STAR Legacy Model March 20, 2010

The STAR Legacy Model is yet another great “real world” teaching and learning model. What I think is interesting and useful in this model is that direct solutions aren’t provided, but “experts” drop hints. Plus, students are encouraged to document their initial thoughts on how they would react to the scenario or problem. Then, at the end, there is a final “wrap up”. It is important and I believe effective for students to see how their ideas changed from when they first answered the questions to after they have worked through the module. It helps students not only reflect on the actual principles they learned but why they are important. The idea that students leave a “legacy” to help the next group of students as they explore the topic is very intriguing.

This model allows students to see how their views and thought processes changed after going through the information in the module. They see that they are actually getting something out of their education. I can’t see any immediate barriers to this model other than having the time to plan it out and the skills to build it if done on the Web. I am definitely interested in using this model.

Dr. Oliver mentioned that the STAR Legacy model is sometimes used in cycles (i.e. students solve one part and then go through the same steps again to solve the next part, and so on). This idea of “iterations” is very interesting to me. It reminds me of a class I took in undergrad called software engineering. In that class, we learned about software development models as well as business models. Two I remember in particular are the “waterfall method” and the “iterative model”. The waterfall method is just how it sounds, each piece is completed and then you move to the next piece. The problem is that it is hard to go back and fix problems. For example, if there are 10 steps, and you find out during the 10th step that something went wrong in the first step, you basically have to start completely over. The “iterative model” on the other hand works by developing something in increments so you can test stuff out during the process and fix problems as you go. That said, the STAR Legacy model is the first one I’ve seen that can utilize this process, which I think is very useful in many different learning situations.

Video, audio, and images are particularly important when this model is used on the Web. While watching the video from Vanderbilt, I agree that using still images can be just as effective as actual video footage. Actually, I’ve been looking into something lately called “motion graphics”. This is using graphics that use stuff like photos, video clips, or animations to create an illusion of motion. They are mainly used on the Web for multimedia type projects. Most examples I see are commercials that involve only still images and music, with maybe some voice over and text. These are relatively easy to put together and can really make an impact. The photos can move, zoom, fade, change color, etc. to really give that “real” effect. Here is an interesting example incorporating animation, photos, voice over, music, and text: http://mgfest.com/09/Online/?link=597 This example is from Creative Commons and is about the beginnings of Creative Commons and copyright info. What makes it particularly interesting is that it incorporates real world examples, like current music artists, etc.  Adobe After Effects CS4 is a great tool, but very expensive (http://wwis-dubc1-vip60.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/). I have also listed other software in my previous posts that will be useful.

Tools for the “jotting” down of initial answers can be easily and freely done online by software like blogs, which are in essence online journals. We know of several blogging applications, like blogger, WordPress, etc. Some useful applications include A.nnotate, which is a tool for collaboration and indexing of documents and images (http://a.nnotate.com/). It has a free individual account. Discussion boards are also useful and there are plenty of free ones out there. WebNotes is another good tool and can let you add “sticky notes” and “highlights” to Web pages with your initial thoughts and ideas (http://www.webnotes.net/).   Google notebook is good too (http://www.google.com/notebook/#b=BDQ0SSgoQtbqMy_ck).

Anchored Instruction March 12, 2010

The anchored instruction model is a great model for “real world” instruction and helps students develop problem-solving skills. This model is useful for teaching combinations of skills, even across subjects. So I think this model would be good for interdisciplinary instruction. I can see this model being effective in many if not all subjects/situations as long as it is designed properly. The main barriers I see are cost and expertise. I think to keep this model interesting enough to engage students; the design needs to be really good. This can be expensive (i.e. software, training, etc.). Expertise can be a barrier because scenarios like these cannot simply be put together overnight. The data or “story” provided to students must be very carefully thought out AND tested. I can see this model going bad very easily without testing the questions vs. data given.

What I really like about this model is that it challenges students to pick out the relevant information out of a whole bunch of facts and other stuff, and actually do something with it. The Jasper Experiment article talks about students becoming “independent thinkers” rather than just fetching and computing. Students actually have to figure out what the problems are instead of relying on someone else to state them. I think this is what makes this model so effective and so much like real-world problem solving. I also think it is interesting that this model helps instill in students how important further learning is. It may even help them to want to be life-long learners (that term we hear all the time in education – actually, that term is appearing more and more in school mission statements).  I can see this model working well in my area, like for health related case studies.

