Characteristics of
SkillSoft and ...
|
Objectivist
Supporting Evidence
|
Characteristics of
ITSOLC and ..
|
Constructivist
Supporting Evidence |
The
learner:
- Passive recipient of information
- Has no collaboration or interaction with people
- Reads information presented on website from chosen topics
- Clicks through tutorial for more information.
- Takes pretest and mastery tests
|
- Groups don’t learn, people learn
- (MDLP)
- LE: Submission to the acquisition of knowledge, skill from instruction
(MDLP)
- Students cannot learn without individual practice (MDLP)
- Learners and their basic learning mechanisms are a constant (MDLP); must
know how to execute the proper response
|
The learner:
- Engages in collaboration with expert mentor and group members through
on-going discussions
- Interprets activities in terms of own practice. Ex. designing a Webquest
that matches teaching goals
|
- Learning is not a matter of a person's internalizing knowledge,
but a person's transforming his participation in a social community
(DC,
p.181)
- Learning is not a lonely act, even when it is undertaken alone. It
is a matter of being initiated into the practices of community. (DC,
p.181)
- In learner-centered environments the learner actively constructs
meaning. (JL, p.12)
- Constructivist emphasize group discussion because learning is a social
and dialogical activity (DC, p. 180)
|
The teacher:
- Web based delivery – no human contact
- Program driven
|
- Knowledge is not founded on collaboration
(MDLP)
- The design is systemic and process oriented (EM)
- Students don’t make their own interpretations; teachers interpret
events for them (J)
- ComputerBased Instruction (drill and practice)
|
The teacher:
- Is an expert mentor
- asks prompting questions
- Shares experiences with mentee
- Assists mentee in making connections to practice
- Models thinking processes
- Modifies activities to match learner's practice.
- Assess progress
|
- Mentors provide expert knowledge to proteges (D, p.817)
- Throughout a session, the facilitator models
higher-order thinking by asking questions that probe students knowledge
(DC, p.194)
- Teacher's role is to instruct the student on how to construct meaning
in addition to align and design experiences for the learner so that
authentic, relevant contexts can be experienced (EN, p.66)
- Mentors use strategies like questioning to help mentees articulate
their understanding: supports intersubjectivity and ssessment of progress
(D, p.817)
|
The learning context:
- Job and career related content only; case based or problem solving
context
- Knowledge focused only
|
- Knowledge and skill are acquired, external,
archived by others (MDLP)
|
The learning context:
- Situated learning: PTA meeting to discuss use of the Internet in
classrooms or school in need of new software for technology program..
|
- Knowledge emerges in contexts within which it is relevant. (EN).
- Learning occurs most effectively in context (J, p.11)
|
The learning activity:
- Assessments, printable reports and job aid tools focused
- Learning is focused entirely on getting the answers right through
the assessments
- Learner has control of speed and use of accelerated mode
- Consequently, favorable printed reports acknowledge completed steps
for full ‘credit.’
|
- Focused on deliverable outcomes; success is predicated on correct
responses and thoroughness of learning objectives (i.e. printable reports)
(IDKB)
- Contract Learning: Contract learning involves the use of contingency
contracts, which define the terminal behavior the student is to achieve
and conditions
for achievement and consequences for completion or non-completion
of the assigned task(s). The contingency contract is mutually agreed
upon by teacher
and student after negotiations. (IDKB)
- Responds to stimulus
|
The learning activity
- Authentic: learner writes a letter to
PTA explaining the benefits of using Telecommunictions technology
in the classroom or learner develops a software wishlist for administration.
- Background building is situated in familiar contexts such Letterman's
Top Ten list, Happy Hours.
- Multiple Perspectives are used in activities: poetry, graphics, simulations,
mathematics
|
- Frequently constructivist utilize familiar problems, driving questions,
enabling contexts to induce access to and deployment of personal theories
and experiences during learning (JL, p. 14)
- Constructivist view the learning as the acivity in context.; learning
as constructed in the activity of the learner is that the individual
can only know what he or she has constructed (DC, p.171)
- Learning activities should be authentic and should center around
the
"problematic" or "puzzlement" as perceived by the
learner (IDKB)
- Constructivist use strategies that stress conceptual interrelatedness
because there is no objective reality and therefore emphasize the use
of multiple themes or perspectives (J, p.11)
|
The content:
- Presented as linear, rote, sequential
- Job related goals
- Job Aids link to evaluation worksheets for individual use
- Resource link available
|
- Tasks are content-specific, designed to
focus on specific skills and concepts, with drill and practice; recall
questions; no multidisciplinary focuses (NCREL)
- System Approach: focuses on programmed instruction, multimedia presentations
and the use of the computers in instruction. Most systems approaches
are similar to computer flow charts with steps that the designer moves
through
during the development of instruction. Rooted in the military and business
world, the systems approach involved setting goals and objectives,
analyzing resources, devising a plan of action and continuous evaluation/modification
of the program (IDKB)
|
The content:
- Presented as hypermedia
- Topics center around the Virgina State Technology Standards for Teachers
- Scaffolding: Authentic Challenge presented, readings to give background
knowledge, activities to synthesize readings, constructing
activities to use background knowledge to create new meanings, ongoing
discussions
with opportunities for brainstorming, culminating constructing
activity centered around learner's practice, reflection of
process.
|
- Landow argues that hypertext can be used to empower the reader to
see and use text in new ways and in particular to support multilineal
thinking (DC, p. 188)
- Constructivist environments scaffold thinking and actions in order
to deepen understanding (JL, p.15)
- Supportive scaffolding involves instruction tailored to specific
learner needs based on current ability and interest (D p.815)
|
Assessment:
- Always a right and wrong answer to assessment and mastery
- No room for argument of issues or content.
- Use of printable reports
|
- Respond to questions with unequivocal answers (NCREL)
- Learning is quantifiable, measurable (MDLP)
- Empirical data, learning can be verified through tests ((MDLP)
- Emphasis is on observable and measurable behaviors, and the relationships
between environmental variables and behavior (IDKB)
- Instruction utilizes
consequences and reinforcement of learned behaviors (IDKB)
- Performance Based Assessment
|
Assessment:
- Learner provides a reflection for each project
- Ongoing discussion with mentor emphasizes making connections to practice.
- Final project is usually a lesson plan or unit that allows students
to use knowledge developed over the course.
- A letter to parents, administrators, proposals or reviews are written
to allow student to justify what they have learned and how they will
use the knowledge.
|
- Assessment focused on transfer of knowledge and skills (presenting
new problems and situations that differ from the conditions of the
initial instruction) (EN, p66)
- Evaluation of learning, according to constructivists, should become
more goal-free (J, p.12)
- Evaluation is less of a reinforcement or control tool and more of
a self-analysis tool (J, p.12)
|
