ID Models that include Collaboration

Collaborative Design Model: Moallem, 2003
This is an interactive design model that focuses on interactivity to promote learning. According to Moallem (2003) there are two types of interactivity: cognitive or individual interaction (interaction with content) and social or interpersonal interaction (interactions between students and between students and teachers). This model emphasizes the vital role of human interaction in learning. Moallen (2003) states: “Emotions, feelings, motivation, and attitudes are integral parts of an intellectual and social development” (p. 86). The Collaborative Design Model supports problem based learning as a form of instructional procedure. Problem based learning transfers control of the learning process from the teacher to the students. Problem based learning structures and supports a carefully planned series of collaborative learning activities. “In such an environment learners are exposed to multiple perspectives that serve to form cognitive scaffolds as the students exchange information with each other, the people around them, and experts in the field” (Moallem, 2003, p. 86). Moallem’s model relies on McGrath and Hollingshead’s (1993) task classification theory: generate, choose, negotiate, execute. McGrath and Holligshead’s (1993) model predicts the effects of task and computer mediated communication on group performance. Learners generate plans, discussions, ideas; choose preferred answers or responses; negotiate conflicts and resolve indecisions; and execute the required intellectual or psychomotor tasks that are needed to accomplish the objectives. Based on this framework, Moallem’s (2003) Collaborative Design Model uses generative and intellective tasks for problem-solving: “Problem-based learning was used as the general instructional design model to develop both a culminating project (a real-world problem-solving task) and a series of authentic but generative and intellective problem-solving tasks or collaborative activities to organize the course content, as well as to structure students’ social interactions” (Moallem, 2003, p. 89). According to Moallem, this model establishes individual accountability; encourages commitment to the group and its goals; facilitates smooth interaction among group members at both an interpersonal and group levels; and also provides stability of groups so that group members can work with each other for longer periods of time in order to reduce the time and effort for establishing group norms, group task performance, and interaction patterns. “A successful, interactive and collaborative online course requires well-developed collaborative tasks or problems, or activities that stimulate peer interaction and encourage peer collaboration (Moallem, 2003, p. 99).

R2D2 Model, Bonk and Zhang, 2006
Read, Reflect, Display and Do
Based on Kolb’s (1984) effective learning phases of experiential learning: getting involved in concrete experiences; reflective listening and observations; creating an idea with an abstract coneptualization; and making decisions through active experimentations.
Different from other design models with same or similar names because this model focuses on the type of tasks, resources, and activites that one embeds in online course to address different human learning strengths and preferences or skills areas.
Integrates 4 types of learning activities: Reading/listening; Reflecting/writing; Displaying; Doing.
Similar to VARK but puts more emphasis on Reflective activities.
Reading/Listening: (learning activities) Reading materials and information searches, Online discussions, group discussions, presentations, Guest expert chats, Online tutorials, webinars, audio files, video files, meetings in chatrooms, online brainstorming online testing, webquests, scavenger hunts: (Technologies) Announcements, Q&A, FAQs, Breeze, Elluminate Live, IM, Chat, Bulletin Boards, Listservs, podcasts, Webcasts, captivate
Reflection: (learning activities) Posted interviews, online role plays, debates, mock trials, collaborative group papers, annotate articles, reflective writing, group reflections, individual reflections, blogging, providing feedback from group, individuals, instructors, conferences with live feeds, observe expert performances, online modeling, archived examples; (technologies) Blogs, bulletin board, streaming audio, video; threaded discussion forums, , elluminate, breeze, LMS, word documents, with comments, eportfolios, webpages, etc.
Displaying: (learning activities) e-portfolios, reflections, video library of concepts, cases or experts, graphic representations, timelines, interactive visuals with online chats, peer evaluations, peer critics, draw tools in asynchronous chats, flash visuals and animations, virtual tours, project gallery, blogging; (technologies) Concept mapping, Visual Understanding Environment VUE, Timeliner or other online timeline tools, blogs, IM with whiteboards, virtual tours
Doing: (learning activities) online demonstrations, interactive, project-based learning with dynamic online databases, case simulations and manipulations, case-based learning, online simulations and lab resources, oral histories, PBL, online survey, online radio stations, digital movies, online galleries for current, past and future students

Implications for Design, Hung and Chen, 2001: Based on Principles of situated cognition and Vygotskian thought:
4 dimensions: Situatedness, Commonality, Interdependency, Infrastructure (fostered by rules, ratings or points system to motivate participation, accountability mechanisms, credibility of a contributors review and facilitating structures,,information architecture facilitating the interdependencies)
1. Situatedness: Learning is embedded in rich cultural and social contexts-acquiring both implicit and explicit knowledge (web-based with common networked platform, anywhere, anytime access)
2. Learning is reflective and metacognitive, internalizing from social to the individual (environment should be portable , focus on tasks and projects, enabling learning through doing and reflection-in-action, focus on depth over breadth, thus enabling learners to analyze communicative “speech acts”)
3. Commonality: Learning is an identity formation or act of membership (environment should create a situation where there is continual interest and interaction through the tools embedded in the environment)
4. Learning is a social act/construction mediated between social beings through language, signs, genres and tools (environments should capitalize the social communicative and collaborative dimensions allowing mediated discourse and should have scaffolding structures which contain the genres and common expressions used by the community)
5. Interdependency: Learning is socially distributed between persons and tools (environments should create interdependencies between individuals where novices need more capable peers capitalizing on the zpd and should capitalize on the diverse experiences in the community)
6. Learning is demand driven-dependent on engagement in practice (environment should be made personalized to the learner with tasks and projects as embedded in the meaningful activity context , environment should be able to track the learner’s history, profile, and progress and tailor personalized strategies and content)
7. Infrastructure: Learning is facilitated by an activity-driven by appropriate mechanisms and accountability structures (environments should have structures and mechanisms set up to facilitate the activity (project) processes where learners’ are engaged in and environment should have the potential to radically alter traditional rules and process that were constrained by locality and time)

Thomas Reeves Model of Effective Dimensions of Interactive learning on the WWW (1998)
Parts of Model include: Cultural Habits of the Mind, Aptitiude and individual differences and origin of motivation (these 3 have arrows showing that they impact the next sequence) Opportunity to construct learning, Task ownership, Sense of Audience, collaborative support, teacher support, metacognitive support (These 6 have arrows showing they produce the following) Knowledge and skills, Robust mental models, and higher order outcomes. P. 4 Model
“Given an appropriate instructional design, two or more learners working together via the WWW might accomplish more than an isolated learner because the interactions among the learners may have more influence on their learning than the interactions between the learners and the web-based content. The proliferation of web-based tools for groupwork make this one of the potentially most powerful factors in this model of interactive learning on the web” quote on collaboration p.6

Roblyer & Wiencke,2003, Design and Use of a Rubric to Assess and Encourage Interactive Qualities in Distance Courses
“Distance learning theory and research holds that interaction is an essential characteristic of successful distance learning courses.” P. 77
Wagner(1994) stipulates 3 prerequisites for learner engagement:
1. Operatinal definition of interaction based on relevant theory and research; 2. Course designs that go beyond replicating face-to-face methods and infuse interaction in ways that take advantage of the mediation possible between learner and technology; 3. Empirical assessments of interaction and measurement of effects on achievement
Quote: “However, The needed articulation from theory and research to course design guidelines and impact research has not taken place. Course designers and instructors continue to report design guidelines primarily as “best practices” based on personal experiences. One reason for the lack of transfer from theory to practice in this area is the complex nature of interaction in distance courses and the difficulty of designing assessment and evaluation tools that build on a solid theoretical framework, yet provide sufficiently practical guidelines to make the concept of interaction measurable and useful to distance instructors and researchers alike.”
3 concepts that permeate interaction
1. Moore’s 1989 identification of types of interaction: learner-content, learner-learner, learner-instructor
2. interaction as message transmission (Shannon & Weaver, 1949; Wagner, 1994; Yacci, 2000)
3. interaction as social and psychological connections (Zhang & Fulford, 1994; Wolcott, 1996; Gilbert & Moore, 1998) “These authors share the view that a distance learning environment in which there is friendly and open exchange among students and instructor is likely to be more productive from a learning standpoint than an environment in which exchanges are formal and circumscribed.” P.80

