Bloom's Learning Taxonomy

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that over 95 % of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level...the recall of information.

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation. Verb examples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed here.

Figure 1 Kemp Instructional Design Model

1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,
3. Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.

Source: http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm

Retrieved February 16, 2011, from http://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/htm/IDC_instructionaldesignmodels.htm#bloom

Merrill's First Principles of Instruction

Many current instructional design models suggest that the most effective learning environments are those that are problem-based and involve the student in four distinct phases of learning:

1. Activation of prior experience,
2. Demonstration of skills,
3. Application of skills, and
4. Integration or these skills into real world activities.

Figure 1 below illustrates these five ideas. Much instructional practice concentrates primarily on phase 2 and ignores the other phases in this cycle of learning.

Figure 1 First Principles of Instruction Diagram

At the top level the instructional design prescriptions based on first principles are as follows:

• Learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in solving real-world problems.
• Learning is facilitated when existing knowledge is activated as a foundation for new knowledge.
• Learning is facilitated when new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner.
• Learning is facilitated when new knowledge is applied by the learner
• Learning is facilitated when new knowledge is integrated into the learner's world.
  
  Source: http://id2.usu.edu/Papers/5FirstPrinciples.PDF

Retrieved February 15, 2011, from http://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/htm/IDC_instructionaldesignmodels.htm#merrill

Types of Evaluations

Types of Evaluations in Instructional Design

Evaluations are normally divided into two broad categories: formative and summative.

Formative

A formative evaluation (sometimes referred to as internal) is a method for judging the worth of a program while the program activities are forming (in progress). This part of the evaluation focuses on the process.

Thus, formative evaluations are basically done on the fly. They permit the designers, learners, and instructors to monitor how well the instructional goals and objectives are being met. Its main purpose is to catch deficiencies so that the proper learning interventions can take place that allows the learners to master the required skills and knowledge.

Formative evaluation is also useful in analyzing learning materials, student learning and achievements, and teacher effectiveness.... Formative evaluation is primarily a building process which accumulates a series of components of new materials, skills, and problems into an ultimate meaningful whole. - Wally Guyot (1978)

Summative

A summative evaluation (sometimes referred to as external) is a method of judging the worth of a program at the end of the program activities (summation). The focus is on the outcome.

All assessments can be summative (i.e., have the potential to serve a summative function), but only some have the additional capability of serving formative functions. - Scriven (1967)

The various instruments used to collect the data are questionnaires, surveys, interviews, observations, and testing. The model or methodology used to gather the data should be a specified step-by-step procedure. It should be carefully designed and executed to ensure the data is accurate and valid.

Questionnaires are the least expensive procedure for external evaluations and can be used to collect large samples of graduate information. The questionnaires should be trialed (tested) before using to ensure the recipients understand their operation the way the designer intended. When designing questionnaires, keep in mind the most important feature is the guidance given for its completion. All instructions should be clearly stated...let nothing be taken for granted.

Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/isd/types_of_evaluations.html

The Dick and Carey Model - 1978

Although there are several versions ISD, with an almost unlimited number of flavors, the ADDIE model probably reigns supreme, with the Dick and Carey model following close behind it.
Dick and Carey's model details a comprehensive and detailed process, however, it has been criticized for at the same time being too rigid and cumbersome for the average design process.

Reference

Dick, W., & Carey, L.(1978). The Systematic Design of Instruction. Glenview, IL.: Scott, Foresman.

Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_isd/carey.html

Elaboration Theory (C. Reigeluth)

Overview:

According to elaboration theory, instruction should be organized in increasing order of complexity for optimal learning. For example, when teaching a procedural task, the simplest version of the task is presented first; subsequent lessons present additional versions until the full range of tasks are taught. In each lesson, the learner should be reminded of all versions taught so far (summary/synthesis). A key idea of elaboration theory is that the learner needs to develop a meaningful context into which subsequent ideas and skills can be assimilated.

Elaboration theory proposes seven major strategy components: (1) an elaborative sequence, (2) learning prerequisite sequences, (3) summary, (4) synthesis, (5) analogies, (6) cognitive strategies, and (7) learner control. The first component is the most critical as far as elaboration theory is concerned. The elaborative sequence is defined as a simple to complex sequence in which the first lesson epitomizes (rather than summarize or abstract) the ideas and skills that follow. Epitomizing should be done on the basis of a single type of content (concepts, procedures, principles), although two or more types may be elaborated simultaneously, and should involve the learning of just a few fundamental or representative ideas or skills at the application level.

