An Examination Project
Submitted
by Mohammed Osman Mohammed
For the module LOO 800
2003
Introduction:
This article reports on constructivist learning event designed and presented to investigate establish how a problem-solving methodology works for my learners or any learners of the program at the future. Detail of this is how to solve problems of change photos with Adobe photoshop program, and which the exact tool makes exact change or wizard photos. There were four objectives three my lesson of photoshop:
- Identify the tools of Adobe Photoshop.
- Explain the functions of the tools.
- Use the tools for change photos to solve their problem, and give an example of how photos changed by the tools.
The lesson was presented to the group of the master degree of computer-integrated education (CIE) at The Sudan University of Science and Technology associated with University of Pretoria. The learners must become electronic learning designer.
The questions asked by the presenter of the lesson were:
- How we can solve problems of the learners to change photos?
- Which the exact tool to exact function of change?
- How to make a good example of photo change?
Background:
Sudan is a developing country like all countries in the third world, bundled with a variety of problems. These problems originate from the diversified culture of Sudan, the inherited economic problems, lack of basic services beside the conflicts within the political parties. All these problems map the features of life in Sudan within which education is largely affected especially during the last two decades. However, the coming winds of change in the area of information technology ‘IT’ may help in adopting of new technologies that put developing in the right track, thus by such program of CIE, it is possible to adopt new skills and aptitudes for the welfare of all.
The prioritization should be given to education. The current education perspective needs to be favored with problem solving techniques in such a way that it must not be far away from our urgent education needs. Therefore, answers to frequently asked questions emerge to policy makers and subject matter people as well. For this I think our program in the Sudan University of Science and Technology (CIE) is the first step to solve educational problems associated with the environments of learning. The program has a good condition of learning in the future for open-ended environment, telecommunications, hypermedia and hypertext, learning through the Internet, Open University…My idea is through the program of (CIE) we can solve big side of our country problems, which need from the (CIE) group hard work.
I think that as we are learners in (CIE) program, which we will become electronic learning designers, for this we want to know some programs of designing software in the computer, so my idea was how to help my group about designing software. I think Adobe photoshop program is a good one to achieve my objectives. It is our first step to solve our country problems.
Research perspective:
Duchastel (1): Suggest about learning theory and pluralism “Theoretical integration should currently be our prime challenge in instructional design. Pluralism may well be a mistake of grand proportion.” For this the learning events will “Incoherence of goals in education starts everything off on the wrong foot it is imperative to refrain from goal-setting, which is a main muddling factor of Instruction, at its core, is an intentional effort to influence” describe the role of learning theory in motivation “Motivation is essential to consider in instructional design in order to eliminate it from instruction.”
Ian Heart (2): Writing about “real –life problems of the classroom eco-system. It is like opening the black box” suggest to make photographing during the learning event “-photographing the whirwind- when the characterized the positivist approach to the study of learning as similar to examining the effects of a tornado by taking photographs before and after the event”
ID2 (3): the learning event being acquisition “verified learning strategies into instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing” suggest the individual learning “the change in cognitive structure, the acquisition of knowledge and skill is an individual event”
Merrill (4): introduce component methods “a methodology for representing knowledge in the form of knowledge objects and elements (slots) of knowledge objects” describe the main questions of each event “What to teach? And how to teach? From this find the role of learners “Learners have an explanation of each step in the procedure that identifies what happened and why it happened, their ability to retain the procedural.”
MIT (5): suggest new tools of learning such as “tools to think with- change in real-world settings, such as schools, museums, and under-served communities, observing and measuring, but also through designing and building” teachers motivate their event by “Constructionism asserts that people learn with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful artifacts (such as computer programs, animations, or robots”
Oliver (6): writing about reasons for doing research “It is the reasons why we do research rather than the way in which we do research that I think leads to the problems of social relevance” which make “issues have significant impact on what research is done and how it is done” to explain “Measures of research relevance and value must be made from the viewpoint of the target audience”
Reeves (7): event of learning can be “ Social relevance with respect to scientific inquiry Science is an ideology that consists of a cognitive structure concerning the nature of reality together with processes of inquiry, verification, and peer review” that can make a great “respect to how learning and performance are influenced, supported, or perhaps even caused by technology.
