The Design and Development of a Media Rich Learning Environment

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The Design and Development of a Media Rich Learning Environment: A Learners-as-Designers model Min Liu, Lucas Horton, Royce Kimmons, Michael Anderson, Jaejin Lee AND Jason Rosenblum The University of Texas at Austin USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Paul Toprac Southern Methodist University USA [email protected] Yin Li AND Woonhee Sung The University of Texas at Austin USA [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract. . To help students learn the critical thinking skills and the essential strategies for being engaged citizens in a technology- and media-suffused 21st century, digital technologies are often used to create enriched learning environments. Although learning problem-solving skills is typically deemed as important, acquiring skills needed to solve ill-structured problems proves to be especially challenging for young learners. In this presentation, we will discuss a media-rich learning environment that uses problem-based learning as its theoretical underpinning to support middle school students’ development of problem solving skills. We will also share our experience in using a learner-asdesigner approach as the development model for creating this environment.

The twenty-first century is a technology- and media-suffused environment. Critical thinking and problem solving, along with communication and teamwork, are identified as the most important skills needed in order to be effective citizens in the twenty-first century (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009). To help students learn the critical thinking skills and the essential strategies for being engaged citizens in the 21st century, digital technologies are often used to create enriched learning environments. Although learning problem-solving skills is typically deemed as important, acquiring skills needed to solve ill-structured problems proves to be especially challenging for young learners. In this presentation, we will discuss a media-rich learning environment that uses problem-based learning (PBL) as its theoretical underpinning to support middle school students’ development of problem solving skills. We will also share our experience in using a learners-as-designers approach as the development model for creating this environment.

Description of the Learning Environment

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The learning environment presented here is a technology-enriched problem-based-learning (PBL) program called Alien Rescue (Liu, Williams, & Pedersen, 2002). The goal of Alien Rescue is to engage sixth-grade students in solving a complex problem that requires them to gain specific knowledge about our solar system and the tools and procedures scientists use to study it. Alien Rescue begins with a video presentation that explains a group of six alien species, each with different characteristics, have traveled to Earth because their solar system has been destroyed. Students take on the role of scientists who are tasked with the mission of finding new homes that can support these aliens, thereby ensuring their survival. To accomplish this goal, students engage in a variety of problem-solving activities; these activities include researching the aliens’ requirements for life and analysing species specific factors such as habitable temperature ranges and the basic atmospheric composition needed for survival. To identify a suitable home for the aliens, students must discover critical scientific characteristics of the planets and moons in our solar system by querying provided databases and collecting direct observations using simulated probes. Students must also engage in planning and decision-making as they determine how to use the provided resources efficiently and then recommend an appropriate choice for relocating each alien species, supporting each choice with a justification. Critical aspects of the program design include an intentional lack of definitive outcomes and a range of locations with suitable characteristics for placing each of the six alien species. The program is designed as a science curriculum unit for approximately fifteen 45-minute class sessions, and more information about Alien Rescue can be found at http://alienrescue.edb.utexas.edu. Theoretical Underpinnings Alien Rescue is based on the theoretical principles of problem-based learning (PBL). PBL is an instructional approach that exemplifies authentic learning and emphasizes solving problems in richly contextualized settings. According to Howard Barrows (1996), PBL has the following main characteristics:

• • • • • •

Learning is student-centered as students assume a major responsibility for their own learning; Learning occurs in small groups; Teachers are facilitators or guides; Problems form the organizing focus and stimulus for learning; Problems, similar to those one would face in future professions, are a vehicle for the development of problem-solving skills New information is acquired through self-directed learning (p. 5-6).

Problem-based learning emphasizes the importance of active, self-directed learning from the learners and of everyday relevance of the problems under investigation (Schmidt, 1995). The aspect of anchoring learning in real world contexts in PBL has been found to provide opportunities for transferring knowledge and skills from the classroom to other settings more easily (Stepien, Gallagher, & Workman, 1993). PBL has been shown to result in better long-term content retention than lecture-based instruction and supports the development of problem-solving skills (Hmelo & Ferrari, 1997; Norman & Schmidt, 1992). The benefits of PBL, however, are accompanied by specific implementation challenges (Hoffman & Richie, 1997). Namely, complex student-centered learning environments necessary for PBL need scaffolds embedded within them to facilitate learning (Pellegrino, 2004). Technological tools often are designed to serve as these scaffolds, and when they are used in such learning environments, they are often referred to as cognitive tools. According to Jonassen (1996), cognitive tools are, “Computer-based tools and learning environments that have been adapted or developed to function as intellectual partners with the learner in order to engage and facilitate critical thinking and higher order learning” (p. 9). Cognitive tools are instruments that can enhance the cognitive powers of learners during their thinking, problem solving, and learning processes (Jonassen & Reeves, 1996; Pea, 1985; Salomon, Perkins, & Globerson, 1991). As such, cognitive tools should be of particular use in supporting students' accomplishment of complex cognitive tasks (Kozma, 1987).

