How People Learn: Future Directions

How People Learn is an easy-to-read resource for educators and parents and would be an excellent compliment to any training program for instructors.  The authors share a lot of information without overloading the reader with jargon and ten-dollar words.  Bite-sized chapters include explanations of the science and psychology behind learning and pedagogical methods that are found to be most effective.  The authors close the book with recommendations for connecting the shared sub-systems of the research community with those of the practitioner, filtering both through a shared body of knowledge.

An example of the research cycle.

Research is the bridge between theory and practice and should involve multiple formats designed to garner qualitative and quantitative data.  Research should also be strategic and rigorous.  The authors suggest that imbalances exist in the way learning is perceived by stakeholders.  Teachers, administrators, and parents often have conflicting understandings or opinions of the nature of learning.  It may seem that the authors get a little overzealous in their suggestion to spend time researching how to create effective communication structures among stakeholders.  Yet, in the absence of a comprehensive effort to understand stakeholder’s interests, attitude, and goals (think audience analysis) stakeholders will not align instructional efforts from a common viewpoint.

It is necessary to study the best way to communicate before the message is sent.

Several ideas emerge in the quest to link research and practice.  Further work is necessary to deliver subject-specific instructional resources that incorporate empirically-based methodologies.  Research teams should include seasoned practitioners who offer years of first-hand experience with the topic of study.   K-12 instructors are bombarded by curricula and trainings claiming to offer “new and improved” methods.  The teachers work hard to learn the new strategies, only to find them replaced by something new the following year.   Forming a symbiotic relationship between the research and instructional communities is a logical next step in our relentless quest to truly know how people learn.

How People Learn: Teachers and Teaching

Quality control

I keep hearing that the U.S. is heading for a teacher shortage.  A report in April’s New York Times states that about 107 million teachers will retire in the next four years and that one in three new teachers never makes it to their sixth year of teaching.  Our nation’s current administration is pushing to improve teacher quality and recruit 30,000 new teachers each year.

With so many new teachers entering the field it is a good time to think about the characteristics a “quality” teacher possesses, how one is trained, and the type of environment they need to create to best support all learners.  Research and discussions presented by the National Research Council in the book, How People Learn offers guidance in these areas.

Quality teachers

Effective teachers provide cognitively guided instruction, supported by their subject matter and pedagogical expertise.

Subject matter expertise includes:

• Immediate identification of common misconceptions/cognitive barriers to understanding
• The ability to recognize strengths and weaknesses of curricular resource’s approach to teaching
• Deep understanding of the subject matter and its structure
• Knowledge of vertical relationships of the content through different grade levels

Pedagogical expertise includes:

• Understanding, at the synthesis and application-level, of of learning theories, developmental theories, and the psychology of learning
• Ability to lead the processes of learning such as activating prior knowledge and guiding metacognitive development
• Assessment strategies to guide learning (known as formative assessments)
• Teaching for understanding

Skilled, knowledgeable teachers create blended learning environments that support learning objectives.

Students are best supported in a blended environment that is centered in several domains.

How to build a better teacher

A teacher preparation directly affects the quality of her instruction.  Teacher education programs vary widely from state to state.  In Florida, one can become a teacher by completing a four-year degree program that is a combination of pedagogical and subject-area coursework.  Another route to becoming a teacher in Florida is to pass a subject-area test.  California, on the other hand, requires a four-year degree, the passage of a subject-area test, a multicultural credential, and 150 hours of professional development or the completion of a master’s degree in education.  Teachers in Florida and California receive extremely different training, yet prepare their students to compete for the same jobs.

In addition to formal training, teachers across the country participate in mentoring, attend professional development workshops, continue to enroll in college-level courses and self-educate.  Which of these settings provide the “best” training for teachers?  The National Research Council proposes that teacher training should incorporate empirically-based learning principles, occur as a series vs. a single workshop, involve activities that will be used with students, and continue throughout a teacher’s career.

Teachers make a difference

Teacher quality may be one of the single most important indicators of a student’s success. It is necessary to recruit passionate, caring individuals who also possess a depth of subject matter and pedagogical expertise.

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, & School

Click the image to read the digital version.

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School is authored by the Committee on Developments in the science of Learning functioning within the National Research Council

I recommend this book as valuable resource for educators, ISD professionals, and parents.

How People Learn: Learners and Learning

Mind and Brain

Is Learning a biological or environmental function?

