Developing Higher Order Learning in Professional Preparation Courses Through Technologyenhanced Cour

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Developing Higher Order Learning in Professional
Preparation Courses Through Technology-enhanced
CoursesA Special Education Case Example

• Lewis R. Johnson
• Associate Professor in Special Education
• Special Education Programs Coordinator
• Arkansas State University
• April 2001

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Our challenge -

• As professors we are faced with a daunting
  task to prepare professionals who have the
  knowledge, skills, and dispositions to meet the
  challenge presented by the classroom or clinical
  setting.
• We must prepare professionals to be evaluated by
  performance standards rather than knowledge
  standards.

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The challenge in special education

• To prepare teachers who are able to -
• - meet the demands of the two Praxis II exams,
• - meet the challenges of teaching children with
  disabilities, and
• - remain in the special education classroom
• (rather than transfer out to regular education)
  

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To meet the challenge -

• The ASU special education preparation programs
  moved from an information dissemination model to
  a model of instruction focused on higher-order
  learning and thinking.
• We redesigned the programs with emphasis on
• new performance standards
• improved instructional methodology of its
  courses.

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Higher-order thinking and learning

• We consider Gagnes forms of knowledge
• verbal associations,
• concepts,
• rule relationships, and
• strategies
• The students begin to understand that learning
  rule relationships and strategies are a much
  higher-level of learning than recalling the
  facts.

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Higher-order thinking and learning

• Blooms Taxonomy
• Knowledge
• Comprehension

• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

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Design of the ASU program

• The process began by identifying instructional
  design and methods known to support rapid
  acquisition of content and also facilitate
  higher-order learning.

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Instructional Design

• The Instructional Events Model (IEM) (Rosenshine
  Stevens, 1986) was selected as the
  instructional framework to form a basis for our
  course development.

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IEM consists of nine elements

• gaining the learners attention
• stating learning objectives
• guiding the learners through learning activities
• presenting information efficiently
• coaching through learning exercises
• facilitating interactions between learners
• providing constructive feedback
• assessing learners performance
• promoting transfer of knowledge and skills

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However, a new challenge emerged -

• When the principles of IEM are applied to our
  instruction, it became necessary to make vast
  quantities of information available to students
  and to accomplish this in a time efficient
  manner. We needed a strategy to extend the
  classroom learning time beyond the allocated 45
  instructional hours.
• Utilizing web technology became a priority.

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We turned to web supported courses
Pre-Blackboard.com course website
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This year a new course interface
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Event-oriented Design

• A review of the IEM events and our resources is
  consistent with Event-oriented Design. As a
  result of our work we brought all instructional
  resources to the table and developed this menu of
  teaching /learning resources with the intention
  of using WBI as a tool to enhance learning rather
  than replace in-person instruction

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The menu of instruction resources

• Course web site
• Multimedia CD-ROM tutorial programs
• Traditional class meetings
• Multimedia case-based simulations
• Contact with instructor and peers

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1. Course web site with these components

• Course information
• Syllabus, schedule, announcements,
  tasks
• Advanced organizer PowerPoint presentations
  
• Class notes
• Quizzes
• E-mail
• Listserv, inter-student conversations
  
• Asynchronous Discussion

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2. Multimedia CD-ROM tutorial programs

• These provide efficient information and media
  delivery written in html,
• Authorware, or Toolbook Assistant.
• Students can-
• attend lectures,
• read related text (hypertext) material
• see examples or demonstrations
• review it several times

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Tutorials authored in html
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and tutorials in other programs (Toolbook)
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3. Traditional class meetings

• Class time is spent on synchronous discussions
  and collaborative problem solving.
• Guided practice activities
• Peer demonstration and feedback
• Clarification of difficult concepts

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4. Case studies - examples

• Multimedia case-based problem oriented tasks
  with extensive student records, video clips, and
  support information necessary for performing the
  task.
• Microworlds are created and progression through
  the contents is nonlinear creating cognitive
  flexibility.

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Multimedia case-based program (Authorware) an
example of a quality learning program
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Features of quality learning programs 1.
Situated learning /Anchored Instruction

• Situated learning incorporates into the learning
  environment
• authentic contexts,
• authentic activities or problems,
• multiple perspectives,
• expert opinion, and
• opportunities for collaboration and reflection.

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Features of quality learning programs

• Anchored instruction, as advocated by the
  Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt,
  provides opportunity to overcome the problem of
  inert knowledge, similar to the knowledge gained
  by reading a text or listening to lectures.
• As Dr. Semrau has demonstrated - multimedia can
  be used very effectively to create environments
  in which the students engage in sustained
  exploration and schemata building.

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The steps in anchored instruction

• The students-
• - are introduced to an anchor task or problem
  scenario,
• - access the provided embedded data,
• - process the problem/task situation in groups
• - seek and organize information to perform the
  task
• - perform the task or solve the problem.

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Features of quality learning programs 2.
Advanced organizers (PowerPoint)
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Features of quality learning programs 3. Well
organized course information
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Features of quality learning programs4.
Discussion and reflection

• Because an important facet in developing higher
  order thinking skills is the ability to reflect
  on the learning experience, reflective journals
  should be a component to any class.

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Example course communications center
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Features of quality learning programs5. Frequent
assessment with feedback

• Using the self-correcting assessment feature of a
  technology-enhanced course, students are able to
  complete tests and receive corrective feedback.
  In a reading class this semester students
  completed seven quizzes totaling 160 items, in
  addition to 4 in-class tests totaling 200 items.

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The results -

• Through the use of technology to enhance special
  education teacher preparation, the students at
  Arkansas State University
• have a 96 pass rate on the Praxis II exam, and
• a solid sense of professional self-efficacy.

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The results -

• Our course components have permitted students to
  see knowledge-in-use and develop skills necessary
  for performance in the classroom. This will be
  critical to the students success in the Pathwise
  induction program and Praxis III assessments.

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The results -

• Student course evaluations
• Other professors use activities to force us to
  apply what we learn, but expect us to learn it by
  reading the book. Your course makes learning
  interesting and I look forward to coming to class
  to do the practice activities.

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The results -

• A comparison of class averages on each of the
  four exams for the methods class revealed an
  average 9 point out of 100 difference in favor of
  the students using the technology-enhanced
  course.
• An analysis of performance on specific higher
  order test items is in progress.

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End

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