Discussion

Original:
"If this recipe for designing instruction is so wonderful, why isn't instruction more effective throughout the US (and the world, for that matter)?"

Strong, Not Exceptional
"There are plenty of ways to ruin a well planned recipe. While the recipe for designing instruction that is proposed in the MRK book could be very effective in an ideal educational world, there is more to the educational world (at least the one I'm in) than having a well-planned instructional unit/lesson. Although an instructor may make use of a completely "flawless" and seemingly perfect lesson plan, there are many outside influences that may effect whether a student finds success or not. EG - Even after assessing learner characteristics as proposed by MRK, I don't believe that even the most wonderfully planned lessons can accomodate the learner who decides to not attend classes a minimum of once a week and chooses to not "make up" the material.......despite the best efforts of the instructor. It just seems that some obstacles cannot be hurdled even with outstandingly well planned lessons. Maybe I'm off base on this...let me know!!

Another thought as to why we aren't seeing endless piles of glowing reports regarding the US educational system's instruction is the fact that any one person can add to a recipe to make it "theirs". I'm not at all saying that I think that what is proposed in MRK is perfect and shouldn't be added to, but what I am getting at is that teachers, especially those in secondary and advanced levels of education, like to do things "their" way. Although they may demonstrate some aspects of the instructional planning as proposed in MRK, I doubt that they would hold to it 100f asked to."

Adequate
"Thank you X... I agree with you that not everyone knows about the method and therefore it isn't used very much.

There is always a bias also which adds on to our personalized style of teaching.

But on the flip side of the coin I feel that there be a possibility that due to this bias and the influence from the methods of others it could prove helpful in reforming strategies in education."

Adequate-Weak
"Good point, Yyyyyy and Zzzzzzzz. We all know that for the sake of keeping our sanity and jobs, we give up striving for perfection and try to hit the "best we can do" point. Otherwise, we'd never complete any projects. I wonder if anyone in this class has ever had the experience of working on a team where the designer, SME and instructor ARE NOT all the same person!

As for the time issue, 'the recipe' may help in that it provides some direction so that a person doesn't have to start developing the process from scratch, and then the person can and will take shortcuts as time and other interests dictate. Thanks for your comments!"

Weak
"I totally agree that students learn better through combination of pictures and words. But I also think that we shouldn't forget that words can be boring as well as pictures. So, in my opinion we should stress that students learn better though combination of pictures and words presented in the way that engage learners' thinking process. I was just thinking that some PowerPoint presentations can be even more boring than a traditional lecture."

Assignments
Write one or two paragraphs in which you use the new terms introduced by Norman to describe an instructional problem in your current setting. For example, is there a situation in your work environment where feedback related to performance is so sparse that work quality may be impaired?

Poor Response:
"I have only been working at the job that I currently have for a year and a half, so there are many things I'm still trying to learn. One of the things that's been the hardest for me is the system that we use to account for the time that we spend on different projects. The reason why it's hard for me to understand is that nobody can tell me what it is really used for, (because people are trying to make it do different things) and I am unable to construct a good conceptual model for it.

Also, there are a lot of things that happen in the background to feed the information that is entered into this system into other systems that automatically calculate the time spent on each project, and then publishes it to the web to show it different ways, and etc. But, I never see any of those processes or the final product. Making the process visible to the users (me) would help develop that conceptual model and lead to understanding and better use of the system."

OK Response
"The nursing departments at CCC and other schools have problems with creeping functionalism as described by Norman (pg 172-174). We have many devices such as manikins with multiple functions, computer simulations, and frequent computer program updates. The majority of instructors have limited computer experience and almost no formal instruction on the use of computers. The buttons, controls, and options on many of these devices are not frequently used due to the formidable skill involved in the process of use (refer to page 81). These devices are also a prime example of the client not being the users (page 157). The majority of the devices were purchased during summer breaks by the dean. Several instructors have requested devices and then resigned before the device arrived or was used. Therefore, thousands of dollars of equipment goes unused or underused. Controls for the devices are hidden in complex manuals, few are menu driven or have obvious external controls. The newest manikins have heart and lung sounds that require pressure in the exact spot on the chest for the best sound. Instructors using the devices have difficulty locating or hearing the sounds. They have resorted to letting the students listen to the tapes and the manikin stays in the box. Our students are novices and cannot recognize the complexities of the sounds heard (Norman pg 36, naive understandings). This is a deficit of knowledge in the world (inability to find the spot for stethoscope) and knowledge in the head (lack of knowledge to understand the complexities of the disease process causing the sound, a skill difficult for most physicians and experienced nurses). Simple red marks on the chest and would help students identify landmarks to hear sounds. A volume control on the sounds would help, as the stethoscopes do not have enough volume when room is quiet and classrooms rarely are."

Very Good (thorough but concise)
Write a paragraph summarizing Chapter 10. Be prepared especially to distinguish between relative and absolute standards.

"Evaluation categories as outlined by MRK are summative, formative, and confirmative. Summative is the degree to which major outcomes are attained by end of the course. Formative is the development of testing through tryouts and review. Confirmative is a follow-up evaluation to determine what all final outcomes of implementation are. The purpose of evaluation is to assess student effectiveness in learning which needs to be both reliable, consistent, and valid, testing what it is supposed to measure. Relative standards compare learners with each other. This can be norm referenced or standardized testing. These tests assume a specific number of students will perform poorly. Absolute standards are reached when a student meets a minimum level of achievement. This assumes each student would need to reach the minimum in order to be successful. Both of these types of tests have advantages and disadvantages."