Lit Review

1. Identify a problem (research question) Teachers are not prepared to

teach within blended learning models (How will digital curriculum and
professional development impact the preparedness of teachers/staff in a
blended learning model)
a. Problem 1: Growth exceeding preparedness
i. 27 states have virtual schools
ii. 31 states (and DC) have full-time online statewide schools
iii. 2000: 45,000 K-12 took online
iv. 2009: Over 3 million k-12 did
v. Most growth is occurring in blended-learning
environments
vi. the growth of online learning in higher education has taken off.
Roughly 10 percent of students in 2003 took at least one online
course. By the fall of 2009, that number had grown by 20 points.*
Half of all postsecondary students will take at least one class online
by 2014.
vii. Numerous teacher education programs have made
extensive efforts to implement effective and meaningful use
of technology, however the strategies used to attain these
goals are complex, diverse, often conflicting, and rarely
evaluated well. To date, there is no consolidated picture on
how to effectively introduce technology to preservice
teachers. A comprehensive description and evaluation of
strategies is a necessary step
viii. Creating a strong focus on technology for faculty may be a
necessary first step, but other strategies might need to
follow (pg 6/26)
ix.
b. Current PD Focus
i. Common Core can also be seen as a natural product of the
standards-based education movement of the last 20 years.
Without having experienced the standards movement, it is
improbably that so many states as of now, 43, plus
Washington D.C., and Purto Rico would sign on to such a
great enterprise. Pg 2
ii. During the 2014-2015 school year, students will be
assessed on the Common Core standards for the first time.
Pg 41
iii. Recall that a drawback of the standards-based movement
was a sudden vacuum in curriculum support. Standards
were out in the front, while curriculum built to support the
standards trailed behind.
c. How can the digital curriculum prepare teachers for a learning
model
i. Constructivism
1. Bruner
i. Instruction should focus on four major
aspects (Pg 40-41 1966)
ii. Predisposition towards learning
iii. Ways in which a body of knowledge
can be structured so that it can be
most readily grasped by the learner
iv. Most effective sequences in which to
present material
v. Nature and pacing of rewards and
punishments
b. Nonspecific transfer (transfer of principles
and attitudes) In essence, it consists of
learning initially not a skill but a general idea,
which can then be used as a basis for
recognizing subsequent problems as special
cases of the idea originally mastered. This
type of transfer is at the heart of the
educational process the continual
broadening and deepening of knowledge in
terms of basic and general ideas (18)
c. In order for a person to be able to recognize
the applicability of inapplicability of an idea
to a new situation and to broad his learning
thereby, he must have clearly in mind the
general nature of the phenomenon with
which he is dealing. The more fundamental
or basic is the idea he has learned, almost by
definition, the greater will be its breadth of
applicability to new problems (Bruner
Process of Education 1961 Harvard Press)
2. Theory of Instruction (Bruner, 1966)
a. Is prescriptive in the sense that it sets forth
rules concerning the most effective way of
achieving knowledge of skill (40)
b. The merit of a structure depends upon its
power for simplifying information, for
generating new propositions, and for
increasing the manipulability of a body of
knowledge
3. Bruner instructional theory or curriculum
theory? Gordon D. Lawrence Theory Into
Practice Vol. 8, Iss. 1, 1969
1. Papert - From constructivist theories of psychology
we take a view of learning as a reconstruction
rather than as a transmission of knowledge. Then
we extend the idea of manipulative materials to
the idea that learning is most effective when part
of an activity the learner experiences as
constructing a meaningful product. (Papert, 1986)
2. Instructional design, and indeed instruction in
general in the United States, emerged from an
objectivist tradition. Pg 2
3. The goal of instruction is to help the learner acquire
the entities and relations and the attributes of each
4. Hence, the goal of understanding is coming to know
the entities, attributes, and relations that exist.
5. An objectivist approach to front end analysis focuses
on identifying the entities, relations, and attributes
that the learner must know.
6. 3 Facets of Educational design
a. Front End Analysis Sufficient knowledge
and agile skills would bring understanding
and active use along with them. Subtasks
should include tasks that display
udnerstandings involve explanation,
extrapoliation, evidence giving, and the like.
(pg 52)
b. Instructional Strategy The learner should
be placed directly and emphatically in
position of having something to make sense
with or, of, respectively.
c. Assessment Incrased awareness of
understanding and the active use of
knowledge as curical facets of learning.
Evaluating the active use of knowledge calls
for measures of transfer of learning. (Pg 53)
7.
8. Constructivism, like objectivism, holds that there is a
real world that we experience. However, the
argument is that meaning is imposed on the world
by us, rather than existing in the world
independently of us.
9. Abstracting concepts and strategies from their
theoretical position, as instructional systems theory
has done, strips them of their meaning, so it is
necessary to deliberately apply some particular
theory of learning (preferably constructivist,
cognitive theory) to the design and development of
instructional materials
10. The implications of constructivist theory for
instructional developers are that specific content
and outcomes cannot be prespecificied although a
core knowledge domain may be specified
11. The goal of instruction is not to assure that
individuals know particular things (Hirsch, 1987)
but rather to show them how to construct plausible
interpretations of those things
12. Education technologists need to be more pragmatic
and eclectic, drawing from diverse theoretical
perspectives as each proves useful in facilitating
different kinds of learning.
13. Decisions about what to teach are made primarily
on basis of pragmatism (e.g., through an needs
analysis) or philosophy and values (e.g., through ad
emcoratic process). Decisions about how to teach
are made on the basis of what works best for
different kinds of learning, learners, and situations,
which is what instructional theory attempts to
prescribe
14. Importance of anchoring or situating instruction in
meaningful, problem-solving contexts that allow one
to simulate in the classroom some of the advantages
of apprenticeship learning
15. Even when the learning process appears to be
relatively straightforward, say a matter of learning a
new friends name or a term in a foreign language,
constructive processes operate: candidate mental
structures are formed, elaborated, and tested, until a
satisfactory structure emerges
16. Importance of anchoring or situating instruction in
meaningful, problem-solving contexts that allow one
to simulate in the classroom some of the advantages
of apprenticeship learning
17. When introduced to new theories, concepts, and
principles that are relevant to their areas of interest,
the experts can experience the changes in their own
thinking that these ideas afford. For novice,
however, the introduction of concepts and theories
often seems like mere introduction of new facts or
mechanical procedures to me memorized. Because
the novices have not been immersed in the
phenomena being investigated, they are unable to
experience the effects of the new information on
their own noticing and understanding.
