Chapter 6 Instruction: Methods, Media, and Effects

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Chapter 6InstructionMethods, Media, and Effects

• Phyllis Traylor, Gili Castaneda, Lourdes Montes

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Introduction

• Instruction is the foundation of all schools,
  colleges, and universities
• The major questions about Instruction
• Who does it?
• How?
• With what effect?
• Many experts agreed that community colleges
  instructors had superior teaching skills
• The way the colleges are organized suggests a
  commitment to teaching
• We will discuss instructional technology and its
  uses
• Question Is instruction an activity or a process?

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The Technology and Discipline of Instruction

• Television
• Computers
• WAC
• Supplemental Instruction

• Mastery Learning
• Competency-Based Instruction
• The Learning College
• Student Engagement

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Definitions of Instruction

• An activity that implements the curriculum
• A sequence of events organized deliberately so
  that learning occurs
• Set of activities in which teachers typically
  engage

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Television

• Provided to students and the public
• Televised courses
• Telecourse students were traditionally women and
  older than their counterparts
• Public two-year institutions were more likely to
  use one-way prerecorded video

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Computers

• First used in managing student records,
  supplementing course material, administering
  tests, and assessing student progress
• Now computers give anyone easy access to
  information at a faster rate
• Computer-based instruction has been especially
  important to students in language education
• Computers have been effective in teaching
  students in algebra and helping students develop
  writing skills

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Supplemental Instruction

• Identifying high-risk course rather than
  high-risk students
• Students work outside class with tutors
• Provides additional time spent on learning skills
  necessary to succeed in the class

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The American Community College

• Mastery Learning
• Learning Resource Centers
• Interactive Media and Distance Education
• Trends in Media Use

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Mastery Learning

• What is the intent of mastery learning?
• The mastery learning plan
• Practice tests
• Corrective feedback
• Additional learning time if needed
• Provides a variety of instructional techniques
• Ensures all or at least most attain mastery of
  the concept or skill

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Mastery Learning

• Benjamin Bloom (1973) University of Chicago
• Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy
• -Six levels of learning
• Three overlapping domains
• Various Names

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Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy

• Three overlapping domains
• Cognitive - mental skills (Knowledge)
• Affective - in feelings or emotional areas
  (Attitude)
• Psychomotor - manual or physical skills (Skills)
• Examples of Mastery Learning

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Cognitive Domain Six levels of learning

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

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Some Benefits of Master Learning

• Sizable gain on tests scores
• More focused teaching
• Cooperation instead of competition
• Specific learning objectives are defined
• Feedback before the graded exams

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Mastery Learning Drawbacks

• Costs too much to develop
• Takes too much time
• Outcomes cannot be defined in advance.
• Students may not be motivated if not competing.

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Mastery Learning

• Examples of mastery learning programs we use at
  St. Philips College
• http//www.ellsworthpublishing.com/
• Also see your mastery learning handout.

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Learning Resource Centers

• Community College Library became LRC.
• Learning assistance centers
• Audio and video learning laboratories
• Tutorial services

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Interactive Media and Distance Education

• Common element the user must be able to control
  the pace and direction of the presentation.
• 62 of public two-year institutions offered some
  form of distance education. 1997-98 study on
  distance education by the National Center for
  Educational Statistics

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Interactive Media and Distance Education

• Nationwide, 9.6 of community college students
  were taking at least one distance education
  course. National Education Data Resource Center,
  2001
• The flood of commentary on the subject suggests
  the prevalence of distance education will
  increase, but is slow in arriving.

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Interactive Media and Distance Education

• Uncertain about cost effectiveness
• Completion rates
• Devotees of distance learning
• Example of distance learning classes
• http//bis.spc.accd.edu/plee/

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Trends in Media Use

• 1969 Survey
• 1985 Wisconsin State Board of Vocational,
  Technical, and Adult Education (VTAE)
• 1992 national survey

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Writing Across the Curriculum

• Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) used as an
  instructional method for student development in
  decreasing deficiencies in writing and thinking
  abilities.
• Tidewater Community College in Virginia, and
  Monroe Community College in New York, continue to
  implement (WAC).

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Competency-Based Instruction

• Specific desired approach in competencies
  displayed by students, not to include learning
  mastery. Problematic in liberal education.
• No room for idealism when teaching a profitable
  skill.
• Ones job is what one does ones work is what
  one is (Cohen Brawer, 2003, pg. 177).
• Vocational studies more successful in measuring
  competency-based education.

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The Learning College

• The decline of higher education. Reform of K-12
  (standard increase, technology, revise
  curriculum, spending). Higher education, however,
  moved from instruction paradigm to one of
  learning paradigm.
• According to OBanion, instructors are learning
  facilitators.

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Student Engagement

• Student involvement important contribution.
• Community college students when compared to
  students in 4-year institutions, are less engaged
  based in their nonresidential communities.

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The Power of Inertia

• Faculty resistance in using media based
  techniques.
• Community Colleges 2001
• 33 use computer-based classrooms.
• 44 E-mail
• 37 Internet Resources
• 25 Web pages for classroom materials
• (p. 189)

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Assessing Instructional Effects

• Learning assessment important component, but
  difficult to obtain because of the many
  variables.
• State mandated testing/survey data.
• Academic Skills Test-Georgia and Texas.
• Placement test.

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The Pros and Cons of Assessment

• Measuring learning outcomes
• Normative measurement
• Criterion-referenced measurement.
• Principles of assessment (pp. 194-195).

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Issues

• Will more instructors adopt instruction as a
  process instead of an activity?
• What types of instructional leadership can best
  effect this change?
• Remember that each new instructional medium has
  not revolutionized teaching alone.