Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Weeks 7 & 8 Digital Story Telling, NetGen and Gagne
After some technical difficulties, we watched the DST videos…
Glendalyn:
“Cherished”
About her pregnancy and birth of her children-—growth of infant to young child..learning purpose thru children…(done in pinnacle…quality of medium under par, but the story was very good.)
Carmen—"Xu Xu"
This was about having puppy in her life and what she learned:
playfulness, love,—love of animals. All voice-over--No music til end—very effective, I thought--well done.
Leo —
"Tapir"
Leo takes a trip to Costa Rica and encounters macaws spider monkeys wild pigs...Santana as sound track with soun wonderful wild animal noises as well. Climax is finally coming face to face with the wild Tapir--a 7ft hog/aardvark creature--handsome indeed!
Peter-
"Graduation trip"
After an upsetting graduation, he takes a trip with father and sister to Switzerland. I was about dealing with the anger and appreciating family and how he reconciled his feeling among relatives in a small town. Knowing how the story was in first draft and comparing to final version, this piece really developed.
Anthony
"Back to school"
This was done in video format and Anthony compares school here at SFSU with his home country, the Philippines. He did his DST on the DST workshop experience, so we all got to see our handsome muggs on the big screen...I was glad that Anthony did this; he created a record of a memorable day--way to go!
Desmond
"I Have Arrived"
My piece was about taking a trip to Scotland to visit my folks, searching in different places and learning the simplicity of being attached to my parents...and understanding my connection to them.
Areej
"Having a Choice"
This was about Areej comparing her life to her peers—they got married, had kids, appeared happy, but she followed her dreams as her father sagely advised her to do. Now she is reaching for high goals because she has a choice...very good.
Terrence-
"There are a thousand joys to let out life…”
A look at dealing with his Father's death. He reminisces about his father’s life and deals with the pain of watching a loved one die. This was a very moving piece. Terrence looks at the silent communication of his mother and father facing death...a moving tribute.
***While more technical issues were resolved we viewed Dr. Foreman's slide show of Tokyo, Seoul and Kyoto. We also got to see her home in Korea and her father’s grave mound, who had just passed recently...
Brian
"Eating, a world away"
Brian takes a return trip to Malaysia as an adult and explores the epicurean delight of eating...many delicious-looking dishes, but all I wanted was the frog porridge!
Barry
"Gigging in Kawai"
Barry goes to Hawaii to play music for the summer w/ his uncle. He find companionship and forms a trio playing all over Kawai and jams with lots of musicians, including Billy Preston...after a summer of cool gigs, he lands back in California and happily returns to his 5th grade class.
Darren-
"Driving 55"
This piece explores the Zen of driving 55 and staying relaxed while the world rages around him (nice road rage shots, Darren!) He is saving gas, saving money and saving his sanity!
Karen was out sick--we look forward to her video next week.
_______
We discussed Constructivist approach to learning in light of our DST workshop experience. In the process, we create our own meaning—construct, hands on—create own meaning because personal…from there, we learn the technology…
Cooperative learning. Community of learners.
We did a round robin commenting on what was best part of the DST day:
(Following is a montage of everyones's comments...)
Learning everyone’s stories---end result was a surprize
Fascinated w/ group, all individuals—help each other...Nature of community building...Satisfying to complete project...Vision realized...Learning to condense...Something we deal with—release by telling the story...I'm going to make a christmas presents of iMovies...Like working w/ people—getting help from others...Chance to look back, reflect...Like the combination of group interaction and solitary work...Realizing how nice commute is...an ideal to aspire to.
____________
Net-Gen learning style vs Gagne’s theories….
Audience analysis….education does not always take into account like business will do market research. Despite grumblings from older generations, the NetG are interested in learning—just need to learn how to engage with them.
>>>We need to change, not the next generation.
Barry mentioned his nephew and daughter..teenager, how they multi-focus, on phone, television, computer, etc and he just learned to download an attachment.
Dr. Foreman used an immigrant analogy: older gen vs the younger gen--we need to learn the habits of this new land of NetG people--when in Rome!
Net gen used to finding out info on own—they need guidance more than rigid teaching..
We had a discussion regarding the use of Lynda.com. I haven't used it yet...now after the varied discussion I have bookmarked it and will explore...
Some only use when stuck, some learn by it faithfully. The discussion reflects how differently we all learn and each have our own needs for learning.
Someone mentioned the value of telling another what you know to reinforce—or teach someone...
Net gen not getting validation or feedback, which they are accustomed to, now that they are in corporate world...it has created a problem.
___________
3 dominant theories:
Behaviorism—1920-60
Cognitivism-1960-90
Constructivism, 1990-present
Gagne—focus on instruction, not learning
Looks at learning theories as (...?)
Famous for his Taxonomy: Ok, who can recall them w/o looking? (Hint: VICAM)
* verbal information
* intellectual skills
* cognitive strategies
* attitudes
* motor skills
Gagne: Godfather of instr technology, 1st to set up instr tech as field—(FLA state)
Tribal effect of DR and students----diff school of thoughts...closed circles.
His ideas are more behavioral and cognitive, not constructivist, Teacher-centric
Mastery-learning—hierarchy for mastery...Also, teacher decides steps of learning----
Use of Cognitive ideas:
How do you help?—What strategy to help encode and retrieve learning object?
Teacher can relate something familiar—mnemonics.. Tips to learn, etc.
Teacher—organizes info—use visual, connect new w/ prior knowledge + compare/contrast
Construct-
Teacher as coach, not center of learning experience
Experiential learning
Behave, cogn and contr…
Gagne: was behaviorist, became cognitive
Bloom vs. Gagne:
Bloom 1955
Recall and recognition
Comprehension
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Gagne—VICAM 1965
Must know 9 event of instruction!!!!
