#3 Using the concepts from Chapter 14 as a guide, prepare your own checklist for the development of instructional designs that use instructional media tools.

As an example, I would like to share how I would use this list as a guide to teaching students graphic design in my department. Students have no knowledge about design concepts. Age group of students - 20 and above

Tasks

Delivery techniques

Engage Learner Motivation

• Introduction of class (Lesson kickoff) - Discuss course expectations, objectives and goals through show examples of design work from previous students. Get them excited what they will be learning.
• During course training, offer engaging feedbacks, challenge students to higher learning activities
• Course content - use simple design terms that students understand along with analogy and examples to support ideas and concepts.

• Keep students busy with short and precise hands on exercises
• Deliver content in small chunks (managing Cognitive load) via a variety of teaching methodology such as slideshow presentations displaying brief statement focusing on important concepts, hands on training, discussions, team activities, critique sessions, worked examples to avoid monotony or fatique

• Utilize media for prsentations in video, audio or text format to include any one of the following, (1) sharing stories or case studies (2) questioning experiences where students can relate to, and (3) using concept maps or graphic illustrations where part of the information may be a review section or function as visual clues.
• Advance organizers function as introductory material familiar to the learner given in advance before introducing new content. Utilizing graphics and short textual information (key ideas) in advance organizers prior introducing heavy content about a new subject can be effective in a learning environment. It helps activate prior knowledge. (Clark, 2003, p.87; Driscoll, 2000, p.139)

• Reading assignments or content with new information can be overwhelming for most students. To help manage cognitive load, and sometimes this also helps keeping attention span, Offer short segments of lessons at a time. Do not place too much information on one page. Information is better delivered in short paragraphs in bulleted form. Clark refers this as writing “lean text” ( Clark, p.56-57)

  • Use white space in page design layout of paragraphs of text or tables of information on a page. When text with graphics is less cluttered on a page, it helps the learner focus on the page better. ( Clark, p.57)
  • Use graphics and diagrams (example flowcharts or labeled diagrams) instead of only text to explain concepts
  • Organize information with presenting objectives and goals at the start of the page. Use bold type to capture the reader’s attention on a page.
  • Use examples or analogy that relate to past knowledge
  • After each lesson segment, have a short question section or quiz to help recapture what was learned. Interactive quizzes with feedback to progress can help with attention that is breaking up the monotonous reading sessions, thus managing fatigue. ( Clark, p.68-69)

• Utilize repetition or rehearsal of information as the procedure for encoding information into long-term memory. Examples include drills and practice exercises which includes familiar examples while new concpets are built on top of previous learned material.

Strategies that help accelerate transfer and expertise

1. Have a good organization of lesson structure that meets the needs of students’ learning styles. ( Clark, p. 136)
2. Make sure that lessons are targeted to the right skills for the learners. ( Clark, p. 137)
3. Procedural skills should target to solve a wide variety or problems instead of focusing only on one type of problem. Students should be encouraged to “think out of the box”. Far transfer is facilitated by the wider range of problem solving scenarios and learning activities (Alessi & Trollip, p. 185).
4. Elements of instructional environment should be similar to the application environment (example, simulation, case-based learning or in a real job situation) (Alessi & Trollip, p30, 185). In order to prevent learning that stagnates only within a certain given environment or problem, students must understand and comprehend what is being taught so that further application of knowledge transfer can take place ( Clark, p142).

• Set learning goals & objectives
• In design course, students learn best through problem based learning. Projects should be job specific which relates to the course objectives and goal, applied knowledge and skills needed for problem solving that leads to higher level of comprehension.

Alessi , S. & Trollip, S. (2001). Multimedia for Learning, Methods and Development (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Clark, R. (2003). Building expertise (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: International Society for the Performance Improvement.

Driscoll, M. P. (2000). Psychology of Learning for Instruction (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.