The ASSURE model- second stage, is to “State Standards and Objectives” which is something that coincides directly with this week’s learning activity. This stage is a specification of what the learners should be able to do after the instruction- the learning objectives. This week, we focused on developing our own outcomes, objectives and a scope of instruction. This step is critical to determine what you want to come out of the instruction. Identifying the skills and knowledge however, was not apart of the “S” step of the model, but I think it was important to start thinking about those concepts. I think it’s important to think about the skills/knowledge that is embedded throughout our objectives. Without thinking about what skills or knowledge we want our learners to gain after the lesson, how can we truly think that the objectives are valid? By breaking down the objectives into actual knowledgeable concepts, I think that allowed me to better understand how the lesson can go and the “flow” of the instruction. Since I am not an instructor (and never made a lesson plan), I definitely think this week’s activity gave me a good glimmer into what goes into creating objectives and thinking a lesson through for the benefit of the learners.

The ASSURE design model considers understanding the learners as the first step. By focusing on the characteristics, age, abilities, interests, learning styles, prior knowledge, etc.. first, you then can focus on the desired learning outcomes or “goal setting”. The information gathered in this step helps guide the decision making process of choosing specific strategies and resources that is best suited for your audience. I think this step is critical in designing and implementing the instruction. Understanding where your learners are at/stand in the beginning of the instruction can definitely make all the difference when structuring a personalized, effective and successful lesson. This aligns directly with this week’s content because I had to look at everyone in my learning group and identify their strengths & weaknesses, their prior knowledge, what motivates them, what their resources are, etc. I could have conducted surveys or online assessments to better analyzed my learning group in regards to their experience levels or learning styles. However, I feel like I didn’t really consider much “goal setting” during this week’s activity because it was more audience focused. I liked how this week’s activity made me think about some instructional strategies that could be used when considering my audience. Performing an audience analysis or needs assessment should be done in the early stages of designing/structuring a lesson and I would not have done anything different in this stage.

An instructional design model I connected with is the ASSURE model. Each step I think is so important to learning and all should definitely be considered when structuring a lesson. I agree that the first step is to analyze your learners because before any lesson can be thoughtfully planned, I believe it is imperative to focus on who your audience is and then design the learning objectives based off your learners. The first two steps should highly be considered before considering which method you want to deliver your lesson with. As always, it incorporates feedback & evaluation at the end stages, which is critical to improve and revise teaching. I think the ASSURE model could apply in any learning context. Especially this model could apply to giving training workshops (not just teaching lessons). Knowing your audience is crucial to developing a training presentation and then stating what the learners will be able to do as a result of the workshop. As a trainer, I then would need to select which delivery methods should be used, including the technology/materials needed to support the training. During the workshop, participation with the audience can be engaging and enhance the experience. Lastly, evaluation and feedback is key to growing as a trainer in order to make your workshop even better the next time around. I also think that the backwards design model is important by thinking of the big picture/ideas first and then narrowing it down to planning the instruction. By identifying the desired learning outcomes first, you can then determine how to evaluate students’ progress and plan the instructional methods.

I remember in my undergrad, I took an interviewing course. It was probably the hardest, but most worthwhile course of my college experience. We were learning the different types of interviewing styles (both perspectives- being an interviewer & interviwee). We learned the strategies, how to write/answer questions and how to find people to interview. I think what made it so impactful is that after learning the information, we had to go out of the classroom and actually conduct the interviews with all different types of people. Actually applying the information in a real-life scenario was so beneficial to put those skills to test. We were able to learn what worked, what didn’t work, how to conduct ourselves in the process and how to write the interview in a paper. All the material that we were taught in the classroom, we had to apply it and then give our feedback to the professor. If something didn’t go well in one interview, we could understand why that happened and then fix the mistake the next interview. I was motivated to actually want to retain the information, engaged in the classroom trying to understand how to go in the world and conduct an interview and had interest in the topic. I think what made that class so impactful was the real-life application we were “forced” to do. But, I think because we all knew that we were required to conduct different types of interviews throughout the semester, that engaged myself & my peers to take interest in the topic. Our professor incorporated feedback, working together, and lots and lots of practice. It was such a “hands-on” course and the material applied to everyone in the class because we were all going to be going on job interviews after graduating. The material applied to our lives and I think that was key in engaging the students (along with practice & feedback).

I looked at Problem-Based Learning and Direct Instruction learning strategies this week.  Direct Instruction is related to instructional approaches that are explicitly structured with strict lesson plans and teacher-directed. Direct Instruction is one of the most common teaching approach in the U.S and can be integrated with any number of other instructional approaches in a given course/lesson. It is highly structured to break down skills into specific components and teach them in a controlled sequence. “I Do, We Do, You Do” referring to the teacher doing modeling the skill/outcome, then students practicing the skill/outcome with the teacher monitoring, following with the students individually practicing the skills/outcomes on their own. I think the problem with only using direct instruction is that it doesn’t motivate students or give them an opportunity for inquiry/natural curiosity. It’s mostly up to the instructor to decide what he/she wants to teach. This method only works for a small percentage of students and doesn’t take into consideration students’ prior knowledge, retention, problem-solving skills or student interest. One thing I found about Direct Instruction that kind of stuck out to me, was an extensive experiment conducted back in 1968.  “Project Follow Through” was an educational experiment that was sponsored under the federal government to determine the best way of teaching “at risk” students and began in 1968 to 1977- over the course of nine years. The results found that the students who received Direct Instruction had higher academic achievement, self-esteem and self-confidence than the other students who received other models of instruction. This study is interesting because it’s considered the most extensive educational experiment ever conducted, but I think the findings are now very out-dated. The tools and technology have significantly changed since then and I don’t believe that only using DI can still produce the same results. I think to have DI be effective, it needs to be integrated with other instructional approaches and methods to appeal to students. While I was researching about DI, this study came up in my findings a few times and I just think that because it was conducted so long ago, it’s difficult to still say that “yes, this method is the best because of this experiment that was done”.  It’s difficult to go off of the results because so many factors have changed and need to be considered.