1 gaining attention
2 inform learners of objective
3 stimulating recall of prior learning
4 presenting the stimulus
5 providing learning guidance
6 eliciting performance
7 providing feedback
8 assessing performance
9 enhancing retention and transfer
Remember by grouping in chunks
1-3 intro—preparing of learning
4-7 learning event—acquisition and performance
8-9 post learning…--transfer of learning
For next week: Lesson Plan of simple instruction (USE GAGNE)
Teach the class something
Use as many Outcomes as possible
Use all 9 events !!!
Merrill 1987:
find, use, know (performance level)
Fact, concept, procedure, principle (outcomes)
Merrill was student of Gagne, he incorporated both Bloom and Gagne into his theories. Now Merrill ides used most.
Know…first level
Use…more advanced
Find---discovery—highest level
Next Week: turn in midterm quiz, on Gagne.
As always, please comment on this Blog.
Thanks! Desmond Rutherford
Monday, March 6, 2006
Greetings from Japan

I checked the itec 800 ilearn site last night and notice that some of you already watched Oblinger's presentation and made your comments. I appreciate that. Here is some pictures I promised. The faculty workshop workshop went really well, I am just so amazed how professors are so professional and responsible. I will write about it after today's seminar. For now, here is my travel log:
http://comeandseerwanda.blogspot.com/
Saturday, March 4, 2006
Week 5--Cognitive Theory: Information Processing
OK, week 5.
Today we were graced with the presence of Athena Nazario, our friendly SFSU librarian, who delivered an informative presentation on conducting research. The PPT presentation is in iLearn under week 5. If you still have questions or problems you can email Athena at:
anazario@sfsu.edu
I won't cover the presentation much, since you can view the PPT, but there was a couple of interesting elements related to Google : the good, the bad and the ugly. Athenia used The Yes Men site to illustrate how web information can e deceptive. If you go to: http://www.gatt.org
and compare to: http://wto.org , the 'real WTO' site, you can see that they are nearly indistinguishable. The Yes Men apparently posed as WTO businessmen to lure outside parties, with success apparently. Interesting. The other example used was typing "Martin Luther King" into Google for results....one hit is www.martinlutherking.org which comes up as the third result. This is a frighteningly racist site that claims "true historic facts," which painfully underlines the reality that ANYTHING can be found on the internet without regard to accountability. There is scholar.google.com which is still in Beta, and the intent is for more scholarly articles, etc--but I'm not sure that it is imperious to bogus research hits...
http://democracynow.org was also a recommended site
link+ shared catlog--regional
iliad –national search form (found under document delivery in library web Page)
---all freee services
Databases:
For education:
ERIC
Academic search elite (recommended*)
Education full text
Other:
PsycInfo (mind and tech)
Applied Science & Technology abstracts
Communications and Mass Media Complete (influence of media on humans)
Use of ‘AND’ between words on google search is implied by google
To limit search use OR, NOT –use caps
If unsure, use part word—like 'construct' will hit 'construct', 'construction', 'constructivist', etc. uses all variations of that word
Break into concepts for search (concept AND concept OR subject).
Use subject words or descriptors to limit search
Click scholarly, refereed or peer review…to limit to popular articles
Use subject terms to get more search hits if hits are limited
If you retrieve a siting, but no article go to : elec journal list, or catalog
We all logged on to begin our searches….Athena came around to answer questions, etc.
_______
Dr. Foreman brought up the Net generation—folks born after 1982. Computers are connected to them—multi-taks—always connected.
More motivated? Dr. Foreman suggested that the Net Gen are more hungry for stimuli, knowledge, more motivated.
Training needs to change to accommodate Net Gen.
Edutopia—why did I write this? For next week, read Chapter 4 and listen to lecture link under Assignment for week 6 ---respond in forum.
Constructivism—digital story telling march18. This will be exciting! BRING:
Story: 200 words, music, photos/images. We will work together to polish our writing—read, use iMovie for our digital story telling. Story is about whatever we wish, maybe something that changed us, transformation..important event. We watched Dr. Foreman's DST project; a poem about coming to a decision about travelling to Rwanda to comfort the children and people who survived the genocide--very moving piece.
We also watched a Behavior video—a student from last semester(?) final project. I don't think I was alone in feeling a bit awed by the level of production involved in this video, however, I found some of the film imagery distracting to the theme. I kept trying to associate what I was hearing with what I was seeing, and, at times, it was a bit much. Nonetheless, the theory of Behaviorism was distilled in a way that most of us seemed to grasp and find meaningful. By the way, Anthony volunteered to make a copy for anyone interested--I think we just need to pass along a DVDR? Money, too? See Anthony for details!
Carmen brought up a question about positive feedback/reinforcement. Where is feedback, reinforcer w/ 15 yr old fat kid, her nephew, who creates a false profile and pretends to be 22, virile, handsome, etc and 'snares' girls on the web. Some thought it was strange, but others seemed to applaud the creativity...successful results--what is reinforced? Every individual needs different reinforcers...Are reinforcers less valid? Equal?
_______Cognitive Theory-
Encode, retrieve,
Sensory—attention
Short term memory—limited space
Lost w/o rehearsal or encoding strategy
Wee exercise: we all get to peer into box containing 20 items, we get 45 seconds to mentally log the items, then back to seats to write down as many as we can remember. I got:
Comb, Fork, Screw driver, Hair clip
Did Not get: Lipstick, Clip-binder, Candle, Cassette tape, Mustard
Dr. foreman:
Use a structure:
Group by origin, color, office supply, shape
Harder if no schema (ie office supply, food items, etc)
Terence(aka Mr. Memory)—recalled all 20!
Multi-media is good to reinforce different channels in brain—so use in creating instructional design!
Dual-code in play here
More manipulating (touching, some people verbalized items), more encoding..
We all are actively processing
Compare / contrast to help learners remember
Novel object we remember-but not too novel
Forget well-known objects…
Combine cognitive and constructive (const also encorporates behavior)
DIGITAL storytelling:
Constructivist project
If story accompanied the objects—we would remember:
3 types of long term memory
Declarative
Procedural
Episodic (story—easy to remember)
Dr. Foreman will be going to Japan, and speaking at a faculty development conference. Also she is going to go to Korea to speak at Korean Society of Educatonal Technology conference.