Learning theories Factors influencing interaction: Wagner (1994) feedback, elaboration, learner control, self-regulation, motivation
Instructional theories Factors- (Gagne, Briggs, and Wagner, 1992) 9 different events of instruction could provide conditions “external to the learner to support internal processes of learning” (p. 188) instructional activities to accomplish each event would differ according to desired learning outcomes…more learner autonomy and collaborative relationships…
“First, it is apparent that Interaction is achieved through a complex interplay of social, instructional, and technological variables. Second, though influenced by all these factors, the aspect of interaction acknowledge to be most meaningful to instructors and designers is student engagement in the learning process. Third, Student engagement can be increased when learning structured around collaborative experiences.
Social interaction and instructional interaction are part of the course design.
Strategies to increase social rapport include: introductions at the beginning of the course, icebreakers, group-building strategies, brief bio exchanges, sharing photos, small group discussion intermittent chats, emails, and bb postings of informal observations and information.
Activities designed to encourage, support, require interaction.
Small groups, collaborative learning designs “not only require students to interact, but also make frequent, meaningful interaction more manageable.
Instructor engagement includes consistent, timely, and useful feedback to students.
WisCom Model, Gunawardena et al, 2006.
Community Centered: common goal is wise community, reflective dialogue
Mentoring acts as mechanism for people supporting people.
Mentoring aids: matching inexperienced with experienced: instructors assistants peers, experts, Proteges paired with mentors with common interest..
Knowledge innovation purposeful creation sharing and preservation of meaningful
socially constructed ideas. Cyclic Process, but unfolds in 4 phases: Create, record, Access, Enable—through interaction, archives, retrival, making connections between concepts
This is a 5 step design:
1.Learning challenge
2.Initial exploration
3.Resources
4.Reflection
5.Preservation

Phases of The Process

Aprille's thinking:
Analyze-Establish Learners' and instructors' needs, as well as course requirements.
Design- create an initial strategy for course development
Develop- development of prototype for course
Implement-Implement the prototype as a pre-launch review
Incorporate changes based on pre-launch review

Execute-Execute necessary revisions and then Launch the course
Evaluate-Conduct Summative Evaluation and revise the next iteration of the course.


In Designing and Developing Prototype Provide:
1. Authentic Context
2. Authentic Activities
3. Access to expert performances and modeling of processes
4. Allow for Multiple Roles & Perspectives
5. Allow for Collaborative construction of knowledge
6. Allow for reflection to enable abstractions to be formed
7. Allow for articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit
8. Allow for coaching and scaffolding at critical time
9. Allow Authentic Assessment of learning within the tasks

Steps Towards Design Process

In getting started, I will establish a procedure for meeting with the client. In that initial meeting we will need to discuss project/course goals. I must establish a list of questions that should be used in the initial client meeting. Course objectives, time line constraints, and available resources should be covered in the questions. Also, questions should cover project contributors, such as subject matter experts. Also, questions should include an assessment of organizational/course needs and learner needs. Perhaps developing a template or two that could be used for a variety of contexts would be helpful. The look and feel of the learning environment should be established in meeting with the client. In developing the course within the framework of CSCL, multimedia needs and technical issues must be considered. Will there be Compliance issues such as SCORM/AICC? What form of assessment and evaluation will be included?

Knowledge Building and Discourse

Knowledge Building and Discourse
Based on the work of Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006), “Sustained knowledge advancement is seen as essential for social progress of all kinds and for the solution of societal problems. From this standpoint the fundamental task of education is to enculturate youth into this knowledge-creating civilization and to help them find a place in it” (p. 97). Knowledge Building allows for discourse, negotiation and sharing of ideas: “Idea improvement is an explicit principle, something that guides the efforts of students and teachers rather than something that remains implicit in inquiry and learning activities” (Scardamalia, 2002, p. 77). Knowledge Building also provides opportunities for the construction and development of knowledge artifacts. Artifacts are shaped throughout the learning process and include artifacts produced by use of cognitive tools such as plans, graphs, concept maps, and models (Quintana et al, 2006). Knowledge building is centered in pedagogical practice (authentic activity, project-based learning, situated cognition, etc). Knowledge Building requires keeping a persistent record of discourse and providing common spaces for group members to share (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006). For example, communities of practice and/or communities of learners require common space for members and establish that group size should be small. Scaffolding and supports should be designed for a variety of perspectives (small groups' preferences as well as individual learning preferences). Activities should reinforce the transforming personal perspective to group perspective:
In effective collaborative knowledge building, the group must engage in thinking together about a problem or task and produce a knowledge artifact such as a verbal problem clarification, a textual solution proposal, or a more developed theoretical inscription that integrates their different perspectives on the topic and represents a shared group result that they have negotiated (Stahl, 2006, p. 3).
Such activities support interactions and enable the co-creation of knowledge and the development of knowledge artifacts.

Project based Learning

Project-based Learning
Studies indicate that most students are bored in school (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993). When students are not engaged, boredom usually interrupts focus; therefore, students are less likely to learn (Blumenfeld et al, 1991). Learning sciences research suggests that project-based learning, a form of situated learning, offers a potential solution to the problem of boredom in school. Students are more engaged and less likely to be bored (Krajcik & Blumenfeld, 2006). Students learn by doing and applying ideas through real-world activities. The 5 key features of project-based learning include:
1. Instruction Starts with a driving question, a problem to be solved;
2. Students explore the driving question by participating in authentic, situated- inquiry. As students explore the question, they develop an understanding of the discipline and also how to apply their understanding;
3. Students, teachers, and community members engage in collaborative activities to find answers to the question;
4. During the inquiry process, students are scaffolded with learning technologies that allow them to perform activities normally beyond their individual ability; 5.Students create a set of products to address the needs of the question. These products are shared artifacts that represent the learning of the class (Blumenfeld et al, 1991; Krajcik, et al., 1994; Krajcik, Czerniak, & Berger, 2002).
The theoretical background of project-based learning includes active construction, situated learning, social interactions and cognitive tools.
Learning sciences research indicates deep understanding occurs when learners actively construct meaning based on their experiences and interactions. Situated learning requires that learning take place in real-world, authentic context. For example, in science, when students design their own investigations to answer a question that is important to them or to their community, they discover value in science and also develop a deeper understanding of how science can be applied to solve real-world problems. Social interaction plays a key role in learning; therefore, the best learning results when students, teachers and subject matter experts from a community work together in a situated activity to construct shared solutions to problems as well as to expand understandings of underlying principles. Deeper comprehension is developed through sharing, applying and debating ideas with others. This process of back and forth interaction creates a community of learners. The use of cognitive tools amplifies and expands what students are able to learn (Krajcik & Blumenfeld, 2006) . Learning technologies can support students in accessing and collecting a range of information; provide tools for visualizing complex, abstract ideas; allow for distance collaboration; assist in planning, building and testing models; and allow for the development of multimedia knowledge artifacts that can be shared globally.
Project-based learning reinforces an awareness that there may be more than one way to interpret data and more than one way to solve a problem. Driving questions guide instruction and are meaningful and important to learners. The driving question should be a tool for organizing and directing the activities of the project, as well as provide an authentic context in which students can establish and explore learning goals. Continuity and coherence are instilled in the project with the development of quality driving questions. Features of driving questions include the following attributes:
1. Feasible. Students can design and perform an investigation to answer the question;
2. Worthwhile. Question contains rich science content that aligns with national and state standards and relates to real-world science;
3. Contextualized. Question is real-world and important;
4. Relevant. Question is meaningful, interesting and exciting to learners; and
5. Ethical. Question does no harm to individuals, organizations or the environment (Krajcik et al, 2002).

notes related to collaboration

Should provide opportunities for reflection.
1. Build instruction based upon students' prior knowledge and community knowledge advancement. 2. Provide scaffolding that is tailored to the learners needs in achieving the goals of the moment. 3. Scaffolding is added gradually, modified, and removed based on the needs of the learner. 4. Allow opportunities for students to Externalize and Articulate their unformed and still developing understanding of concepts. Discourse becomes a means for collaborative problem solving. As understanding becomes more developed, articulation and externalization act as reinforces for learning in an interative knowledge building process where knowledge develops as ideas improvement.
5. Provide opportunities for reflection on cognitive activities or metacognition. Give students time to reflect on the process of learning and on the knowledge they are acquiring. Understanding is emergent 6. Build instruction from the concrete to the abstract.
Learning groups should be unstructured and students should be the facilitators. The learning environment of the group should be informal and roles of the participants should be emergent. Tasks are undefined for individual group members. Assessment should be in the form of group assessment as shared meaning and knowledge artifacts are produced.