Reigeluth (8): talks about issue of educational technology “paradigm of instructional theory as focusing on customized learning that fosters learner empowerment, initiative, and responsibility, as well as teamwork, thinking skills, metacognitive skills, and diversity” this which can “building higher-order thinking skills, developing metacognitive skills, designing problem-based and interdisciplinary or thematic learning environments
Wilkinson (9): mention the role of “creativity is a synthesis; where a solution is drawn out of an analysis of audience, content, objectives, goals, client, etc., that may be limited by budget, delivery mechanism, political considerations, experience, brain-storming sessions” so if we make a good steps of learning with analysis of “experience designers seem to use different parts of a model at the same time, obviously ideas about the development of a program or course occur during analysis.”
Literature survey:
Gagne (10):
Gagne’s principle contributions:
(1) Placed emphasis on the psychology of learning in instructional design,
(2) Saw learning as categorized in terms of learning outcome or knowledge type,
(3) Saw the acquisition of different outcome categories as requiring different internal and instructional processes,
(4) Represented learning outcomes in terms of their component parts arranged in a predictable prerequisite relationship,
(5) Identified routine instructional steps that stimulate the various stages of the learning process. “
Gagné suggests nine universal steps of instruction:
1.Gain attention e.g. present a good problem, a new situation, use a multimedia advertizement.
2.Describe the goal: e.g. describe the goal of a lesson (task...), state what students will be able to accomplish and how they will be able to use the knowledge, give a demonstration if appropriate.
3.Stimulate recall of prior knowledge e.g. remind the student of prior knowledge relevant to the current lesson (facts, rules, procedures or skills). Show how knowledge is connected, provide the student with a framework that helps learning and remembering. Tests can be included
. 5.Present the material to be learned e.g. text, graphics, simulations, figures, pictures, sound, etc. e.g. follow a consistent presentation style, chunking of information (avoid memory overload, recall information)
6.Provide guidance for learning e.g. presentation of content is different from instructions on how to learn. Should be simpler and easier that content. Use of different channel.
7.Elicit performance "practice", let the learner do something with the newly acquired behavior, practice skills or apply knowledge
8.Provide informative feedback show correctness of the trainee's response, analyze learner's behavior (or let him do it), maybe present a good (step-by-step) solution of the problem
9.Assess performance test, if the lesson has been learned. Also give sometimes-general progress information”
“Cognitivism offers explanations of the brain's thinking processes. Critics of Cognitivism strategies claim that Cognitivism instructional strategies necessitate that the learner perform generic tasks that involve impersonal, sometimes inauthentic forms of communicate ion that do not transfer into "real life" situations Constructivism is an emerging school of thought growing out of Cognitivism that pays specific attention to these issues.”
Bloom
(11):
“Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings.
(1) Knowledge: Observation and recall of information. Knowledge of dates, events, places. Knowledge of major ideas. Mastery of subject matter.
Question Cues:
list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine,
tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.
(2) Comprehension: Understanding information. Grasp meaning. Translate knowledge into new context. Interpret facts, compare, and contrast. Order, group, and infer causes. Predict consequences.
Question Cues:
summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish,
estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend
(3) Application: Use information. Use methods, concepts, and theories in new situations. Solve problems using required skills or knowledge
Questions
Cues:
apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine,
modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover
(4) Analysis: Seeing patterns. Organization of parts. Recognition of hidden meanings. Identification of components.
Question
Cues:
analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare,
select, explain, infer. Impact on transfer of training
(5) Synthesis: Use old ideas to create new ones. Generalize from given facts. Relate knowledge from several areas. Predict, draw conclusions.
Question
Cues:
combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design,
invent, what if? Compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite
(6) Evaluation: Compare and discriminate between ideas. Assess value of theories, presentations. Make choices based on reasoned argument. Verify value of evidence. Recognize subjectivity.
