My choice
For my third artefact I chose the second assignment dealing with combining theory with practice.
This artefact has the intention to reflect my personal way of teaching with respect to given learning theories at some most important principles that would work best for me. I first had to consult the learning theories of Schunk (2012). As several authors and experts are introduced, the textbook is a very good source. I considered questions like the following given by the assignment for the artefact:
- What was my conception of the teaching – learning process before I began this course (or the MDE program)?
- What am I now more clear about, or what have I become more convinced about, as a result of my experiences in the course?
- What do I now know about learning and instructional design that I didn't know before?
- How have I validated these new insights, convictions, and knowledge? What do I need to do to further validate them?
- What changes will I make to my instructional design practices in light of my new insights, convictions, and knowledge? Why have I chosen to make those changes?
- What new instructional design agendas do I have as a result of reviewing my Theory of Practice? How will I move those agendas along?
Overview
Artefact # 3 – Instructional design
Assignment 2 of MDDE 603 Foundations of Instructional Design: Systems Analysis and Learning Theory
Overview
MDDE 603 Foundations of Instructional Design: Systems Analysis and Learning Theory was the third course I took in the M.Ed. (Distance Education) program. The course deals with theory and practice. The motto is applying what you have learned.
Competencies:
- 2.3. Describe and appropriately apply a range of learning and motivational theories to instructional design situations in distance education
- 2.6. Critically analyze and discuss the common criticisms and controversies relating to the use of traditional and emerging instructional design models in distance education
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4.8. Organize, and convey your ideas effectively through a range of communication skills and work collaboratively and in teams.
Reflection
Reflection on Instructional Design
MDDE 603 as the foundation of instructional design: “systems analysis and learning theory” is clearly the stronghold of the master-of-education-program. A theory of practice paper would ask for my preferred teaching principles. That also was a challenge for a non-teacher as only practice will bring up questions about learned principles. At least analyzing and discussing given criticisms and controversies only theoretically would train for the future (2.6).
But let me begin from the start. The task of writing an assignment about my own teaching-learning context was seen by me as using given principles that I would prefer logically as I could not look back to own experiences. So I was going back to the TPI test (Teaching Perspective Inventory) to look up the outcome regarding my test results. Actually I was surprised by that outcome as an earlier test at the college came up with a competitive and analytical personality over nurturing.
Briefly, the outcome is Nurturing as dominant, Developmental as recessive and the remaining rest as back up with Apprenticeship leading, so my focus was on Nurturing and second on Apprenticeship as my main teaching perspectives. Under Nurturing is to understand: “Effective teaching assumes that long-term, hard, persistent effort to achieve comes from the heart, not the head”. Under Apprenticeship is to understand: “Effective teaching is a process of socializing students into new behavioural norms and ways of working”.
The artefact strives theorists like Bruning, Piaget, and Vygotsky to arrive at a definition of constructivism. I like Bruning’s definition as a “psychological and philosophical perspective in which learning and understanding becomes constructed”. Piaget defines four factors as foundation and four stages in different ages.
Now I thought about what teaching principles could fit best into my personality as I cannot draw from own experience. Taking into consideration the teacher as mediator in a learner-centered environment, Brooks & Brooks (1999, as cited in Schunk, 2012, p. 261) offer some guiding principles of constructivist learning by Vygotsky. The features are:
- Pose problems of relevance to students, they can use existing knowledge.
- Structure learning around primary concepts, support holistic ideas.
- Seek and value students’ point of view, they are in the centre of interest.
- Adapt curriculum to address students’ suppositions, make them thinking.
- Assess student learning in the context of teaching, even same time (2.3).
Vygotsky focuses not at age groups but on interactions and tools for support. His principles are taken as my favourite teaching principles for the assignment. Here I have to admit that I misunderstood the task a bit as I should have come up with own principles. In lack of teaching experience the theory had to work out. Tenor of the paper was, that cognitive constructivism is the needed theory of distance education although it also works in face-to-face education.
One concern was given attention: the fixed office hour at local education institutions is missed in distance education. There is Skype to talk to somebody and there is the possibility of e-mailing. But e-mailing does not solve a problem now and an answer in two business days is already too late. An answer is forums where one can post a question to class mates and professors and might get answers earlier.
What have I learned about theory and practice
What may I have learned from this? Actually I don’t like forums very much: there are lots of people who like to “talk” just to “talk”. Also it can be intimidating to realise that writing in a second language, because of idioms and phrases, is difficult because it is not about translation but more about interpretation (4.8). However, sometimes it is necessary to write back and forth or even better talk over Skype.
Cognitive constructivism is an ideal method to address the learner. The learner is in the midpoint of teaching which improves learning results. For the students it means some more work on their own. But learning takes place better when one compiles knowledge her/himself instead of listening to a discourse.
Theory is needed knowledge to work with in practice and practice is applying skills from underlying theory. Theorists and practitioners are always fighting about who is needed more but one cannot exist without the other.