Remember:
For next week, read Chapter 4 and listen to lecture link under Assignment for week 6 ---respond in forum.
See you all on the 18th--bring 100-200 word story, 15-20 digital photos, music file, creativity and a dish to pass.
Desmond Rutherford
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Week 3--Introduction to Learning Theories

photo courtesy of www.toddadams.net
The clever ones have already noted that Week Two’s Blog is absent. I hope to remedy this once Brian has posted the podcast from February 7, and I can listen and blog from there. Thanks for your patience, all.
We discussed the benefits of the iLearn forum. Dr. Foreman pointed out that with the general feeling of impenetrability of the first chapter of our textbook, for instance, we could see that we are not alone if we are exchanging ideas in the forum. This was, of course, foreshadow to next week’s forum assignment to replace a normal class meeting. We are going to read chapters 2 and 6 in Learning and Instruction: Theory into Practice, 5th Edition by Margaret E. Gredler and write 250 to 500 words in reflection/response to one of the chapters and pose a question as well. The deadline posting the response and question is 7pm Tuesday, February 21. But it doesn’t end there: please respond to other students’ postings. Dr. Foreman said that the person receiving the greatest number of responses will glean the most points!
Dr. Foreman also experimented with SnapZ Pro, a Mac-only platform webcast tool (if that is the correct term) that captured her projected web and PowerPoint presentation as well as an audio track. It is not high end , though inexpensive, and it is memory hungry. Her approximate 10minute presentation ate about 10MB. Compare to Brian’s podcast files which are 14 or 15 MB for about 90 minutes. Brian is going to look at the possibility of using an iMac eye-mac (?) for recording the video portion of our wonderfully photogenic class.
We went through Dr. Foreman’s PPT presentation of the course overview, which is available for view at the ITEC800 page on iLearn. She described our subject matter focus up to this point in terms of camera shots, with everything preceding Week 3 as “long-shots.” With this presentation, we slightly tightened the focus to a more medium shot. We will move forward and take on a more tightly-focused view of the learning theories, starting with Behaviorism and the slideshow posted on iLearn. Dr. Foreman recommends that we start there (Behaviorism slideshow) before we tackle the reading so that the ideas will be easier to understand when we are reading. I know that I am not alone in hoping that the ideas in subsequent chapters flow more easily than the mental cement of chapter one!
Discussions continued on the evolution of learning theories and how each of the three (Behavior, Cognitive, Constructivist) have their place for different learning environments and that each new theory was built upon its predecessor and tended to answer questions that could not be answered by the previous, prevailing theory. For instance: Behaviorism can’t address the working of the mind, so the Cognitive theory evolved. The Cognitive theory addresses the organization of the mind (with the not always popular analogy of the mind is like a computer), but can’t really address how we can become emotionally motivated to learn, hence the evolution of the Constructivist theory. As our ITEC800 learning camera focuses, we will see more schools of thought that fall under the umbrella of the 3 big theories.
We noted that most grammar schools incorporate the Behavioral model for instruction. Brian related that learning algebra in high school is difficult and frustrating because there is no real-life explanation for what is being solved. However, years, later, solving a problem on the job, it dawned on him how to do the math. This illustrates that the idea of measurable learning, currently adopted by public school for funding, etc. is not a true gage of whether learning has occurred.
OK, Dales’ Cone of Experience illustrates the retention rate associated with the method of learning, with reading bottoming at 10% retention and what we experience or teach to others comes in at a 90% retention rate. The graphic segued nicely to the group exercise which followed. We broke into four groups of three and brain-stormed to design a day of instruction to a group of adult Korean tourists who have a working knowledge of English and it is their first visit to the US. We were assigned to teach them something about San Francisco using one or all learning theories.
Please let me know if I got the names right for each group. (It’s a good thing with have mug shots on our profiles!) Also, I am having trouble reading my own writing, so I apologize if I botch anything—from now on I am using my laptop to record notes.
Group 1 (Carmen, Anthony, Areej)
Adults can travel, information is power (?). We give them a map with pictures and create an agenda. Incorporate Constructivist theory: demonstrations with a guide, go to Golden Gate Bridge. Problem solve: Agenda with map of where to go, what to do. Provide several destinations with restaurants for them to locate without a guide.
Group 2 (Leonard, Terence, Desmond)
We are incorporating all three learning theories to teach the Korean tourists about the different neighborhoods of SF. They are given an information pack with cheat sheets for each neighborhood and a map. They board a multi-media bus where they are tested on info from their packets and get prizes that relate to different neighborhoods (behaviorism). While they get a tour of the city, images, video and music are used to inform and reinforce unique qualities of each area of city, to help them learn (cognitive). Near the end of the day, individuals go to a particular neighborhood to learn more about that area, then meet back to teach the others in their group about their discoveries (constructivist).
Group 3 (Darren, Peter, Klendalyn)
Constructivist only approach. Have a scavenger hunt in top 10 sites of SF. Take pictures of what they see, make journal entries, and connect to their own experiences.
Group 4 (Karen, Brian, Barry)
Combine conventional learning with technology. Each tourist has an iPod with instructional video loaded. Have them use BART, relate to the Seoul Metro in Korea---frames of learning: how to use BART in 7 steps from the video in iPod. Analogy of Korean system with the BART system. Compare to own travel experiences. As group, use the iPod and solve problems together. Combines Behaviorism and Constructivism.
We did a post-mortem: each of us responding to what we felt happened in the past 3 hours…it was a good night of applying the theory to a practical application and then observing what our peers did to solve the education problem. We all did well!
Desmond Rutherford
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Week 1--What is Instructional Technology?
OK, this is my first ITEC class as well as my first Blog, so bear with me. Professor Foreman introduced herself, the class, and the ilearn site: built with Moodle, an open source software tool. It's great to see not only the syllabus and assignments per week, but also weekly references for more in-depth investigation into each topic covered.