I really like the Everglades example. The way the videos help the students develop “mental models” before they begin their tasks was great. It was also helpful to have the interactive activities, like the text boxes that pop up for students to practice typing words or speaking them.  The support features in the software were nice. The project “A Walk to the Pier” was also a good example and the videos were helpful. I also think it was a good idea that a recap of the “facts” was included as text at the end of the videos. The Jasper Series is also interesting. After reading about it, I checked out the summary of the stories and I can see where this series would be very engaging for K-12 students. I also think the Scientists In-Action series described in the second and fourth articles is very interesting as far as simulating apprenticeships and allowing students to actually test out the theories they are learning about.

I definitely see a need for multimedia when anchored instruction is delivered over the Web. That is made very clear in the third article where all of the teachers and students immensely hated the paper and pencil tests, but liked the videos. At a minimum, photos need to accompany the stories to help the students understand and relate to the people, places, and things. There are several free online resources for photos that can be used for education that don’t have typical copyright constraints. A couple of examples are Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/ and Stock.XCHNG http://www.sxc.hu/. Stock.XCHNG also has photographs for sale and they are pretty cheap (like $1) if you can’t find any free photos that will work for the story. I’ve been using both of these resources for several years and have been very happy with them. In addition, videos and “virtual worlds” as well as audio would be great too. Software I’ve mentioned before (i.e. Flash and SecondLife) can accomplish this. For audio, GarageBand (http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/) is a good tool, but even better is the free tool Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). FruityLoops use to be a really great free audio tool, but it isn’t free anymore. I’m sure it is still really good though – for those that can afford it. iMovie (http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/) is a good video/audio tool and is very easy to work with. It can record your voice, plus you can put in photos, other video clips, and PowerPoint slides and export it all for the Web. Alice (http://www.alice.org/) is a free virtual reality tool for teaching computing. ActiveWorlds is another neat virtual reality tool (http://www.activeworlds.com/). One last tool that would be useful is interactive games. Panda3D (http://www.panda3d.org/) is free software for building games – really neat!

Overall, I think this model is very useful. It would be very time consuming to do it right, and probably expensive if you had to hire designers and programmers. I would definitely be interested in using this model in my own teaching. I’m wondering – does anyone know of anywhere that either has free or sells modules like this for health care?

Goal-Based Scenarios March 4, 2010

I have enjoyed learning about goal-based scenarios this week. This model is very applicable for teaching students how to react in real-world situations and provides life-learning skills. I really like what Dr. Oliver said – the “idea is not to abandon curriculum, but to teach it less explicitly. I remember in grade school, in college, and even now in my experiences as the teacher; students asking, “Why do we have to learn this” and stuff like “We hate math, it’s pointless” or “I’m never going to use this”. I’m guessing those feelings come from not being able to make the connection between the material and something in their own lives. Using goal-based scenarios definitely will answer the “Why” question. Now that I understand this theory, I do plan to investigate using it in some of my classes.

As great as I think this model is, my concern is finding something that truly interests the learners and finding a way to fully incorporate the standard curriculum without being too obvious. Nowakowski’s article pointed out that students need a support system to learn new skills and knowledge. This is another potential barrier if the support system isn’t in place, or is in place but not very effective. Another barrier could be the make-up of the class. In a large class interests are highly variable.

One way to overcome the barriers above is to utilize small groups so each group can be separated according to common goals or interests. Small groups may also help if there is a support system problem. In small groups, students may be more comfortable with one another and will be more apt to support one another. As an example, I was teaching a math class a couple of years ago and I was trying to get creative teaching the geometry section. I didn’t realize it then, but what I was doing was similar to the goal-based scenario model. When I was teaching area, I had the students virtually go to Lowes and pick out carpet and paint to redecorate their houses. This worked very well and the students learned the material, and made the real-life connection. Here’s the kicker; I only had two students. Both of them were female and all three of us enjoyed decorating. I’m not sure if the effect would have been the same with different people.

The web is very appropriate for goal-based scenarios. I do think this model should include a high level of interactivity to be effective on the web since students will be making decisions and outcomes will be different according to decisions. Tools such as Adobe Flash and other animation tools would be very effective, but are expensive to develop. Virtual reality tools, such as SecondLife and 3D rendering/modeling would also work very well for this model. Dmoz has a list of some open source VR software at http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Virtual_Reality/Software/. Gaming software would also be great. For the cost-conscious, I think static webpages will achieve about the same outcomes with some very careful planning and a very good navigation system. Video and audio can also be embedded into the static pages.