Question
Cues
assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge,
explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, summarize”
Malone
(12):
“The purpose of this study is to develop, based on observations of students' work, a set of research questions that will help us understand how students learn in a particular technology-rich environment, one using a computer. What is the role of the instructor in this environment? What types of behavior and thinking processes are students engaged in as they work together in front of the computer? What is the importance of self-monitoring and met cognition in computer-based instruction? And what opportunities and obstacles are raised by the technology itself?” “Technology is a fact of life for our students
Learning from the constructivist perspective is seen as a "self-regulated process of resolving inner cognitive conflicts that often become apparent through concrete experience, collaborative discourse, and reflection. Understanding for them. Constructivist approaches to learning attempt to engage students in solving meaningful problems using real world data. Discussions purpose is to develop an understanding of how students learn in technology-rich environments
Keller (13):
There are four steps in the instructional design process - Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS):
o Attention:
Perceptual arousal - uses surprise or uncertainly to gain
interest. Uses novel, surprising, incongruous, and uncertain events. Inquiry arousal - stimulates
curiosity by posing challenging questions or problems to be solved.
o Relevance: Emphasize relevance within the instruction to increase motivation by using concrete language and examples with which the learners are familiar.
o Confidence: Allow the learners to succeed! However, present a degree of challenge that provides meaningful success
o
Satisfaction: Provide
opportunities to use newly acquired knowledge or skill in a real or simulated
setting.
Von Glaserfeld (14):
Writing to describe of the theory of Piaget about the constructivism and knowledge “Constructivism has become fashionable, especially in the educational domain.” “Philosophers considered knowledge as a static entity” so Physical concepts “ are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world.” For this idea “Piaget was the first methodically to employ this notion in psychology and to proceed on the assumption that our ideas are individual creations.” “The product of a thinking mind’s conceptualization.”
Jonassen (15):
Taylor (16):
Project description:
My learning event about Adobe photoshop program, and its outcomes were:
- Identify the tools of Adobe Photoshop.
- Explain the function of the tools.
- Use the tools for change photo to solve their problem.
4.
Give an example of how photo changed by the tools.
I had chosen my target population from my group of (CIE) program (12 student) at the Sudan University of Science and Technology, that for their needs of the program, because they will become electronic learning designers, so Adobe photoshop must be knows by the learners for their future works.
The learner’s activities in this learning even were: click, drag, move, draw, paint, select, and typing text. All this activities learners must do them by the mouse or keyboard. Also these activities will be their skills.
I prepared my learning even on constructivist follow the ten steps of instructional design of Gagne. And I follow the all levels of Bloom taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. And I select three of
Kirkpatrick levels: reaction, learning, and result.
In this lesson I make my learners free to chose their own manipulate photo individually or in two or three. This to investigate establishes how a problem-solving methodology works for my learners or any learners of the program at the future.
First: during the learners trying to open the program of adobe photoshop, I spend the first five-minute to make definition about the program of Adobe photoshop and advice the learner about the tools of it. Second in another five minute the learners trying to find a new photo to insert it in the program or open a new file, while the teacher make his observation and facilitate learners how to do this. Third in twenty minutes learners trying to change his/her photo, which was selected before, that by select some tools of Adobe photoshop, while the teacher check for accuracy and encourage learners there are many types of technical way to wizard or change photos. Fourth: in ten minutes teacher open the dissection and evaluated with his learners which work was good, which was bad, and why, also learners comparative their works to evaluated them. All the resources of the learning even by the computer with Adobe photoshop program.
During the presentation of the event of photoshop I record it with digital camera to record movie or photos, and after the lesson make an evaluations, and analysis of it.
Project methodology:
The socialist studies make all their research methodology by summative research, because of factors of social studies are systematic. The teacher definition emphasizes acquiring and assessing information rather than assessing worth or merit, because all research work involves collecting and setting through data, making judgments about the validity of the information and interface we drive from it, whether or not an assessment of worth or merit result. For this I make my research methodology as a summative method. To fix the objectives of my project.
Perspective:
In our work, we have adapted method according to an
analysis of it in terms of theory of inquiry. This inquiry as a cyclic process
in which the creative environments at a tool is followed by its testing through
application in a concentrate situation of use.
In this research I am following a qualitative and quantitative approach to following a blend of both. Qualitative approach measuring the state objectives of the program and have a good result, which make good findings, this from testing by learning the program to students, to establish how a problem-solving methodology works for learners or any learners of the Adobe photoshop program at the future.