We discussed the difficulty in finding an adequate text for studying instructional development. Dr. Foreman mentioned that a study revealed that of all professional journals, the writing in educational journals most impenetrable and least reader-friendly! The important element, Dr. Foreman noted, is that this seminar is a collaboration and that we will all learn from each other. From our brief introductions, we are from diverse backgrounds--I am sure that we will all contribute to a wonderful learning experience.
We played a little game. First, we entered a profile in ilearn, then we each stood up and introduced ourselves and stated why were there, taking this ITEC800 journey. Afterward, we were asked to name our fellow students. Some were quite good at this (Terence I recall, did well) I think I remembered 3 names. I could only remember story details, like places people worked, cities or countries of origin, but not the names. Dr. Foreman explained that story-telling is the earliest and most-effective form of teaching/learning, but it takes a strategy to memorize details, like the names of your 14 classmates, for instance.
Well, so ends Blog number one. Please give me feedback, note false statements or missing info. Thanks, Desmond Rutherford.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
WEEK 16: Intelligences, eLearning, unlearning, eLearning,
Evaluation time. We got to fill out our evaluation forms for the class...hopefully we can help the 800ers of the future as they move online...
And now...we are finishing up our final projects
Important note: Beeps equal time
David – English Language Learning
Dave talked about ESL (English as a Second Language) learners. He spoke about teachers and their common faults. He talked about how the learners fall behind, often because they are neglected and overlooked. He talked about the skills theory associated with ESL learners and how to apply it to instruction. These included retention and acquisition theory...methods for helping the students acquire and retain what they learned beyond the short timeframe from instruction to examination. Whereas certain modalities of communications are emphasized in current theories, he suggests teaching to all modalities, such as writing, reading, speaking.
Azure – How to get an A
Learning skills. This was based on topics from classes that Azure took at Cal Poly. Go Mustangs! Azure defined learning and skill to define learning skills as the process of acquiring knowledge through practice. She spoke about learning goals and how to use them to help attain knowledge. With this goal you can discover the GAP: what has to be covered between the now and the goal. She talked about ways to avoid Procrastination...I will write about that later. Another key element of learning skills is learning to manage time to complete tasks efficiently. Don’t study late at night...1 hr during the day is worth 1.5 hrs at night. Meaningful organization and memory strategies are key to remembering what you have learned. Notetaking skills are key...take notes on everything.
Matt Albert - The Tools of eLearning
Elearning is the enhancement of learning through technology. Elearning covers many media from the internet to tv to who knows. Highlighted tools are: Multimedia, web dev, groupware, video conferencing, content management. Multimedia – Flash is most prominent to create instruction experiences with sound, animation, text, etc. Web Dev Tools – Dreamweaver, great for putting content on the web. Groupware – wikis, blogs, discussion forums. Video Conferencing tools – Breeze, Centra create a virtual classroom, webinars, web conference. Learning/Content Management systems – Moodle, blackboard, WebCT, organize and manage content on the web.
Vaidis – Informal Learning
Informal learning occurs at all times and is subconscious and conscious at the time. It is not one of classes and grades. Informal learning is 75-80% of our learning. The learner pushes the learning whereas formal is pushed by someone else (a teacher). 2 advantages: Immediacy and Relevancy – you learn important info and skills in real time. There are no recognized forms of informal learning. However, check out Connectivism ( http://www.connectivism.ca/)
Jon – Assembling an Online Community of Practice to Create Tech Innovations for Early Intervention Systems
Early intervention systems are designed to help children with special needs and their parents. Child Find is an example of these early intervention systems. He then talked about getSet Project that helps EIS by integrating technology into the system. This creates Online Communities of Practice to pool information and maintain goal and scope. He then showed a view into the getSet Moodle site and showed us to utilize this in practice.
Matt Harris – Using Blogs
I talked about creating a blog and setting it up to accept posts via email and using an RSS feed to highlight elements of the blog. I handed out a publication that highlights ways to use blogs in education ( http://wornickjds.org/tech/resources/blogsineducation.html)
Sacramento – E-Learning taking an Inquiry-Based Strategy
Inquiry based learning is the process of learning through meaningful thoughtful activities. Pros: everyone is involved, it is flexible, evokes critical thinking, learn from others in the community, avoid teacher-centered discussions. Cons: lack of on-hand expert, technology issues, lack of face to face interaction. He showed us an example of an inquiry based eLearning web site in which students have to complete a project.
Candelario – Gaming as a Form of Teaching
Video games are part of pop culture and are now seen as a learning tool. He talked about the long history of video games that span back all the way to 1952...Video games are an integral part of our Digital Culture. With video games, skills can be taught through the use of video games. Video games have already effected the way we interact, it is time to take advantage of that. Video games promote critical thinking, they promote learning, and incorporate the principle of expertise. However, video games can be violent and video game programmer are not teachers.
Patrick - UnLearning
Example, looking the correct direction when crossing the street in England. Unlearning what you have learned up to a point and change your perceptions. Unlearning is remembering, not using, and re-learning. Remembering in unlearning throws in a wrench and requires metacognition (thinking about thinking). There is a roadblock in the metacognitive state that requires reevaluation and relearning. Unlearning is painful because it breaks out comfort circles and motivation. Unlearning using doubt to leverage change.
Brian – Creative Home Schooling
He believes that children learn most when home-schooled. Quoting Abraham Maslow he shows the education should be holistic rather than specialized. Home school breaks down in to Digressive Learning. Digressive Learning – allowing students to use their multiple intelligences to solve academic or social problems, such as Monopoly. Self-Directed Learning and Unschooling – children learn at their own speed, for example, follow-up on interests. Integration of Work and Play.
Quetzal – Summarization of Three Learning Theories
He gave an overview of the three major learning styles we covered in the course: Behaviorism. Behaviorism: Skinner, the environment, and behavior. Respondent and operant behavior, Contingencies of Reinforcement, SRS Model, and Behavior Management. Information Processing Model... Person is a processor of information. Create methods for the learner to input and retain information...retrieve when needed. Constructivism – learners are vessels of learning. Learners develop through meaningful activity.
