Thursday, October 9, 2014

Week 6 Reflection

It is really difficult of this week’s reading, Psychological Foundations of Instructional Design. I’m not sure if I understand in a right way in some parts of it. So, for the reflection, I will quote the part that inspire me first and the plan next.

Behavioral Learning Theory.
l  “Because of the anticipated reinforcing benefits of feedback, instructional designs resulted that broke instruction into small steps and required learners to respond frequently, thus virtually assuring errorless performance.”(p.37)

l  Teaching plan:
In this course, students will be asked to figure out how to but 48 cans cola in cheapest way. I will broke instruction into 2 parts, and each parts will have several steps.

1.     A. Teacher will give students the information of choices. There are 2 brands of cola- Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. Each brand has a different price, which should be provided to students.
B. Students need to make choice. Basing on the information that the teacher gives, student will figure out which brand is cheaper and then make their choice. Then, they should give their choice to teacher.
C. Teacher will check up their answers to see if they are correct. If so, students will go to next step. If not so, they will be required to do this step again until they get correct answer.

2.     A. Teacher will give students the information of choices. There are 4 types’ packs of cola-1 cans, 8 cans, 12 cans, and 24 cans- and each type has a different price, which should be provided to students as well.
B. Students need to make choice. Basing on the information that the teacher gives, student will calculate the price of each cans in different types’ pack and decide which pack is the best choice. Then, they should give their result to teacher.
C. Teacher will check up their answers to see if they are correct. If so, it means that student learned to calculate and compare the unit costs of various sizes and brands of the same product. If not so, they will be required to do this step again until they get correct answer.


Situated Learning Theory.
l  “Learning from a situated perspective occurs through the learner’s participation in the practices of a community, practices that are mutually constituted by the members of the community.”(p.38)

l  Teaching plan:
In this course, students will be separate into several groups, and each group will be given $20 and asked to buy cola as much as they can. As the prerequisite, there should be at 2 brands and 4 types’ packs with different prices. Therefore, students need to make choice between different brands and packs. Also, after they made choice and bought the cola, teacher can make a comparison between groups and let them have a communication of their way to make choice. At the end, teacher should give a best number of cans that $20 can buy to student in order to let them know the best choice.


1 comment:

  1. Hi Xiao:
    You quoted the essence of behavioral theory: “Because of the anticipated reinforcing benefits of feedback, instructional designs resulted that broke instruction into small steps and required learners to respond frequently, thus virtually assuring errorless performance.”(p.37)

    And errorless it was, for the most part. The challenge for me regading this method is that it supposes everyone is motivated by the same reward. What if I don't want your approval? Or what if I don't want get the right answer. What if I have objections to the question. I recall doing these kind of exercises, and feeling like I was led thru the path to the answer, so I never felt like I really 'worked' for it. Some students will need a more rigorous step, others a baby-step.

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