18. Design principles for generative learning
environments
d. Video-based presentation format The
information is more motivating because
characters, settings, and actions can be much
more interesting; can be much more compelx
and interconnected than written medium
one can directly form a rich image or mental
model of the problem situation when the
information is displaying in the form of
dynamic images rather than text (McNamara,
Miller, & Bransford, 1991 page 80)
e. Narrative formate Creating a meaningful
context
f. Generating learning format Have learners
generate ending of stories
g. Embedded data design Information is
hidden/embedded within media
h. Problem complexity Using video to create
multiple, interrelated steps
i. Pairs of related adventures Concepts that
are acquired in only one c ontext tend ot
be welded to that context and hence are not
likely to be spontaneously accesses and used
in enw settings ; pairs help learners analyze
exactly what they are able to carry over from
one ontext to another (81)
j. Links across curriculum Narratives should
allow for multiple topics to become
embedded/used
d. Will a connection with a more relevant professional
development lead to teacher preparedness?
i. Adult Learning
1. Rogers (1969)
a. Rogers distinguished two types of learning:
cognitive (meaningless) and experiential
(significant). The former corresponds to
academic knowledge such as learning
vocabulary or multiplication tables and the latter
refers to applied knowledge such as learning
about engines in order to repair a car. The key
to the distinction is that experiential learning
addresses the needs and wants of the learner.
Rogers lists these qualities of experiential
learning: personal involvement, self-initiated,
evaluated by learner, and pervasive effects on
learner.
b. all human beings have a natural propensity to
learn; the role of the teacher is to facilitate such
learning. This includes: (1) setting a positive
climate for learning, (2) clarifying the purposes
of the learner(s), (3) organizing and making
available learning resources, (4) balancing
intellectual and emotional components of
learning, and (5) sharing feelings and thoughts
with learners but not dominating.
c. According to Rogers, learning is facilitated
when: (1) the student participates completely in
the learning process and has control over its
nature and direction, (2) it is primarily based
upon direct confrontation with practical, social,
personal or research problems, and (3) self-
evaluation is the principal method of assessing
progress or success.
2. Cross (Adults as Learners, 1981 pgs 153-219)
a. Characteristics of Adult Learners (CAL)
i. Capitalize on experience
ii. Adapt to limitations of age
iii. Should be increasingly advanced
iv. Provide as much choice and
availability
b.
c.
3. Knowles
a. Andragogy applies to any form of adult
learning and has been used extensively
in the design of organizational training
programs (especially for "soft skill"
domains
b. Emphasizes that adults are self-directed
and expect to take responsibility for
decisions. Adult learning programs must
accommodate this fundamental aspect
c. makes the following assumptions about
the design of learning: (1) Adults need
to know why they need to learn
something (2) Adults need to learn
exponentially, (3) Adults approach
learning as problem-solving oriented
in his social roles, and (4) Adults learn
best when the topic is of immediate
value
d. Modern Practice of adult education
i. (1) Adults need to know why they
need to learn something (2)
Adults need to learn
exponentially,
ii. Readiness to learn becomes
oreited increasingly to the
developmental tasks of his social
roles
iii. Time perspective changes from
one of postponed application of
knowledge to immediacy of
application
e. Adult Learner: Neglected specied (31,
1973)
i. Adults are motivated to learn as
they epxerence needs and
interests that learning will satisfy;
therefore, tehse are the
appropriate starting points for
organizing adult learning activities
ii. Adults oreitnation to learning is
life-centered; therefore the
appropriate units for organizing
adult learning are life situations,
not objects
iii. Experience is the richest resource
for adults learning; therefore, the
core methodology of adult
educationis the analysis of
experience
iv. Adults have a deep need to be
self-directing; the role of the
teacher is to engage in a process
of mutual inquiry with them rather
than to transmit his or her
knowledge to them and have
them conform
v. Individual difference among
people icnrase with age; optimal
provision for difference in style,
time place, and pace of learning
f. In practical terms, andragogy means
that instruction for adults needs to focus
more on the process and less on the
content being taught. Strategies such as
case studies, role playing, simulations,
and self-evaluation are most useful.
Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or
resource rather than lecturer or grader
g. Principles
i. Adults need to be involved in the
planning and evaluation of their
instruction.
ii. Experience (including mistakes)
provides the basis for learning
activities.
iii. Adults are most interested in
learning subjects that have
immediate relevance to their job
or personal life.
iv. Adult learning is problem-centered
rather than content-oriented.
4. Simple categorization of the teaching and learning
transaction is difficult because of the complex and
multifaceted orientation of adult learners and the
variety of settings in which the interaction occurs
5. 7 components of andragogical practice that suggest
the type of skills and abilities a good adult educator
or facilitator should possess
a. Establish a physical and psychological
climate conducive to learning
b. Involve learners in mutual planning of
methods and curricular directions
c. Involve participants in diagnosing their own
learning needs
d. Encourage learners to formulate their own
learning objectives
e. Encourage learners to identify resources and
to devise strategies for using such resources
to accomplish their objectives
f. Help learners to carry out their leaning plans,
involve learners in evaluating their learning
pg 3 (Via Knowles and Associates, 1984)
g. MISSING ONE!
6. An understanding of the organizational mission,
resources, priorities, trends, and constraints is
essential when making decisions and arrangements
for an education all program
ii. Situated Learning
1. legitimate peripheral participation. By this we mean
to draw attention to the point that learners
inevitably participate in communities of
practitioners and that the mastery of knowledge and
skill requires newcomers to move toward full
participation in the sociocultural practices of a
community.
2. to translate this into a specific analytic approach to
learning. Legitimate peripheral participation is
proposed as a descriptor of engagement in social
practice that entails learning as an integral
constituent.
3. That perspective meant that there is no activity that
is not situated. It implied emphasis on
comprehensive understanding involving the whole
person rather than receiving a body of factual
knowledge
4. Furthermore, legitimate peripherality is a complex
notion, implicated in social structures involving
relations of power. As a place in which one moves
toward more-intensive participation, peripherality
is an empowering position. As a place in which one
is kept from participating more fully often
legitimately, from the broader perspective of society
at large it is a disempowering position
5. As an aspect of social practice, learning involves the
whole person; it implies not only a relation to
specific activities, but a relation to social
communities . It implies becoming a full participant
6. For example, in situations where learning-in-
practice takes the form of apprenticeship,
succeeding generations of participants give rise to
what in its simplest form is a triadic set of relations:
The community of practice encompasses
apprentices, young masters with apprentices, and
masters some of whose apprentices have
themselves become masters.