Quantitative approach measuring the socio-economic status, psychological side of the students and have reaction in which students or teachers would we in the future.
Target population:
In the Sudan University of Science and Technology at college of education there are new master program associated with University of Pretoria from South Africa, which called Computer Integrated Education (CIE). I had chosen this group for my target population for my learning event, because I am one of this group and know our problem in designing software.
The target population contains the entire group of (CIE) they are (12) students. their details above:
Their age between (25-32). Their specializations: one from education art, two from technical education, two from French, three from mathematic, three from English, one from chemical.
Research matrix:
Instrument Question |
Observation |
Interview |
Expert review |
Questionnaire |
|
How we can solve problems of the learners to change photos? |
a |
|
a |
|
|
Which the exact tool to exact function of change? |
a |
|
a |
|
|
How to make a good example of photo change? |
a |
a |
a |
|
Observation:
It is effective instrument to gain the objective data, that because you breed the physical behavior of learner in natural their setting.
I used it because it provide with good information and correct one. And for what the learners do at the exact time in front of the teacher eyes.
Interview
Interview is oral information from the users back up in within frame and contedualize by the evaluator and analysis statically.
I used it before and after the event of learning of Adobe photoshop to gain more information about my students, and more about how they did their work.
Expert review
Expert review is written information collecting by the evaluator from the teachers after seen the program or the teachers whom teach or work with the program.
I select expert teachers in the subject area to give me their option and the contain of the program. I trust in their answers, because more of them have a good experience in this area.
Findings:
In this section the findings will be discussed in the sequence in which they answer the research question.
The most important results will be presented first, followed by other results that support or contradict the findings.
How we can solve problems of the learners to change photos?
The instrument that yielded the best information to answer this question was observation and expert review.
The findings are backed up by the following instrumens that yielded the following information.
It would seem then that by the observation and expert review (I have chosen three of the expert review from the college of fine and applied art) (2) of them seen learners must identify the tool of Adobe photoshop, (1) of them seen learners must explain the functions of tools to change photos.
Teacher identify every tools, It work well, but the time is not probably adequacy. For this step computers contribution to good work with every learner so it was effective learner to do their best.
Which the exact tool to exact function of change?
The instrument that yielded the best information to answer this question was observation and expert review.
The findings are backed up by the following instrumens that yielded the following information.
It would seem then that by the observation and expert review (2) of them seen learners must explain the function of tools, (1) of them seen learners must identify the tools, no one of them seen that learners must explain the image or filters from the menu bar.
Teacher and learner explain the function and role of every tool; it was worked well, but some of tool of the program not worked well, because the version of program is old (Adobe photoshop 4 or 6) or the installation was not completed, but no way we try to do our work in a good way. Computers contributions were not good in this step of the lesson.
How to make a good example of photo change?
The instrument that yielded the best information to answer this question was observation, expert review and interview.
The findings are backed up by the following instrumens that yielded the following information.
It would seem then that by observation, expert review, and interview for the learners. (5) Of learners seen that they firstly explain the basic of drawing and painting, (3) of them seen that they must identify the tools of Adobe photo, (2) seen that they must explain the functions of tools, (2) of hem seen they must make attempt and mistakes.
Learners try to change their own manipulate of photos, which
they chosen them before. They work hard to do this. Some of the learners work
individually, in pairs, or in-group. Contribution of computer effect learners
to do their work in good way, but the time of lesson not helps them to their
best work.
Figure 1Sample of learners work
by Adobe Photoshop
Learners
|
Original photo
|
Modify photo
|
Rania El-tahir
(Education French) |
|
|
Mohammed Tahir
(Technical Education) |
|
|
Conclusions:
When the above findings are considered the following conclusions can be made.
Identify the tools of Adobe photoshop.
Putting together the following findings and the following literature, it can be concluded that learners must identify the tools of Adobe photoshop (shapes & name). That’s to explain identifications of tools to avoid their problems or mixing tool in name and shapes.
This step gone successfully, because teacher and learners explain in good way definitions of every tool in (shapes and names) practically in the computer. Contribution of this successful at this step of lesson makes learner and teacher explain every tool in shape and name.