Proposal for CSCL Research Project

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has been defined by Koschmann (1996) as “a field of study centrally concerned with meaning and the practices of meaning-making in the context of joint activity, and the ways in which these practices are mediated though designed artifacts” (p. 2). CSCL is designed to analyze how the combination of computers/technology and collaborative activities enhance learning. The purpose of this paper is to describe a study that would investigate the use of collaborative activities in a project-based learning environment to move group participants from novice to experts within the learning community through the use of appropriate scaffolding and to enhance female self-efficacy related to science.
According to a 2004 study, “While women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, they make up only 26 percent of the science and engineering workforce” (U.S. Department of Education, 2007, p. 3). Gender differences in perceptions about academic abilities in relation to math and science are specifically evidenced in middle school aged children:
In general, researchers have found that girls and women have less confidence in their math abilities than males do and that from early adolescence girls show less interest in math or science careers. This gender difference is interesting, and somewhat puzzling, given that males and females generally enroll in similar courses and display similar abilities (at least as measured by course grades). In other words, girls, particularly as they move out of elementary school and into middle and high school and beyond, often underestimate their abilities in mathematics and science (Institute of Education Sciences-U.S. Department of Education, 2007, p. 6).
Because of the emphasis on increasing female self-efficacy in science, female scientists will be recruited as participants in the collaborative work. According to the study conducted by the Institute of Education Science, one strategy for addressing female self-efficacy related to science is the use of female role models:
Teachers should expose girls to female role models who have achieved in math
or science in order to promote positive beliefs regarding women’s abilities in
math and science. Even in elementary school, girls are aware of the stereotype
that men are better in math and science than women are. Exposing girls to
female role models (e.g., through biographies, guest speakers, or tutoring by
older female students) can invalidate these stereotypes (Institute of Education Sciences-U.S. Department of Education, 2007, p. 5).
This study will address girls’ self-efficacy related to science and also extend our understanding of the learning process of participants through the use of scaffolding in a CSCL environment for adolescent boys and girls.
Studies indicate most students are bored in school (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993). Valuing course objectives and being engaged in course activities, as well as believing one has the ability to be successful in the course, are critical factors in learner motivation. “Beliefs of personal efficacy constitute the key factor of human agency. If people believe they have no power to produce results, they will not attempt to make things happen” (Bandura, 1977, p. 3). When students are not engaged and are bored in class, they are less likely to increase their knowledge (Blumenfeld et al, 1991). An inquiry learning culture produces engaged and active learning, as well as more enhanced production of explanations in both males and females (Prinsen et al, 2007). Learning sciences research suggests that the inquiry learning culture of project-based learning may offer a potential solution to the problem of boredom in school.
The theoretical background of project-based learning includes active construction, situated learning, social interactions and cognitive tools. Project based learning increases student engagement; therefore, students are less likely to be bored. Students learn by doing and applying ideas through real-world activities. The five key features of project-based learning include the following:
1. Instruction begins with a driving question and a problem to be solved.
2. Students explore the driving question by participating in authentic, situated- inquiry. As students explore the question, they develop an understanding of the discipline and also how to apply their understanding.
3. Students, teachers, and community members engage in collaborative activities to find answers to the question.
4. During the inquiry process, students are scaffolded with learning technologies that allow them to perform activities normally beyond their individual ability.
5. Students create a set of products to address the needs of the question. These products are shared artifacts that represent the learning of the class (Blumenfeld et al, 1991; Krajcik, et al., 1994; Krajcik, Czerniak, & Berger, 2002).
Learning sciences research shows that deep understanding occurs when learners actively construct meaning based on their experiences and interactions in the world. Situated learning requires that learning take place in real-world, authentic context. For example, in science, when students design their own investigation to answer a question that is important to them or to their community, they see the value of science and also see how science can be applied to solve real-world problems. Social interaction also plays a key role in learning. The best learning results when students, teachers and subject matter experts from the community work together in a situated activity to construct shared solutions to problems and new understandings of underlying principles. Deeper understanding is developed through sharing, applying and debating ideas with others and this process of back and forth interaction creates a community of learners (Vygotsky, 1978; Lave, 1991; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996). Also, the use of cognitive tools can amplify and expand what students are able to learn. Learning technologies can support students in accessing and collecting a range of information; provide tools for visualizing complex, abstract ideas; allow for distance collaboration; assist in planning, building and testing models; and allow for the development of multimedia knowledge artifacts that can be shared globally. Using the principles of group interaction to form collaborative communities to construct knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978; Lave, 1991; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996), the learning activities will occur in an authentic group context, be project based, and include activities with an authentic focus (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). According to Vygotsky (1978) classroom social interactions should be arranged in such a way that weaker students will be “scaffolded” by stronger students. Vygotsky situates learning in the zone of proximal development which he posits is the “distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p. 86).
Project-based learning creates a setting for the discovery that there may be more than one technique for interpreting data and more than one approach for solving a problem. “Individuals generate personal beliefs from their own perspectives, but they do so on the basis of sociocultural knowledge, shared language, and external representations. Further, these beliefs become knowledge through social interaction, communication, discussion, clarification, and negotiation. Knowledge is a socially mediated product” (Stahl, 2006, p. 205). Driving questions guide instruction and should be meaningful and important to learners. The driving questions are tools for organizing and directing the activities of the project. The driving questions provide an authentic context in which students will be able to establish and explore learning goals, as well as provide continuity and coherence to the project. Specific features of driving questions include:
1. The question is feasible; therefore, students can design and perform investigations to answer the question. 2. The question is worthwhile; therefore, appropriate responses should contain rich science content that aligns with national and state standards and relates to real-world science. 3. The question is contextualized in that the question is an important, real-world question. 4. The question is meaningful, interesting and exciting to learners. 5. The question is ethical in that in addressing the question, students will do no harm to individuals, organizations or the environment (Krajcik et al, 2002).
Historically, in the United States, females are less interested in pursuing science than males: “by eighth grade, boys are twice as interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers as girls are” (LiveScience, 2007, http://www.livescience.com/health/070827_girls_math.html). Therefore, this study will include scaffolding to address girls’ self-efficacy related to science. Also, the study will extend our understanding of the importance of scaffolding in the learning process of participants in a CSCL environment. This project, grounded in computer-supported collaborative learning, focuses on meaning making through the combined use of computers and collaboration:
Small group processes of collaborative knowledge building can construct meanings of symbolic and physical artifacts like words, gestures, tools, or media. The meanings of these meaningful artifacts are group accomplishments resulting from social interaction and are not attributable to individual participants. The artifacts retain intersubjective meaning, which can be learned or renegotiated later. The meaningful artifacts are interpreted by individuals from within the current situation or activity (Stahl, 2006, p.346).
Because research indicates that females prefer interactive and collaborative uses of technology, CSCL is an appropriate environment for this study: “Girls appear to be particularly interested in interactive technology that encourages communication, collaborative learning, the solving of complex social dilemmas, intensive writing and flexible problem solving (AAUW Educational Foundation Research 2000)” (Prinsen et al, 2007, p. 394). This study will include opportunities for students, teachers and female members of the local science community to collaborate with one another to investigate group-developed driving questions. The community of learners will address questions through dialogue and written discourse, collect data, discuss findings, and form group conclusions. They will create a presentation or other artifact to illustrate their understanding. Also, because the rules for these collaborative activities are explicitly expressed, girls will be more confident in participating in the project (Prinsen et al, 2007).
Scaffolding students is critical to the success of any project-based learning scenario. Krajcik and Blumenfeld (2006) are precise in their strategies for scaffolding:
Our scaffolding strategies include making the rationale behind explanations explicit, modeling how to construct explanations, providing students with opportunities to engage in explanation construction, and writing scaffoding comments on students’ investigation sheets (p. 324).
This study will incorporate the above cited techniques for scaffolding within the project-based learning environment.

Media Literacy

In preparing for the IVLA conference, I focused on visual literacy. Here are some thoughts related to visual literacy.
Visual texts usually simplify and/or generalize topics and omit minor details. Visual texts are excellent tools for capturing the relationships between key components and illustrate the structure or organization of the intended topic.

"Re-composing" means reading information in one form (text) and summarizing it in another form (timeline, storyboard, diagram or table).

To re-compose information, students need to think about the meaning of the selected paragraph before being able to summarize the paragraph in a visual form.

Re-composing is a key strategy in aiding comprehension.

Visual texts, such as flow charts, timelines, storyboards, and tree diagrams are ideal for providing a framework for writing.


Why teach with primary source material such as photographs?

By utilizing primary source material in your curriculum, you expose your students to artifacts from the past that are authentic and make history come alive. Students enjoy seeing objects from the period they are studying. The National Archives states that primary sources "fascinate students because they are real and they are personal: history is humanized through them."

Photographers come from different life experiences, and therefore photographs of the same experience may be expressed visually in very different ways. Photographs are different "takes" on the same story. The story looks very different, depending on who is telling the story in photographs.

Questions one might ask about photographs:

Do you think the photographer is depicting the event or situation in a fair way?
By looking at the picture/or pictures, what do you think the photographer's opinion is about this subject? What do you see that creates your response to the picture?
If you were creating photographs about a specific subject, how would you photograph that subject. Provide examples.

If viewer expectations influence the reading of an image, how can captions influence the visual perceptions of pictures? Does the caption make sense of what the viewer is looking at or frame the visual perception?