Xavier – Constructivist Elements in Digital Storytelling
After defining constructivism and reiterating the steps in Digital Storytelling, he showed us these concepts applied to the Digital Storytelling activity we partook in earlier in the semester. Script: Short and succinct...the promotes mindful reflection, personal growth and ownership in learning. Planning: Compose series of images that will tell the story...Critical thinking and use of knowledge, multiple perspectives and modes of knowledge. Discuss and revise the script: Small group discussions...social negotiations and collaborative learning. Using these ideals of constructivism you could use Digital Storytelling for personal healing through the personal story, the power of voice, and compassionate voice.
Diana – Online Instructional Strategies
Online instructions encompass class taught over the Internet. Key elements – students need to be involved and integrated, curriculum needs to be clear, the class must be facilitated, Technology must fit. Strategies: Clearly state expectation, assign weekly written reflections, organize discussion and assignments to align to weekly lessons, be sensitive to student’s needs, have student-centered exercises, require a hand-in assignment, and provide timely feedback. She listed facilitator skills that encourage active participation in class while still allowing the students to work without you.
Michael – Website for Gagne’s Theory of Instruction
He outlined Gagne’s 9 steps in this website not only by describing them, but through the user experience on the site. He had quizzes and interactive activities on top of the store of knowledge he had produced. Including a simulated lesson plan. He also gave us a good overview of Gagne’s Theory of Instruction.
Dorothy – Developing effective eLearning Instruction
A good portion of what she was going to cover was covered in other presentations, so she shortened her presentation which rather impressive and thorough from her powerpoint. She spoke of benefits and delivery methods for eLearning. The role of the designer is the trainer, facilitator, and instructor...perhaps even developer. Demands for eLearning instructors in increasing quite a bit now.
Adam – Multiple Intelligences
He talked about the history of Multiple intelligence Theories. At first there were 7, now there are 9...In order to be an intelligence: rooted in the brain, rooted in history, symbols, and operations, developmental path, exceptional people, evidence, and supported by finding. Another one, not on the list is Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence – Self awareness, mood management, self-motivation, Empathy, Managing Relationships. Emotional health is essential to learning. We then talked about the types of learning theory and how they related to multiple intelligences.
Nathan – Podcasting: Uses in Education
He explained podcasting as a visual or audio content available on the Internet. It is an on-demand service. In a school, podcasts could be used to broadcast lectures or supplements to lectures. There are several online resources available online right now via podcasts. Creating podcasts are quite simple using GarageBand on the Mac to record audio and the web to publish.
Special notice: Go check out Nicole’s website: http://www.aslterpshirts.com
Highlight of the week: This class is now over and I reflect what I have learned. I could speak of theories or activities or even paper airplanes and knitting, but the true benefit of this class comes from the relationships I developed and the “informal learning” I partook in through meeting new people. And I think we are all pretty lucky to have such a dynamic, intelligent, and engaging group of passionate people. When I look back that is what I remember most...thanks for all of that.
Thoughts?
...and this your blogger, signing off.
Visit the ITEC 800 website at:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/index.htm
Visit moodle at:
https://ilearn.sfsu.edu
===================================
Matt Harris
Director of Technology
Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School
http://www.wornickjds.org/tech
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Week 15: Final Presentations Round 1...Blended from the finest
Journal: Posting in the journal is part of attendance. Were we supposed to post in the journal or the forum about the assignments...the answer: JOURNAL. Post whether you completed all the assignments in the journal.
MENTAL NOTE: WHEN YOU TURN IN YOUR FINAL PROJECT, IT IS REQUIRED YOU ILLUSTRATE HOW IT RELATES TO A SPECIFIC LEARNING THEORY.
FINAL PRESENTATIONS:
Jill: How to Become an Active Listener
Webninar – An online seminar used an eLearning tool.
Tips:
- Observe/respond to body language
- Notice voice inflection and tone
- Use open-ended question
- Be attentive to schedule and concerns
- “Am I listening or waiting for my turn to talk?”
Claudia: From Learning Theories to Learning Organizations
We reviewed the most applicable theories to learning organiziation: Behaviorism, Cognitive Information Processing, Constructivism.
Fundamentals of a Learning Organization:
- Shared Vision
- Personal Mastery
- Mental Models
- Group Learning
- Systems Thinking
Rob: Content Management Systems and Learning Management Systems
Rob updated the ITEC 800 moodle site for next semester...He is the culprit. He took the content from Dr. Foreman’s previous ITEC 800 site and integrated it with moodle.
Each week:
- Blog entry from the previous week
- Reading assignment as a forum, so students can interact about the topic
- Assignment due that week
- Forum for that week
- Trivia Quiz
- Graphic illustrating something covered that week
- Content Management Systems are systems that allow people without web development skills to put content online (I think that it is actually there to simplify the process so everyone is on a equal playing field, so skill set is not a factor).
- Learning Management Systems do all of this, but are interactive and thereby make them a learning experience...Moodle is a LMS.
Maura: Blended Learning
Blended learning is a combination of any form of instructional technology with face to face instructor-led learning. The goal is take the best of both and create the most effective learning experience. Example: classroom instruction with online experience. You run into the issue of synchronous vs. asynchronous learning (learning as content is delivered or with a time delay). M-Learning- using mobile technology to enhance learning, for example, after a face-to-face kickoff, all material was online and accessible via the web and pdas. Constructivism is the main learning theory for blended learning because of its differentiation. Implication of using: fewer in-person interaction, more work for the learner and the instructor, courses may never end...
Britt: Teaching for Understanding
Teaching for Understanding is a method for designing curriculum to help maximize understanding by students. Understanding is more about HOW TO rather than ABOUT. We then broke up into groups where we discussed understanding...what is something you understand? How did you come to that understand it? How do you know you understand it? We then discussed our results with everyone...Getting understanding requires thinking and doing. Assessing understanding also requires thinking and doing. Students should be able to think and act flexibly with what they know.
4 Key Elements:
- Generative Topics – What do you want learners to understand?
- Understanding Goals – What do you want the learners to understand about their topic?
