“Anchor Boots” and instructional design
Don’t you hate it when people drop clues and don’t tell you what you are supposed to know? Strange. People never want the answer to a mystery story in the first chapter.
I was talking about instructional design and suddenly I stuck in this short story written by a high school student. It was an assignment, of course. So I guess it derives from some kind of instructional design. And, come to think of it, writing a short story does connect with the general idea of self-directed learning. In this particular case, the student integrated the assignment with the topics of gravity and friction. I don’t think that was part of the assignment. More like self-direction.
Before I wandered off into fiction, I mentioned two implications for online instruction:
1. Design to guide toward self-directed learning.
2. Design for cafeteria-style instruction.
The assignment to write a story could be a way to guide toward self-directed learning. And it could be one of the steam trays in that cafeteria-style instruction. Not at all like learning a computer language, of course. But then, that’s the point, isn’t it. Computer languages are on a different tray.
The shadow across the face of this idyllic scene comes from that other criterion I mentioned: Self-directed learning requires prompt and objective measures of performance. These condition are hard to satisfy in the case of fiction. And doubly hard in the case of fiction drawing on an understanding of physics.
An approximation of these conditions might be available in group study. If students first discussed a scenario for a story, they would get prompt feedback from each other. But not objective? That depends on your viewpoint. If I read something you wrote and say I don’t understand it, that is a subjective evaluation from my viewpoint. But from your viewpoint, my reaction is an objective fact. As a writer, your only reasonable course of action is to find out why I failed to understand what you wrote and repair what you wrote.
For a look into group study, check: http://www.psy.tcu.edu/acr/collaboration.htm
In the context of online support, there are greater possibilities for group work. People no longer have to be in the same place. IM services by Yahoo and Microsoft will probably support audio meetings (now or soon). Or even video if needed. There are probably already online services that bring together high-school students with common interests in some academically relevant area. Such students could work together to produce stories, to publish a blog, or both.
I think I will look to see what is available now. Some entrepreneurs must have noticed this opportunity.
I was talking about instructional design and suddenly I stuck in this short story written by a high school student. It was an assignment, of course. So I guess it derives from some kind of instructional design. And, come to think of it, writing a short story does connect with the general idea of self-directed learning. In this particular case, the student integrated the assignment with the topics of gravity and friction. I don’t think that was part of the assignment. More like self-direction.
Before I wandered off into fiction, I mentioned two implications for online instruction:
1. Design to guide toward self-directed learning.
2. Design for cafeteria-style instruction.
The assignment to write a story could be a way to guide toward self-directed learning. And it could be one of the steam trays in that cafeteria-style instruction. Not at all like learning a computer language, of course. But then, that’s the point, isn’t it. Computer languages are on a different tray.
The shadow across the face of this idyllic scene comes from that other criterion I mentioned: Self-directed learning requires prompt and objective measures of performance. These condition are hard to satisfy in the case of fiction. And doubly hard in the case of fiction drawing on an understanding of physics.
An approximation of these conditions might be available in group study. If students first discussed a scenario for a story, they would get prompt feedback from each other. But not objective? That depends on your viewpoint. If I read something you wrote and say I don’t understand it, that is a subjective evaluation from my viewpoint. But from your viewpoint, my reaction is an objective fact. As a writer, your only reasonable course of action is to find out why I failed to understand what you wrote and repair what you wrote.
For a look into group study, check: http://www.psy.tcu.edu/acr/collaboration.htm
In the context of online support, there are greater possibilities for group work. People no longer have to be in the same place. IM services by Yahoo and Microsoft will probably support audio meetings (now or soon). Or even video if needed. There are probably already online services that bring together high-school students with common interests in some academically relevant area. Such students could work together to produce stories, to publish a blog, or both.
I think I will look to see what is available now. Some entrepreneurs must have noticed this opportunity.
posted by Selby Evans at 9:30 AM
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