Fransca Wee U061622L
Currently in my final graduating semester.

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•January 2009 •February 2009 •April 2009

For week 5, it's lecture on Needs Assessement.

Needs assessment is needed when A: there is a problem, B: there's something new to be learnt, and C: when the organization wishes to or is required to engage evaluation of its learning/training program to see if goals and reality are congruent.

There are 3 steps in the Needs Assessment.
Step 1: Run through the 3-Face Model - Problem, Discrepancy, Innovation Model
Step 2: Analyze the goal - Discrepancy, Innovation
Step 3: Output of analysis or evaluate Step 1 and 2.


For the Problem-solving Model, just like what its term described, determine whether there is a problem, what is the cause of the problem, whether it can be solved by learning and whether instruction for desired performance/achievement goal is provided.

As for the Discrepancy Model, it basically determines whether they is a disparity between the goals and the performance/achievement.

Lastly for the Innovation-based Assessment, it calls for determining the nature of the innovation/change, the learning goals that comes along with the innovation, and whether the goals are appropriate.

In week 4, we learn about learning designs.

The term "learning design" is a representation of the learning experience to which students are exposed, as adapted from the reading "Describing ICT-bsed learning designs that promote quality learning outcomes".

Three elements of learning environement:

1. Tasks (represented by rectangle)
   
2. Resources (represented by triangle)
3. Supports (represented by circle)

There are four principles of learning design that support quality learning outcomes:

1. Learner engagement: Consideration of learner's prior knowledge, desires and expectation
2. Acknowledgment of the learning context: Consideration of implementation of learning design
3. Learner challenge: Active participation of learners
4. Provision of practice: Articulate and demonstrate what are they learning

The Jonassen (2000) framework describes learning as a range of activity or problem settings comprising 11 problem types. However, there is three discrete forms of learning within the 11, namely rule-based, incident-based and strategy-based forms. In addition to these three, the reading suggested the fourth type of learning design: role-based.

Rule-based:

• Primarily comprised of closed tasks whose completion requires the application of some form of rules, procedures or algorithms.
• Resouces: procedural and system descriptions
  
• Tasks: provide learners with opportunities to meaningfully and reflectively apply procedures and processes to specific closed, logical and bounded tasks.
  

Incident-based:

• The learning activity is based around learners' exposure to, and participation in, events or incidents of an authentic and real nature.
• Requires learners to reflect and take decisions about the action and events.
• Resources: rich descriptions and information about the incident and event upon which the learning is based.
• Supports: Integrated into into the learning environment - access to class meetings, tutorials, computer laboratories, online discussion, file storage, etc.
  

Strategy-based:

• Characterized by such activities as as complex and ill-defined tasks, decision-making tasks, some troubleshooting tasks, dianogsis solutions and strategic performance tasks.
• Learning is based around tasks that require strategic planning and activity.
• Resources: authentic resources that support multi-perspectives, expert judements, descriptions of theoretical underpinnings
• Support: teacher acting as coach/facilitator; collaborative learning tasks. Provision of meaningful opportunities and contexts for articulation and reflection.
  

Role-based:

• Learners acquire skills, knowlegde and understanding through the assumption of roles within real-life settings.
• Purposeful and directed preparation
• Learning achieved through leaners' participation as players and participants in a setting
• Learners apply judgements and make decisions based on understanding of the setting in real-time scenarios.
• Resouces: procedural descriptions, role definitions, resources to deine and guide roles, scenarios, topical content and cases.
• Support:Role of teacher as moderator/mentor. Provision of meaningful opportunities and contexts for articulation and reflection.

During tutorial, we had to do a version on the com, and my group did up one as shown in the previous post...

Learning design:

• Tasks are denoted by the SQUARE
• Resources are denoted by TRIANGLE
• Support mechanisms are denoted by CIRCLE.

This was our last tutorial activity.

Blogs read:
http://jadorebridget.wordpress.com/
http://32043204.blogspot.com/
http://nm3204learningjournal-goh.blogspot.com/

Commented on:
http://vannm3204.livejournal.com/

There were very few students who attended the lecture. Mr Alfred gave out twisties today during lecture :) Whee~ Thanks for the twisties :) But today's lecture was very muffled. Sadly, I couldn't hear clearly what was Mr Alfred talking about.

