Chapter 11 Reflection

     The Web’s history can be traced back to ARPANET, which was used by the Army to communicate to people in different locations.  Today the Web is used primarily as a means of communication among people.   We communicate via e-mail, listservs, bulletin boards, chat rooms, audio teleconferencing, and video teleconferencing.

      Many have argued the fact that the Web is a methodology for learning.  The book agrees that the Web is a methodology for course delivery or a method for developing a learning environment.   The book further explains that the best way to view the Web is an integrating medium for learning and teaching.  Use of the Web for learning can be divided into two main categories: support for on-site learning where students come to a classroom where learning takes place, and support for distance learning where students via email, bulletin boards, video teleconferencing, and audio teleconferencing can learn without being in a centralized location.

     The Web today is providing educators with opportunities for better and more convenient learning environments that are fast, accessible by many, and inexpensive. The book is most interested in the Web’s ability to be an integrating environment that unites different educational methodologies, distance learners with on site learners, and people of different ages and abilities and that enables designers the instructors to manage learning well and easily.

             

Chapter 15 Reflection

             It is in the development phase where your design is turned into a working program.  This includes all the computer programming necessary to make the project a success; the production of graphics, audio, and video materials; and development of supporting materials, this includes directions, manuals, and learner and instructor guides.  In the process of ongoing evaluation, this is where you do alpha and beta testing to work out the kinks in the project.  After evaluations, client agreement, the project should be a success.  It is important that all successful projects require constant team work, good communication with your client, and budgeting of time and money.  If any of these are taken for granted failure can and will occur.  It is up to the project manager to be cognizant of time constraints and budgeting. 

I am the head evaluator of the Barback’s team.  Although ongoing evaluation is important and is involved in all phases of a projects life, it is in the development phase where testing of the project must be done.  With alpha and beta testing, project teams and their clients can evaluate the project and determine it strengths and weaknesses.  It is with alpha testing that project teams can change any aspects of the project before turning it over to the client for beta testing.

Chapter 14 Reflection

Chapter 14 Reflection

The purpose of the design phase is to design and articulate details of the instructional program that is to be produced.  In the design process, our goal is to provide the best design that will meet the learner requirements as well as the clients.  The Designer links the intended outcomes to the requirements and constraints of the project.  The designer, therefore, has two distinct roles.  The first, according to the book, is to “create a design of the program that leads to the most effective learning by the target audience.”  The second is to oversee documents that communicate with all interested and active parties. 

According to the text, this design phase is pivotal to the effectiveness of the final product.  The phase calls for the collaboration of the instructional designer, project manager, subject matter expert, clients, learners, and the trainers that will be delivering the final product or program.  This is the phase where there is intense critical thinking, decision making, and brainstorming.   In the design phase, one should provide documents that allow for smooth collaboration between all parties involved in the project.  Second, the design phase allows for brainstorming and decision making of the best ways to facilitate learning.    It is important that any decisions made during this time meet the needs of the target audience.  Use task analysis, content analysis, and flow charts to help design the content to match the learner’s needs. Your target audience is the most important part of this process, and all of them learn differently. 

Documentation should be shared with all parties involved and firmly agreed on. It is only complete when clients sign-off.  This phase sounds like it involves time.  It will be up to Ronda to make sure we stay on target and not get distracted.  The book mentions different levels of flow charts.  Are all levels necessary for our project? 

Chapter 13 Reflection

Chapter 13

Another chapter full of information.  This chapter discusses the stages of the planning phase of the project process.   The first step in the planning phase is to ensure you know the scope of the project.  Beware of scope creep!  This is where adding on to the project work without formal acknowledgment and acceptance of these changes can lead to project overruns and budget overruns.  It is important for the project team and client to understand the scope of the project to avoid this.  Further steps is to look at the learner characteristics.  You will want to profile the learner in the planning stage.   The next step is to establish constraints.  Dr Branch says, the constraints describe the conditions or capabilities that must be met or possessed by the products of the project.  The constraints must also tell of what should be excluded from the project.  The last few steps of the planning phase are to cost the project, produce a style manual, determine and collect resources, brainstorm, define the look and feel, and obtain client sign-off.

Careful planning will lead to a successful project.  Here is how I see it.  Producing a successful project is much like creating a tasty cake.  There are certain ingredients that must be added to the cake for it to work.  If you add too much of an ingredient to your cake, the cake will not turn out that well.  The same for a project, adding on extra material during project without revisions to your scope and main purpose for the project can lead to projects that never quite get off of the ground.  Good planning by the project team will not lead to this problem.