Explain the function of tools of Adobe photoshop.
Putting together the following findings and the following literature, it can be concluded that learners must explain the function of every tool individually, that’s to explain the role of tools in change photos, and what exact function of tool make exact role to wizard photos.
This step gone successfully, because the teacher makes papers include the names, shape, sand, functions of every tool for the learners before the lesson. But some of tools not work, Contributions of successful and fail make learner learn from their mistake. So in the future they will do best.
Explain the basic of drawing and painting.
Putting together the following findings and the following literature, it can be concluded that learner must have some capabilities in basic of design or drawing before they learn how to change photos in computer by Adobe photoshop or any program for designing, drawing, change photos, make movie, or make video. Because they will be designers of software, and this first step in designing it. For making good based in this topic.
This step was successful not yet, because some of learners not know about design or drawing, that for specialist in the college of education. Contribution of failure in this step teaches us we must know more about basic of drawing and designing.
Recommendations:
Based the table below shows the recommendations that arise from the conclusions above.
From the table we can see that the most important conclusions relate to observation and expert review
Conclusion
|
Recommendation
|
|
Identify the tools of Adobe photoshop. |
|
|
Explain the function of tools of Adobe photoshop. |
|
|
Explain the basic of drawing and painting. |
|
From the above table it can be seen that the most important conclusions relate to observation, interview (dissections) and expert review
References:
(1) Duchastel, P. (1998) Prolegomena to a Theory of Instructional Design. IT Forum Paper # 27. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper27/paper27.html
(2) Heart, I. (1997) Between the Idea and the Reality... The Case for Qualitative Research I T Forum Paper # 20 http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper20/paper20.html
(3) ID2 Research Group (1996) Reclaiming the Discipline of Instructional Design. I T F Forum Discussion http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/extra2/extra2.html
(4) Merrill, M.D. (1997) Instructional Transaction Theory (ITT): Instructional Design Based on Knowledge Objects. I T Forum Paper # 22. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper22/paper22a.html
(5) MIT Epistemology and
Learning Group (1997). Themes. Available online:
http://el.www.media.mit.edu/
(6) Oliver, R. (1995) What Leads the Research in Computer-Based
Learning: Research Questions, Methodologies, or...? I T Forum Paper #6 http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper6/paper6.html
(7) Reeves, T.C. (1995) Questioning the Questions of Instructional Technology Research. I T Forum Paper #5. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper5/paper5a.html
(8) Reigeluth, C.R. (1996) What Is the New Paradigm of Instructional Theory. I T Forum Paper #17. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper17/paper17.html
(9) Wilkinson, G.R. (Ed) (1997) What Kind of Thinking Is Instructional Design. An I T Forum Discussion. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/extra5/disc-ex5.html
(10) Robert M_ Gagne learning theory principlepphttp://www.ittheory.com/condit.htmppp.htm. Available on line: http://www.ittheory.com/gagnec.htm
http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/learner/smarks/constructivist-Gagne.htm
(11) Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York; Toronto: Longmans, Green. Available on: http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html
http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/bloom.html
(12) Malone. D and Bookman. J. The nature of learning interactive technological environments. A personal for research agenda based on crounded theory. Available on
http://www.math.duke.edu/education/ccp/materials/mvcalc/equiang/index.html
(13) Keller. J. Keller’s. ARCS Model of Motivational Design. Available on line: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/development.html#Keller
(14) Von Glaserfeld, E. (1997) Homage to Jean Piaget. Available: http://www.oikos.org/Piagethom.htm
(15) Jonassen, D. (1994) Technology as Cognitive Tools: Learners as Designers. I T Forum Paper #1. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper1/paper1.html
(16) Taylor, P. and Maor, D. (2000). Assessing the efficacy of online teaching with the Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey. In A. Herrmann and M.M. Kulski (Eds), Flexible Futures in Tertiary Teaching. Proceedings of the 9th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, 2-4 February 2000. Perth: Curtin University of Technology. http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/confs/tlf/tlf2000/taylor.html
(17) Alessi, S.M & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning method &development. Alyn &Bocon.
(18) Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1977) More evaluation training programs, acllection of articles from training and development journal. .