Instructional Strategies for Attitude Change, Motivation, and Interest

October 6, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Instructional Approaches for Affective Learning

The congnitivist learning theory supports the assumption underlying andragogy that adults have a wealth of previous knowledge and experience.  As adults, we enter into learning situations with predisposed perceptions and judgments that make us more receptive to certain kinds of information and more prone to organize the information in certain ways.

Attitudes are generally affective.  They are concerned with making choices.  Cognitive (knowing how), behavioral (opportunity to practice the desired behavior), and affective (knowing why) are three components of attitude learning.  Instructional designers should be concerned with the behavioral aspect of attitude learning as well as a student’s motivation to learn.

Smith and Ragan (1999) emphasize the importance of three key instructional approaches that focus on the behavioral aspect of attitude learning.  They are demonstration of the desired behavior by a respected role model, practice of the desired behavior, often through role playing, and reinforcement of the desired behavior.  Affective learning outcomes are connected to explicit cognitive goals.

Instructional strategies effective for the cognitive component include the use of acronyms or mnemonics.  Group discussion can be considered an opportunity for practice and feedback.  A concise restatement of the desired behavior should be included in the conclusion, and assessment of the learning would be the observable component of the learners’ future behavior.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

References

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T.J. (1999). Instructional design. New York: John Wiley & Sons

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

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Filed Under: Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources Tagged With: ,

Instructional Strategies for Cognitive Strategy Instruction

September 28, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Instructional Approaches to Teaching Cognitive Learning Strategies

Learning strategies are naturally cognitively based.  They can be broken down into two categories:  Cognitive domain strategies (organization, rehearsal, elaboration) and Affective domain strategies (self-motivational skills such as time management, stress reduction techniques).

Seven approaches to teaching cognitive strategies as identified by Pressley, Snyder, and Cargilia-Bull (1987) are discovery and guided discovery (instructor leads the learner to discover a particular strategy), observation (cooperative application of cognitive strategies with paired learners), guided participation (the learners and instructor together determine the characteristics of a learning task), strategy instruction in books and courses (predetermined instruction on strategies), direct explanation, largely teacher directed (teaches the procedure of the strategy), dyadic instruction (one-to-one interaction between the learner and a knowledgeable adult), and self-instructional training (self-directed learning and active interactions with a teacher who provides model and feedback)   (as cited in Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Learning strategies are generated by contrasting the new strategy with strategies the learner already knows.  Assessment of performance should be ongoing and is based on the learners’ ability to apply the strategy to appropriate learning tasks.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

References

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources, Needs and Task Analysis Tagged With: ,

Strategies for Instruction Leading to Learning Procedures

September 19, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Instructional Approaches for Learning Procedures

A supplantive, expository approach seems to be best for teaching procedures using a straightforward presentation of the procedure with demonstrations of its applications.  Learning procedures being grounded in the cognitive theory, the instructional purpose is established by informing learners of the exact procedure to be learned and its applicability.

Because adult learners bring their prior knowledge and experiences into a new learning situation, learners’ interest is aroused by comparing their previous learning experiences to the anticipated new experience.  A mnemonic device may be used as a learning strategy to aid learners in recalling the steps of the procedure (declarative learning).  Practice involves recalling and performing the steps of the procedure, and feedback should be given on whether the procedure was completed with acceptable precision and efficiency.   Summary, remotivation, and transfer should include a review of the applicability of the procedure, and assessment should include a demonstration by the learners of their ability to correctly apply the procedure.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

References

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources, Needs and Task Analysis, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Instructional Strategies for Instruction Leading to Concept Learning

September 14, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Concept instruction may follow an inquiry or discovery approach (generative strategy) or expository or concept approach (supplantive strategy). If following an inquiry approach, instruction would be designed to incorporate the theory of constructivism, including activities that encourage learners to discover principles by themselves.  A concept approach would include instruction based more on the cognitive learning theory, which focuses on an explanation of the development of cognitive structures and processes, and the intervention of these structures and processes between instruction and learning (Smith & Ragan, 2005).