Caption activity: write possible captions for photographs
Documentary photographers capture significant historical events, but also reveal the photographer’s opinions. These photographs also stir emotions. Often, documentary photographers take specific pictures to educate people about issues in order to promote positive change.

Project-based Learning

Studies show that almost all students are bored in school (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993). When students are not engaged and are bored in class, they are less likely to learn (Blumenfeld et al, 1991). Learning sciences research suggests that project-based learning may offer a potential solution to the problem of boredom in school. Students are more engaged and therefore less likely to be bored. Students learn by doing and applying ideas through real-world activities. Project-based learning is a form of situtated learning. There are 5 key features of project-based learning: 1. Instruction Starts with a driving question, a problem to be solved; 2. Students explore the driving question by participating in authentic, situated-inquiry. As students explore the question, they develop an understanding of the discipline and also how to apply their understanding; 3. Students, teachers, and community members engage in collaborative activities to find answers to the question; 4. During the inquiry process, students are scaffolded with learning technologies that allow them to perform activities normally beyond their individual ability; 5.Students create a set of products to address the needs of the question. These products are shared artifacts that represent the learning of the class (Blumenfeld et al, 1991; Krajcik, et al., 1994; Krajcik, Czerniak, & Berger, 2002).
The theoretical background of project-based learning includes active construction, situated learning, social interactions and cognitive tools.
Learning sciences research shows that deep understanding occurs when learners actively constructs meaning based on their experiences and interactions in the world.Situated learning requires that learning take place in real-world, authentic context. For example, in science, when students design their own investigation to answer a question that is important to them or to their community, they see the value of science and also see how science can be applied to solve real-world problems. Social interaction plays a key role in learning. The best learning results when students, teachers and subject matter experts from the community work together in a situated activity to construct shared solutions to problems and new understandings of underlying principles. Deeper understanding is developed through sharing, applying and debating ideas with others and this process of back and forth interaction creates a community of learners. Also, the use of cognitive tools can amplify and expand what students are able to learn. Learning technologies can support students in accessing and collecting a range of information; provide tools for visualizing complex, abstract ideas; allow for distance collaboration; assist in planning, building and testing models; and allow for the development of multimedia knowledge artifacts that can be shared globally.
Project-based learning reinforces that there may be more than one way to interpret data and more than one way to solve a problem. Driving questions should guide instruction and be meaningful and important to learners. The driving question should be a tool for organizing and directing the activities of the project. It provides an authentic context in which students can establish and explore learning goals, as well as provide continuity and coherence to the project. Driving questions have the following features: feasible in that students can design and perform investigations to answer the question; 2. worthwhile in that they contain rich science content that aligns with national and state standards and relates to real-world science; 3. contextualized in that the questions are real-world and important; 4. meaningful and interesting and exciting to learners; and 5. ethical in that they do no harm to individuals, organizations or the environment (Krajcik et al, 2002).

Learner-centered Principles from APA

The following principles were established by APA. I am planning to incorporate these principles in my instructional design strategy for incorporating computer-supported collaborative learning in an online course.
Learner-Centered Psychological Principles Revised (APA, 1997)
Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors
1. Nature of the learning process.
The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process
of constructing meaning from information and experience.
2. Goals of the learning process. The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can create
meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.
3. Construction of knowledge. The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful
ways.
4. Strategic thinking. The successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning
strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
5. Thinking about thinking. Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate creative
and critical thinking.
6. Context of learning Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and
instructional practices.
Motivational and Affective Factors
7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning What and how much is learned is influenced by the motivation. Motivation to learn, in turn,
is influenced by the individual's emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits
of thinking.
8. Intrinsic motivation to learn The learner's creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to
motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and
difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.
9. Effects of motivation on effort Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided
practice. Without learners' motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is
unlikely without coercion.
Developmental and Social Factors
10. Developmental influences on learning. As individuals develop, there are different opportunities and constraints for learning.
Learning is most effective when differential development within and across physical,
intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into account.
11. Social influences on learning. Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication
with others.
Individual Differences Factors
12. Individual differences in learning. Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a
function of prior experience and heredity.
13. Learning and diversity. Learning is most effective when differences in learners' linguistic, cultural, and social
backgrounds are taken into account.
14. Standards and assessment. Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing the learner as well as
learning progress -- including diagnostic, process, and outcome assessment -- are integral
parts of the learning process.

Theoretical Constructs Operationalized

Based on my current readings, these are my thoughts on operationalizing identified theoretical constructs...
Knowledge Building and Discourse: Scardamalia & Bereiter (1994); Communities of Practice and Communities of Learners: Lave & Wenger (1991) and Wenger (1998); Situated Cognition and Expertise Building: Brown, Collins & Duguid (1989); Scaffolding and Zone of Proximal Development: Vygotsky (1978)
Knowledge Building allows for discourse, negotiation and sharing of ideas. KB also provides opportunities for the construction and development of knowledge artifacts. Knowledge building is centered in pedagogical practice (authentic activity, problem-based learning,situated cognition, etc). KB requires keeping a persistent record of discourse and providing common spaces for group members to share.
Communities of Practice/Communities of Learners requires common space for members and establishes that group size should be small. Scaffolding and supports should be created for multiple perspectives (small groups' preferences as well as individual learning preferences). Activities should reinforce transforming personal perspective to group perspective.
Scaffolding and ZPD: Activities should support interactions and enable the co-creation of knowledge and the development of knowledge artifacts. Should provide opportunities for reflection.
1. Build instruction based upon students' prior knowledge and community knowledge advancement. 2. Provide scaffolding that is tailored to the learners needs in achieving the goals of the moment. 3. Scaffolding is added gradually, modified, and removed based on the needs of the learner. 4. Allow opportunities for students to Externalize and Articulate their unformed and still developing understanding of concepts. Discourse becomes a means for collaborative problem solving. As understanding becomes more developed, articulation and externalization act as reinforces for learning in an interative knowledge building process where knowledge develops as ideas improvement.
5. Provide opportunities for reflection on cognitive activities or metacognition. Give students time to reflect on the process of learning and on the knowledge they are acquiring. Understanding is emergent 6. Build instruction from the concrete to the abstract.
Learning groups should be unstructured and students should be the facilitators. The learning environment of the group should be informal and roles of the participants should be emergent. Tasks are undefined for individual group members. Assessment should be in the form of group assessment as shared meaning and knowledge artifacts are produced.

Roles in Collaboration readings

O'Malley, 1987 O'Malley, C. 1987. Understanding explanation. Technical Report CSRP-88, University of Sussex. Dillenbourg, P.; Mendelsohn, P.; and Schneider, D. 1994. The distribution of pedagogical roles in a multi-agent learning in Dillenbourg et al, 1994
Roles are important for constructive collaboration. Appropriate roles such as task doer and observer…

Dialogue Readings

Baker, 1991 Baker, M. J. 1991. The influence of dialogue processes on the generation of students' collaborative explanations for simple Chi, M. T. H.; Bassok, M.; Lewis, M. W.; Reinman, P.; and Glaser, R. 1989. Self-explanations: how students study and us
Explanations are constructed jointly by both peers through collaborative interactions. Chi et al, 1989 found that helping peers via explanation or elaboraqtion is a catalyst for effective collaborative learning process.

cooperative study

Dansereau, 1988; Dansereau, D. F. 1988. Learning and Study Strategies: Issues in Assessment, Instruction, and Evaluation. New York: Academic Press. Webb, N. 1985. Learning to cooperate, cooperating to learn. New York: Plenum Publishing. Webb, 1985
peers working on structured cooperative scripts can learn technical material or procedures far better than students working alone. Peers take roles as recaller and listener. They read a section of text, and then the recaller summarizes the information while the listener corrects any errors, fills in any omitted material and thinks of ways both students can remember the main ideas.

Roles in Collaborative Learning

Roles in Collaborative Learning environments (Kumar, V., 1996)
Decomposing Role refers to the job of splitting the given problem into tasks. Each task is a logical sub-unit of the given problem. Eac of the tasks can be further split into a number of goals. The goals are the learning objectives for the students
Defining Role refers to the job of proposing a goal. The goals defined can be traced from the task tate to the goal state.
Critiquing role requires a group member to propose a countering hypothesis to the proposed hypothesis
Convincing Role is the person who is responsible for comparing a number of hypotheses from the group and suporting one of them.
Reviewing role is the job of ensuring that the collaborative interaction leads to constructive learning. The reviewer summarizes the actions taken in the collaborative session for a particular goal
Referencing is the job of providing facts and related materail, whenever requested by a group member.

The number or group size of collaborating peers is significant. Small groups reduce the complexity of deriving inferences. The number of peers is dependent on the requirement of the collaborative learning task.

