’ or be

made available in a structured way.• Case resolution can be an individual and/or a group

learning activity.• Case resolution can be done in reality or away from

reality.• Cases build upon real life.• All data, examples, ‘living’ information is taken from

reality.• There is no separate assessment/testing set up, next to

the final report that describes that case solution by the student(s).

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Structure: Procedure• In professional life, people build upon a variety

of procedures, methods, ways to practice their profession. For instance: lawyers follow a strict procedure when preparing a case; business scientists follow specific procedure when they screen a company, doctors follow diagnosing procedures, psychologists apply listening skills, teachers know how to ask questions, …

• Starting point: basic declarative knowledge• Clear development of a task list, step-by-step

guide, plan43

Overall models in DE learning materials

• Learning unit model

• Textbook – working book model

• Case study model

• Procedural model

• Virtual companies

• Thesis model

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Examples

• See package

45

Conclusions

• Distance education inherits basic characteristics of traditional instructional approaches.

• Distance education imposes « explicit » planning en « consistency »

• ESD and structure are key decisions• Imposition of a house style• Micro-, meso- and macro-decisions have

to be taken46

The design and development of learning materials

Prof. dr. Martin Valcke

Workshop Innovative teaching and Learning Strategies in Higher Education

Maputo 4-6 August, 2009

47