Instructional Approaches for Concept Learning

Learning strategies for acquisition of concept learning include elaboration, concept mapping, analogies, mnemonics, and imagery. Practice and feedback are accomplished through examples and nonexamples.  Learners should be asked to cite examples of the concept to demonstrate transfer of knowledge, and assessment may involve constructed answer items.  Learners should receive an assessment of whether or not they have mastered the learning goal.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

 

References

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources, Needs and Task Analysis Tagged With: ,

Strategies for Instruction Leading to Principle Learning

September 12, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Instructional Approaches for Principle Learning

Principles define the relationship among concepts. When designing a strategy for principle learning, the instructional designer chooses between an inquiry (constructivism) and an expository (cognitivism) approach.  Learners’ attention is deployed in both approaches by demonstrations of the application of the principle. 

When an inquiry strategy is used, the instructional purpose is established by presenting the purpose as an enigma to be resolved.  Expository strategies state the purpose of the instruction more overtly.  Preview of the instruction using an inquiry strategy directs learners how the enigma may be resolved, while an expository lesson may preview the lesson using an outline.  Analogies may be used to recall relevant prior knowledge.  Applications of the principle can be directly experienced by the learners or demonstrated to the learners to process information.   While learners experience the principle, their attention should be focused on the key features in each application. 

Learning strategies may include a mnemonic device created by the learner (declarative knowledge).  Practice should include stating the principle, recognizing the applicability of the principle, application of the principle, and determination of whether a principle has been applied correctly.  Feedback should include identification of correct statements, identification of whether the principle is applicable, the outcome of the application of the principle, and a clear indication of whether the principle was correctly applied.  Transfer should be supported in the conclusion of how the principle may be combined with other principles, and learners should be remotivated by the applicability of the principle in their daily lives.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

 

References

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources, Needs and Task Analysis Tagged With: ,

Strategies for Declarative Knowledge Instruction

September 6, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Declarative knowledge (labels and names, facts and lists, and organized discourse) is factual knowledge and often associated with rote memory. It is often what we want our learners to understand about the content, and therefore is common to all types of learning.  Numerous events of instruction in lessons for declarative knowledge may be either delivered by instruction or produced by the learners themselves.

Learning Strategies and Assessment of Declarative Knowledge

Considering the cognitive learning theory as a basis for designing instruction for declarative knowledge, a cognitive learning environment would include instruction that is organized and activities that guide the mental processes of the learner.  In a cognitive learning environment, learning is considered to have taken place when learners have committed the new information into their memories.

Assessment of declarative knowledge is based on the learners’ ability to remember information that has been presented through instruction and can be measured by multiple choice or true and false questions (recognition items) and essay questions (constructed answers).

Activities Common to All Declarative Knowledge Learning

Three activities common to all declarative knowledge learning are linking, organizing, and elaborating.

  • Linking prior knowledge to new knowledge brings meaning to the new information and allows the learner to store the incoming information in long-term memory.
  • Organizing (chunking) facilitates learning of declarative knowledge by chunking, separating, subordinating, and creating relationships to the new learning received and is particularly useful in processing information in learning labels and names and in learning lists.
  • Elaboration is another activity that helps fill in the gaps when new declarative knowledge is received and is useful in learning labels and names and can also be used to initially engage the learner with the material.

Other Appropriate Learning Strategies for Declarative Knowledge Learning

In addition to linking, organizing, and elaboration, learning strategies that are appropriate for declarative knowledge learning are advance organizers, metaphoric devices, imagery, analogy, and concept mapping, mnemonics, and rehearsal (Smith and Ragan, 2005).

  • Advance Organizers are used to provide support for new information and can be employed to both preview the lesson and stimulate recall of prior learning.  An advance organizer is information that is presented prior to learning and that can be used by the learner to organize and interpret new incoming information (Mayer, 2003).
  • Metaphoric devices, which include the use of metaphor and analogies, can link prior knowledge to new knowledge.
  • Imagery is an associational technique that includes the use of verbal descriptions of images, which sometimes employs more effervescent mental imagery than could be achieved by the presentation of pictures or video.
  • Analogies are associative strategies to the processing of information in organized discourse.
  • Concept mapping is an explicit way of representing relationships among concepts, allow students to demonstrate their cognitive skills with minimal writing, and can be used to assess learner’s comprehension of new material.
  • Mnemonic techniques are associational techniques used in processing information for learning of facts and lists and include such devices as single-use coding, pegwords, method of loci, and keyword technique.
  • Rehearsal involves thinking and can be quite valuable when used in conjunction with other strategies.

