toler presentation iasummit2010

THINK LIKE AN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNERAPPLIED LEARNING THEORIES FOR INTERACTION DESIGN

Todd TolerDirector of User ExperienceJohn Wiley & Sons

IA Summit 2010April 9th

WWW.SOLIDSTATEUX.COM

Cognitive Load

ADVANCE ORGANIZER

Schema

SituatedLearning

Cognitive

Apprenticeship

Cognitive Flexibility

Case-based Reasoning



HEURISTIC LENSES

Definition of a Design Lens” A design lens allows you to view the user experience through the eyes of a single design principle. Lenses were originally created for game design but are just as powerful for user experience design.”

- Bill Scott, Theresa Neil, & Rochele King

www.designingwithlenses.com

What Inspired this Talk?


What Inspired this Talk?

Missed Opportunities

• We face instructional design challenges every day• Think of e-Learning as “everyday learning”• Designers are pattern driven, educators are theory driven


HOHO


EPISTEMOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

CONSTRUCTIVISM

OBJECTIVISMCOGNITIVISM

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

•KNOWLEDGE IS NEGOTIATED

•INFORMATION PROCESSING •KNOWLEDGE IS TRANSMITTED

COACHINGDISCOVERY

WORKED

John Dewey ”Education is not preparation for life. Education is life itself”

(1859 –1952)

”Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything.”

B.F. Skinner (1904 –1990)”Knowledge is a system of transformations that become progressively adequate”

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY


Theory Overview

• George Miller’s “Magic Number Seven”

• Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane types of load

• Mayer’s multi-media principles (e.g. spatial contiguity, temporal contiguity) Cognitivists argue that the brain has severe

limitations to working memory

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY - LEARNING FROM VISUALS


LEARNING FROM VISUALS (cont’d)


Cognitive Load

• Do visuals explain relationships and/or how cause/effect sequences work?

• Is animation and narration used carefully with text?

• Are corresponding words and pictures presented near one another?

HUERISTIC LENSES


SITUATED LEARNING THEORY


Theory Overview

• Also called “learning as social participation”

• Meaning is negotiated between learner and teacher

• Learning takes place in authentic contexts

• “Communities of Practice” & “Peripheral Participation”

The Real Housewives of Orange CountyJean Lave actually did her research with house wives in Irvine, CA – proving their math skills in the classroom were no match for their math skills when grocery shopping.

SITUATED LEARNING


Cognitive Load

Situated Learning

• Is material presented in an authentic context?

• Is social interaction and collaboration encouraged?

• Is material presented as tools that are used, not concepts that are read?

HUERISTIC LENSES


SCHEMA THEORY

Theory Overview

• Schemas are mental representations of an associated set of perceptions, ideas, and/or action

• XML for the brain• When new info finds an

associated schema – it speeds the consolidation of memory in the neo-cortex


You don’t really need to understand these diagrams to make use of it!

You don’t really need to understand these diagrams to make use of it!

SCHEMA THEORY: ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE


Schema Theory

• Do you draw upon information that is likely to be familiar to learners?

• Is material contextualized with analogies and background events (for “gist” and “theme”?)

• Have you developed a sense of “situational intent” (via benefits, outcomes, applications, examples?)

HUERISTIC LENSES


COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP THEORY

Theory Overview

• Modeled on “out-of-school” learning

• Involves increasing amounts of independent practice under observation

• Emphasis on methods (modeling, coaching, scaffolding, fading, articulation)

• Emphasis on sequence (global before local, increasing complexity, increasing diversity)

• “Distributed expertise”


The reciprocal teaching method in reading instruction is the most famous example of Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory in action.

COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP THEORY


Cognitive Apprencticeship• Is there expert modeling?

(particularly multiple mentors to learn from)

• Combination of scaffolding (adding help when needed) + fading (removing help gradually)

• Reflection on performance (e.g. replay and abstracted replay)

• Articulation (student demonstrations of expert performance)

• Exploration (relatively independent practice)

HUERISTIC LENSES


COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY THEORY

Theory Overview

• Power of the “hypertext” – cross-linking content for multiple interpretations

• Argues for complexity - wary of the “reductive bias”

• Higher order, inference based understanding

• Was developed with ill-structured domains in mind


KANE - short for "Knowledge Acquisition in Non-Linear Environments" was an interactive laser-disc based on the film Citizen Kane, circa 1992

COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY THEORY


Cognitive Flexibility

• Can content be broken into ‘mini-cases’ which fit into multiple themes?

• Can users ‘criss-cross’ the materials – same content, different contexts?

HUERISTIC LENSES


CASE-BASED REASONING THEORY

Theory Overview

• Learners generalize from cases, not from explicit procedural knowledge

• Induce their way to correct path by failing in the other ones

• “Expectation Failures”


…dreams of a “Reminding Machine” full of stories that revolve around goal conflicts, plans, counter plans, side effects of plans, and unexpected outcomes.

Roger Schank

CASE-BASED REASONING


Case-based Reasoning

• Can content be developed as a “set” of realistic, specific situations?

• Have you provided your user with a strategy for evaluating the cases?

• Are the cases written with a clearly articulated problem, question, or dilemma

• Do user have a safe place to test predictions, with feedback on incorrect paths?

HUERISTIC LENSES


HUERISTIC LENSESSituated LearningCognitive Load

• Do visuals explain relationships and/or how cause/effect sequences work?

• Is animation and narration used carefully with text?

• Are corresponding words and pictures presented near one another?

Schema Theory• Do you draw upon information

that is likely to be familiar to learners?

• Is material contextualized with analogies and background events (for “gist” and “theme”?)

• Have you developed a sense of “situational intent” (via benefits, outcomes, applications, examples?)

Cognitive FlexibilityCognitive Apprenticeship• Is there expert modeling?

(particularly multiple mentors to learn from)

• Combination of scaffolding (adding help when needed) + fading (removing help gradually)

• Reflection on performance (e.g. replay and abstracted replay)

• Articulation (student demonstrations of expert performance) & exploration (relatively independent practice)

Case-based Reasoning• Can content be developed as a

“set” of realistic, specific situations?

• Have you provided your user with a strategy for evaluating the cases?

• Are the cases written with a clearly articulated problem, question, or dilemma

• Do user have a safe place to test predictions, with feedback on incorrect paths?


• Is material presented in an authentic context?

• Is social interaction and collaboration encouraged?

• Is material presented as tools that are used, not concepts that are read?

• Can content be broken into ‘mini-cases’ which fit into multiple themes?

• Can users ‘criss-cross’ the materials – same content, different contexts?