7. We above all wanted to take a fresh look at learning.
Issues of learning and schooling seemed to have
become too deeply interrelated in our culture in
general, both for purposes of our own exploration
and the exposition of our ideas
8. the organization of schooling as an educational form
is predicated on claims that knowledge can be
decontextualized, and yet schools themselves as
social institutions and as places of learning
constitute very specific contexts.
9. the effectiveness of schooling (in teaching, in the
specialization of schooling in changing persons, in
the special modes of inculcation for which schools
are known) stand in contradiction with the situated
perspective we have adopted.
10. We present excerpts from five accounts of
apprenticeship: among Yucatec Mayan midwives in
Mexico (Jordan 1989), among Vai and Gola tailors in
Liberia (Lave in preparation), in the work-learning
settings of U.S. navy quartermasters (Hutchins in
press), among butchers in U.S. supermarkets
(Marshall 1972), and among nondrinking
alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous
iii. Role of professional development
1. Given the differences between face-to-face
instruction and the facilitated approach that works
best online, it is unrealistic to expect that instructors
new to this form of education will simply know what
to do. Skill in teaching online develops over time
and with good training
2. Excellent online instructors rarely emerge out of
the box but develop their skills over time
3. Raising teacher effectiveness is central to school
improvement initiatives and educational reforms.
Current policy initiatives, including Race to the Top,
are focused on teacher effectiveness as one of the levers
promoting effective school improvement and the larger
system goal of ensuring college and career readiness for
all students.
4. School improvement often entails significant
professional development (PD) for teachers tailored to
standards, curriculum, and assessments. Ongoing PD is
important for exposing teachers to new teaching
strategies and providing opportunities to share effective
teaching practices. Teachers agree that PD is vital to
school improvement; a large-scale, nationally
representative survey of over 40,000 teachers
conducted found that 85% of the teachers viewed PD as
absolutely essential or very important to retaining
good teachers (by comparison, 81% of teachers viewed
higher salaries as absolutely essential or very
important)
5. The traditional model of PD is based on face-to-face
delivery. The number and complexity of learning
objectives needing to be addressed with PD, combined
with the number of teachers in training, lead to
substantial costs for PD. These costs present a
significant barrier for school systems, impeding their
ability to raise teaching quality. This barrier is
particularly formidable in todays climate of school
budget cuts
6. Blended models can combine faceto- face sessions
with several online follow-ups that give teachers
opportunities to get expert and peer advice on current
instructional issues, when they need it, in small
increments, and connected to what they are teaching.
In its meta-analysis of evidence-based practices in
online learning, the U.S. Department of Education
(2010) also found that instruction combining online and
face-to-face elements was advantageous to purely face-
to-face instruction or purely online instruction.
7. Online delivery offers a means of reducing costs
substantially; recent work points to the potential of
online delivery of PD to yield cost efficiencies and
produce results that are comparable if not better than
face-to-face PD methods
8. Moreover, it is possible that large-scale online PD may
introduce efficiencies that make the training more
focused, achieve a more job-embedded approach, and
increase ongoing collaboration among participants and
facilitators, thereby strengthening the support for
professional learning communities and the benefits that
accrue from them
9. Teachers typically juggle many obligations, and therefore
can benefit from the flexibility offered by purely online or
blended models.
10. convenience of online PD in terms of flexibility of time,
opportunities for self-paced instruction, access to
experts and other teachers outside of the school or
district, and opportunities to communicate after the
conclusion of the PD
11. Following as key benefits of online PD: preservation of
class time (16%), less travel (52%), more flexibility
(35%), and cost savings (32%). Other commonly cited
positive aspects included being able to communicate
and share with others outside of their school or district
(35%) and comfort of participating in their own
surroundings and feeling that online training provided a
safe, less intimidating environment (32%)
12. Collaboration with other teachers and personal
interaction with trainers was nearly unanimously cited
as an advantage of face-to-face PD.
iv.
2. Identify literature sources and
3. Evaluate the results of the search
a. Distinguish between:
i. Popular press articles
ii. Practitioner magazines with success stories
iii. Publications where respected leaders in the field describe
their work and its implication for a wide audience
iv. Research journals that are peer reviewed and knowledge is
reported and debated by a community of practice
Author (Ref) Concept Quote/Facts
iNACOL Online/blended - 27 states have virtual schools
- 31 states (and DC) have full-time online statewide schools
- 1,816,400 enrollments in distance
o 62% credit recovery
o 47% Dual enrollment
o 29% Advanced placement
- States requiring online course
o Michigan (2006)
o Alabama, FL, Idaho, Virginia (Later)
-
U.S. Department
of Commerce
(Oct 2010)
- 68% of households use broadband internet access
Innosight Rise
of K-12 Blended
Learning (PDF
Pg 1)
Online/blended - Online learning is sweeping across America
- 2000: 45,000 K-12 took online
- 2009: Over 3 million k-12 did
- Most growth is occurring in blended-learning environments
- Students learn online in adult-supervised environment at least part of the time
- Online learning has the potential to transform Americas education system by
serving as the backbone of a system that offers more personalized learning
approaches for all students
-
Innosight Rise
of K-12 Blended
Learning
Emerging
Models (PDF 2)
- In 2000, roughly 45,000 K12 students took an online course. But by 2010,over 4 million
students were participating in some kind of formal online-learning program. The preK12 online
population is now growing by a five-year CAGR of 43 percentand that rate is accelerating.
- Other factors have contributed to the migration of online learning into core programming for
mainstream students. Virtual content providers, such as K12, Inc. and Connections Academy,
aware that they will one day saturate the home-school market, are beginning to turn to brickand-
mortar schools for new-market expansion.
- Finally, the growth of online learning in higher education has taken off. Roughly 10 percent of
students in 2003 took at least one online course. By the fall of 2009, that number had grown by 20
points.* Half of all postsecondary students will take at least one class online by 2014.
Disrupting Class
(Moe/Terry?)