- Performances of Understanding – What will students come to understand about the topic?
- Ongoing Assessment – How do you know if they understand?
Check out the website: http://pzweb.harvard.edu
Nicole: Instructional Technology and Sign Language Interpreter Training
- She started with her Digital Storytelling movie. It was interesting movie about her experience in South Africa at a Sign Language Conference.
Those who seek to become Sign Language Interpreters should take interpreter training...doing this requires the use of Instructional Technology heavily. Training programs are 2-4 year programs with high expectations of interpreting students. A large portion of the community consists of mentoring and continuing education, in addition to basic video skills because of the large amount of video in the training. A large portion of training is now including IT...in fact there are Interpreter Technology Training. Each trainer needs to be able to record, play, and hear their work for training and fine tuning purpose. The technology is moving away from VHS/Analog to digital, web based, such as iMovie and webcams. They are even working on natural language processing through audio to sign language display.
Susan: Wikis
Going off the information she gave a few weeks ago, we got to learned more.
Wiki: simplest database that could possibily work. Since they are editable, how can you protect the information...simple answer, those who are interested in valid information are more involved that those who are interested in sabotage...it take care of itself, but you can set security settings, too. Wikis are open editing in simple text formatting language. They store previous versions of the site. Security is low. Multiple authorship, communal, collaborative, and constantly changing. You can easily edit the site and view previous versions. Famous Wikis: Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com)...the first ever was WikiWikiWeb (http://www.c2.com)...Corporate Version: Twiki (http://twiki.org/).
How to use them:
- Writing a collaborative research paper
- Peer editing through the wiki
- Beak-out groups at workshops/conferences can quickly publish and share their ideas with the rest of the group.
- Collaborative knowledge base like a class glossary on moodle.
Dr. Foreman then talked about learning styles:
She discussed with 3 main theories:
- Auditory
- Visual
- Kinesthetic
No one uses one of the styles exclusively, and there is usually significant overlap in learning styles.
It is our responsibility as teacher to discover the learning styles of our students so we make sure to teach to those learning styles. We don’t students to be pigeonholed by their inabilities to learn from the methods the subject is being taught.
We investigated an Powerpoint presentation about analyzing learning styles visually by breaking down learning preferences in linear space then collaborating the data. For more information, visit the iLearn site and download the powerpoint. Also, check out the learning styles web site: ( http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1)
Highlight of the week: This more comes from the reading from the week before and thoughts on Constructivism. I like the idea of constructivism in its holistic and deep seeded approach to learning. That being said, I worry about it. We are so interested in finding that Silver Bullet, that single explanation to solve every teaching need. I don’t think that exists...Every situation requires its own style. We lean too heavily on Constructivism in education in this country and I think many of students are coming without enough basic or vocational skills as a result.
Thoughts?
Visit the ITEC 800 website at:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/index.htm
Visit moodle at:
https://ilearn.sfsu.edu
===================================
Matt Harris
Director of Technology
Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School
http://www.wornickjds.org/tech
BLOG Week 13: CDT, Motivation, and Constructivism
November 16, 2005
Let’s take care of business first…
For final projects
Presentations will be on Nov 30 and Dec 7. If you would like to present on Nov. 30, email Dr. Foreman. All final papers/projects are due Dec. 7. Presentations should be less than 10 minutes. If you present on Nov. 30, you get a few extra minutes.
Have you turned in all your homework?
Go to your journal, and let Dr. Foreman know what homework assignments you have turned in. She will post on Moddle all the assignments she should have from each of us.
First part of class:
Dr. Foreman started class by asking if anyone learned anything this week that they would like to share. She spoke about the aha! moment. Did you find yourself connecting something that you learned before with something that happened to you recently? Michael, Nicole and Vaidis shared examples of tools they are using or have used at work, which they have learned will improve their ability to do their work. Jon’s research project is on just this topic, technology diffusion, so he introduced us to the term “early adopters”, people who buy in early and easily to technologies that help productivity at work.
Dr. Foreman continued with a discussion on constructivism, and 3 theorists associated with it:
Theorist Learning Theory Instructional Theory
Bruner Discovery learning If little schema, use discovery learning
Ausbel Reception learning
Vygotsky Scaffolding If more schema, motivation for learning is greater
With no scaffolding or schema, can’t have aha! moment
As a teacher, we need to know which strategy to use? This is why we do an audience analysis.
How can we provide scaffolding to students, offer the right amount of help? From the group that read ch. 7, we heard about the ZPD, the Zone of Proximal Development. What information is missing in order to learn to solve the problem? The farther away, the less scaffolding that is available.
Entry behavior-----------------Goal
What is the distance between these two?
Need to provide instruction to bring these two closer together
What is difference between learning theory and instructional theory?
Theory is a lens. What are we looking at?
Learning theory – focuses on learner, what is going on in learner’s mind, how the mind works. The three big that we learn in this class are Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism.
Instructional theory – focuses on what the teacher does, what is the instructional strategy, what is best way to design instruction. All the theories we learn in this class are learning theories, except for Gagne’s theory, which is instructional
WHAT to teach? That’s the Curriculum
HOW to teach? Those are the Instructional strategies
Dr. Foreman reviewed Gagne’s Taxonomy, in further discussion about WHAT we teach
Verbal – verbal information used to explain
Intellectual – rules, discrimination, association
Cognitive Strategies – when to use what? Strategies based on experience. This is what experts do. Problem solving based on patterns and accumulated experience
Attitude – beliefs, value, motivation
Motor skills – physical behavior, demonstration of physical skills
Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction is then used to teach, which is the HOW. But this si best used for training, or teaching short lessons or simpler skills.
For complex teaching, like online design and instruction, Gagne’s 9 events don’t work so well. Component Display Theory (CDT) (see ITEC moodle sight for link) by David Merrill, Gagne’s student. (Gagne set up Instructional Design departments at universities in Utah and Florida.) Merrill challenged Gagne’s taxonomy as too global, not very good for computer-instruction design.
CDT is two-dimensional instructional design model
What level of performance is needed for type of instruction.