Chapter 12

     Like some of my teammates have said, this is a chapter packed full of so much information you may have to read it a few times to really grasp what is all being given to you.  After reading it once, I can feel comfortable in saying that the success of the project comes down to good project management and constant monitoring, revision, and discussion of the project for it to be a complete success.  What I mean to say is good project management and ongoing evaluation is key for the success of a project.  It is also pivotal that with a project you have a good relationship with your client, after all, the client is who you are trying to make happy J

 

            After presenting you with standards of project success, the chapter dives into the stages of planning, design, and development.  It is in the planning stage of the model where you set the stage for the project.  You define the scope and identify learners.  More time should be spent in planning, we are told, for it will lead to a smoother ride on down the line.

 

            In the Design and development phases teams start to design ideas for the project and also develop your project.  It is important that you never loose sight of the scope and never loose contact with the client.  It is important that team members as well as the client share the same goal to maintain the scope of the project.

 

            The chapter ends with tons of information that will be useful for me as an evaluator.  Evaluation should be an ongoing process for projects from beginning to end!  So it should be a good idea of mine to refer back to this chapter as my team continues down our path to project success.

Chapter 3 Reflection

     Chapter 3 goes into general factors that would apply to all software for learning and instruction.  There are five categories of general feature of software for learning.  They are as follows with a little explanation:

 

• Introduction of the program:  Always provide a title page, directions, and sometimes user identification is warranted to store and retrieve data, especially if the person logs off for some time, only to come back in to finish at a later date. 
• Learner control:  Users should have some control when using a program.  Adults need more control than kids.  Buttons, hyperlinks, and menus are considered methods of control.  Mouse and keyboards are the user’s main modes of control.
• Presentation of information:  Be consistent with text, font, and colors in the program you are creating.  Having common fonts, colors, and text is most important.
  
• Providing help:  Always provide help to your users.  Always keep a help box visible for users to access easily.
  
• Ending the program:  It is important to provide opportunity for users to end the program anywhere throughout the program.  Use safety nets and always allow learners the option to come back in at a later time to finish any business.

    

Our team project is to create a tutorial.  I believe that it is up to us and try to follow the rules given in this chapter.  With our tutorial, we hope to allow freedom for the user to navigate.  We want to present a colorful, fun, and eye catching tutorial that will adhere to the rules and tips provided in chapter 3.  Since tutorials provide instruction, help should always appear for the user.  I know I appreciate when help boxes are available to me.  Hopefully our project will benefit from the tips provided in this chapter. 

Chapter 2 Reflection

     The goal of chapter two was to dive into the wonderful world of learning theory and the concepts of each.   Learning Theory is not simple, because of the many approaches and debate it brings up in the academic world.  The three approaches are behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist.  How do we learn? And what is the best way to learn? Are the questions.  Learning theory started with behavioral psychology and grew to cognitive psychology.  Unfortunately much of what kids still learn today in K-12 is behavioral.  Constructivist theory stands out in this chapter the most, is the most interesting.  Constructivist theory grew out of the cognitive approach and is challenging the cognitive approach with it deep philosophical viewpoint.  Constructivists believe the student is in total control of learning and the need for teaching is nonexistent.  This does not mean that teachers should not be involved in the learning process; they are there to help students correctly interpret the world.

            For me, I believe that our learning is a mixture of all three approaches.  I was asked by a constructivist the other day what I think about his approach, and I told him that sometimes I do not want to work for the answer by myself, sometimes I want to just come to class and be told!

            To answer my question from my previous reflection, my group tutorial would not be supported by constructivist, because to them tutorials do not develop lifelong learning.  Since I believe that learning is a mixture of all three approach, our team should provide some instruction and self-learning techniques in our tutorial to make sure that all learning approaches are being met.  My new question for this chapter is is there any other learning theories out there that are challenging constructivist theory?   

Chapter 1 Reflection

Chapter 1: Introduction

 

            The key to understanding chapter 1 is to understand that computers facilitate learning.  They can be used by a teacher to help in lessons, or they can be a teacher themselves and teach a lesson to a student.  Courses I have had in the past that utilized computers to teach have been the most fun and rewarding courses I have taken.  With computers, you get away from teacher-centered learning techniques to a more student-centered learning approach.  This does not mean that teachers should not instruct, in fact the best online courses I have had in the past were “hybrid,” or a mixture of an online and traditional classroom learning.  The teacher would instruct in the classroom with power points, lectures, videos and we took knowledge we learned and practiced and discussed what we learned on WebCT.   WebCT is a form of web learning, in which the web is a delivery medium that can be combined with tutorials, hypermedia, drills, games, and so on.

            Our group project is to create an online tutorial that will utilize the computer and internet as the “teacher.”  Tutorials are student-centered and allow that student to complete instruction at their own pace.  I can understand that constructivist believe computers should house a space for learning to take place, however what is wrong with a computer utilized to help teach a concept to a student?