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Media Rich Technology Scaffolds To support middle school students in solving the complex problem, Alien Rescue integrates a set of 14 cognitive tools in the environment. These cognitive tools are multimedia based, interactive, and highly engaging. According to Lajoie’s (1993) four conceptual categories, the tools may be categorized in terms of their primary function: Tools (a) share cognitive load, (b) support cognitive processes, (c) support cognitive activities that would otherwise be out of reach, and (d) support hypothesis generation and testing. First, in order to share cognitive load, the four databases (i.e., alien database, solar system database, mission database, and concept database) provide access to highly-organized information stores that contain textual, visual, and animated media. These databases are essential to students, because they provide information useful to begin the problem-solving process. Additionally, these tools can help learners manage their cognitive load by reducing memory burdens and by implementing useful knowledge structures in the ways the information is stored and accessed via program interfaces. As an example, a student wishing to obtain information on the Akona alien species could access the Alien Database and receive data on the alien’s appearance, habitat, diet, and behavior. Second, the notebook and notebook comparison tools are examples of tools that support cognitive processes. The key characteristic of these tools is that they serve to augment the learners’ existing problem-solving capabilities. To illustrate, the notebook tool assists the learner in organizing, storing, and retrieving information that can be used throughout the problem-solving processes. The notebook comparison tool allows students to compare information contained in multiple notebook entries and assists students in visualizing what critical information is still needed to solve the problem. Third, despite the data-richness of the database tools, the information they contain is not sufficient for the learners to completely justify a solution through their use alone. Probe design and probe launch centers are provided to support cognitive activities that would be out of reach otherwise. These tools support a very specific purpose within Alien Rescue by allowing the collection of additional data that are unavailable anywhere else within the program. Using the probe design and probe launch centers, learners are able to equip exploratory space probes with numerous measurement instruments such as thermometers, seismographs, and cameras and then direct those probes to collect data on specific worlds of interest. And fourth, the mission status center, solution form, and message tools allow hypothesis testing. The mission status center provides an interface for the learners to observe data that the probes have captured, and the solution form provides a space for the learners to generate and submit their completed solutions, while the message tool serves as a repository of text messages sent to the student during problem solving (see Table 1 and Figure 1). These cognitive tools are provided as a form of external representation, and the design of these cognitive tools can allow the elements of a problem to productively interact with one another and, hence, facilitate learners’ processing of the problem (Sweller & Chandler, 1994). Although these tools are provided and available at any time, the decision on which tool to use at what point of the problem-solving process is entirely up to the students. Table 1: . Descriptions of Fourteen Cognitive Tools Provided in Alien Rescue Tool Categories

Tool Functions

Tools sharing cognitive overload Alien Database

Provides information on the aliens'home worlds, their story, and their characteristics and habitat requirements.

Solar System Database

Provides limited information on the characteristics of selected worlds within the solar system.

Missions Database

Provides information on selected NASA missions.

Concepts Database

Provides instructional modules on various scientific

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concepts. Spectrograph

A tool that allows students to interpret spectrogram images found in the Alien Database.

Periodic Table

Allows students to look up information on the elements.

Spanish/English Glossary

Provides Spanish translations of selected English words found within the program.

Tools supporting cognitive process Notebook

Allows students to generate and store notes on their research findings.

Notebook Comparison Tool

Supports students in comparing information contained in multiple notebook entries.

Tools supporting otherwise out-of-reach activities Probe Design Center

Provides information on real scientific equipment used in both past and future probe missions. Students construct probes by deciding probe type, communication, power source, and instruments.

Launch Center

Provides an interface for launching probes. Students review the probes built in Probe Builder, and decide which probe(s) to actually launch considering the budget.

Tools supporting hypothesis testing

Mission Status Center

Allows students to view data retrieved by probes. Students must interpret this data in order to turn it into information that they can use in developing the solution. Malfunctions are possible, and poor planning can result in mission failure.

Message Tool

Serves as a repository of text messages sent to the student during problem solving.

Solution Form

Allows students to submit solutions and rationales for the problem.

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(a) Alien Database

(b) Taking notes while in Solar System Database

(c) Probe Design Room

(d) Communication center

Figure 1. Screen Shots Showing Some Cognitive Tools Provided In Alien Rescue.

