Learning Objects April 23, 2010

I do not like reinventing any wheels so I really like learning objects. I have actually been using them in my courses for a while now, but just realized with this lesson that there is a recognized structure to them and a name – “learning objects”. Dr. Oliver mentioned this concept came from object-oriented programming and I can see why. This takes me back to an undergrad class in Java – an object-oriented programming language. I remember in class planning out the programs we would write and sketching out the structure on paper. We separated each piece of the program into a manageable “object” and drew it in a circle. Then those circles could be “called” every time we needed them instead of writing new ones.

Here’s an example: To write a program that will display a working calculator on the screen, you can’t just draw out the calculator body, put in the buttons and assume the computer knows what the buttons mean. You have to start from scratch the computer doesn’t know anything besides 1 and 0, which mean true and false. So, that means you have to first teach the computer what a number is, and then how to add them, then multiply them, etc. Here is where the objects come in. Creating objects like “add”, “multiple”, and so on is super efficient. They can be used over and over again, not only in the same program, but in future programs – paralleling what we are learning about learning objects.

Learning objects typically have three parts: learning objective, unit of instruction that teaches the objective, and some way to measure the outcome. The key advantage is that you can reuse them and save money and time. Learning objects are probably pretty large. Therefore, streaming on the web is important so that many people at the same time can use the object and have it download or function in a reasonable amount of time. There are sites like YouTube, TeacherTube, and Vimeo for this, However, I’m not aware of any free places to store and deliver interactive software like flash content, so I guess the school’s server would have to work.

I think this “learning object economy” is going to keep getting better and better. Yes, some content areas have more learning objects available than others. My teaching area is unfortunately one of the ones that doesn’t have a whole lot out there since it is still emerging, but I keep looking! I wish I had more time to make some of my own.

I don’t think there are any significant barriers to using learning objects. I realize the debate is hot about decontextualizing learning objects, but I think teachers can incorporate context in other ways. Ensuring quality may be an issue, but this would fall on the teacher to evaluate it beforehand and choose another one if needed. Maybe cost could be a barrier, but hey, we are in the App revolution! Most of them are free or only a buck! For the future, I hope schools realize the cost savings and resource benefits of creating reusable learning objects and will come up with creative ways to encourage teachers to use and create them.

The article Dr. Oliver emailed us is super interesting. One site I really like that the article discusses is Connexions http://cnx.org/. You can build your own textbooks out of content contributed by others and you can contribute your own. It’s really neat. Students can even pay a small price to get the book printed or just use the e-book for free. I attended a talk by their founder, Richard Baraniuk, a couple of years ago at the UNC Teaching and Learning conference in Raleigh. It was great and I was super moved to start collaborating with other teachers. Anyone who hasn’t checked out Connexions should definitely do so.

Here are some other places I have found some interesting reusable stuff for my courses:

MIT Open Courseware – http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

WISC-Online (Dr. Oliver mentioned this one) – http://www.wisc-online.com/

MERLOT – (Dr. Oliver mentioned this one too) http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

National Institutes of Health – Science Teacher Resources – http://science.education.nih.gov/home2.nsf/feature/index.htm

Cognitive Flexibility Theory April 19, 2010

CFT is a very interesting theory and I agree that these “ill-structured” and complex learning situations should not be taught in the same way as straightforward content. I like how in this model, simple solutions aren’t provided and multiple cases are presented for students to compare and form their own ideas for how to solve cases and how to create mental models that will help with new cases. This model is very representative of real-world situations.

CFT would be a great model for me to use in my teaching, but of course, barriers would be that it will take a lot of planning and resources. I like to think I will incorporate this model in the future. Maybe I can start off in small lessons. The best example for me to use this model is a type of testing I teach called Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring. This model is perfect because it takes into consideration the extreme demands, and the radically, quickly changing environment in the operating room (OR). In the OR monitoring environment, workers must be able to move and make decisions very quickly. Plus, since every case may have different challenges, workers must be able to apply their knowledge to a variety of situations, hence the importance of the flexibility aspect of this model. Interestingly enough, these OR monitoring surgeries are actually called “cases” so this seems to be a pretty natural fit. I like the way the model provides multiple content representations. This is very useful for learning situations where there are multiple solutions or no one right way to accomplish a task.

For multimedia, I think videos, photos, and audio clips will be very useful for this theory. These will help students create their own mental model probably better than simply text alone. Delivering this model via the Web can be accomplished many, many different ways. There is always the more expensive route of actually hiring developers to build super modules. The budget approach would be to use static web pages with lots of external links to useful websites, and possibly embedding youtube/vimeo/etc… videos, audio clips, and photos. Simulation software would also useful in certain learning situations, such as medical procedures.