Levels of Performance Find
(Discover)* Accomplished story teller invents good story based on what they’ve discovered. E.g. brought conflict in at exactly right time in story. Invent
a new way to balance your checkbook Research findings, Ph.D. work
Use Apply the rules for writing a good story, may not necessarily be a great story Demonstrate
the steps; show how to balance a checkbook Do experiments to see principles in action.
Remember Learn facts Remember definition, e.g. story telling; know the elements of telling a good story, such as conflict Know
the steps, like balancing your checkbook Memorizing principles
Teaching what?
Fact Concept Procedure Principle
Gray boxes: used very often
Yellow boxes: not often taught, reserved for higher level, graduate level work
*Top level: True constructivism
Now, based on the table, test what you’ve learned:
Performance-Content Analysis
Performance Level
Remember: requires the student to search memory in order to recognize some item of information that was previously stored
Use: requires the student to apply some abstraction to specific case
Find: requires the student to derive or invent a new abstraction
Content Categories
Facts
Concepts
Procedures
Principles
Identify the performance level and content category for each example
For example, answer to #1 is RF, for Remember-Facts
1. On a topographic map what is the symbol for a church?
2. Define positive reinforcement.
3. Read the following short story. Identify the paragraph that best represents the climax of the story.
4. Figure out a way to group students in a classroom that assures a range of ability, sex and ethnic background in each group.
5. What are the steps in balancing a checkbook?
6. Demonstrate how to clean a clarinet.
7. Write a computer program that will index and retrieve the class list.
8. What happens when water evaporates? Explain in terms of molecular movement and heat.
9. Read the following case study of an ecological system. In this system, the rodents are increasing in number. Predict some possible hypothesis based on your knowledge of life cycles and the interdependence of species in this ecological system.
10. Set up your experiment to assess the effect of tobacco smoke on plant growth. Report your findings.
Scroll to end for answers.
Second part of class:
We broke into groups to teach each other about chapters 7 and 9. We spent 30 minutes putting together powerpoint presentations to teach each other.
Ch. 7 presentation by group #1 on Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development (link to powerpoint on Moodle)
Ch. 9 presentation by group #2 on Motivation and Self-Regulation in Learning (link to powerpoints)
Answer key:
1. RF
2. RC
3. UC
4. FC
5. RP
6. UP
7. FP
8. RP
9. UP
10. FP
===================================
Matt Harris
Director of Technology
Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School
http://www.wornickjds.org/tech
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Week 12: Research, Google, Wikis, and Cognitive
MENTAL NOTE #1: Write journal entries about class. There will not be prompts. Just reflect on what was covered in class...
MENTAL NOTE #2: Patrick is making us look bad...he is just too good of a student.
In the light of getting going on our independent research topics, we had a special guest speaker: Athena Nazario, a librarian from the Department of Ed. If you would like to get a hold of her, email her at anazario@sfsu.edu
Athena began by introducing to The Yes Men about two guys that pose themselves as members of the WTO in order to flush out some of the indecencies. They created a web site (http://www.gatt.org) that looks EXACTLY like the WTO website (http://www.wto.org)...these guys so successful in their endeavors they were invited to represent the WTO by outside parties who thought they were real...their website used to come up first on Google if you entered WTO as a search criteria instead of the official WTO website.
Given the open nature of the web, opinion and inaccuracy is a something that is always a danger on the web. This is why we still have a library and the library has a website ( http://www.library.sfsu.edu). You should create a library pin, to do this go to library pin/library record link on the web page. This will allow you to view records in the library easily.
Books:
To view the book catalog at SFSU, click on InvestiGator...to gain access to book catalogs from other schools, click on Link+ (twice). You can request books from other institutions and they will deliver it here. You need your name, user id, and pin...you can keep the book for 3 weeks and renew it online (only once)...so is that 6 weeks then? For documents, click on Document deliver then request books and you can see the 3 ways to get books from other libraries.
Note: Research Advice & Instruction -> Research Guides — CHECK IT OUT
Articles:
ERIC – Educational Resources Information Center (check out one of the handouts..THE ONE THAT SAYS USING ERIC). ERIC is a database that indexes and abstracts articles from education journals and documents from non-journal sources, from 1966 to present. These are all peer reviewed...it sounds like something pretty useful...REMEMBER that Google only searches for web pages and has its own definition of relevance bases on words appearing in the page.
- With the ERIC interface available off the SFSU library web site, the results are organized by tabs (Journals, Peer-Reviewed Journals, Conferences, Books)
For specific documents, click on Document delivery...check out Ingenta. This will allow to search for an article or document that can be downloaded or faxed to you. Although they cost money, SFSU will eat the cost as long as it costs <$35. If the cost is over $35, you can use the Illiad system to get a copy of the article, BUT IT TAKES ABOUT A MONTH.
For a full list of databases that our school has access to click on Databases -> List all databases.
When searching a database (NOT google), if you want to search for multiple concepts/words, you need to insert an AND..i.e. John AND Jack, not John Jack...without the AND the search will look for the string John Jack.
- For synonyms, use an OR, i.e. Pig OR Hog
- For combination of a prefix or suffix, use a *, i.e. Comp* will search for any word that starts with Comp
Journals:
Check out CUFTS ( http://lib-cufts.lib.sfu.ca/CUFTS/sbt.cgi) for specific journals. Go to Electronic Journal Listing under the Database section in the library main site.
- In ERIC...something that is marked ED is an ERIC document and not a journal entry, so the entire document is available.
- For those that say they are available online, but turn out not to be...go to the second floor in the library to check out the document in Microfiche. Documents before 1995 are available there.
Check out PROQUEST to learn about information related to your field, dissertations and theses. Go to the Database search and enter proquest.
- Results with page preview and page image are full text...others you will have to request through illiad.