It is claimed that the elaboration approach results in the formation of more stable cognitive structures and therefore better retention and transfer, increased learner motivation through the creation of meaningful learning contexts, and the provision of information about the content that allows informed learner control. Elaboration theory is an extension of the work of Ausubel (advance organizers) and Bruner (spiral curriculum).

Scope/Application:

Elaboration theory applies to the design of instruction for the cognitive domain. The theoretical framework has been applied to a number of settings in higher education and training (English & Reigeluth, 1996; Reigeluth, 1992). Hoffman (1997) considers the relationship between elaboration theory and hypermedia.

Example:

Reigeluth (1983) provides the following summary of a theoretical epitome for an introductory course in economics:

1. Organizing content (principles)- the law of supply and demand

a) An increase in price causes an incease in the quantity supplied and a decrease in the quantity demanded.

b) A decrease in price causes a decrease in the quantity supplied and an increase in the quantity demanded.

2. Supporting content - concepts of price, supply, demand, increase, decrease

Practically all principles of economics can be viewed as elaborations of the law of suppy and demand including monopoly, regulation, price fixing, planned economies.

Principles:

1. Instruction will be more effective if it follows an elaboration strategy, i.e., the use of epitomes containing motivators, analogies, summaries, and syntheses.

2. There are four types of relationships important in the design of instruction: conceptual, procedural, theoretical and learning pre-requisites.

References:

English, R.E. & Reigeluth, C.M. (1996). Formative research on sequencing instruction with the elaboration theory. Educational Technology Research & Development, 44(1), 23-42.

Hoffman, S. (1997). Elaboration theory and hypermedia: Is there a link? Educational Technology, 37(1), 57-64.

Reigeluth, C. & Stein, F. (1983). The elaboration theory of instruction. In C. Reigeluth (ed.), Instructional Design Theories and Models. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

Reigeluth, C. (1987). Lesson blueprints based upon the elaboration theory of instruction. In C. Reigeluth (ed.), Instructional Design Theories in Action. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

Reigeluth, C. (1992). Elaborating the elaboration theory. Educational Technology Research & Development, 40(3), 80-86.

For more about Reigeluth’s current work, see his home page at https://profile.educ.indiana.edu/reigelut

Retrieved February 09, 2011, from http://tip.psychology.org/reigelut.html/

Instructional Design (n):

The process by which instruction is improved through the analysis of learning needs and systematic development of learning materials. Instructional designers often use technology and multimedia as tools to enhance instruction.

Retrieved February 04, 2011, from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/

The Basics of Constructivism

Bartlett (1932) pioneered what became the constructivist approach (Good & Brophy, 1990). Constructivists believe that "learners construct their own reality or at least interpret it based upon their perceptions of experiences, so an individual's knowledge is a function of one's prior experiences, mental structures, and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events." "What someone knows is grounded in perception of the physical and social experiences which are comprehended by the mind." (Jonasson, 1991).

If each person has their own view about reality, then how can we as a society communicate and/or coexist? Jonassen, addressing this issue in his article Thinking Technology: Toward a Constructivist Design Model, makes the following comments:

• "Perhaps the most common misconception of constructivism is the inference that we each therefore construct a unique reality, that reality is only in the mind of the knower, which will doubtlessly lead to intellectual anarchy."
  


• "A reasonable response to that criticism is the Gibsonian perspective that contends that there exists a physical world that is subject to physical laws that we all know in pretty much the same way because those physical laws are perceivable by humans in pretty much the same way."
  
  
• "Constructivists also believe that much of reality is shared through a process of social negotiation..."
  

If one searches through the many philosophical and psychological theories of the past, the threads of constructivism may be found in the writing of such people as Bruner, Ulrick, Neiser, Goodman, Kant, Kuhn, Dewey and Habermas. The most profound influence was Jean Piaget's work which was interpreted and extended by von Glasserfield (Smorgansbord, 1997).

Realistic vs. Radical Construction

Realistic constructivism - cognition is the process by which learners eventually construct mental structures that correspond to or match external structures located in the environment.

Radical constructivism - cognition serves to organize the learners experiential world rather than to discover ontological reality

(Cobb, 1996, in Smorgansbord, 1997).

The Assumptions of Constructivism - Merrill

• knowledge is constructed from experience
  
• learning is a personal interpretation of the world
  
• learning is an active process in which meaning is developed on the basis of experience
  
• conceptual growth comes from the negotiation of meaning, the sharing of multiple perspectives and the changing of our internal representations through collaborative learning
  
• learning should be situated in realistic settings; testing should be integrated with the task and not a separate activity
  (Merrill, 1991, in Smorgansbord, 1997)