Terminology Tuesday

This week, I’m going to discuss the term chunking, and how it plays into the world of what I would consider good Instructional Design.

Chunking is the process wherein complex information is broken down into smaller, more palatable pieces of information. I understand this verb could be used for something that occurs after a long night of drinking and I’d like to think that the outcome is similar. It’s a concept that came to existence in and around the 1950s when its inventor (George A. Miller) argued that our working memory can only do so much, and how true that is!

Like Miller, cognitive load theory dictates that the volume of information and interactions, of which the learner is presented, is directly correlated to feelings over being underloaded or overloaded. For example, compare a first year university intro class versus a fourth year university class – here you can easily see that the former is likely less of a workload versus the latter. Another great example is to think back to the days of Geocities and Angelfire (bonus points if you’re a kid of the 80s, whose formative years were in the 90s boy-band era) and ALL of the images that took forever to load on your 14.4k modem, the auto play midi background music and the marquee banners. Were you able to focus on the content? Probably not. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of educational sites that resemble this format…in 2014, but I digress.

Why Should I Care About Chunking?

As an Instructional Designer, educator, or even writer, it is CRITICAL to chunk material, especially if the goal is to have the end user retain information. Or maybe you’re a business owner or training and development coordinator transforming source materials (e.g. new hire training) into a larger presentation – while perhaps not your usual task, you must understand the importance.

Chunking information allows for enhanced retention, which will likely yield a more productive and efficient operation – your team will run like a (more) well-oiled machine if they can process the information presented in a meaningful way. If you just toss all of the information in one pot without creating smaller segments (or chunks), you’ll likely notice that your learners have become withdrawn from their tasks or seem to have forgotten all of the information you worked hard to present. Why? Well, cognitive load theory would indicate that your learners are overwhelmed and overloaded with information, and they just can’t process it effectively. This is bad when you need your target audience to recall the information for use at a later time.

Connie Malamed provides a great explanation of why content should be chunked. She explains the history behind the concept and identifies methods for chunking content, so please check it out if you need more information!

Basically, you can choose not to care about chunking your material, but don’t say you haven’t been warned. The goal to creating a successful learning experience should always be focused on the student and their ability to achieve your learning objectives, so please take the time to consider the concept of chunking further if you want to achieve optimal student achievement and satisfaction!

 

We’re back with another terminology Tuesday, and today we’re going to discuss the differences between the terms asynchronous and synchronous learning – hold on to your hats!

Within the e-learning industry you may hear the terms ‘asynchronous’ and ‘synchronous’ tossed around willy nilly; however, these terms can be easily confused. I don’t want you to use these terms interchangeably or sound unprofessional mixing them up, so I thought I would provide a little bit of clarity. Here we go!

Asynchronous Learning

When we refer to asynchronous learning, we’re referring to a student-centred learning model based on constructivist principles. Here, content is presented, and students learn the material in a self-paced manner; learning is often facilitated by an instructor, but the network of learners will engage within asynchronous interactions, such as discussion boards, to share information on the subject matter and build on one another’s knowledge – therefore constructing more knowledge or greater understanding of the subject matter.

Basically, asynchronous learning can occur at any time – students can pop in and out of the learning environment whenever they choose, interacting with other students as they see fit. The obvious benefit to asynchronous learning is that the learning does not need to occur in real-time; another benefit is that the pedagogy behind asynchronous learning recognizes an individual’s prior learning and seeks to build upon it through interactions with other students, the course facilitator or instructor, and the materials.

Synchronous Learning

Synchronous learning occurs in real-time and involves all students learning and the same time. This is how we experience traditional classroom education.

In recent years, technology has allowed for collaboration between synchronous and asynchronous learning, creating blended learning environments. For example, an instructor may offer a standing face-to-face lecture, but may choose to leverage technology (e.g. Blackboard Collaborate or Adobe Connect) to allow students to attend the course without having to be at the physical location where the face-to-face course is being offered. Essentially, the instructor would stream their lecture, in real-time, allowing students to participate at a distance or within the face-to-face environment.

But How Do I Remember These Differences?!

Because asynchronous learning is of the constructivist kind, the mnemonic I use to remember the difference is to remember that I am constructing upon a previously developed term – ‘synchronous’ by adding the prefix of ‘a’.

 

Another Tuesday, another acronym! Today we’re going to be talking about SCORM!

SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model and more or less dictates how e-learning content must be programmed in order to work with other e-learning software, such as Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS’) or Learning Management Systems (LMS’). The SCORM website provides a nice explanation of how SCORM let’s code and software play well with one another, so to speak.

As the name alludes to, SCORM creates ‘sharable’ content, which is essential when it comes to saving a business’ hard earned profits. Why? Well – before the days of SCORM, organizations may have contracted out training requirements to many different providers who all used their LMS of choice – creating a high volume of duplication, and likely less consistency. Now that SCORM exists, organizations can re-use training programs more easily than in the past.