The other learning strategy I investigated is problem-based learning which is the complete opposite of DI.  It focuses on being student-centered versus DI being teacher-directed. Learners engage in authentic problems in groups that require them to conduct research, apply their learning and develop their own solutions which promotes engagement, intrinsic motivation and problem-solving. Students are developing solutions to an actual problem, deciding how and what to research and creating products to present their findings- it’s much more “hands on” learning and appeals to a completely different type of learner. Students define the problem, identify action steps, create a solution and students have more control over their own learning and the processes involved. It develops “self-directed” learners which I think is important skill for young adults to prepare them for the workplace/”real world”. Looking at other concept maps, I really enjoyed seeing other ways of making the maps. Some used Canva & some used GoogleDrawings which is something I’ve never used before so I would be interested in exploring that further to use it in the future. I liked seeing how other people organized their strategies and provided examples of the methods. I’ve never heard about place-based learning so it was really interesting looking at the concept map for that teaching style. I think it would be really difficult as a teacher to integrate place-based learning into the curriculum but could be very beneficial for student to get out of the classroom and apply their learning in the local environment. Another thing that intrigued me is the concept map for indirect learning, which is another strategy that I’m not familiar with. I found myself looking at the concept map and wanting to learn more. What is the hidden curriculum that is being implied and how would that cause implicit bias? I would like to learn more about this teaching strategy and investigate further.

      After exploring the information this week from the 3 learning domains and 4 learning theories, what I took away from it all, was that there are many different ways to learn information from a student’s perspective and teaching the material from an instructor’s perspective.  To really understand and retain information, there needs to practice, reiteration, connection, relation and excitement. I think applying parts of all the theories and domains can play an important part in making a student’s learning experience valuable and memorable. Rather than just memorizing and reciting, instructors should find ways to apply the material to real life so students can connect to it and associate their own meanings from it which in turn will better help their long-term memory. I remember being in an english class in middle school and memorizing vocab words on a flashcard. As soon as that test was over, I would instantly forget every single definition because I wasn’t understanding the words, just memorizing them which helped me in the short term but didn’t help me long term.
      I relate to the constructivist learning theory the most because I believe that learners already have beliefs and schemata that can be developed to work in their favor when learning something new. The thought-process is a wonderful thing and each individual should figure out how to go through that process on their own to allow for a greater understanding and prepare them for success in the real world. Teaching students how to problem-solve and reflect on their own learning is something that they can use throughout their whole life. When a student enters a learning environment, they bring their background, prior perceptions and beliefs to the classroom. So I think an environment that understands and incorporates that into the learning can really engage the students and keep their interest. Each student comes from a different background so I think that can make the learning very diverse, so to build learning based on that, I think would be very challenging but very engaging and worthwhile. We need to teach more about how to practice and apply information rather than lecture them with all theory.

      I also agree with the connectivism theory. We are in an environment of technology, so I think that finding a way to use devices and the internet to enhance learning rather than just informing students of the material can change the way students perceive classrooms. Using technology for group work, in-class activities, projects, and even homework can make students feel more comfortable. Most students have a cell phone or device, so why not let them use it to look up information to share aloud, answer questions, communicate with one another and teach them that it is OK to use it (for learning purposes, not texting or snapchat…) because we all know that as soon as they step out of the classroom, they’re going to be on their phones anyway. We’re attached to our cell phones and use it to find information out on a regular basis so teaching them how to properly use the internet or learning tools that are available could gain and maintain their attention. I think the cognitive learning domain is most popular among schools because it appeals to everyone’s interests and allows for development in learning but I think at the same time, it could be beneficial to incorporate some aspects of the affective and psychomotor domain too.  

I think to build a positive learning environment, you need to make learning relevant. How can learners use the information in their everyday life and relate to it? Meaningful learning increases student engagement which in turn, increases student interest. One thing that could be challenging when building a positive learning environment is getting to know your learners and/or audience. Everyone is different and has different needs/interests so finding a way to reach a variety of people can be difficult. Assessing the learners’ needs can be very beneficial when creating a safe, welcoming learning environment. One of the first things that can be done is to establish relationships and a sense of community in the environment. Opening the lines of communication between the learners and the instructor can help create that sense of community.

As always, I think it is always important to stay positive and optimistic. By focusing on the positives in every learner, that can build their self-esteem and feel worthy of being in the classroom. Students can pick up on negativity so by having a positive attitude and enthusiasm in what you’re teaching starting from day one will foster a positive learning environment.