Constructivism

Constructivism (Brooks and Brooks, 1993)
Pose problems of emerging relevance to students.
Structure learning around primary concepts to gain the essence of the problem.
Seek and Value students' points of view.
Adapt curriculum to address students' suppositions.
assess student learning in an authentic context.
Assessment Strategies:
Use Cognitive terminology such as classify, analyze, predict and create
Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative
use raw data, primary sources, manipulatives, interactive activities, and physical material. Allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter content.
Encourage students to engage in dialogue
Encourage student inquiry
Ask open-ended questions
Seek elaboration
Create experiences that engender contradictions to initial hypotheses
Give response time for answering questions
Allow time for students to construct relationships
Encourage the creatio of metaphors by using metaphors

Authentic Activities

Authentic Activities (Lave & Wegner, 1997; Lebow & Wager, 1994; Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Reeves, Herrington & Oliver,2002))
Activities have real-world relevance.
Problems are ill-defined, requiring students to define the tasks and sub-tasks needed to complete the activity.
Problems comprise complex tasks to e investigated by students over a sustained period of time.
Problems provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources.
Activities provide the opportunity to collaborate.
Activities provide the opportunity to reflect and involve students' beliefs and values
Activities can be integrated and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain-specific outcomes.
Problems are seamlessly integrated with assessment
Artifacts created by students are polished products valuable in their own right--rather than a preparation for something else.
Activities allow for a variety of solutions and diversity of outcomes.

Situated Cognition

Situated cognition presents the following view of learning: Learning embedded in rich contexts of practice. Social constructive acts are used for learners to make meaning and sense in the contexts of application and use. Tasks are meaningful to learners. Learners are given opportunities to reflect on their actions and discuss issues and problems with fellow members of the community. Students must be given valid reasons for participants to work together in a way that makes sense to them--such as shared interests and problems that require joint effort. Students' activities place different demands on students within a community to create interdependency among community members. Varying demands and levels of expertise are important in forming groups. Learning is facilitated by the activity and the dialogue that accompanies group participation in the activity. In Situated cognition there is Task Ownership, a Sense of Audience, Collaborative Support, Teacher support, Metacognitive Support and Motivational Support.

Compiling Theoretical Components

Yesterday (Saturday, September 20, 2008), I spent the day going through CSCL theory and pulling out components to include in my table. Works from Sawyer, 2006; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006, and Stahl, Koschmann & Suthers, 2006 were resources for the following collection of components: 1. Build instruction based upon students' prior knowledge and community knowledge advancement; 2. Provide scaffolding that is tailored to the learners needs in achieving the goals of the moment; 3. Scaffolding is added gradually, modified, and removed based on the needs of the learner; 4. Allow opportunities for students to Externalize and Articulate their unformed and still developing understanding of concepts. Discourse becomes a means for collaborative problem solving. As understanding becomes more developed, articulation and externalization act as reinforces for learning in an interative knowledge building process where knowledge develops as ideas improvement; 5. Provide opportuities for reflection on cognitive activities or metacognition. Give students time to reflect on the process of learning and on the knowledge they are acquiring. Understanding is emergent; and 6. Build instruction from the concrete to the abstract. When trying to present abstract concepts, use concrete examples to help convey meaning--constructive use of authoritative information. In looking for assessment strategies, I added the work of Means, 2006 to my literature review. Means provided the following guidelines for assessment: 1. Formative assessment should be designed to assess learning and to inform future instruction; 2. The assessment should provide further learning opportunities on the content; 3. It should reveal specific information about students' thinking in ways that can inform further instruction and additional learning opportunities; and 4. Learning activities are created based on information gained from the formative assessment.

History of Case Studies

A great link for learning about the history of Case studies came be found at the following address.
http://aprillesjourney.blogspot.com/

Case Studies

According to Polit and Hungler (1983), case studies are detailed investigations of individuals, groups, institutions or other social units. The essence of case studies is their central premise to illuminate a decision or set of decisions...specifically why they were made, how they were implemented and with what results. The researcher conducting a case study attempts to analyze the variables relevant to the subject under study. The major difference between a case study and other types of research studies is that in a case study the study focuses on a specific case and not on an entire population of cases. Most case studies focus on understanding the particularities of the case being studied in a natural setting. By studying a case in a bounded system under a normal environment the system can be understood in a natural state (Stake, 1988). Case studies employ a particular focus using a variety of techniques and can be qualitative, quantitative or mixed method. Generally case studies are conducted over a lengthy period of time. Therefore, case studies are a good design for practical problems such as intriguing questions, situations, or puzzling occurrences arising from everyday practice (Merriam, 1998).
Based on the work of Rossman and Rallis (2003), case studies are considered to be an overall strategy rather than a genre of research. Case studies are an in-depth and detailed exploration of a single example that are instances drawn from a class of a similar phenomena. Case studies are descriptive, holistic, hueristic, and inductive. Case studies are also context dependent. Therefore, the results of a case study can not be generalized in the probabilistic sense. In other words, the results of one case study can not be applied directly to another case study. Yet, through reasoning by analogy the lessons learned in one case study can be applied to another case of similar characteristics. (Kennedy, 1979). Case study evaluations are often the research technique of choice where broad, complex, multi-layered questions have to be addressed in complex circumstances, particularly in medical scenarios. The strength of case studies is their reliance on details and their complexity. Case studies use multiple sources to obtain a variety of perspectives. This results in a thick, rich description that allows the reader to interpret and decide the applicability of case learnings to another setting (Rossman & Rallis, 2003).
"Critical case studies are grounded in a critique of existing social structures and patterns. They assume theoretically that oprression and domination characterize the setting and seek to uncover how patterns of action perpetuate the status
quo" (Rossman & Rallis, 2003, p. 106).

Developmental Research: Studies of instructional Design and Development

Notes from Developmental Research by Rita C. Richey, James D. Klein & Wayne A. Nelson:

Developmental research can be either
1. The study of the process and impact of specific instructional design and development efforts or
2. A situation in which someone is performing instructional design, development or evaluation activities and studying the process at the same time; or
3. The study of the instructional design, development and evaluation process as a whole or of particular process components.

The distinction is made between performing a process and studying that process. Reports of developmental research may take the form of a case study with retrospective analysis, an evaluation report, or even a typical experimental research report.

Development in its most generic sense implies gradual growth, evolution and change. In the field of instructional technology development has a particular somewhat unique connotation: development is “the process of translating the design specifications into physical forms.” (Seels & Richey, 1994)
Thus it refers to the process of producing instructional materials. The 1994 definition of the field attempts to clarify these issues by viewing design as the planning phase in which specifications are constructed, and development as the production phase in which the design specifications are actualized. However, the word development has a broader meaning when used in connection to research. The focus now includes comprehensive evaluation, as well as planning and development of the instructional materials.
Developmental research may address formative, summative and confirmative evaluation. The next step beyond utilization & maintenance would be impact, the follow-up analysis of the effects of an instructional product or program on the organization or the learner. This type of research typically falls within the scope of traditional evaluation research. The term developmental research emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. This is the same time as the field of instructional technology was emerging from the convergence of audiovisual education and instructional psychology. The distinction between doing and studying design and development provide further clarification of developmental research activities. These distinctions can be described in terms of examining the focus, techniques, and tools of developmental research. Developmental research has particular emphases that vary in terms of the extent to which the conclusions are generalizable or contextually specific. The most straightforward developmental research attempts to produce models and principles that guide the design, development, and evaluation processes. As such, doing development and studying development are two different enterprises.
Two types developmental research: Type 1 and Type 2
Type 1: Emphasis: Study of specific product or program design, development, and/or evaluation projects. Product: Lessons learned from developing specific products and analyzing the conditions that facilitate their use. Context-specific conclusions

Developmental research Does Not include: instructional psychology studies, media or delivery system comparison or impact studies, message design and communication studies, policy analysis or formation studies and research on the profession.

A developmental research project may include several distinct stages, each of which involves reporting and analyzing a data set. Merely conducting a comprehensive design and development project does not constitute conducting a developmental research project even using its most narrow Type 1 definition. One must also include the analysis and reporting sage to warrant being classified as developmental research.

Developmental research may also include a number of component parts. Substudies may be conducted to analyze and define the instructional problem, to specify the content, or to determne instrument reliability and validity…to provide a formative evaluation, a summative evaluation or a follow-up evaluation. Thus developmental reports are often quite long.

Type 1: Emphasis: Study of specific product or program design, development, and/or evaluation projects. Product: Lessons learned from developing specific products and analyzing the conditions that facilitate their use. Context-specific conclusions

Type 2: Study of design, development, or evaluation processes, tools or models. Product: New design, development, and evaluation procedures and/or models, and conditions that facilitate their use. Generalized conclusions.