Online/blended - Project that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be delivered online
Robin H. Kay
Evaluating
Strategies Used
to Incorporate
Technology Into
Preservice
Education: A
Review of the
Literature
(2006) pg 383
Teacher
preparedness
- If faculty do not buy not the use of technology in education, it is highly unlikely that
preservice candidates will be motivated in this endeavor. The advantage of this
approach is that a cohesive, coordinated environment can be created to effectively
introduce and model technology. It is unclear, however, whether improving faculty
attitude and skills actually transfers to preservice teachers use of technology in the
classroom. Creating a strong focus on technology for faculty may be a necessary
first step, but other strategies might need to follow (pg 6/26)
- Numerous teacher education programs have made extensive efforts to implement
effective and meaningful use of technology, however the strategies used to attain
these goals are complex, diverse, often conflicting, and rarely evaluated well. To
date, there is no consolidated picture on how to effectively introduce technology to
preservice teachers. A comprehensive description and evaluation of strategies is a
necessary step (Pg 2/26)
- It should come as no surprise that preservice teachers are perceived as unprepared
to use technology Pg2/26
- Kay, R. H. (September 06, 2006). Evaluating Strategies Used to Incorporate Technology
into Preservice Education: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Research on
Technology in Education, 38, 4, 383-408.
Understanding
the Common
Core Kendall,
John
PD prep
Common core
- In the spring of 2009, in an effort unprecedented in the history of U.S. education,
governors and state commissioners of education from across the United States
formed the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). The goal of this
initiative? To develop a set of shared national standards ensuring that studnets in
every state are held to the same lelve of expecations that students in the worlds
highest-performing countries are Pg 1)
- June 2010 saw the publication of Common Core State Standards for English Language
Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Tehcnical Subjects (CCSSE/L)
and Common Pg2Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM).
- Common Core can also be seen as a natural product of the standards-based
education movement of the last 20 years. Without having experienced the
standards movement, it is improbably that so many states as of now, 43, plus
Washington D.C., and Purto Rico would sign on to such a great enterprise. Pg 2
- During the 2014-2015 school year, students will be assessed on the Common Core
standards for the first time. Pg 41
- Recall that a drawback of the standards-based movement was a sudden vacuum in
curriculum support. Standards were out in the front, while curriculum built to
support the standards trailed behind.
Adult Learning
Methods A
guide ofr
Effective
Instruction Prem
Adult Learning - Simple categorization of the teaching and learning transaction is difficult because of
the complex and multifaceted orientation of adult learners and the variety of
settings in which the interaction occurs Pg 1
- Being technically proficient in the content area in which the instruction is being
directed is paramount, as are the abilities to plan and administer educational
programs. Being techincaially proficient is not enough, however the adult educator
must also possess personality characteristics and interpersonal skills that engender
an image of caring, trust, and encouragement. 2
- An adult educator should possess three specific areas of knowledge: knowledge of
content, knowledge of learners, and knowledge of methods 2 (via Knox, 1980)
- 7 components of andragogical practice that suggest the type of skills and abilities a
good adult educator or facilitator should possess
o Establish a physical and psychological climate conducive to learning
o Involve learners in mutual planning of methods and curricular directions
o Involve participants in diagnosing their own learning needs
o Encourage learners to formulate their own learning objectives
o Encourage learners to identify resources and to devise strategies for using
such resources to accomplish their objectives
o Help learners to carry out their leaning plans, involve learners in evaluating
their learning pg 3 (Via Knowles and Associates, 1984)
- Context Analysis considers the societal trends and issues, the resources, and the
mission of the provider organization and how it influences the process of helping
adults learn (Pg 8 via Know, 1986)
- Analysis of current issues, trends, technologies, and so forth can suggest the affects
they have on the personal and sociopolitical aspects of the learners life. The
contextual influences also affect you and the decisions that you can make. An
understanding of the organizational mission, resources, priorities, trends, and
constraints is essential when making decisions and arrangements for an education
all program. Pg 8
- You can use the agreed upon learning objectives to help you in the process of
selecting mateirals, outlining content, deciding on methods of teaching and learning,
and preparing evaluations procedures (Pg 9-10 via Know, 1986)
-
Malcolm
Knowles 1986
adult learning
Adult learning
Andragogy
- Andragogy applies to any form of adult learning and has been used
extensively in the design of organizational training programs (especially for
"soft skill" domains such as management development).
- Emphasizes that adults are self-directed and expect to take responsibility
for decisions. Adult learning programs must accommodate this
fundamental aspect
- makes the following assumptions about the design of learning: (1) Adults
need to know why they need to learn something (2) Adults need to learn
experientially, (3) Adults approach learning as problem-solving, and (4)
Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value
- In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs to
focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. Strategies
such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation are
most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource rather than
lecturer or grader
- Principles
o Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their
instruction.
o Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning
activities.
o Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate
relevance to their job or personal life.
o Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.
o
3
rd
Update Adult
Learning
Theory: New
Directions for
Adult (Sharan
B. Merriam)
2001
Adult learning - Adult educators have teneded to fall into tow main categories: Figuring out how
people solve workplace problems through learning; second is understanding how
particular groups of workers learn
- Expansion of workplace issues not only generates new perspectives on learning but
also blurs cateogires. Learning can refer to skill acquisition, personal
transformation, collective empowerment, or a host of other phenomena. Workplace
can be an organization, a Website, a kitchen table, even a car. Pg 18
- Constructivist notions of workplace learning as sense making have become more
frequent since the mid-1980s as reflective practice, self-directed learning,
adntraofmrative learning, and learning style concepts filtered into training
literature.
K.P. Cross 1981
Rogers Adult learning
Experiential
learning
- Rogers distinguished two types of learning: cognitive (meaningless) and experiential
(significant). The former corresponds to academic knowledge such as learning
vocabulary or multiplication tables and the latter refers to applied knowledge such as
learning about engines in order to repair a car. The key to the distinction is that
experiential learning addresses the needs and wants of the learner. Rogers lists these
qualities of experiential learning: personal involvement, self-initiated, evaluated by
learner, and pervasive effects on learner.
- Rogers feels that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn; the role of the
teacher is to facilitate such learning. This includes: (1) setting a positive climate for
learning, (2) clarifying the purposes of the learner(s), (3) organizing and making available
learning resources, (4) balancing intellectual and emotional components of learning, and
(5) sharing feelings and thoughts with learners but not dominating.
- According to Rogers, learning is facilitated when: (1) the student participates completely
in the learning process and has control over its nature and direction, (2) it is primarily
based upon direct confrontation with practical, social, personal or research problems,
and (3) self-evaluation is the principal method of assessing progress or success.
Constructivism
and the
Technology of
Instruction: A
Conversation
- Previous experiences play a central role in specifying content and determining
instructional strategies pg 1
- Instructional design, and indeed instruction in general in the United States, emerged
from an objectivist tradition. Pg 2
- Hence, the goal of understanding is coming to know the entities, attributes, and
(Duffy Thomas;
Jonassen, David)
Duffy, T. M., &
Jonassen, D. H.