A Learners-As-Designers Approach The Development Model Alien Rescue has been used by tens of thousands of middle school students in over ten states and four countries so far. It has been through three major iterations, and version four is currently under development. To create this media-rich PBL environment, a learners-as-designers approach is used as our development model. That is, Alien Rescue is created in a university setting, developed by graduate and undergraduate students who work under faculty supervision and who are interested in acquiring and developing further design, technical, and research skills while creating an engaging environment for younger learners. Development follows a four-phase, iterative process that is based upon development approaches used by practitioners in the field (Liu, Kishi, & Rhodes, 2007). The four phases are concept, design, development, and implementation, with the tasks of planning and evaluation integral to each phase performed iteratively (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Project development process. During the concept phase, the goals, objectives, and desired outcomes of project related tasks are articulated. During the design phase, the team elaborates on every aspect of the project: the artifacts to be produced,

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how they work, what they will look like, how they will behave, and how they will evolve based on the timetable. The team details how they are going to produce the artifacts and what the sixth graders will experience. The development phase occurs simultaneously with the design phase. The ideas formalized in the design phase are executed, and artifacts are produced. The pieces are organized and built into one coherent product according to the design plan. Active involvement of all team members is assumed as they continuously evaluate and fine-tune the design ideas and create pieces of the product that reflects the designs. Research is an integral part of the development of Alien Rescue in that current learning theories and research form the basis of Alien Rescue design. The implementation phase gives the development team an opportunity to test the research-based design assumptions and find out what works and what does not. The developers are often in the classrooms to observe the actual implementation and to gain firsthand experience of how teachers use the program and what students think about it. Feedback from students and teachers on learning, teaching, usability, and technology is an important source of lessons learned and drives revisions for future development. More on this feedback mechanism is discussed later. The tasks of planning, evaluation, and revision are ongoing and occur at each phase throughout the development process. At each milestone during the process, members of the team reflect on the project progress to date, assess and evaluate the process and outcomes, and make revisions and new plans based on the results. Ongoing planning, evaluation, and revision tasks allow a team to proactively recognize obstacles and make necessary just-intime modifications. The iterative and flexible nature of this development process is reflected in the practice of professional instructional designers (Liu, Jones, & Hemstreet, 1998) and is consistent with emerging trends in instructional design (Schoenfeld & Berge, 2004/2005). Key Characteristics of Our Development Model Learners-as-designers literature shows that with this approach the designers are given the opportunity to be creative and actively pursue their own intentional learning goals. They are given an opportunity to become an intellectual partner with the technology and to engage in a constructive learning process (Salomon, Perkins, & Globerson, 1991). The nature of a design and development project presents developers with an authentic challenge and requires them to tap into their diverse intelligences (e.g., artistic, logical, linguistic, musical) and talents to accomplish the task (Gardner, 1999). Developers are engaged in a variety of activities: brainstorming ideas, gathering data, researching information, writing, creating art works, programming, and evaluating. Literature has shown engaging students in these activities can help them develop many higher-order thinking skills (Carver, Lehrer, Connell & Erickson, 1992; Jonassen, 1994; Lehrer, 1993). In fact, sixteen major thinking skills have been identified as requirements of a designer. These thinking skills form five categories: (1) project management, (2) research, (3) organization and representation, (4) presentation, and (5) reflection (Carver, Lehrer, Connell, & Erickson, 1992). Each skill in these categories has its own place in the entire development process and is needed for producing a successful new media program. The development process, from the inception of an idea to the finished product, involves exercising these thinking skills. It is not only important to acquire the skills, but also to internalize them. In addition, designing a new media project offers a social context for students to work together in a team. Students assume different roles, whether he/she is a programmer, a graphic artist, a designer, or a manager, and they collaborate in completing the project. Such collaboration and group interaction provides a concrete and meaningful context for enhancing cognitive development through social negotiation. Using a learners-as-designers approach, our development model reflects the above discussed literature and has the following components: research-based and research-driven inquiry, iterative program design, flexible design goals, collaboration among students and faculty, peer mentoring, sensitivity to new technologies, and studentcentered learning. Research-Based and Research-Driven Inquiry There is a close alignment between design, research, and implementation. Research findings as a result of Alien Rescue' s implementation in the classrooms inform redesigns and new designs. For example, Alien Rescue 4, which is currently under development, is built upon several earlier iterations of Alien Rescue as designers apply