Type 1:
Some Type 1 developmental studies reflect traditional evaluation orientations in which the development process is not addressed, and only the product or program evaluation is described. The results are typically context and product specific, even though the implications for similar situations may be discussed.
Example: O’Quin, Kinsey and eery’s (1987) report on evaluation of a micrcomputer traiing workshop for college personnel.
Type 1 research studies originate with the design and development of an instructional product or program. This is the crux of Type 1 research.
Petry and Edward’s (1984) description of systematic design, development and evaluation of a university applied phonetics course. They described the application of a particular ISD model as well as the use of elaboration theory in content sequencing. It also addresses production of course materials, as well as the results of an evaluation of student performance and attitudes in the revised course. Studies that do not include the entire design, development and evaluation process emphasize a particular phase of ISD such as needs assessment or formative evaluation. Other type 1 developmental research projects foucs on the production aspect of the ISD approach. These studies often concentrate on the development of technology-based instruction. The describe the authoring procedures so specifically that one could replicate the innovative development processes. Type 1 developmental studies demonstrate the range of design and development procedures currently available to practicioners. Commonly they include an evaluation of the products, programs created, including an examination of the changes in learners who had interacted with the newly developed products.

Research Methodologies employed in Type 1 developmental research:
Case studies: The manner in which case study techniques are used varies widely in developmental research…the case study is seen as a way in which one can explore or describe complex situations, which consist of a myriad of critical contextual variables.
If trying to establish causal relationships, rather than simply providing detailed descriptions, you need a quantitative orientation to your developmental case study. Which becomes mixed methods…
Mixed Methods
Example: Plummer, Gillis, Legree and Sanders (1992) develop job aid and evaluate effectiveness of job aid. 3 instructional situations compared…job aid alone, job aid with demonstration and technical manual with demonstration.
Evaluation methods
Learner surveys, achievement tests, performance measures are often used to collect data.
Sullivan, Ice and Niedermeyer (2000) field-tested a k-12 energy education curriculum by implementing attitude surveys and achievement tests.

Conclusions from Type 1
Contextual Specific Conclusions include:
Suggested improvements in the product or program
The conditions that promote successful use of the product or program
The impact of the particular product or program
The conditions that are conducive to efficient design, development, and/or evaluation of the instructional product or program

See this article…
Type 1 developmental research:


Type 2
Type 2: Study of design, development, or evaluation processes, tools or models. Product: New design, development, and evaluation procedures and/or models, and conditions that facilitate their use. Generalized conclusions.
This Type 2 of developmental study is oriented toward a general analysis of design, development, or evaluation processes, addressed either as a whole or in terms of a particular component. Type 2 research may draw its population either from one target project or from a variety of design and development environments. Typically, conclusions from Type 2 developmental research are generalized, even though there are instances of context-specific conclusions in the literature. Driscoll (1991) calls this type of study Model development and technique development research.
Van de Akker calls them “reconstructive studies (1999)
Examples: Tracey (2002) study is an example of a global design orientation. She constructed and validated an instructional systems design model that incorporated Gardner’s notion of multiple intelligences. Taylor and Ellis’ (1991) study evaluated the use of instructional systems design in the Navy. Jonassen’s (1988) case study using needs assessment data in the development of a university program focuses on only one phase of the design/development/evaluation process.
Ultimate objective of Type 2 research is production of knowledge, often in the form of a new or an enhanced design or development model. This research tends to emphasize:


The key difference between type 1 and type 2 studies that focus on a particular aspect of the total process is that goals of type 2 studies tend to be more generalized, striving to enhance the ultimate models employed in these procedures. Type 1 research, on the other hand is more confined to the analysis of a give project. Type 2 research spans the entire range of design and development process components from needs assessment (Crowell, 2000) to evaluation (Phillips, 2000). Also there are type 2 studies that address design processes in a more generic fashion.

Research methodologies in Type 2:
Experimental and Quasi-experimental designs and qualitative designs (some case studies, but not nearly as many as Type 1)
Experimental and Quasi-experimental:

Surveys are often used in Type 2 studies as a means of gathering data from designers in a variety of settings.
Qualitative research methods are often employed in Type 2 research. Sturctured interviews to gather data from instructional designers.

Conclusions in Type 2 research:
Type 2 studies are ultimately directed toward general principles, which are applicable in a wide range of design and development projects. Type 2 conclusions pertain to a technique or model as opposed to a product or program. Issues addressed in these conclusions:

It is not uncommon for a given Type 2 study to generate more than one type of conclusion.

Tessemer et al (1999) described a theoretical and procedural model for conducting a type of needs assessment called needs reassessment…called their model CODE (criticality, opportunity, difficulty, emphasis)
Jones and Richey (2000) indepth examination of use of rapid prototyping methods in two instructional design projects in natural work settings.

Characteristics of Type 2 studies include:

Defining the research problem:
Is the problem common to many designers and developers? Is it one that is currently critical to the profession? Does the problem reflect realistic constraints and conditions typically faced by designers? Does the problem pertain to cutting-edge technologies and processes?
Focusing the Problem:
Give your problem a developmental twist. Focus the research problem on a specific aspect of the design, development or evaluation process, as opposed to focusing on a particular variable that impacts learning or perhaps the impact of a type of media.
Type 1 developmental studies focus upon a given instructional product, program, process or tool They reflect an interest to identify either general development principles or situation specific recommendations. These studies may ultimately validate a particular design or development technique or too.
Type 2 developmental studies focus on a given design, development or evaluation model or process. They may involve constructing and validating unique design models and processes as well as the evaluation of the instruction. If so, will formative summative and confirmative evaluation be addressed? Will the revision and retesting be addressed?
Developmental studies often are structured in phases.
Framing the Problem:
Research questions rather than hypotheses, commonly serve as the organizing framework for developmental studies. Research questions are more appropriate for qualitative research, a common developmental methodology.
Identifying Limitations:
Developmental is often context specific. Limitations and unique conditions may affect the study and the ability to generalize the conclusions of the study.
Review of literature:
Establishes the conceptual foundations of the study. Addresses topics such as
Procedural models that might be appropriate for the task at hand; characteristics of siilar effective instructional products, programs or delivery systems; factors that have impacted the use of the target development processes in other situations; and factors impacting the implementation and management of the target instructional product, program or delivery system in other situations.
In type 2 studies lit reviews may address topics such as

The methodology is often addressed in the lit review. In all developmental studies, The lit review must focus on the foundational theory of the project, even though the link may be indirect.

Research Procedures:
Often it occurs in natural work environments. This enhances the credibility of the research, as well as creates methodological dilemmas for the researcher…whether the research is conducted during the design and development process or retrospectively the best research pertains to the actual projects, rather than simulated or idealized projects. The “real-life” aspects of developmental research may reflect why this type of research takes more time than other types of research. There are often more changes in one’s research plans and procedures as a result of unanticipated events than is typical in other types of research. Detailed procedures and timelines are most important.
Participants. Multiple types of participants: designers, developers, and evaluators; clients; instructors and/or program facilitators; organizations; design and development researchers and theorists; and learners and other types of users.

Research Design:
Often developmental research projects utilize multiple research methodologies and designs, with different designs being used for different phases of the project.

A common situation that is potentially problematic is when the researcher is also a participant in the study, such as when the researcher is also the designer or developer. Care must be taken to ensure objectivity through consistent, systematic data collection techniques and the collection of corroborating data if possible. Often structured logs and diaries completed by several project participants according to a regularly established schedule creates a structure that facilitates the generation of reliable and comparable data. Maintaining the recall data can be problematic. Many studies rely on self-reports of past projects. Others use structured interviews of participants. Using previously prepared documents or data from others involved in the same project facilitates a triangulation process to validate the data collected.

d Typical types of data collected:
…
including documentation of the target populations and the implementation context and measures of learning transfer and the impact of the intervention on the organization.

Data analysis and synthesis are not unlike other research projects..Descriptive data presentations and qualitative data analyses, traditional quantitative analyses.
Reporting developmental data is problematic…massive amounts of data especially with Type 1 studies makes reporting difficult…even for a dissertation appendix.
Some studies use Web sites as data repositories.

Recent innovative developmental research
Constructivist influences are evident in the emphasis on the role of context in design…examining the social and collaborative nature of learning and in the development of new approaches to instruction such as anchored instruction or case-based instruction. Research addressed include areas such as designer decision making, knowledge acquisition tools, and the use of automated development tools.

