Explanation of Instructional Activities

In E-learning by Design, Horton (2012) outlines absorb, do,

connect activities as a way to engage learners to maximize
learning. The activities do not need to go in this particular order
as a do activity can come before an absorb activities. He outlines
his activities in the following ways:
Absorb- Absorb activities are the ones closest to pure
information.(p.67) These activities are the ones that learners
gain the information they need to know and be able to
comprehend that information. It should be noted that the learner
will absorb some of the information and not all of it. Common
types of absorb activities include presentations, readings, stories
by a teacher and field trips.
Do- Do activities transform that information into knowledge and
skills. (p.129) This is where the activity of the presented content
occurs. This is an active process that engages the learner into
applying the content presented. The learner must be ready to do
activities such as organize, discuss, evaluate and analyze. These
activities promote higher order thinking in order to take the
information and integrate with their background knowledge into
their long term memory. Some of the common types of do
activities are; practice, discovery, games and simulations.
Connect- Connect activities integrate what we are learning with
what we know. Often simple and subtle. (p. 163) The connect
activities take the known and the application and asks the learner
to make the connections between the two. It does not present
new information, but allows reflection to take place within the
learner. This is an important component of Hortons activities as
this is where knowledge is integrated together and the learner is
then able to apply the new skills. Connect activities can include;
ponder, questioning, stories by learners, job aids, research and
original work.
These are my instructional activities I have included in my
portfolio with objectives:

Assessment/Do Quiz Activity

Terminal Objective: Incorporate sign language with
communication with child.
Enabling Objective: Recognize and identify sign language words
as spelled out by the job aid.
In this activity the student will have the opportunity to take a quiz
using Articulate Storyline. It is a drag and drop activity in which
the student will drag the sign language picture to the correct
word. This is done until mastery has occurred. This is best
practice because it engages the learner to take the information
that was presented in a power point slide and practice learning
new words they had just seen and talked about. It engages the
UDL practice of action. It is an active process of learning.
Do Activity
Terminal Objective: Apply visual strategies to effectively
communicate with an autistic child.
Enabling Objective: Create a storyboard or social story.
All of the absorb activities about story boards and social stories
lead up to this culminating activity. This is where they apply what
they have learned. With materials supplied by the instructor they
will use the examples and create either a story board or social
story. They will think about their childs needs of communication
and behaviors. This is best practice as it forces the student to
analyze and apply what they have learned in order to tailor a
unique product for their child. This also encourages the learner to
be an active participant of their learning as defined by UDL.
Connect Activity
Terminal Objective: Incorporate sign language into
communication with an autistic child.
Enabling Objective: Recognize and identify sign language words
as spelled out by the job aid.

In this activity the learner has had the opportunity to watch a

power point slide with sign language words, participated in a quiz
and now will complete a job aid as a connect activity. The sheet
will have pictures but no words. They are to fill in the blanks as
much as they can from memory and then they are able to go back
through the power point slides to refresh their memory. This job
aid will be very helpful as they practice the five words they have
chosen to learn and then to take this job aid home to continue to
practice even more words. The learner is taking the presentation,
the application and bridging the gap between the two which
includes best practice. Following the UDL model this activity
engages the learner to take their learning a step further.