(2013).
Constructivism
and the
Technology of
Instruction: A
Conversation.
Hoboken: Taylor
and Francis.
relations that exist. The objectivist view acknowledges that people have different
understandings based on differing experiences The goal is to strive for the
complete and correct understanding (pg 2-3)
- The goal of instruction is to help the learner acquire the entities and relations and
the attributes of each to build the correct propositional structure. (Pg 3)
- An objectivist approach to front end analysis focuses on identifying the entities,
relations, and attributes that the learner must know.
- Pay close attention to the stimulus events, to practice, and to demonstrate mastery
- Since knowledge is believed to exist independently of instruction, an objectivist
need not look at the instructional activities to see what is learned. Rather, designers
produce a test that stands separate from the instruction and is designed to prove the
knowledge acquired in an objective way. Furthermore, we can look for mastery of
learning; an assumption that everyone has acquired the same basic information and
now has it available to use. Pg 3
- Constructivism, like objectivism, holds that there is a real world that we experience.
However, the arugment is that meaning is imposed on the world by us, rather than
existing in the world independently of us.
- Lack of transfer between two environments and argues that is results from the
decontextualization of learning (Pg 4)
- There is no ultimate, shared reality, but rather, reality that is the outcome of
constructive processes.
- Abstracting concepts and strategies from their theoretical position, as instructional
systems theory has done, strips them of their meaning, so it is necessary to
deliberately apply some particular theory of learning (preferably constructivist,
cognitive theory) to the design and development of instructional materials
- The implications of constructivist theory for instructional developers are that
specific content and outcomes cannot be prespecificied although a core knowledge
domain may be specified, types of learning cannot be identified independent of the
content and the context of learning; learning outcomes should focus on the process
of knowledge construction and the development of reflective awareness of that
process; learning goals should be determined from authentic tasks with more
specific objectives resulting from the process of solving the real-world task; the
processes of learning should be modeled and coached for students with unscripted
teacher responses; and learners should be able to construct multiple perspectives
on an issue; that is, see an issue from different viewpoints (pg 6-7)
- The goal of instruction is not to assure that individuals know particular things
(Hirsch, 1987) but rather to show them how to construct plausible interpretations
of those things (pg 7)
- Skills cannot be considered independently of the problems to which they are applied
(pg 7)
- Assessment emerges quite naturally from task performance if we have authentic
tasks of some substance)
- The learner is an active processor of information but more importantly that the
learner elaborates upon and interprets the information (Pg 8)
- The importance of situating learning in a macrocontext in which the learner can
engage in sustained exploration. (pg 8)
- Learning results in the organizing of memory into mental models (pg 8)
- Educational practiioners, who are looking for th e best means to facilitate a diversity
of kinds of learning, cant afford the luxury of being so ideological, dogmatic, and
exclusionary in their view of education. As such, education technologists need to be
more pragmatic and eclectic, drawing from diverse theoretical perspectives as each
proves useful in facilitating different kinds of learning. (pg 149)
- Educational technologists have long espoused some of the major tenets of
constructivism. They have for some time advocated situating learning experiences
in authentic activities Also, educational technologists have long decried that
schools have decontextualized learning. (pg 150)
- More relvant to curriculum theory rather than to instructional theory, for it is more
concerned with decisions about what to teach than with how to teach it. Although
the two are highly interralated, very different considerations are used to make
decisions for each. Decisions about what to teach are made primarily on basis of
pragmatism (e.g., through an needs analysis) or philosophy and values (e.g., through
ad emcoratic process). Decisions about how to teach are made on the basis of what
works best for different kinds of learning, learners, and situations, which is what
instructional theory attempts to prescribe (Pg 150)
- Many argue that a major cause of poor performance on tasks that require the
generation of relevant subproblems, arguments, and explanations is that most
curricula emphasize the memorization of facts and the acquisition of relatively
isolated subskills that are learned out-of-context and hence result in knowledge
representations that tend to remain inert. (Pg 78)
- Importance of anchoring or situating instruction in meaningful, problem-solving
contexts that allow one to simulate in the classroom some of the advantages of
apprencieship learning (Pg 78)
- Generated learning environments
- Major goals of this approach is to create shared environments that permit sustained
exploration by students and teachers and enable them to understand the kinds of
problems and opportunities that experts in various areas encounter and the
knowledge that these experts use as tools
- When introduced to new theories, concepts, and principles that are relevant to their
areas of interst, the experts can experience the changes in their own thinking that
these ideas afford. For novice, however, the introduction of concepts and theories
often tseems like mere introduction of new facts or mechanical procedures to me
memorized. Because the novoces have not been immersed in the phenomena being
investigated, they are unable to experience the effects of the new information on
their own noticing and understanding. (79)
- Design principles for generative learning environments
o Video-based presentation format The information is more motivating
because characters, settings, and actions can be much more interesting; can
be much more compelx and interconnected than written medium one can
directly form a rich image or mental model of the problem situation when the
information is displaying in the form of dynamic images rather than text
(McNamara, Miller, & Bransford, 1991 page 80)
o Narrative formate Creating a meaningful context
o Generating learning format Have learners generate ending of stories
o Embedded data design Information is hidden/embedded within media
o Problem complexity Using video to create multiple, interrelated steps
o Pairs of related adventures Concepts that are acquired in only one context
tend ot be welded to that context and hence are not likely to be
spontaneously accesses and used in enw settings ; pairs help learners analyze
exactly what they are able to carry over from one ontext to another (81)
o Links across curriculum Narratives should allow for multiple topics to
become embedded/used
- Five facets of a learning environment
o Information banks The classic information bank in the classroom setting is,
of course, the text Information-processing technologies expand the kinds
and amount of information accessible and shoreten the access paths to the
information. (46)
o Symbol Pads Provide surfaces for the construction and manipulation of
symbols. Technology expands the power of such symbol pads in a number of
ways (46-47)
o Construction kits The advent of information processing technologies has
dramatically expanded the kinds of construction kits possible in the
classroom. Now learns can assemble not just things but more abstract
entities such as commands in a programming languages
o Phenomenaria Area for specific purpose of presenting phenomena and
making them accessible to scrutiny and manipulation.
o Task Managers Elements of the envionrment that set tasks to be
undertaken in the course of learning, guide and sometimes help with the
execution of those tasks, and provide feedback regarding process and/or
product. (Teacher). With information processing technologies comes the
possibility of electronic task managers. (pg 48)
- Central to the vision of constructivism is the notion of the organism as active not
just responding to stimuli, as in the behaviorist rubric, but engaging, grappling, and
seeking to make sense of things. (pg 49)
- Even when the learning process appears to be relatively straightforward, say a
matter of learning a new friends name or a term in a foreign language, constructive
processes operate: candidate mental structures are formed, elaborated, and tested,
until a satisfactory structure emerges (pg 49)
- Apart from their practical applications to education, information-procesing
technologies have spawned the computer metaphor of the mind as an information
processor. Constructivism has added that this information processor must ben seen
not as just shuffling data, but weiling it flexibly during learning making
hypotheses, testing tneative interperations, and so on. (Pg 51)
- Technology provides a partical tool as well as a useful metaphor.
