Gestalt Theory

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• Gestalt Theory

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Gestalt Theory

• Definition (useful to us) a concerte individual
  and characteristic entity, existing as something
  detached and having a shape or form as one of its
  attributes
• Simplified the Gestalt psychology is how people
  see and understand the relation of the whole to
  the parts that make up that whole.

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Gestalt Theory

• Perceptual Organization
• Good figure
• Figure-ground separation
• Continuity
• Helped form basis message design principles
• The part of a whole property is the basis of its
  importance

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Gestalt Theory

• Visual Literacy - what can be seen and how we
  interpret what is seen.
• study the physical processes involved in visual
  perception
• use of technology to represent visual imagery
• develop intellectual strategies used to interpret
  and understand what is seen.
• http//www.academic.marist.edu/pennings/viswhatis.
  htm
• http//www.csuohio.edu/history/exercise/vlehome.ht
  ml
• http//www.channel1.com/users/bobwb/vlit

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Cognitive Theory and Ed Tech
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Theory, Practice, and Instructional Design

• Design is how theory guides practice
• Design works through a process called satisficing
• Degree of success
• The validity of our knowledge oeffective
  instruction in a given subject domain
• The reliability of our procedures for applying
  that knowledge

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Theory, Practice, and Instructional Design

• Instructional theory (opposition) guided by
  conditions, methods, and outcomes
• Ie. To teach how to form the past tense of
  regular English verbs (outcome) to advanced
  students of English who are familiar with all
  relevant grammatical terms and concepts
  (conditions), present them with a written
  description of the procedures to follow (method).
• Problem designer is usually not
• Able to make such specific statements
• A subject matter specialist
• The prescription may not be valid the test
  cannot account for every case but rather infers
  from a sample

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Theory, Practice, and Instructional Design

• Task analysis
• Identify exactly what the student must achieve in
  order to attain the instructional outcome
• Learner analysis
• Determine the most critical o the conditions
  under which instruction is to take place
• Instructional designers must know instructional
  theory AND how to do task and learner analysis

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Theory, Practice, and Instructional Design

• Why behaviorism is only a part of our whole
• Behavior is not predictable

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Cognitive Theory and the Predictability of
Behavior

• The theory shift has occurred, but the procedures
  of instructional design have not
• Cognitives challenges to behavior
• Instructional theory is incomplete there is not
  a prescription for ever possible combination of
  conditions, methods, and outcomes
• Mediating cognitive variables differ in nature
  and effect from individuals
• Response to stimulus varies among individuals
• Metacognition (student)
• Students monitor their own progress
• Students adjust for poor performance
• Plausible thinking
• People make decisions and take actions on basis
  of incomplete information

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Cognitive Theory and Ed Tech

• Unlike behavioral task analysis, which produces
  task hierarchies or sequences, cognitive analysis
  produces either descriptions of knowledge
  schemata that students are expected to construct,
  or descriptions of the steps information must go
  through as the student processes it or both
• Cognitive approach provides descriptions of
  students mental models, not descriptions of
  their levels of performance prior to instruction
• Instructional strategies are selected on the
  basis of their likely ability to modify schemata
  rather than to shape behavior

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Instructional Design

• Conceptualization and doing of instruction must
  occur simultaneously
• Demand for empty technologies that can be
  filled with anything the student or teacher wishes

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Scholarship

• 3 Ages
• Age of Instructional design
• Dominated by behavioral theories
• Decisions are driven by task analysis we need
  all 3
• Age of Message design
• Shift from Instructional content to instructional
  formats
• Format of content affects how it is encoded in
  memory structures
• Age of Environment design
• Based on cognitive theory
• Interaction leads to construction of
  understanding
• Virtual environments can empower educators to
  control this