The Instructional Design Environment: technology to support design problem solving

The problems of efficiently producing effective instruction in areas such as industry, military, and vocational education are exacerbated by several complex factors: increasingly rapid change in technology; substantial variation in training needs and target populations within large organizations; inefficient mechanisms for performing formative evaluations; and a lack of means for efficiently incorporating new models of design into practice. In the context of these increasingly difficult problems, we present the Instructional Design Environment (IDE), a hypermedia system for designing and developing instructional material, including texts, interactive video disk, and intelligent tutoring systems. The representation of design analyses and specifications, and the design activities of IDE users are not constrained by any particular model of instructional design, but can be tailored to suit a wide range of such models. Although the system is continually evolving and exists in several forms, (Swartz and Russell, 1989) we discuss how the features of IDE suggest how computer-based design environments may provide ways simplifying the design problems for technical training in rapidly changing areas.     

Investigating strategies for using related cases to support design problem solving

Case-based learning has long been used to bring students into contact with the complexity of real-world situations. Despite this popularity and considerable history, research into how case analysis can support future problem-solving has been limited. The study reported in this paper investigated learners’ understanding of multimedia instructional design and development derived from the analysis of two richly detailed cases, and how this understanding then supported learners in their own design projects. A qualitative case study approach was used to follow a class of Masters students engaged in a technology-supported, case-based learning environment. Student work from case analysis, group project and reflective tasks was the key data source, complemented by interviews with students and their instructor, observations of class meetings, and the collection of online discussion list records and electronic resource files. The study found that the case analysis task raised learners’ awareness of design approaches and project management strategies, and that discussion and reflection play critical roles in developing students’ understanding. The study also highlighted some limitations of the case approach, suggesting the need for strategies that support learners’ thinking and reasoning.     

Development of instructional design strategies for integrating an online support system for creative problem solving into a University course

Asia Pacific Education Review - This study examined three cases in which an online support system was utilized to enhance creative problem solving (CPS) in a higher education setting. This study...     

Experimental problem solving: An instructional improvement field experiment

An instructional program based on expert-novice differences in experimental problem-solving performance was taught to grade 6 students (N = 265). Classes of students were randomly assigned to conditions in a delayed treatment design. Performance was assessed with multiple-choice and open-ended measures of specific transfer. Between group comparisons using pretest scores as a covariate showed that treatment condition students consistently outperformed controls; similar results were revealed in the within group comparisons. The achievement of the early treatment group did not decline in tests administered one month after the posttest.     

An online support system to scaffold real-world problem solving

The article presents a reusable online support system, in which an open-ended learning environment is created to scaffold complex, real-world problem solving activities. The major learning components of the system are specifically described, and the internal interactions between different components within the system and the external interactions among the system, learners (who also interact with one another among themselves), instructors, and administrators are demonstrated. The learning theories and the assumptions underpinning the system design framework are discussed in terms of each of the system components: case library with real-world cases, question prompts, peer review, expert modelling, and self-reflection mechanisms. In conclusion, initial findings about the support system are shared, and issues regarding reusability, adaptivity, and generativity of the system are addressed focusing on developing novice learners' problem solving skills in various domains and contexts. The article proposes a cognitive model for contextualizing learning scenarios to support real-world problem solving, which has implications for designing e-learning.     

网络课程的含义及其教学设计的问题

本文主要讨论两个方面的内容,一是对网络课程的基本含义和定位做了初步分析。试图说明“网络课程”与课程论所讨论的“课程”有层次上的区别。二是针对网络课程的教学设计,主要从选题、课程目标设计和教学策略等三个方面对网络课程的教学设计问题作初步的探讨和阐述,分析并提出了网络课程的选题原则,解释了基于学的网络课程目标设计的思维转变问题,以及讨论了网络课程中教学策略安排带有普遍性的问题。     

基于问题解决的处方教学设计

问题是知识结构的心脏,是教师教学的心脏,是学生学习的心脏。教学过程实质上是师生基于问题解决的互动过程,教学设计则指向于问题与问题解决过程的有效设计。前者在于教学过程中的“临床诊断”,后者在于“开处方”。教学设计可归结为基于问题解决的处方教学设计。     

注重教学设计 促进教学改革

教学设计是通向成功教学的桥梁.注重教学设计有助于更新教学观念,促进教学整体改革.在教学设计应用中要把握其内涵本质,处理好理论与实践的关系.     

Using representational tools to support historical reasoning in computer-supported collaborative learning

Abstract

In this article the authors focus on how features of a computersupported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment can elicit and support domain-specific reasoning and more specifically historical reasoning. The CSCL environment enables students to collaborate on a historical inquiry task and in writing an argumentative essay. In order to support historical reasoning the authors compared two representational tools: a graphical representation (argumentative diagram) and a linear representation (argument list). As it is assumed that an argumentative diagram can support both cognitive and interaction processes, it was expected that using this tool would result in more qualitative historical reasoning, in the chat as well as in the essay. However, the results of this study did not show a significant difference in the amount of historical reasoning between the two conditions. A possible explanation can be found in the way the students make use of the representational tool while executing the task. The tool does not only function as a cognitive tool that can elicit elaborate activities, but also as a tool through which students communicate.     

Using model-based scaffolds to support students solving context-based chemistry problems

ABSTRACT

Context-based learning aims to make learning more meaningful by raising meaningful problems. However, these types of problems often require reflection and thinking processes that are more complex and thus more difficult for students, putting high demands on students’ problem-solving capabilities. In this paper, students’ approaches when solving context-based chemistry problems and effects of systematic scaffolds are analysed based on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity. Most answers were initially assigned to the lowest level of the model; higher levels were reached without scaffolds only by few students and by most students with scaffolds. The results are discussed with regard to practical implications in terms of how teachers could make use of context-based tasks and aligned scaffolds to help students in this activity.     

Toward a design theory of problem solving

Problem solving is generally regarded as the most important cognitive activity in everyday and professional contexts. Most people are required to and rewarded for solving problems. However, learning to solve problems is too seldom required in formal educational settings, in part, because our understanding of its processes is limited. Instructional-design research and theory has devoted too little attention to the study of problem-solving processes. In this article, I describe differences among problems in terms of their structuredness, domain specificity (abstractness), and complexity. Then, I briefly describe a variety of individual differences (factors internal to the problem solver) that affect problem solving. Finally, I articulate a typology of problems, each type of which engages different cognitive, affective, and conative processes and therefore necessitates different instructional support. The purpose of this paper is to propose a metatheory of problem solving in order to initiate dialogue and research rather than offering a definitive answer regarding its processes. This paper represents an effort to introduce issues and concerns related to problem solving to the instructional design community. I do not presume that the community is ignorant of problem solving or its literature, only that too little effort has been expended by the field in articulating design models for problem solving. There are many reasons for that state of affairs. The curse of any introductory paper is the lack of depth in the treatment of these issues. To explicate each of the issues raised in this paper would require a book (which is forthcoming), which makes it unpublishable in a journal. My purpose here is to introduce these issues in order to stimulate discussion, research, and development of problem-solving instruction that will help us to articulate better design models.