Limitations of Declarative Knowledge Strategies

Drawing on the theory of constructivism, strategies for declarative knowledge instruction may be limited if the learner is unable to associate new knowledge with prior knowledge.  In addition, time constraints may be a barrier to using certain devices, such as concept maps, because learning how to construct and use them takes additional time.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

 

 

References

Mayer, R. (2003).  Learning and instruction. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources, Needs and Task Analysis Tagged With: , , , ,

Strategies for Problem-Solving Instruction

September 5, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Instructional Approaches for Problem-Solving Instruction

Adults are problem-centered in their learning orientation. They are motivated to learn to the extent that learning will help them perform tasks or deal with real-life problems. Adult students usually know what they want to learn, and they like to see the program organized toward their personal goals (Knowles, 1989).  Problem solving yields new learning as learners are able to combine prior knowledge of principles, procedures, declarative knowledge, and cognitive strategies.  Learning strategies are generated by the learners (constructivism) and checked for their success by the instructor.  The instructor may offer learning strategies such as analogies and mental imagery to assist instruction.  Learners should be encouraged to solve problems of similar characteristics outside of the classroom to assure transfer of the problem-solving skill.  Assessment should be the ability of the learners to demonstrate their skill in solving problems similar to those that were used in the classroom.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

References

Knowles, M. S. (1989). The making of an adult educator: An autobiographical journey. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Instructional Strategies, Instructor Resources, Resources & Tools Tagged With: ,

Instructional Strategies for Psychomotor Skill Learning

September 3, 2010 By Comments

Learning strategies are devices employed by learners to assist in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instruction should guide the learner in the choice of appropriate learning strategies for particular learning tasks.  Facilitating the learning of declarative knowledge, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving, cognitive, attitudes, and psychomotor skills begins with decisions on what content should be presented, how it should be presented, and in what sequence the instruction should follow (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Ideally, an instructional strategy should be as generative as possible while still offering motivational support for learners.

Micro-Level Instructional Strategies

Lesson (micro)-level instructional strategies should include an Introduction, Body, Conclusion, and Learning Assessment.  Because adult learners need to know why they need to learn, strategies that deploy attention, arouse interest and motivation, establish instructional purpose, and provide a preview of the lesson should be included in the Introduction.  Strategies that facilitate the recall of prior knowledge, process information, focus attention, facilitate learning, provide practice, and give feedback should be included in the Body.  The Conclusion should include a summary and review, strategies to assure the transfer of knowledge, and exemplification of the usability of the new knowledge.

Exemplification is necessary to demonstrate to adult learners how this new knowledge can be applied in their workplace or daily lives.  Assessment of performance, feedback and remediation should also be included.

Learning Strategies and Assessment of Psychomotor Skills

The distinctiveness of the beginning and end points of psychomotor skills can be categorized as discrete (a single step or few steps) and continuous (having subtle beginning and ending points).  Closed skills (no active influence from the environment) and open skills (influenced by the environment) are another means of categorizing psychomotor skills (Smith and Ragan, 2005).  Learners can be assisted in acquiring the new psychomotor skills by employing learning strategies such as visualization of performance, mnemonics, and analogies.

Assessment of cognitive as well as psychomotor tasks is conducted through observation using a performance rating.  Feedback should include a clear understanding of how well the learner performed the task.

Summary

Instructional strategies certainly have their advantages in assisting learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills.  Instructional designers should carefully perform a task analysis, analyze learners, and the analyze the context when designing instruction to make a determination to facilitate the use of strategies with more direct prompting of learning strategies or more direct and complete instruction.  If inhibitors to use of strategies are present (learners have low skill in strategy use, learners are not motivated, learners do not recognize the applicability of the strategy, learners lack awareness of their own cognitive capabilities, learners are unaware of the learning task, learners have no prior content knowledge, etc.) the instructional designer may need to develop a technique to improve them or choose strategies with more direct prompting or instruction that is more direct.  A continuing goal of the instructional designer is to apply the different types of instructional strategies to best achieve the different types of learning.

References

Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005).  Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:  Wiley Jossey-Bass Education

By Shirley J. Caruso, M.A. Human Resource Development

Filed Under: E-Learning Tagged With: , , ,
 
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