- 3 Facets of Educational design
o Front End Analysis Sufficient knowledge and agile skills would bring
understanding and active use along with them. Subtasks should include
tasks that display udnerstandings involve explanation, extrapoliation,
evidence giving, and the like. (pg 52)
o Instructional Strategy The learner should be placed directly and
emphatically in position of having something to make sense with or, of,
respectively.
o Assessment Incrased awareness of understanding and the active use of
knowledge as curical facets of learning. Evaluating the active use of
knowledge calls for measures of transfer of learning. (Pg 53)
o
Jerome Bruner Constructivist
Theory
- Instruction should focus on four major aspects
o Predisposition towards learning
o Ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that it can be most
readily grasped by the learner
o Most effective sequences in which to present material
o Nature and pacing of rewards and punishments
Good structure: simplyiginy, generating new propositions, and
increasing the manipulation of information
Lave/Wenger
Lave, J., &
Wenger, E.
(1991). Situated
learning:
Legitimate
peripheral
participation.
Cambridge
[England:
Cambridge
University Press.
Situated
Learning
- Legitimate peripheral participation. By this we mean to draw attention to the point
that learners inevitably participate in communities of practitioners and that the
mastery of knowledge and skill requires newcomers to move toward full
participation in the sociocultural practices of a community. Lave, Jean; Wenger,
Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and
Computational Perspectives) (p. 29). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- That perspective meant that there is no activity that is not situated. It implied
emphasis on comprehensive understanding involving the whole person rather than
receiving a body of factual knowledge about the world; on activity in and with the
world; and on the view that agent, activity, and the world mutually constitute each
other. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in
Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 33). Cambridge
University Press. Kindle Edition.
- The notion of situated learning now appears to be a transitory concept, a bridge,
between a view according to which cognitive processes (and thus learning) are
primary and a view according to which social practice is the primary, generative
phenomenon, and learning is one of its characteristics. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne
(1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and
Computational Perspectives) (p. 34). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- In our view, learning is not merely situated in practice as if it were some
independently reifiable process that just happened to be located somewhere;
learning is an integral part of generative social practice in the lived-in world. Lave,
Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social,
Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 35). Cambridge University Press.
Kindle Edition.
- The problem and the central preoccupation of this monograph is to translate this
into a specific analytic approach to learning. Legitimate peripheral participation is
proposed as a descriptor of engagement in social practice that entails learning as an
integral constituent. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning
(Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 35).
Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- It seems all too natural to decompose it into a set of three contrasting pairs:
legitimate versus illegitimate, peripheral versus central, participation versus
nonparticipation. But we intend for the concept to be taken as a whole. Each of its
aspects is indispensable in defining the others and cannot be considered in isolation.
Its constituents contribute inseparable aspects whose combinations create a
landscape Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning
in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 35). Cambridge
University Press. Kindle Edition.
- Furthermore, legitimate peripherality is a complex notion, implicated in social
structures involving relations of power. As a place in which one moves toward
more-intensive participation, peripherality is an empowering position. As a place in
which one is kept from participating more fully often legitimately, from the
broader perspective of society at large it is a disempowering position. Lave, Jean;
Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social,
Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 36). Cambridge University Press.
Kindle Edition.
- may help clarify further the theoretical status of the concept of legitimate peripheral
participation. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning
(Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 39).
Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
o We above all wanted to take a fresh look at learning. Issues of learning and
schooling seemed to have become too deeply interrelated in our culture in
general, both for purposes of our own exploration and the exposition of our
ideas. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning
(Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (pp.
39-40). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
o the organization of schooling as an educational form is predicated on claims
that knowledge can be decontextualized, and yet schools themselves as social
institutions and as places of learning constitute very specific contexts. Lave,
Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing:
Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 40). Cambridge
University Press. Kindle Edition.
o the effectiveness of schooling (in teaching, in the specialization of schooling
in changing persons, in the special modes of inculcation for which schools are
known) stand in contradiction with the situated perspective we have
adopted. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning
(Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p.
40). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- We wanted to develop a view of learning that would stand on its own, reserving the
analysis of schooling and other specific educational forms for the future. Lave, Jean;
Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social,
Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 40). Cambridge University Press.
Kindle Edition.
- is not itself an educational form, much less a pedagogical strategy or a teaching
technique. It is an analytical viewpoint on learning, a way of understanding learning.
Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing:
Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 40). Cambridge University
Press. Kindle Edition.
- Indeed, the concept of legitimate peripheral participation provides a framework for
bringing together theories of situated activity and theories about the production and
reproduction of the social order. These have usually been treated separately, and
within distinct theoretical traditions. But there is common ground for exploring
their integral, constitutive relations, their entailments, and effects in a framework of
social practice theory, in which the production, transformation, and change in the
identities of persons, knowledgeable skill in practice, and communities of practice
are realized in the lived-in world of engagement in everyday activity. Lave, Jean;
Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social,
Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 47). Cambridge University Press.
Kindle Edition.
- view learning as a process by which a learner internalizes knowledge, whether
discovered,transmitted from others, or experienced in interaction with others.
This focus on internalization does not just leave the nature of the learner, of the
world, and of their relations unexplored; it can only reflect far-reaching assumptions
concerning these issues. It establishes a sharp dichotomy between inside and
outside, suggests that knowledge is largely cerebral, and takes the individual as the
nonproblematic unit of analysis. Furthermore, learning as internalization is too
easily construed as an unproblematic process of absorbing the given, as a matter of
transmission and assimilation. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated
Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p.
47). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- In contrast with learning as internalization, learning as increasing participation in
communities of practice concerns the whole person acting in the world. Conceiving
of learning in terms of participation focuses attention on ways in which it is an
evolving, continuously renewed set of relations; this is, of course, consistent with a
relational view, of persons, their actions, and the world, typical of a theory of social
practice. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in
Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (pp. 49-50). Cambridge
University Press. Kindle Edition.