Which side do you choose in the “nature vs. nurture” debate?

Cognitive scientists who view the brain in action using non-invasive imaging technologies present strong evidence that we are born with about 33% of the wiring we need to learn.  The remaining connections form throughout our lives as we interact with our environments.

The act of learning stimulates synapse’s growth and reorganizes neural connections; the act of learning manifests physical changes in the brain.  Synapse grow in locations corresponding to the region of the brain activated by the learning.  The brain compensates for injury or disability by reorganizing information and strengthening the neural structure for learning.  For example, the brain of an individual who loses sight in one eye will produce new synapse in the area of the functioning eye.

Experts vs. Novices

Experts possess the seamless ability to coordinate perception, cognition, and discrimination of information.

“What’s the big idea?”  Experts ask themselves this question when presented with a problem.  Novices tend to approach problems with a narrower view because they haven’t yet acquired sufficient cognitive structures and/or the metacognitive ability to apply specific knowledge.  Understanding the difference between the expert and novice approach to problem solving aids instructional designers in their efforts to promote a deep understanding in their target audience.

Six principles of expert’s knowledge are identified by the authors:

1. Patterns:  Experts notice them.  Novices often fail to do so.
2. Content Knowledge:  Experts have a large set of schema.  Novice’s are underdeveloped.
3. Discrimination:  Experts apply knowledge based on the conditions surrounding the problem.  Novices rely on one method to solve a problem.
4. Fluid Retrieval: Experts efficiently retrieve relevant information.  Novices tax their working memory by retrieving excessive or irrelevant information.
5. Instructional: Possessing an expert level of knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge is a requisite characteristic of an instructor.
6. Agility:  Experts approach new situations with flexibility.  Novices apply rigid problem-solving strategies.

Learning and Transfer

Anyone who is familiar with Merrill’s First Principles will recognize common threads in the author’s discussion of developing “flexible adaptation to new problems or settings” (Bransford et. al, 2000).  The authors convey familiar themes in learning theories such as centering the problem in a real-world context, activating prior knowledge, guiding practice, and providing feedback.

Synthesis of Learning Theories, M. David Merrill

Transfer is enhanced when cognitive connections are developed between new and existing schema.  Existing knowledge may hinder transfer if the instructor does not model her thinking processes and address cultural nuances which connect new learning to current understanding.  Incorporating metacognitive development strategies into design allows students figure out how to acquire contextual knowledge.

Brain-based Instructional Design

The union of science and ISD allows professonals to know their target audience inside and out, thus increasing the likelihood of successful instructional events.

Click the image to learn more about brain-based learning.

Reference:

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., Cocking, R.R., Donovan, & Pellegrino, J.W., (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Who’s the fairest of them all?

U.S. President Barack Obama

“Too many supporters in my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom.” –Barack Obama

The Obama administration has pushed merit pay for teachers to the top of it’s education reform agenda.  Proponents say that this will increase the quality of educators in the classroom by disconnecting pay to tenure and amount of education the teacher has completed, instead tying salaries to student performance.

I taught in a technology magnet (public) school located in an urban, Florida neighborhood.  The school’s population was split evenly between average/high achieving and under-performing students.  Each year, the average/ high-achieving student’s standardized test performance helped the school earn an “A”.  The entire faculty and staff (expect administrators) received a performance bonus.  The extra money in our paychecks may have boosted morale and teamwork, but I didn’t notice any changes in teacher’s behavior.

Analysis of student test data in this example does not correlate to teacher quality. Maybe the problem lies in relying on the current structure of standardized tests whose design was driven by No Child Left Behind.

My son was required to take his first standardized test last year, in second grade.  He’s in a dual immersion program and receives most of his instruction in the Spanish language every day.  His errors are often due to language comprehension errors rather than conceptual misunderstandings.  Should his teacher be financially penalized because an 8 year-old child gets nervous on a test and forgets how to answer a question correctly in a foreign language?

Obama has little regard for the viability of multiple-choice, standardized tests in his reform agenda.  He’s created a contest, Race to the Top, in which districts compete for a slice of a $4.3 billion grant.  One of the deciding factors in the awarding of funds is a state’s ability to work with other states to adopt a common set of standards and assessments.  Obama communicates that the contest is not based on any political motives or ideology.  This is not entirely true.  The contest rules disallow four states, including budget-strapped California,  to participate because they have laws on the books prohibiting the connection between teachers’ pay and student achievement.