Why is SCORM a sought after client requirement? Well. When clients dictate they want SCORM conformant or compliant e-learning product, they’re doing this to ensure that the developed e-learning product will function within any LMS they wish to launch the product within. Adhering to the SCORM standard will greatly help ensure your e-learning products are well-equipped for interoperability.

Right now, Tin Can API is foraging ahead to become the next generation of SCORM (let’s face it; SCORM is an old-timer; don’t get me wrong – a tried and true old-timer, but everyone needs to evolve), and will become the new standard within coming years – more on Tin Can API in another post.

Still curious about SCORM? There’s a lot to it, and I’ve definitely only skimmed the top of  explaining it, but Learningpool provides a great infographic that should explain anything I’ve left out!

 

Within the realm of Instructional Design, the term ADDIE is often tossed around; Love it or hate it, it looks like ADDIE will be around for awhile, so you might as well brush up on your terminology! Some folks may wonder what ADDIE stands for, and for those folks – here you go!

ADDIE is an acronym used to encompass an Instructional Design model of: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Love it or hate it, if you work within the teaching and learning industry, you will become quite friendly with these terms as most Instructional Design models tend to be some variation of the ADDIE model. Below I will further breakdown each ‘step’ in the ADDIE model:

Analysis – Analysis is the highest level of course development. In it’s recommended format, this phase seeks to compile all information relevant to the project and 1) determine which delivery method will best display the content in a meaningful manner, (2) whether more information is required and from whom, and (3) high-level project goals.

Design – Within the design phase, the Instructional Designer will take information compiled in the Analysis phase and will outline (typically in design documentation) how the learner will learn the content. This often includes the specification of learning objectives, determination of instructional strategies, task analysis. At this point, some clients may also wish to have assessment items specified, instructional tasks further broken down into a task analysis, or high-level media descriptions.

Development – This phase involves the Instructional Designer taking the information outlined in the Design phase and putting it into practice. What do I mean by that? Well. This is where all of the content creation will occur and may include storyboards, media development and implementation, assessment item development and implementation, authoring, and/or rapid prototyping, just to name a few. Few Instructional Designer (in larger organizations at least) get down and dirty within the Analysis and Design phases, but all Instructional Designers gain experience within the Development phase. This is my favourite phase!

Implementation – Once the content has been developed, the Instructional Designer will implement the course. This may mean exporting it to a SCORM package for installation on a client’s Learning Management System (LMS) of preference or delivering the course as a complete package. This is where all of the testing occurs, as it is important to ensure that the developed product functions in the manner necessary to achieve the client’s project requirements.

Evaluation – Finally, the evaluation phase seeks to determine whether the developed product achieves the project goals specified in the Analysis and Design phases. Does the product facilitate learning in the manner for which it was intended? Can the learners achieve the outlined learning goals? Once evaluation has been completed, Instructional Designers may be required to further revise the product, as specified by the client.

 

Alright, folks! I’ve got a new feature – Terminology Tuesday. As someone with a background in Linguistics, this is clearly up my alley, but it should be up yours too! Why?! Two reasons: 1 – As Instructional Designers, it is important to be able to define the terms you will be working with on a frequent basis so that you can properly explain these terms to a client instead of fakin’ it til’ you make it; 2 – As a potential client, I want to know that the cash I’m shelling out is going to something productive and meaningful to my project.

This week we’ll be discussing Storyboards and Rapid Prototyping.

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a process wherein a sequence for the product is laid out visually or textually. You may be most familiar with this term as it applies to animations – where the story is depicted scene by scene prior to development.

Within Instructional Design, storyboarding lays out the course or module to indicate screens, topics, teaching points, onscreen text, and media descriptions. There are many variations; however, the previously mentioned elements are most commonly represented within the storyboard. Other elements may include audio narration, assessment items, filenames for media assets, source or reference images, or screenshots exemplifying the anticipated media asset or screen to be developed.

Pros: Allows the Instructional Designer to organize the content and provides an encompassing document which may be reviewed prior to entry into an authoring environment.

Cons: Is an extra step in the development process and may be considered an unnecessary expense by clients or as storyboards do not depict the finished product, reviewers may have difficulty reviewing content as they cannot contextualize the content without seeing the final product (this is typically an issue for visual learners). Storyboarding can also hinder the ability to adequately convey branching scenarios.

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping is a process wherein the Instructional Designer takes the content and commits it to the chosen authoring environment to develop a prototype of the final deliverable/product. Here, reviewers can assess the prototype, visually, and propose revisions prior to the delivery of the final product.

Pros: Provides reviewers with added visual context, limits time spent developing paper-based models (e.g. storyboards), and may reduce review and revision cycles.

Cons: Rapid prototyping may not be ideal for projects developing complex interactions, as these projects may result in length review and revision cycles until the ideal design has been achieved, holding up production of future courses or modules.

Both approaches have clear advantages and disadvantages, and as an Instructional Designer, it is your responsibility to assess the content and guide your client toward an appropriate approach, based upon the client’s project requirements, scope, and budget.