Cracking Our Own Codes: Designing Instruction for Greater Clarity and Appropriate Control (will appear in vol 18 of International Journal on Learning, 2012) Mark Stoner, Department of Communication Studies Center for Teaching and Learning California State University, Sacramento Co-authors: Steve Higgins School of Education Durham University Diego Bonilla Department of Communication Studies California State University, Sacramento

Patterned Human Behavior In instructional contexts May function as code People attribute meaning

When you see such a room, what does it mean? What roles does it imply? What patterns of behavior can we anticipate by those playing the roles? How do you know?

When you see such a room, what does it mean? What roles does it imply? What patterns of behavior can we anticipate by those playing the roles?

Let’s consider another kind of “patterned human behavior” in an instructional context...

Follow-a-thread assignment: a short essay (3-4 pages) that explores, in greater depth, a topic from the readings by digesting two or more relevant citation or citations. (5 points) Assignment may be repeated once. To “follow a thread” is to examine the treatment of a concept or theory across related essays or studies. Your task is to select and read related essays and explain how the concept they jointly treat is operationalized, applied, modified, or critiqued. Remark on what you learn about the nature of our knowledge about the concept treated by various scholars. Essays that score all five points will present some insight rather than just reporting the contents of the studies. Include a bibliography and cite sources in APA (6 th ed.) style. Sample assignment What patterns of instructional discourse do you see? What do you anticipate being most meaningful to students?

Basil Bernstein defines code as “a regulative principle, tacitly acquired, which selects and integrates 1. relevant meanings, 2. the form of their realization and 3. evoking contexts.” (p.109) Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity, rev. ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Let’s go back and see how this applies to our two cases…

This site is a meaningful code precisely because it selects and integrates relevant meanings, the form of their realization and evoking contexts.”

Follow-a-thread assignment: a short essay (3-4 pages) that explores, in greater depth, a topic from the readings by digesting two or more relevant citation or citations. (5 points) Assignment may be repeated once. To “follow a thread” is to examine the treatment of a concept or theory across related essays or studies. Your task is to select and read related essays and explain how the concept they jointly treat is operationalized, applied, modified, or critiqued. Remark on what you learn about the nature of our knowledge about the concept treated by various scholars. Essays that score all five points will present some insight rather than just reporting the contents of the studies. Include a bibliography and cite sources in APA (6 th ed.) style. Sample assignment This is a code precisely because it selects and integrates relevant meanings, the form of their realization and evoking contexts.”

When instructing, we use at least three message systems...

3 Instructional Message Systems (that vary among disciplines) Curriculum Relationship of units of content and time allocated Timing of content Time on task Pedagogy Repertoire of strategies for presenting and processing content Allocation of qualification to make knowledge claims Allocation of responsibility for learning Evaluation Predominant type of evaluation Levels of knowledge assessed (à la Bloom) Authenticity of evaluation

…which are regulated by two forms of control

These instructional message systems respond to two forms of control: Classification “refers to the degree of insulation between categories of discourse, agents, practices, contexts, and provides recognition rules for both transmitters and acquirers for the degree of specialization of their texts.” (p.214) Framing “refers to the controls on the selection, sequencing, pacing and criterial rules of the pedagogic communicative relationship between transmitters and acquirers....” (p.214) Bernstein, B. (1990). The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse, Vol IV Class, Codes and Control. London: Routledge.

We can relate classification and framing like this:

Framing Classification Reproduction Production Strong Weak

Framing Classification Reproduction Production Communication, Self and Time 1 (ComS 163) Communication, Self and Time 2 Strong Weak Here’s a case from my experience. The course needed greater structure (framing) to function as a communication course (classification)

Some highly classified and framed courses can benefit by changing the nature of the message systems to move toward “production” or creativity in outcomes…

Framing Classification Reproduction Production Longair’s alternative design National Physics course syllabus Weak Strong

Let’s connect the message systems relative to the forms of control by using them to examine a course design: (a sample of Diego’s programming magic)