Progress report on ISD Model Development, II
Here is an updated status on the development of my ISD model, as of March 4, 2010.
Context: Distance Learning in higher education
Generalizability: Intended to be used in any learning environment where there is an online intervention between instruction and learner output.
Intended Audience: Instructional designers and curriculum developers who create programs intended for online use in certification based, purposeful education.
Documentation:
Pre-Theoretical influences:
Charles Dills, Alexander Romiszowski, “The Instructional Development Paradigm: An Introduction”
- The Instruction Development (ID) worldview: technology as a function to provide human capacity with expanded repertoire of abilities.
- ID is a psychological and cultural extension of human abilities.
- Extensions are unconscious, and naturally occurring.
- They modify our perceptions of the world (information).
- As “extended” persons, we are cyborgs.
Maxim: Human inquiry within this system is thus filtered through extensions of our senses.
Marshall McLuhan, “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”
- Technology integration into society has a systemic effect, in psychological thought patterns.
- Communication media impose “background context” to information that imparts a connotation to information independent of content.
Maxim: Information is not an immutable form, and can be perceived differently depending on the medium of communication.
Anthony Wilden: “System and Structure – Essays in Communication and Exchange”
- In context, all forms of communication employ both analog and digital forms of communication.
- Analog communication describes relationships and connotation.
- Digital communication describes organization using discrete abstract coded information, the alphabet, numeric measurements, or demarcation of social boundaries.
Maxim: Information is a unit that requires comprehending relationships through the use of coded information systems, e.g. numbers, space, language, etc.
Psychology Theory influences:
Media Psychology: MP study proposes that media can be for use as personal or mass communication, and that media is generally used as an entertainment and pleasure-seeking tool. Only by understanding how and why mass media influence our lives can we better cope with them, and only by coping with them can we change them so that they serve us rather than control us.
Uncertainty Reduction Theory: URT, posited by Charles Berger and Richard
Calabrese (1975) examines many aspects of interpersonal communication. The basic premise of URT is that people seek to reduce uncertainty as quickly as possible to determine their desire for further interaction, and that uncertainty reduces the desire to communicate.
Maxim: Socially constructed online communication tools embody their own syntaxes, rules, protocol, expectations, and language. These tools are “immigrants” when employed in learning environments. Thus, they may cause “noise” or disorientation in learners when placed between instructor and learner within the ID paradigm.
Questions:
Given the inexorable integration of online media into the higher education learning environment, what system can Instructional Designers use to develop instruction that will retain its integrity across the transactional distance?
Example: Using a blog for a class discussion: Are there design and interface variables that interfere with user output?
- In terms of output, what is a Comment? Discussion? Post? Reflection?
- How does the space offered to the learner for output shape the learner’s interpretation of an appropriate response?
- How does the “dialect” of social media behavior affect the depth of learning?
If there is a “dialectical gap” between social media behavior and online learning behavior, has instructional development made accommodations to compensate for this?
Are student perceptions of having “learned” in an online environment functioning on equal evaluative terms with traditional methods?
Does this call into question the notion that a learner has actually learned?
This model affects:
Analysis:
- Determination of student Digital Literacy via assessment instrument
- Grouping of learners according to levels of Digital Literacy
Design:
Development:
- Analysis of appropriate redundancy of messaging and messaging strategies to reduce learner disorientation and uncertainty.
- Analysis of media strategy to offer multiple channels for students to ingest information.
Implementation:
- Dissemination strategies, choices of social media applications.
- Design of online presentation to align with output expectations.
Evaluation:
- Use in formative evaluation for improving course delivery.
- Use in summative evaluation in comparison to other distance learning programs.
Do you see your model as a stand alone model or as a component of a larger model (e.g. focus on the instructional strategy component)?
Jerry
Dr. Edmunds – I don’t know, precisely, whether this model will be standalone or simply a component. I feel obliged to compose the model as a complete system, although I believe the ID professional who might refer to this model would recognize areas that are applicable to his or her work and use what they see fit, in whole or in part. In other words, I don’t presuppose this model to be so systematic and prescriptive to the extent that its most valuable components would be ineffective if extracted in part and used within some other model like some sort of “plugin”, though I may retract that later.
In light of the most recent modules concerning the core distinguishing characteristics of ISD models (Andrews & Goodson, 1980; Edmunds, G., Branch, R. & Mukherjee, P, 1994), I feel that I must build a complete model, simply to explicate the relationships between the various stages of analysis, design and development once the remote interface component has been introduced.
Hi Steve-
I’ve also struggled with depiction of my model and whether they are stand-alone components or parts of a larger model. I wish that I could be more holistic, yet I want to detail each piece. My current version has 5 pieces, each of which can be blown out in some way (or at least, one is blown out- I need to think of representations for the other bits). Are there parts here that you can expand to illuminate further how this might vary from a typical ADDIE model?
I like your comment that you would like for your model to be generalizable in terms of application. What I’m curious about is how flexible your model would be in terms of context (which I’m guessing would still be under the aegis of distance learning). Also, how iterative is your model? At what point(s) does formative evaluation occur? Is this model linear overall, or more cyclical? It seems linear to be at this point with iterative components, but I’m not sure where the iterations fit in through just reviewing your diagram and explanations above. Would there be a general timeframe that could be associated with your components? (Would you expect one part to take longer than others? Is there/should there be more emphasis on any particular part?) Those are just a few things I was thinking about when reviewing your model.
As I mentioned to you in e-mail, the distance learning section on the 4th floor of Bird, IIRC, doesn’t live too far away from the instructional design section. Maybe those can help provide more ideas, even if overall they are dated (most recent I found from Bates, for example, was 2002, I think).
-Leigh
Leigh – Thank you for offering your line of questioning. It is very helpful. I am considering a couple strategies with respect to the final product: 1) There’s no way I can produce a thoroughly documented ISD model in one semester. This is practically a PhD project unto its own. So I plan on establish in its validity and necessity first and foremost, and support it with documentation of the theories and philosophies that underlie its premise. 2) I will assume that the context of this model will subscribe to the core components of the ADDIE model, within a systems oriented design for the purpose of highlighting how the distance component affects everything else. In other words, I am not terribly concerned about the model so much as I am concerned about the effect of an intervening interface between teacher and student has on the entire process – no matter if you subscribe to Gerlach & Ely or Dick & Carey, or whatever (given that they are all based on similar fundamental tenets of ADDIE as a philosophy of instructional design).
So this may end being a plugin plopped on top of a “host” model simply for demonstration purposes, to help to see it in a context of ISD of some sort. – thx – Steve
Hi Steve-
I completely understand what you mean about not wanting this to be a huge undertaking, when at its core, ADDIE seems to be the basis of most, if not all, of the models we’re reviewing. Our understanding of it also colors what we pull out as important.
I think the part that really stands out to me in your model is the interface, and that’s a part I’d like to know more about. Like you, I’m justifying why I chose what I did, but at this point can’t afford the time to construct The Most Amazing ISD Model Ever. I’m satisfied with one that represents what I feel is a suitable process for my context, and it seems like you’re thinking in a similar way.
-Leigh