It’s a bummer for me to realize that the Race to the Top contest is similar to No Child Left Behind.  In both initiatives, funding is promised in return for student learning gains proven by data.  Another similarity is that states are left to flesh out assessment instruments on their own.  If our nation’s leader desires a national curriculum with aligned assessments he will achieve his goal efficiently by converging a team of instructional design professionals.  If he truly wishes to improve education for all Americans, then he would not pit states against each other in a competition for funding through a contest that eliminates states from competing based on philosophical differences.

To Infinity and Beyond!

Endurance

What is the future of our field?  Although I cannot predict with certainty, I can identify three enduring areas in the field of instructional design and technology:

• The application of learning theories to instructional design and technology efforts
• The implementation of virtual work environments
• The use of systematic models to guide instructional design efforts

Learning Theory

Of the theories developed prior to the use of technology in education constructivism is fits our modern way of learning the best.  Learners who perform cognitively undemanding tasks in isolation are shrinking.  Constructivism offers instructional designers a theory that accounts for the increasingly social nature of learning and the knowledge individuals possess relating to the new information presented.  Problem-based learning is an example of a constructivist approach.  The instructional method transfers beyond the classroom doors because it is based on developing solutions to real-world situations.

George Siemens’ 2004 article communicates the importance of moving beyond prior to technology-enhanced learning experiences.  Connectivism, which incorporates principles of chaos, network, and self-organization theories, may be the applicable learning theory of the future.  The theory’s structure mirrors the way we now “mash-up” software applications to match our own needs.  Just like a mash-up, connectivists seek to do more with current knowledge rather than sticking to original intent.  The process of decision-making equals learning gains and the opinions of others is important.  Knowledge moves from static, universal truth, to a mutable body of ideas.

Virtual Work Environments

Imagine you are a business owner (pick any industry).  How much would it cost you to hire the most qualified individual for every position?  What if they were sprinkled around the world?  Could you afford to relocate them?

Virtual Workers Meeting in Second Life

In the past, there was a narrow perspective about the notion of work.  People earned degrees or certificates aligned to one field then gained employment within commuting distance (often with the same company) through retirement.  Technological advances dramatically changed the way we work and will support the growing virtual workforce.  Entire companies are now staffed with global, virtual workforces who work at a distance to support organizational goals.  In 2001, Jack Hughes’ company TopCoder employed roughly 175,000 individuals from over 200 countries.

Digital collaboration tools combined with virtual managerial strategies make distance work a viable option for companies.  The notion of anytime, anyplace work based on individual interest and talent makes working at a distance an attractive option for many workers.

A number of workers seek single-company employment to gain a comprehensive benefit and retirement package.  As the virtual workforce increases, we can expect demands for those perks to shift.  Workers in countries that offer universal healthcare and portable retirement plans offer support to virtual workers that the United States does not.  Our country’s economic competitiveness may suffer if we continue to burden industry with providing for individual’s health and retirement needs.

Systematic Instructional Design Models

Google’s search engine displays 6,180,000 hits for the term “instructional design model”.  Adding the term “future” to the string yields 1,040,000 hits.  It appears that the future of our field’s models, providing a methodology for our work, is considered less often than current or historical perspectives.  Given the evolution of all things technological, it is imperative that we review our tried and true models to ensure that work processes match the world in which they are embedded.

The field of instructional design and technology has produced “more…models than there are elements on the periodic chart” according to J. Michael Spector.  The models are differentiated by factors such as “content, setting…underlying learning theory, delivery mode, and so on.”  Frankly, there are too many models. Researchers who propose 21^st century modifications to existing models rather than developing and entirely new model move our design process forward.

Overlapping Design Models and Learning Theories, Dr. T.J. Kopcha

Brent Wilson’s description of two approaches, the old and the emerging, provide guidance for transforming models to fit emerging learning needs.  Comparisons such as this are the starting point for discussions that ensure our field of instructional design and technology remains current.

Construct	Current	Future
Core Models and Ideas	ISDLearning theoryInstructional theoryTechnology-mediated learning	Maintain flexibility and a commitment to pluralism in ideology and theory baseAlways be open to change in the canon and entry of new ideas and mode
Methods of Work	Locally developed solutions, both quick-and-dirty and validatedLocal methods reflecting a value consensus of workers, clients, and sponsorsGoing beyond established rules with professional commitment and craft-like attention to detail	Established research methods, particularly experimental designsFull range of reasoned inquiry, including:Qualitative and quantitative methodsDesign/developmental researchAction researchDocumentation of best practices Local and applied research (e.g., program evaluations; product evaluations; performance and needs assessments; usability studies; policy studies; cost-benefits and resource analyses; strategic planning; case descriptions of professional practice)

I look forward to participating in the theoretical shift that will will move the field of instructional design and technology to infinity and beyond.

