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Instructional Strategies and Learning Theories

Creating an environment where students are encouraged to actively

participate in the educational process and take a dynamic and energetic role

in their education should be a priority for every teacher. In contrast to basic

lectures where students may feel bored and disengaged from class, using

computers can be a useful method to increase student participation and

academic performance.

One can argue that new and innovative methods are needed to

capture and hold the attention of a technologically advance student

population that some researchers call Millenials. Johnson(2008) suggests that

Millenials(born after 1990) embrace technology as no other generation has,

and use technology to develop and sustain their network of friends for 24

hour access . . .They are accustomed to immediacy and multitasking.

Understanding the dynamics of this new generation, we developed an

interactive web module to teach a lesson in Business Ethics. Our module

includes digital videos, blogs, and several of Gagne’s Learning Theory

principles.

We used interactive media such as blogs and digital videos to enhance

and reinforce our instruction. This type of instruction will maximize the

benefits of dual coding learning theory. Andrews, R., Paivio, A., Sadoski,

M.(2002) suggests that the dual coding theory indicated that the ways in

which students make use of their aural and visual abilities differs from one
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person to the next.

Gagne’s Theory, like Bloom’s taxonomy, suggests that learning

hierarchies provide a base for instruction sequencing. We applied several of

Gagne’s learning principles to our lesson:

1. Gaining Attention(reception)-Understanding that capturing the full

attention of students is a critical step in introducing new learning material,

we used multimedia that includes a digital video and podcast to capture the

students’ attention and get them motivated to learn.

2. Inform Learners of the Objectives(expectancy)—At the beginning of the

lesson, on the instruction page, a list of the learning objectives are clearly

listed.

3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning(retrieval)—To stimulate recall we would

have students answer question about previous ethical experiences.

4. Presenting Stimulus(selective perception) Students are presented with a

short video, a short case study/scenarios, and podcast to deliver content. To

appeal to different learning styles, we used a variety of media—including

text, graphics, audio narration, and video.

5. Providing Learning Guidance (semantic encoding)-- Guidance strategies

used are case studies discussion, analogies, question and answer, and

examples of ethics that are relative to students’ lives. During this stage we

would provide immediate feedback to clarify any misunderstandings to

accomplish our instructional goals.

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6. Assessing Performance(retrieval)— Upon completing instructional

modules, students will take an interactive multiple choice quiz to ascertain

the level of mastery of the business ethics lesson.

Utilizing videos was a way to capture the attention of the students.

The video provided various scenarios that brought attention to ethics and

laws, ethics and behavior, ethics in the workplace, ethics and technology and

ethics in working relationship. This provided an opportunity for everyone to

have first hand information about issues that may arise and to consider their

reaction to the situation. According to Stewart, “scenario planning was most

effective when carried out at face-to-face meetings with the expert, using a

whiteboard to sketch out locations, objects, people, reports, tests and tasks”

(Stewart, 2007). Developing an interactive web module about ethics will

help mold and shape our students to become a productive parts of society.

Technology and ethics are vital to these technologically advance

students. They may provide information over the internet that could be

harmful. Employers today are viewing individual’s MySpace, Facebook, and

other social networking web pages as a resource in the hiring process. Some

citizens have even put incriminating evidence online. It is important that

students realize the choices he/she makes may cause them to be convicted

of a criminal offense.

When educators implement technology into their lesson plans it helps

show their creativity. For many educators, it is a challenging task to promote

positive ethical behavior. Providing students with real life situations helps
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students identify more with the topic. “Authentic learning as a learning

design takes many forms and has been shown to have many benefits for

learners, especially for those students in online units and courses”

(Herrington, Reeves, and Oliver, 2006, p. 235). Therefore, it is crucial that

educators provide some time of relationship between ethics and student’s

lives. This is one reason why our group used case scenarios. Our case

scenarios allow students to think about ethical situations they may

encounter and reflect on what their reaction might be within the

circumstances.

Ethics are extremely important for students to learn. In today’s society

often times students have difficulties making constructive decisions

throughout their lives. Even many companies like Enron/Arthur threaten the

futures of entire organizations due to unethical behavior. Therefore, our

team believed focusing our lesson on business ethics would be beneficial to

our students.

We presented videos, scenarios, questions, podcasts, and quizzes to

help make our website more interactive and fun for our students. Our goal

was to insure that all types of learners have an opportunity to learn from this

lesson. We also wanted to gain and retain student’s attention during the

lesson. We hope that our online, interactive lesson will have an effect on

student’s ethical behavior.

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Andrews, R., Paivio, A., Sadoksi, M. (2002). Imagery and text--A dual coding
theory of reading and writing / Response. British Journal of Educational
Psychology,1 72, 147. Retrieved November 3, 2008, from
http://proquest.umi.com

Cullen, R., Auria, C., The Relationship Between Ethnic Prejudice and Student
Teaching Behavior.(2006) Retrieved on November 17, 2008 from
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/

Haladyna, T. M., & Downing, S. M. (1993). How many options is enough for a
multiple-choice test item? Educational and Psychological Measurement, 5,
999-1010. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com

Herrington, I., Reeves, T. C., & Oliver, R. (2006). Authentic Tasks Online: A
synergy among learner, task, and technology. 27, 2, 233-247. Retrieved on
December 3, 2008 from http://proquest.umi.com

Johnson, B. (2008, February). Responding to Generational Differences in

Business Education: Challenges and Opportunities. Business Education
Forum, 62(3), 24-27.

Kruse, K.(n.d.) Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction: An Introduction. Retrieved

November 30, 2008, from http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art3_3.htm

Stewart, T. M. (2007). Tools and techniques for scenario-based e-learning for

New Zealand tertiary students: Prototype to adoption. In ICT: Providing
choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/stewart-t.pdf

Wurster, S. (1998). Robert M. Gagne's Impact on Instructional Design Theory

and Practice of the Future. Tech Trends, 43(2), 13. Retrieved November 3,
2008, from http://proquest.umi.com