For this week's assignment, we've to blog about our reflections on three theories and on their application to the different types problems.

Well, for the first theory, "Behaviourism", it basically assumes that the learning process involves an organism and environment, in which the organism is being controlled and shaped by its environment. And so individuals react and respond differently according to the environment they are in. Dr. Stanton stated that behaviourism involves shaping the learner's behaviour to get the outcome that the educator wants to have happen and providing reinforcements. Taking we students taking NM3204 for example, it's undeniable that we are all blogging our reflections on what we've learnt during the course of this module because we are asked to do it as part of our assignments. And if we do not do it, we will not be given marks for learning journal. As on our lecturers and tutors' side, they probably want to make sure that we understand what is being taught during the course of this module and to ensure that happens, it would be to reinforce ways to make us read our weekly readings diligently. I would like to say that this is an effective way in making students read their readings because we as learners respond to reinforcements. Likewise, even working adults adhere to rules and regulations in their working environment, and fulfill their job requirements. Most jobs are performance-based, thus they are motivated to work harder towards their goal, incentives and promotion opportunities.

I personally feel that Behaviourism is most effective for rule-using problems. This is because behaviourism involves shaping the learner's behaviour to get the desired outcome. For instance, in order to use the GPS device to navigate the directions towards your destination, there are certain steps and procedures you have to adhere to so that the GPS will help you to arrive at your desired destination.

For the second theory, "Cognitivism", I would like to see it as an extension to "Behaviourism". Based on "Cognitivism" theory, individuals actively try to make sense of the environment and situation they are in with the help of past experiences. Henceforth, individuals tries to assimilate their current situation with the previous situations they have been through, and tries to use what they have acquired from their previous experiences to fit into the environment they are currently in. In relation to this theory, I would like to take my toddler cousin for an example. After the first time he was being caned for not doing something right, and experienced the pain from caning, he knew he couldn't run away from getting caned as his parents would catch up with him, he started hiding the canes secretly. From this, we can see that even children learn from experiences and adapt to the circumstances they are within.

As for Cognitivism, I feel that it is particularly useful for trouble-shooting problems. Everyone learn from experiences, thus when one encounter a similar issue that he/she has experienced before, he/she will reflect back upon that experience and use the appropiate knowledge he/she has gained during that experience to solve the issue. An example is when one's Internet connection is not working, he/she will try a way to connect to the Internet. E.g. Switch off and swich on the router, restart the computer.

Lastly, for the third theory, "Socioculturism", it emphasizes that learners learn through social interactions among learners. Here, it's no longer like the approach of "Behaviourism" and " Cognitivism". In "Socioculturalism", it shift the focus from an individual as a single unit in learning to a larger system that is involved in learning. In Cognitivism theory, it is more like a collaboration of representations contributed by different individuals and thus learners are able to develop and learn about more representations on a particular concept.

For this theory, I would think that it is the most effective theory to apply to issued-based and diagnosis problems. The perspectives and opinions of a group of individuals are more effective in solving an issue than based on just the perspective of an individual alone. This applies to when we do a project as a group rather than doing the project alone.

This is roughly what I've learnt from the three theories. Not too sure if I got them right. But I hope so.

My perspectives of e-learning was much narrower before I attended the lecture. I only thought of "e-learning" as a form of virtual learning, in replacement of learning at a physical classroom. When I first came across this module, I asked myself, "What "E-Learning" is exactly?" And IVLE was like the only form of e-learning I could thought of. However, I realised that there are several different definitions and perspectives of "e-learning". The different definitions of e-learning somehow tells me that e-learning actually emcompasses much more than I what I thought.

To be honest, i was taken aback by this module's workload. When I first learn about all the weekly assignments, the learning journal and project all stated, I felt kind of "frightened". But it's probably because it's the first week of school. I didn't expect the e-learning module to be so assignments-based. Initially, I thought this module would more or less focus on virtual-learning, in which there will be some lessons conducted over the web, or we would be taught some stuff over the Internet.

Anyway, I thought that the concept maps and timelines was an interesting way to help us to see and understand concepts in a bigger picture, as well as help us to connect to the readings. Although I still feel kind of lost in this first week of lecture, but I hope as the weeks goes by, I'll be able to grasp the concepts better.

This is my concept map of E-learning. Yes, it roughly sums up my perspectives of E-learning as a whole.