Time for a change

“The times, they are a changin”, and our country’s school systems will soon be in the middle of big changes.  Almost everyone I talk to that is touched by public education (or opts out) has ideas about reforming education.  Our country’s new Education Secretary, Arne Duncan,  has ideas too.

The nation’s schools are going to be challenged to do things differently, very differently.    How can instructional designers support district staff in their efforts?  This week I read about the Step Up to Excellence model that serve as a blueprint that instructional designers can use to help educational leaders navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of change.

The Step Up to Excellence (STUE) process methodology (Duffy, 2002, 2003, 2004) offers answers to the question of prerequisite conditions for district change.  Dr. Duffy tells us that two conditions must be in place First, the district’s leaders should possess a  clear vision of the future and sufficient communication skills to bring others along in their management of the change process.  Dr. Duffy also feels that the leadership must develop a plan to bring in extra funding to sustain the change effort, rather than using accounting tricks which rob from Peter to pay Paul.

The STUE model gives instructional designers a solid process to follow once changes are identified.  The model does not discuss the front-end analysis that is required to identify which changes to make.  The instructional design professional, trained to conduct a variety of anlayses, will be instrumental in this phase of school-district change.

Image by Rebecca Vaughn

The professional community of instructional designers needs to engage the white house and state educational officials to discuss their place in the reform of the public education system.  Instructional designers, especially those who have experience in the K-12 school system, possess a unique skill set that compliments President Obama’s vision for education,

At this defining moment in our history, preparing our children to compete in the global economy is one of the most urgent challenges we face. We need to stop paying lip service to public education, and start holding communities, administrators, teachers, parents and students accountable.

Powering up schools

Think about your current job. Imagine that you are required to work independently, even when your colleagues are completing similar tasks. The workplace has no electronic hardware or software of any kind, and you are not allowed to bring your own in from home (the boss says he will confiscate your gadgets if he sees them in your hands during work hours). You are not sure how the work you do connects with anything that is going on in the world outside the office doors.

How would you feel about working in this environment? Would this job develop skills that increase your marketability to future employers?

Replace the word “boss” with “teacher”, “colleague” with “classmate”, and “job” with “school” and you get a picture of many K-12 classrooms in America today. Many classrooms do not use the same tools or collaborative processes found beyond the classroom doors. Students, acutely aware of the discrepancy, feel like they step back in time when they enter most schools.

Instructional designers are poised to support the convergence of classroom instruction and student preparation for global economic competitiveness. There are three things designers should do prior to making recommendations relating to technology integration.

First, collect and share stakeholder’s data. Gather and share data from local and national surveys. Share findings in a format that is easy to interpret by all stakeholders. The charts below report findings from Project Tomorrow’s 2008 Speak Up survey. Aggregating stakeholder data is a nice way to compare usage of specific tools which informs a tailored technology plan for sites.

Second, facilitate an understanding regarding the use technology as tool for learning versus technology as the outcome of learning. Explain updated ways to support traditional instructional goals.
K-12 classrooms today vs. K-12 classrooms in the future

• Subject matter authority is the teacher/textbook
• Access to multiple sources: Electronic reference books, Internet, discussion groups, podcasts/vodcasts
• Teacher controls rate of informational delivery
• Learner has option to fast-forward, pause, rewind/replay the flow of information
• One person speaks at a time, discussion occurs in classroom as time permits
• Multiple, simultaneous, conversations that are unbounded by physical or geographical borders
• Teaching a single process to demonstrate learning
  
• Equal emphasis on the means and the ends
  

Third, include a plan to provide on-going support and professional development for instructors. Teacher resistance to technology integration can be difficult to overcome. The front-end work of technology integration efforts should include a cause analysis to identify and find solutions to teachers’ reluctance.

The slide show  provides a list of ten teacher-centered ways to support instructional technology integration in K-12 schools prior to turning on the first classroom computer.

Instructional designers who incorporate the considerations mentioned above into their design documents will promote stakeholders buy-in and a support structure for implementers of instructional technology.