Trends in Research on Design and designer decision making
The theoretical basis for most studies of design comes from the literature on human problem solving, where Simon (1981) suggests an all encompassing view of design that incorporates nearly any kind of planning activity.
An alternative theoreticaql orientation views design as an experiential, constructive process where an individual designer shapes the problem and solution through cyceles of situated action and reflection (Suchman, 1987). In this sense, design problems are constructed by the designer through a process of “dialogue” with the situation in which the designer engages in metaphorical processes that relate the current design state to the repertoire of objects/solutions known by the designer. Design typically flows through four major stages: naming (where designers identify the main issues in the problem) framing (establishing the parameters of the problem), moving (taking an experimental design action) and reflecting (evaluating and criticizing the move and the frame). Schon (1983, 1985, 1987) has noted that the designers reflect on moves in three ways: by judging the desirablitiy and consequences of the move, by examing the implications of the move in terms of conformity or violation of earlier moves, and by understanding new problems or potentials the move has created. In part, this involves “seeing” the current situation in a new way (Rowland, 1993). As a designer moves through the design process, the situation talks back to the designer and causes a reframing of the problem. Very cyclical nature…design thinking naturally benefits from reflection in action, and designers often maintain sketchbooks and diaries to support reflection (Cheng, 2000, Webster, 2001). Theses and other aspects of reflection assume that a designer possesses a willingness to be thoughtful and reflective is able to understand the context in which assumptions and actions are formed and is willing to explore alternatives and be exposed to interpretive considerations through dialogue with others (Moallem, 1998). Designer is engaged in learning as well as design, because the designer’s personal knowledge structures are altered by the information present in the design environment (McAleese, 1988). From a social view, design is a collaborative activity where conversation, argumentation and persuasion are used to achieve consensus apbout perspectives and actions that might be taken to solve the design problem (Bucciarelli, 2001), Lave & Wenger, 1991; Stumpf & McDonnell, 1999).

See page 1118….for more details

The instructional Design Task Environment: What makes design a special form of problem solving is the nature of design problems. Ill defined problems ….
Design thinking and instructional design…studies of the cognitive processes of designers in domains other than instructional design indicate that the design process is iterative and cyclical with 2 distinct categories of designer behavior: problem structuring and problem solving (Akin, Chen, Dave & Pithavadian, 1986).
Role of knowledge in the design process: The success of the designer’s problem-solving processes is directly related to the designer’s experience and knowledge in the design task environment. Well organized knowledge base for instructional design is crucial to the process. Recent studies suggest that complex case studies grounded in real-world, ill-defined problems are effective in developing the kind of knowledge and expertise necessary to be an effective instructional designer.
Designer decision-Making Studies: Typically Type 2 and has te ultimate goal of understanding the design process and at ties, producig design models that more closely match actual design activity. Population of the studies are naturally designers, not learners…novice or experts
Effort to identify the impact of various design environments is a common secondary objective…more qualitative in nature, although survey methods are not uncommon.
Trends in research on automated instructional design and development: The systematic instructional design and development procedures common to our field have been developed as a means to organize and control what is a very complicated engineering process. Even with systematic methods, the instructional design process can become very time-consuming and costly. Computer based tools have been designed to streamline the design and development of instruction.
Knowledge-based design tools are becoming common in many design professions as researchers strive to acquire and represent in computer systems the kinds of knowledge and reasoning necessary to interpret design problems, control design actions and produce design specification.
Design productivity tools based on expert system technology have been developed to aid instructional designers in making decisions about various aspects of instructional design. These toos function as intelligent “job aids.” Merrill (1987) was an early advocate for the development of authoring systems for computer-based instruction that provided guidance for the user throughout the design process. Question that remains unanswsered is will these systems be used by practicing instructional designers?

Interviewing in Qualitative Research

“We interview people to find out directly from them what we can’t know from observation.”


Types of interviews
Informal conversation
General interview guide
Standardized open-ended interview

Informal conversation
AKA unstructured interviewing, ethnographic interviewing
Spontaneous generation of questions in the natural flow of interaction
Maximum flexibility
Unstructured does not mean unfocused
Interviewer must “go with the flow”
Data collection varies
Some interviewers do not take notes, but write down what they learned later
Some take notes or even use a tape recorder.
Strengths: Flexibility, Spontaneity, Responsiveness to individual differences and situation changes
Weaknesses: Requires a great amount of time to collect systematic information, May be susceptible to interviewer effects, leading questions, biases, difficult to pull together and analyze data.
Formal Interviews
Outlining a set if issues that are to be explored with each respondent before the interview begins
Advantages:
Interviewer makes best use of limited time
Interviewing is more systematic and comprehensive
Can be flexible in the specificity of important issues and the extent to which it answers your questions
Standardized Open-ended
A set of questions carefully worded and arranged with the intention of taking each respondent though the same sequence and asking the same questions with essentially the same words
Standardized Open-ended
Strengths:
Same questions are asked
Can compensate fore variation in interviewing skills
Can establish priorities for interview
Used to compare answers to the same questions over a period of time
Makes data anaysis easier
Exact instrument is available for inspection
Can help overcome questions of legitimacy and credibility, limiations of the data can be known.
Weaknesses
Does not permit interviewer to pursue topics unanticipated
Reduces the extent individual differences and circumstances can be queried
Combination of approaches
Combining an interview guide with standardized with key questions offers flexibility in probing and determining when it is appropriate to explore certain subjects in greater depth or a new area
May use conversation

What types of questions to ask
Experience and behavior questions
Opinions and value questions
Feeling questions
Knowledge questions
Sensory questions
Background/demographic questions

Time frame questions
Can make questions different by asking about them as in the past or future
Sequencing questions
Start with non-controversial present behaviors, activities, and experiences,
Follow with opinions and feelings
Knowledge and skill questions need a context
Ask about present, then ask about the same in the past, then possibly broach the future.
How to phrase questions:

Open ended questions never yes or no, questions you can get a significant response to
Horns of a dichotomy
Asking singular questions
Theme the wording used in asking questions can make a significant difference in the quality of the responses elicited.

Clarity of questions:
Ask singular questions
Learn special terms used by people in the setting of the interview
Understand the language participants use among themselves in talking about a setting, activities, or other aspects of life
Avoid using labels use the respondents own terms and clarify them in the interview
Theme use language that is understandable and part of the frame of reference of the person being interviewed

Why: Take care when asking why
Presuppose things happen for a reason that those reasons might or might not be shared

Rapport vs. Neutrality
Rapport is a stance about the person being interviewed (respect)
Neutrality is a stance about the content of what the person says.

Illustrative Examples
Letting the respondent know that you are not interested in the sensational just in the genuine experiences
Share examples from all sides to show that you’re heard it all
Must take caution to avoid leading questions

Role Playing and simulations
Provide a context for the questions to help the respondent hone in on relevant responses
Questions ask the respondent to become an observer

Presupposition Questions
Can increase the richness and depth of the responses
Bypasses an initial step of asking if a person has had such an experience

Prefatory statements and announcements
Alert the interviewee to what is about to be asked to direct awareness and focus attention and to give the respondent time to organize thoughts.

Probes and follow-up questions
Used to deepen the response, increase richness and depth and give clues about the level of depth of responses
Detailed oriented

Process feedback during the interview
Interviewer has a responsibility to communicate clearly what information is desired and why it is important and to let the interviewee know how the interview is progressing
Helpful to maintain the flow of the interview

Support and recognition responses
Common mistake is failing to provide reinforcement and feedback
Words of thanks, feedback and praise.

Maintaining control enhancing quality
Don’t want to jeopardize the quality of the interview
Know what you want to find out
Ask focused questions to get relevant answers
Listen attentively
Give appropriate verbal and nonverbal feedback…
The one shot quezstion
Sometimes things don’t work out as planned
This is the question you ask if you are only going to get a few minutes with the interviewee and it’s the most important question.
If I only had one question to ask what should it have been.
Final or closing questions

How to gather data
Recording the data
Explain the use of the tape recorder to the interviewee
Increase accuracy of the data
Permits the interviewer to be more attentive
Part of the interview is observing the respondent
When not possible to record, notes must be thorough and comprehensive.

Taking notes during the interview
Purpose
Helps to formulate new questions
Can stimulate early insights
Facilitates later analysis
Backup to recorder malfunction
Use key phrases and major points
Helps pace the interview

After the interview
Check the tape to make sure it was functioning properly. If not, make extensive notes immediately go over notes to avoid ambiguity or uncertainty
Check to see if there is a need for clarification or follow up
Record details about setting and observations about interview
Reflect on the quality of the interview data
Critical for reflection and elaboration

Special applications and issues
Think-aloud protocol interviewing
Aims to elicit the inner thoguths or cognitive processes that illuminate what’s going on in a person’s head during the performance of a task
Get people

Focus Group interviews
Interviewing a small group of people on a specific topic
6-10 people
similar background
1-2 hours in length
recognizes that many decisions are made in a social context
discussion though direct interaction among participants
additional comments can be made after one hears what another says
consider one’s views In the context of another.