Check out the following databases:
Education Abstracts
JSTOR
Academic Search Elite
Communication and Mass Media Complete
Currently there are no Instructional Design or Instructional Technology databases...but there will be...right now we fall under both Technology and Education
Check out Athena’s web page for good links and contact info:
http://online.sfsu.edu/~anazario/
Highlighted sites:
http://www.theyesmenmovie.com/
http://wto.org
http://gatt.org
http://democracynow.org
http://truthout.org
http://www.library.sfsu.edu
http://www.eric.ed.gov
This information is covered in part in ITEC 797, which most students push off to the end of their Master’s program, but should taken earlier.
Susan introduced us to her research topic: Wikis. Wikis are websites that anyone can come in and edit. She is using http://wikispaces.com to host her wiki (for free). She showed us the ins and outs of wikis and how powerful and useful they can be...I can’t wait to see her full presentation.
Check out her wiki:
http://itec800.wikispaces.com
We got a chance to log into our wikispace site and add content...this is powerful...and easy.
Digital Storytelling DVD Update:
If you WANT your digital story on the DVD please email mattyh@alumni.calpoly.edu this week and I will include you...
...if you want a copy, please bring $5 to class (for materials) and I will make you a copy.
We are all going to get a chance to learn from each other in these research topics. There is such a broad range of topics being brought forth is going to be such a benefit for our class. I can’t wait to hear the presentations on these topics.
- For us this will all lead to our own personal learning theory.
And now on to Cognitive Development:
We watched a video (produced some time in mid-1980s if I had to guess) about children and cognitive development. It spoke of how children and babies develop. Babies are dependant on others for their survival, so how do develop? What are born with? What do they develop?
Cognitive Theory: babies have innate inborn abilities, then experiences the world and builds on those abilities. Babies develop their understanding and perception of reality through experience.
Schema is the way we try to organize ideas. Babies build their schema related to reality through experiences within that reality.
Assimilation – taking in pieces of information and reacting to it.
Accommodation – Change in state or schema once information has been assimilation
Equilibrium – provides the motivation to learn more about our world.
Piaget’s Stages of Development
- Sensory Input
- Pre Operation
- Concrete Operational
- Formal Operational
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: Are we breeding children that can’t find information...but they know how to search for it? Research is becoming a lost art, in my opinion, but searching effectively or the immergence of the googling society is so prevalent that we are breed information searchers rather than researchers.
Thoughts?
Visit the ITEC 800 website at:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/index.htm
Visit moodle at:
https://ilearn.sfsu.edu
===================================
Matt Harris
Director of Technology
Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School
Monday, November 7, 2005
Digital Storytelling...Once Upon a Saturday in Late October
9:20 am...We have printed our scripts and are ready to share in the circle...is mine going to be as ill-prepared as I think? Leslie told us to keep in mind that we are speaking to a specific group as a specific person...remember who you are and who you are speaking to.
The scripts alone, without the digitized elements, are so powerful. People really came prepared for this...these should turn quite well. Leslie reviewed a couple of the scripts and went into depth about the content and tone of the script...how will it play out on screen?
Leslie’s comments and suggestions about my work was VERY helpful and succinct. Her questions and suggestions were very thought provoking and helped reshape my project.
While listening to other people’s stories, I am so intent on hearing the message and feeling the story I am not worried about the way the story is told. I am listening to HIM or HER, not IT. This is an interesting lesson to take in...what do we really hear when we listen to a story?
“When all else fails, write a letter to someone.”
10:30 am...We broke up into 2 groups to speed up the process of peer evaluation for our work. While the setting was more intimate, Leslie worked with us and her control over the group remained. I partially wish I was in the other group because I felt their ideas were probably more free flowing than in our group where we listened to Leslie.
We are focusing so much on the scripts, and I have to ask the question...how important are they? Are we going to spend equal amounts of time on visuals and audio? Or is this an exercise to deal with the story? If this is designed to tighten the story why are we concentrating on the tone of words...only words?
11:30 am...break...
11:45 am...back to it. We are working on revision and scanning. People are putting the finishing touches on their scripts and getting their last minute photos scanned in for the digital project.
12:30 pm...Sound studio demo...we are starting the project creation...pre-production is over. Leslie is giving us a demo of Sound Studio, which is very intuitive...which is nice. She is talking about sound quality and file management. Once you have your voice in the computer...make sure you Normalize. Doesn’t sound to hard.
I am anxious to get to the technical portion of the project. I feel comfortable with my story and script and I am chomping at the bit to get it going...and finished. I can see it in my head and I want to get it done so I don’t lose anything.
12:45 pm...Leslie is letting us go...but she has to tell us about iPhoto and iMovie. In order to get your photos into iMovie (easily) you have import your photos into iPhoto and create an album. Once that album is created you bring them into iMovie.
IN iMOVIE, MAKE SURE YOUR KEN BURNS EFFECT IS OFF...otherwise there will be a lot of cleaning up to do. You can use it if you want...but add it later. Make sure your default time for the photo is 5 seconds.
She is talking about the timing convention: Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames there are 30 frames per second.
Now, she is talking about the clip view and the timeline view...remember that in the timeline view, you are looking at the clips based on clips and length...clip view it is just order.
Titles...try ‘em out. They are pretty simple...maybe you start with the title.
When you see a red line, it is RENDERING, so let it finish...it is making the clip or title or whatever ready for viewing.
In order to get your audio into the project, go to FILE -> IMPORT and import your audio. It will import directly to the timeline at the playhead.
Between clips, you may want to use transitions...ONLY FADE IN, FADE OUT, WASH IN, WASH OUT, AND OVERLAP because they don’t destroy the clips they use...any other ones are USE AT YOUR RISK.
Leslie suggest that you get a rough draft first before you get your transitions in, but has been told not to do that, just make it the way you want it. We are editing around the voiceover audio...so build from there.
She is talking about editing audio and splitting clips...
1:00 pm... AND THERE OFF!!!! Everyone is working like crazy to get their work done.
5:15 pm...after tons of work and and issues with saving/exporting WE ARE DONE...and getting to watch them...
They have turned out amazing...now I am heading home...let’s see if we can do something with the finished products later...stay tuned.
-Matt
===================================
Matt Harris
Director of Technology
Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School