I am interested to learn more about how this theory supposedly changes the way students store and structure their knowledge. I have a hard time believing that this theory alone will have a significant impact on how flexible they will be with the knowledge gained from the theory. I think most of this is innate, but I can see where this model can someone manifest these qualities.

Sorry it took me so long to post this week. My post was written earlier, but I was gone to a conference and surprisingly didn’t have Internet to actually post it until now.

Case-Based Methods and Reasoning Environments April 11, 2010

Case-Based Learning and Reasoning emphasizes learning in context and like other models, uses stories as cases. I like the idea that students benefit from “lessons learned” from their peers. In case-based reasoning, I like how each new case will add to students’ memories and their libraries; and that they will use that information to help them in solving future cases. In Jonassen’s article, I thought the bulleted list on page 2 talking about the functions of stories was very interesting.  I also thought the Turfgrass Case Library was really neat. There weren’t a lot of cases, but I can see this being really neat if a lot of people started contributing to it.

This model is perfect for my teaching area and I plan to incorporate it into lab courses. What makes this model fit so well for me is that students will retrieve information learned in past lessons and experiences to apply to the new case, which are mostly patient cases. An important aspect of this model for healthcare students is that students aren’t given direct solutions, but the tools they need to come up with the solution on their own. In the real healthcare world, every patient’s case will vary and be more or less complex. Nothing ever really follows the textbook cases in medicine. What I see as the most important component of this model is it gives students opportunities to practice concepts they have learned and apply them to real situations.

Like many of the other models we have looked at recently, I think the primary barriers to putting lessons like this on the Web are time, expertise, and money. However, there is good news for certain areas like healthcare and the environment. I’ve recently seen government and private funds being offered for curricular developments like these. I’m not going to go into any details about that here, but I’ve seen some people that have received new outside funds for this.

I think that combinations of Web based tools and multimedia will work well for this model, like online journals or note-taking software, discussion boards so students can share ideas, and audio/video for showing different aspects of the case. Simulation or demonstration tools would be helpful for this model. Text-based stories are also useful and can be accomplished with regular static webpages. These can be pretty easily produced with free sites like Weebly and within the schools content management system, like Moodle. Artificial Intelligence was also mentioned for this model, and I think this would be a very interesting addition to a Web-based model, but I’m not aware of any tools for this other than just hard-core programming. Who really wants to do that? Not me! I do think it would be neat though, so if anyone knows of any AI tools, let me know. One last thing, in thinking about the Turfgrass Case Library, social networking sites may be an interesting way to build libraries. I haven’t used the social networking site Ning before so I’m looking forward to using it for our final project.

On a side note – several years ago, I read a book that is great for those interested in building case studies. The foreward is by the same author as one of our readings (Jonassen). If you plan to use this method, this book is a good resource. It’s title is “The ID Case Book” and is by Peggy Ertmer and James Quinn. It’s got lots of great examples.

MOST Model April 1, 2010

The MOST model is meant to support literacy, which comes in many flavors and as the reading states, is “foundational for lifelong learners”. The example from the Swiss Family Robinson really helped me make sense of this model. I won’t think of TV the same again, or well at least I can now see at least a hint of use in it. I definitely can see how MOST can influence how students read, write, and interpret information. I think models like this will work very well for young students just getting started learning how to communicate verbally and in writing. I also think older students would benefit a great deal from these models, for example, learning about other cultures (cultural literacy). MOST will be particularly useful for students with learning disabilities because students will be presented the information in a variety of ways, not just text or verbal lectures. As pointed out in the reading, MOST can really help these at risk students by allowing them to learn from one another, not just from the teacher. Actually, it seems that just about everyone has some sort of visual element to their learning style (well, at least everyone I’ve talked to about it), so it would make sense that MOST would work in many situations.

Doesn’t Rosetta Stone use a model something like this? I haven’t actually used the software, but I watched a demo at the mall and it used multimedia to teach languages. Hmmm. MOST must be pretty effective given the good reputation of that software.

Using streaming services, like YouTube and TeacherTube (http://www.teachertube.com/), would help so students could easily go back and review video/audio clips and not have to worry too much about download time. Things like Podcasts would be useful. Using avatars might be interesting – students and their peers could have avatars they use to help them retell the stories, or act them out. For students to download video clips so they can mix and rework them, there is a plugin for FireFox called Download Helper. That plugin will allow you to download all sorts of media from the Web to your personal computer, like from YouTube, CNN, etc. Otherwise, there is no other way to actually download streaming videos from those sites. This would help for students to be able to cut/combine/rework video clips.