A Study in Instructional Design Debra Lowe Fall 2008

Topic Area: Forest Biomes Students will learn about three different forest biomes Students will learn about animals and plants within the biome Students will be able to match traits to the environment

Learners Learners will be middle or high school students Learners are typical students within the United States It is presupposed that students have used computers before

Contexts Materials are meant to supplement classroom instruction Students may participate at school or at home Students with special needs can have additional guidance Advanced students may more more quickly through the materials

Instructional Strategies Students are presented with both visual and auditory information Students are then tested on the material gathered Instruction is traditional, but modified Multi-sensory stimulation is present

Activities Pictures and Sounds Written text Web-based quiz See demonstration

Formative Evaluation Process The agony and the ecstasy – Self-test – Narrowing down the topic Three levels of trial learners – “Alex” – “Becky” – “Carol”

Major Findings Problems with the final quiz – Ambiguous questions – Graphics were both helpful and harmful – Repetitive questions – Dependent questions But on the bright side – Enjoyable – Effective

Revisions Shortened length Changed location of practice questions Removed some quiz questions Added clarifying language to the pictures

Final Module See the Project

Lessons Learned (The Hard Way) Don’t ever miss class when groups are being assigned If something isn’t working, you’re probably doing it wrong To get a VERY good project, it takes a great deal of time What I think is clear may not be to everyone Don’t try this at home

Lessons Learned Part Deux I will be using much of this information, just not all at once. It is useful to have a checklist to go back and see what was missed This formal process is best done intuitively (And it saves paper)

Recommendations More time for larger projects More clarification when walking through the Dick and Carey model A short “run-through” of a completed module before attempting my own More time for revisions I realize that time is not an option – one semester. But

Post-Mortem If I had to do it all again, I would have remembered rule #1 of life… KEEP IT SIMPLE at least on my first use of Dick and Carey. Overall, I see how all this is useful, but exceptionally tedious to learn.