- social practice emphasizes the relational interdependency of agent and world,
activity, meaning, cognition, learning, and knowing. It emphasizes the inherently
socially negotiated character of meaning and the interested, concerned character of
the thought and action of persons-in- activity. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-
09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational
Perspectives) (pp. 50-51). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- Our claim , that focusing on the structure of social practice and on participation
therein implies an explicit focus on the person, appear paradoxical at first. Lave,
Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social,
Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 52). Cambridge University Press.
Kindle Edition.
- As an aspect of social practice, learning involves the whole person; it implies not
only a relation to specific activities, but a relation to social communities . It implies
becoming a full participant, a member, a kind of person. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne
(1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and
Computational Perspectives) (p. 53). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- Viewing learning as legitimate peripheral participation means that learning is not
merely a condition for membership, but is itself an evolving form of membership.
We conceive of identities as long-term, living relations between persons and their
place and participation in communities of practice. Thus identity, knowing, and
social membership entail one another. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27).
Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational
Perspectives) (p. 53). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- Thus we have begun to analyze the changing forms of participation and identity of
persons who engage in sustained participation in a community of practice: from
entrance as a newcomer, through becoming an old-timer with respect to new
newcomers, to a point when those newcomers themselves become old-timers.
Rather than a teacher/ learner dyad, this points to a richly diverse field of essential
actors and, with it, other forms of relationships of participation. Lave, Jean; Wenger,
Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and
Computational Perspectives) (p. 56). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- For example, in situations where learning-in-practice takes the form of
apprenticeship, succeeding generations of participants give rise to what in its
simplest form is a triadic set of relations: The community of practice encompasses
apprentices, young masters with apprentices, and masters some of whose
apprentices have themselves become masters. Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-
09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational
Perspectives) (p. 56). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
- In the United States today much learning occurs in the form of some sort of
apprenticeship, especially wherever high levels of knowledge and skill are in
demand Lave, Jean; Wenger, Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in
Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) (p. 63). Cambridge
University Press. Kindle Edition.
- We present excerpts from five accounts of apprenticeship: among Yucatec Mayan
midwives in Mexico (Jordan 1989), among Vai and Gola tailors in Liberia (Lave in
preparation), in the work-learning settings of U.S. navy quartermasters (Hutchins in
press), among butchers in U.S. supermarkets (Marshall 1972), and among
nondrinking alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous (Cain n.d.). Lave, Jean; Wenger,
Etienne (1991-09-27). Situated Learning (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and
Computational Perspectives) (p. 65). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
Palloff, R. M., &
Pratt, K. (2011).
Professional
Development
(online)
- Given the differences between face-to-face instruction and the facilitated approach
that works best online, it is unrealistic to expect that instructors new to this form of
education will simply know what to do. Skill in teaching online develops over time
The excellent
online Instructor:
Strategies for
professional
development.
San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
and with good training (chapter 1)
- Excellent online instructors rarely emerge out of the box but develop their skills
over time (Chapter 2)
Lessons
Learned
Implementing
Online Teacher
Professional
Development
within a School
Improvement
Initiative. ACT
Research
Report Series,
2011-2
Allen, Jeff;
Fisher, Teri;
Robbins, Steve;
Moore, Joann;
Buck, Jill;
McKinniss,
Tamera;
Hanson, Mary
Ann
ACT, Inc.
Profesional
development
(online)
- Raising teacher effectiveness is central to school improvement initiatives and educational
reforms. Current policy initiatives, including Race to the Top, are focused on teacher
effectiveness as one of the levers promoting effective school improvement and the larger
system goal of ensuring college and career readiness for all students. (pg1)
- School improvement often entails significant professional development (PD) for teachers
tailored to standards, curriculum, and assessments. Ongoing PD is important for exposing
teachers to new teaching strategies and providing opportunities to share effective teaching
practices. Teachers agree that PD is vital to school improvement; a large-scale, nationally
representative survey of over 40,000 teachers conducted found that 85% of the teachers
viewed PD as absolutely essential or very important to retaining good teachers (by
comparison, 81% of teachers viewed higher salaries as absolutely essential or very
important) (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2010a). (pg1)
- The traditional model of PD is based on face-to-face delivery. The number and
complexity of learning objectives needing to be addressed with PD, combined with the
number of teachers in training, lead to substantial costs for PD. These costs present a
significant barrier for school systems, impeding their ability to raise teaching quality.
This barrier is particularly formidable in todays climate of school budget cuts, which
have led to fewer funds for PD, travel, and substitute teacher pay. (pg 1)
- Online delivery offers a means of reducing costs substantially; recent work points to the
potential of online delivery of PD to yield cost efficiencies and produce results that are
comparable if not better than face-to-face PD methods (U. S. Department of Education,
2010).
- Moreover, it is possible that large-scale online PD may introduce efficiencies that make
the training more focused, achieve a more job-embedded approach, and increase ongoing
collaboration among participants and facilitators, thereby strengthening the support for
professional learning communities and the benefits that accrue from them (Lord, 1994).
- Blended models can combine faceto- face sessions with several online follow-ups that
give teachers opportunities to get expert and peer advice on current instructional issues,
when they need it, in small increments, and connected to what they are teaching. In its
meta-analysis of evidence-based practices in online learning, the U.S. Department of
Education (2010) also found that instruction combining online and face-to-face elements
was advantageous to purely face-to-face instruction or purely online instruction. (pg 2)
- Online collaboration tools and protocols that support professional learning communities
as a professional development opportunity were also introduced. These collaboration
tools included social networking features (blogs, shared commentary), threaded
discussion boards, and online journals where participants could reflect on what they
learned in trainingand on what they implemented with their students.
- Teacher teams or professional learning communities (PLCs) have been shown to be a key
mechanism for improving teacher effectiveness and instructional leadership (Lord, 1994).
Within the scope of teacher teams is the small learning community; in particular, where
a small group of core academic teachers share the teaching responsibilities for a specific
group of students. In this way, teacher teams create a personalized learning environment
for their students and can work together to provide support across disciplines and within
the area of academic behavior (psychosocial supports).
