Week Six Assignment

What learning theories are intended by the author's of this "Instructional Design for IT Model".

The author mentions two main approaches behaviorial and cognitive. It mentions that the behaviorial approach has three parts (the action verb and related content, the criteria, and the conditions) and the cognitive has two parts (general instruction and statements describing specific performances that indicate mastery of the objective). It also states that the behavioural has specific interpretations while cognitive objectives allow for greater flexibility. The author also points out that once an objective is defined then on must look to see what matches there are between that objective and a computer function. With all this being said I also think this article could apply to the constructivist approach. This article was written in 1999 and perhaps constructivism wasn’t as popular or defined as it is today. Many of the points made in the cognitive approach could be used and/or easily adapted to apply to cognitivism.

Of the ten components of the NTeQ Model, which do you see are the most valuable to Instructional Design for Information Technology?

I see all of them to be very important. This chapter would be great for a teacher that is new with design. The steps cover a lot of detail and this is something that a teacher that would be facing design for the very first time would find this easy to follow and use. It does a great job of addressing issues (ex what to do if you only have x amount of computers) that might get overlooked if you have not done this type of planning before. It would also tie in nicely to existing ways of design ‘traditional’ lessons, thus making for an easier time for the new teacher to use IT in lesson design. If I had to pick the three most valuable components I would choose specify the objective(s), Specify the Problem, and Assessment. I would pick these because for me making sure that the what the students are suppose to come away with, meeting student needs, and giving feedback / evaluation are the foremost important parts of the lesson. The IT related components are important, but the IT needs to be seen as a tool not something that dictates learning.

Of the ten components of the NTeQ Model, which do you see as unecessary or redundant?

In relation to my previous answer, if you are experienced in design much of these components could be redundant. In this class we have looked at models that are more advanced that this one. Although there are many steps in this design, they are steps that most comfortable with design would have mastered or included with other parts of their design. Areas like what to do after using the computer, activities prior to computer, and activities while at the computer do not necessarily need to be their own component. These components will be controlled by the components mentioned in question #2 and most likely would be addressed in these areas. Still it is important for these areas to be addressed. Still for both questions 2 and 3 to promote or dismiss components would depend on factors such as experience, student ability, number of computers, software, and desired lesson outcomes.

Which new ideas from this model may be beneficial for the construction of your own group project ID model for IT? (It is not necessarily to consult with your partner for this question.)

I feel we covered most of the components and the phasing together of these components very well in our group project. I think that we assumed that IT would be readily available and that we could have included some suggestions for those working with limited resources. I also liked the relative simplicity of this model. I wish I would have read it earlier because it was very relevant, easy to understand, and showed very clearly what IT’s place was in the design. The ‘real’ classroom examples (spreadsheet instructions)) were also something that I thought brought clarity to this design and I also liked some of the ‘troubleshooting’ aspects that were covered (think sheets).