Focus group interviews:
Advantages
Cost effect
Interactions among participants enhance quality of data
Quick assessment of consistency or diversity of views
Disadvantages/limitations
Umber of questions asked is restricted
Available response time is restrained for any particular individual
Facilitating requires considerable group process skills
Those in the minority ay not speak up
Works best with strangers
Controversial issues are poor topics
Confidentiality is hard to assure
Not good at identify subtle differences
Take place outside of natural setting.

Group interviews
Unstructured conversation interviews that are not focused on particular questions

Cross cultural interviewing
Layers of complexity
Language barriers

To be a good interviewer you must like doing it
Not all interviews are interesting and not all go well

Study notes Learning in the Field chapter 7

Interviewing observing and studying material culture are the primary ways to discover and learn in the field. Interviewing includes talking with participants both formally and informally. Observing includes formal structured noting of events, activities, and speech and participant observation. Gathering aspects of material culture includes artifacts and written material that may be available in or about the setting or about individuals. The ways of learning about phenomenon and setting are referred to as methods or techniques. Interviewing requires good observing skills. They go together in a qualitative study. Collecting data is not passive. Observations signal participants' emotions, attention and interest, authenticity and fatigue. Data is collected through observing, interviewing, and documenting material culture. Qualitative researchers capture and represent the richness, texture, and depth of what they study. Decisions about data gathering are reflected in the following questions: Is the project an evaluation, action research or a descriptive study? What are the researcher's assumptions about reality and knowledge claims? Is the work ethnography, a phenomenological study, or a sociolinguistic one? How do actions and reactions of participants shape what is possible, desirable, and ethical? Qualitative researchers decide how deeply or broadly to employ data-gathering techniques. Gathering data from a large number of participants yields information from many perspectives; this gives the study breadth. Focusing on a few participants in contrast encourages an in-depth understanding not possible with a larger sample. Prefigured techniques carefully specify interview questions or closely structure observations. The researcher can modify questions as they go through the project, but the questions should essentially remain the same as planned. Open-ended designs allow observations and interviews to be more holistic and exploratory than prefigured techniques. Ebb and Flow: A final decision is the mix of techniques. This mix too is forecast in the study's design and may change over the course of the research.
People see, hear, smell, taste, and touch as natural activities of every day life. What differentiates systematic qualitative inquiry from these everyday activities is purpose and discipline. Skills involved in gathering data are skills we use everyday: asking questions, listening looking, and reading. When employed in a research project, these sense-making activities are used more diligently and systematically. They are dictated by purpose and discipline. They are used to capture actions, words, and artifacts-data- so that they may scrutinize these data to learn about social phenomena.
During the data gathering, the researcher's challenge is to build a foundation for whatever findings or conclusions are drawn. If you claim to know something as a result of your research, data must exist to support those claims. In recording data, ask yourself the following questions: What do you observe and why? What questions do you ask and why? What changes in the preliminary design do you make and why? What preconceptions and prejudices are shaping your project? What problems do you encounter? How does your membership in particular social groups shape the research? Because qualitative inquiry happens in a natural environment, the discipline to document findings and procedures systematically and thoroughly is even more essential than in a laboratory or experiment. Data gathering is a deliberate, conscious, systematic process that details both the products-the data- and the processes of the research activities so that others may understand how the study was conducted and judge its adequacy, strength and ethics. You interview because you want to understand individual perspectives, to probe or clarify, to deepen understanding, to generate rich and descriptive data, to gather insights into participants thinking, and to learn more about the context. Deeper understandings develop through the dialogue of long, in-depth interviews, as interviewer and participants "coconstruct" meaning. Interviewing takes you into participants' worlds. Informal interviews are serendipitous. Occurring while you hang around a setting or as you are entering a home to conduct a more formal interview. These are casual conversations, incidental to social interactions. The interview guide approach is typically used in qualitative studies. The purpose of guided interviews is to elicit the participants' worldview. The researcher develops categories or topics to explore but remains open to pursuing topics that the participant brings up. The research poses open-ended questions followed by requests for elaboration; the participant responds with long narratives.
Phases of the interview: introduction-overview and purpose, informed consent, tape recording, ownership of content; Body of the interview- themes or topics, elaborations, transitions and summaries; Summary and closure-thanks, keeping the door open, review process for sharing transcript, next steps.
Standardized open-ended interviews are tightly prefigured having fixed questions that are asked of all participants in a particular order. Dialogic interviews are true conversations in which researcher and participant together develop a more complex understanding of the topic. There is authentic give and take in these interviews, mutual sharing of perspectives and understandings. Seen as conversation with a purpose, the interview yields a narrative. Both parties' social group identities either ease conversation or make it tricky.
Follow up questions allow you to ask for more detail, hoping to discover the deeper meaning of things or more concrete examples. The strength of an interview comes from the relevance of the interview questions and from your skill in asking follow-up questions. Open-ended elaborations provide more detail. Open-ended clarification allows for rephrasing and implying that more detail will help you to understand. Detailed elaborations provides information such as timing of events, interactions and roles, physical environment, locations, and people present.
Ethnographic researchers interview participants about culture, phenomenological researchers search to define lived experiences through dialogic interviews, and socio-communication researchers try to elicit speech events that are relevant to their topics of interest. Case study researchers seek a balance between the emic and etic perspectives. Elite and focus group interviews are also used. Ethnographic interviews are thematic or topical in structure. Phenomenological interviews assume that shared experiences have an effable structure and essence. Interviewing elicits people's stories about their lives. Interviews may be used as a means for exploring and gathering experiential narrative material. The interview may be used as a vehicle to develop a conversational relation with an interviewee about the meaning of an experience. Seidman calls for 3 Interviews: 1. the focused life history, 2. the details of experience and 3. reflection on meaning.
Socio-communications interviews are discourse analysis and semiotics. They rely on text as a major source of data, although sociolinguistics may gather data through interviews. Silverman distinguishes between text and interview data: Texts are data consisting of words and images that have become recorded without the intervention of a researcher whereas interviews frequently result in transcriptions, text, that has been produced through researcher intervention.
Observation: We observe to understand the context, to see tacit patterns, to see patterns people are unwilling to talk about, to provide direct personal experience and knowledge, to move beyond the selective perceptions of both researcher and participants. We should observe the social system: formal and/or informal patterns of interaction, ways people organize themselves, tacit rules in operation, recurring events, and down time; We also should observe activities and actions: full sequence of events, time sampling, rituals and ceremonies, crises, and unplanned activities. Writing field notes to record your observations in critical. It provides a written record. You should write descriptively and include where you observe, who was there and not there, what happened, when events happened and why events took place. You should also include specific and concrete details and use evocative adjectives, action verbs and avoid evaluative language. Be specific and then be even more specific. As soon as possible write up the raw field notes. Put your notes into the computer and elaborate on skimpy notes. Include thick, rich descriptions. You also study material culture. Material culture might include objects such as schoolwork or other types of documents. The analysis of do material culture is called content analysis.

Learning in the Field by Rossman and Rallis Chapter 7

Learning in the Field by Rossman and Rallis Chapter 6

Access is a continuous process of building relationships. Access is more than physical entry or obtaining permissions. The process of gaining access takes time and is an insightful process about your environment. You must make contacts (phone or letter), negotiate with gatekeepers, obtain “invitations” to participate, get oral and written permissions and build relationships.
Be Prepared: Know why you are in the setting. Be able to explain your presence. Be able to state your strategy. Be informed about all of the players involved in the setting.
Have a clear conceptual framework. The conceptual framework provides a focus and purpose, allows you to define your strategy, and provides a rationale for your research decision-making.
Your role and interactions will be defined by the context of your setting. Your strategy and the genre of research will also shape your role. Participation is a continuum that ranges from co-participation to immersion as a participant to isolation as an outside onlooker. Different degrees of participation either facilitate or hinder data collection. Immersion and co-participation enable the researcher to learn the specialized language and norms of the setting and are more likely to yield a deep emic understanding than simply standing around and watching people.
Portrayal of Your Role is important. Do you make your presence known? Will you quietly blend into the setting and hide your purpose and research persona? Will you be truthful, but vague?
Amount of time required for your research is shaped by the design. More involvement requires more time.
Negotiations are ongoing. Trusting relationships build trustworthy research reports. Clarifying your relationship as a researcher to your participants.
Define ownership of data at the beginning of the process and define who can review and edit a written report. Remember that reciprocity recognizes the need for mutual benefit in interactions. You obtain data and the participants “find something that makes their cooperation worthwhile.”
Build a good relationship with the gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are the people in your setting who control avenues of access. Sponsors, gatekeepers, and key sources of information determine, in part, the quality and quantity of data. Gatekeepers can make or break your study. Handle them gently.Find a common bond on which to build a sense of shared understanding