- The original study plans were built around Kirkpatricks (1996) four-level model for
measuring training effectiveness. The four levels are Reactions (participant satisfaction
and perceived relevance of the training program to their everyday work), Learning (the
extent that training participants have advanced in skills, knowledge, or attitude), Transfer
(whether the newly acquired skills, knowledge, or attitudes are being used in the
everyday environment of the training participant), and Results (the success of the training
program in terms of whatever outcome it was conceived to achieve). (pg 12)
- An initial wave of data collection, in fall 2009, included classroom observations and
teacher surveys ascertaining program implementation and satisfaction with face-to-face
training. (Pg 12)
- The extent to which training materials and classroom resources associated with the training are made
available to teachers in a timely manner for use during both training and implementation. (pg 22)
- Teachers level of comfort and experience with the technology needed for online training derived from their
prior training or experience with the training tools. (pg14)
- Several studies cite the convenience of online PD in terms of flexibility of time,
opportunities for self-paced instruction, access to experts and other teachers outside of the
school or district, and opportunities to communicate after the conclusion of the PD
(Carey, Louis, Kleiman, Russell, & Venable, 2008; Dominguez, Nicholls, & Storandt,
2006; Liu, Carr, & Strobel, 2009; Russell, Carey, Kleiman, & Venable, 2009). (pg 15-16)
- It has also been suggested that participants may be less inhibited when participating in
online PD than they would be in a face-to-face situation (Carey, et al. 2008), and that
school systems realize the cost effectiveness of online over face-to-face PD (Holmes,
Signer, & MacLeod, 2010). (pg 13)
- Numbers of comfort with technology, engagement, communication, and expectionats (see
data chart at bottom) pg 21)
- Live, or synchronous, forms of online training can be hindered by scheduling and
coordinating difficulties. Asynchronous forms of training may reduce the need for
common training time and alleviate scheduling difficulties; however, they also eliminate
the community, collaboration, and individualization offered by synchronous forms.
- Teachers interviewed also indicated that classroom coverage created scheduling and
participation problems (pg 26)
- Among surveyed teachers, over half indicated that they typically participated in face-
toface PD during teacher work days (51%), whereas when they participated in online PD
was more variable, including during regular planning time (26%), teacher work days
(42%), or other days (32%). Similarly, interviewed teachers who participated in online
PD indicated that they did so mainly during school hours other than the planning period
(39%), or during the planning period (35%). (pg 25-26)
- The online participants and nonparticipants both generally preferred face-to-face PD
because of the human contact and feelings of engagement. Study groups were made
available through online libraries and offered a low-cost and scalable alternative to face-
to-face delivery, while still promoting human contact and engagement. Most of the
teachers interviewed said that they preferred face-to-face PD (54%), and 68% of surveyed
online participants agreed that online PD was less effective than face-to-face.
- Collaboration with other teachers and personal interaction with trainers was nearly
unanimously cited as an advantage of face-to-face PD. (pg 31)
- Although many teachers preferred face-to-face training, most reported value in the online
training and that their teaching practices changed because of the training. Teachers cited
the convenience of online PD, indicated a desire for future online training, and
acknowledged that online PD is the logical path for future training. (pg 33)
- Following as key benefits of online PD: preservation of class time (16%), less travel
(52%), more flexibility (35%), and cost savings (32%). Other commonly cited positive
aspects included being able to communicate and share with others outside of their school
or district (35%) and comfort of participating in their own surroundings and feeling that
online training provided a safe, less intimidating environment (32%). (pg 38)
- Careful system design, planning, and introduction can enhance online PD (Pg 35)
- Most interviewed teachers believed implementation of the program for which they
received PD would result in improved student learning (63%).
- Common barriers included not enough support, lack of materials, lack of knowledge,
learning the materials too late in the school year to have the chance to fully implement,
and general lack of time. Another obstacle to implementation was poor student behavior
and lack of classroom management. (pg 37)
- Assuming that enough time is available for collaborative work, greater use of online
libraries could help teachers apply PD to their work.
Face-to-Face vs. Online
Development? Do
Both! The Power of the
Blended Model by Dr.
Paula Hidalgo
Blended learning
professional
development
- Despite promising statistics and the undeniable popularity of online and blended learning models,
there are many educators and school administrators who are, understandably, skeptical about the
effectiveness of these models, and the extent to which students and teachers who participate in
them learn as much as they would learn if they were sitting in a classroom, in front of an
instructor who delivers the content.
- The U.S. Department of Education (ED) meta-analysis showed that students who took courses
online outperformed students who took courses in a face-to-face format, with students involved in
the blended model having the greatest advantages of all three. (pg 1)
- Good factors
o Time - Online learning lends itself more easily to increased learning time than face-to-
face instruction
o Pegagogy and Curriculum - The factors that were mentioned as contributing to the
enhanced performance among students in blended groups include: rich studentteacher
synchronous and asynchronous communication and an enhanced ability for the teacher to
personalize instruction. (pg2)
o Interactions factor - wider exposure to more content, easier use of data to inform
instructional decisions, and an opportunity to expand the confines of the topics at hand in
an almost unlimited way. (pg 2)
o The same way that a junior doctor can benefit from an online course in which she or he
sees a video of a veteran doctor performing a diagnosis, using a sophisticated machine for
a specific treatment, engaging in a difficult conversation with a client, or doing a surgery,
a teacher can benefit from watching and analyzing videos of veteran teachers engaging
students in classroom discussions, making a diagnosis of student understanding based on
their work, planning a class, and delivering instruction. (pg 3)
o Teaching professionals have typically been, and continue to be, isolated
o Teachers typically juggle many obligations, and therefore can benefit from the flexibility
offered by purely online or blended models. Blended models can combine face-to-face
sessions with several online follow-ups that give teachers opportunities to get expert and
peer advice on current instructional issues, when they need it, in small increments, and
connected to what they are teaching. (pg 3)
o Furthermore, blended models provide teachers with an opportunity to break the isolation
of the classroom, giving them not only face-to-face community but also an online
community that they can access at almost any time. (pg 3)
o Blended models emerge easily from environments where face-to-face programs are
already established and where a portion of the curriculum can be added in an online
format (pg 3)
o
Seymou
r
Papert S
eymour Papert,
in his book
Constructionism
: A
New Opportunit
y for Elementary
Science
Education


a mnemonic for two aspects of the theory of science education underlying this
project. From constructivist theories of psychology we take a view of learning as a
reconstruction rather than as a transmission of knowledge. Then we extend the idea of
manipulative materials to the idea that learning is most effective when part of an
activity the learner experiences as constructing a meaningful product. (1986)

1. B
r
u
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Focus only on instruction instead of curriculum limits the effectiveness of constructivist
theories
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4. Critically analyze