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research-based learning principles to the tool, experimentally adjust the tool to ask research questions, and incorporate research findings back into the evolving project. As new designers join the Alien Rescue project, they bring questions with them about instructional design and learning that are pertinent to the project. Instead of creating an entirely new product to answer their questions, the developers are able to build on the work of those who have come before them, to analyze the research-based decisions that have been made with regard to the design, and to branch off into experimental endeavors by subtly adding to or changing small components of this collaborative product. This approach allows Alien Rescue to engage and support multiple simultaneous research perspectives. Thus, the development model is both research-based, in that only changes which are tested through research to improve learning are incorporated into the core project, and is also research-driven, in that any changes which are made are done with the intent of researching their effects on learning. Iterative Program Design As shown in Figure 2, this development model is highly iterative. Student developers play a significant role in developing and testing these integrations, while at the same time developing more sophisticated design and development skills. Through continuous evaluation in authentic educational settings, the project offers a mechanism for feedback and subsequent improvement by the student developers, thus allowing them to develop strategies and approaches for the successful design and implementation of multimedia-enhanced, problem-based learning environments. The iterative approach also creates frequent opportunities for new lines of inquiry and the potential for students to influence the design of the program based on their research interests and goals. This approach serves to make the program accessible to developers and researchers with various levels of experience. Less experienced developers frequently find ways to contribute to a manageable portion of the project while familiarizing themselves with the program and the technology used to develop it. In this way, each iteration of the program brings opportunities to integrate new members to the development team, insuring momentum and continuity as student developers cycle on and off the project. Flexible Design Goals Since this model allows for design and development phases to occur simultaneously, it allows for, and even relies upon, continued iterations and oscillations between the two. As students fine-tune a design concept, they immediately begin to develop a prototype of the design. As they build this prototype, more design questions arise, which require them to revisit their design ideas in order to add to, modify, or re-conceive their plan. This new or modified plan, in turn, is translated into a new or revised prototype, and the cycle continues. Such an approach is noteworthy, because it lessens the gap in design understanding and technical understanding that often exists between designers and developers. While working in such a model, for instance, there is little concern that the design team is creating a vision of a tool that the development team cannot deliver, and, on the other hand, it is never the case that the development team creates a tool that deviates from the learningtheory-based principles held by the design team. By blurring this distinction between developer and designer, and by allowing for constant flexibility, the learners as designers team can effectively use design constraints and strategies to inform development and, simultaneously, allow development constraints and strategies to inform the design. Collaboration Among Students and Faculty Since this approach requires much more of learners than a typical approach to design might (in terms of project management skills, technical expertise, and research strategies), it requires students to share the work and skill load associated with these additional components through collaborative partnerships. All learners can participate in the design aspect of the project, but they are also required to use and develop additional skills for the good of the project team. For instance, in the current Alien Rescue 4 development team, all members are graduate students in instructional technology, and each brings specific skills (or talent) to the table and is also willing to develop new skills as needed in order to meet the needs of the project. As a result, some team members spend much of their time in one development environment (like Flex, Unity 3D, Flash, or CakePHP) or language (like Javascript, Actionscript, or PHP) while others may be focused elsewhere. Likewise, some members may assist the team by taking detailed notes of team meetings while others plan agendas, set up accounts, lead asynchronous discussions, and so forth. The faculty supervises the process and provides the direction, and at the same time is a co-learner and

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member of the team. More importantly, the faculty encourages and facilitates such an open learning community and views it as a training ground for future technology developers and educational researchers. In so doing, this development environment becomes highly collaborative, relevant, and student-driven, because it allows students step up to tasks that interest them or that are deemed necessary for the project. As a result, they are able to learn essential skills associated with the instructional design process in a more authentic environment. Peer Mentoring In light of the highly collaborative and skill-demanding nature of this approach, a peer mentoring component becomes essential to success. As an example, back-end PHP programming is a bedrock part of the Alien Rescue project and, as such, there is more programming to do than any one student can complete on his or her own. Additionally, few students from the team have sufficient experience in developing applications with this language to be successful without help. To address this need, students with more experience in PHP frameworks are able to mentor students with less experience so they can divide up the tasks in a feasible, productive way that capitalizes upon the less-experienced students'zone of proximal development as well as ensure the overall approach is consistent so that the pieces will fit when they are brought together. This peer mentoring component extends far beyond just programming, however, and continues into project management, instructional design, and research spheres as well. Further, it is important to recognize that this is not a "one expert, many students" approach to mentoring but is rather an approach in which the embodied expert changes depending upon the context. A student, for instance, who has been involved with the project for a longer time might have sufficient experience with research and project management to peer mentor a newcomer to the project in those areas, but the newcomer might have skills in other areas in which he or she can mentor the project veteran (such as Actionscript programming). In this way, peer rather than subordinate relationships are established, and leadership roles become more fluid and shared. This type of environment results in opportunities for all involved to be both the mentor and the mentored. Sensitivity Toward New Technologies This approach also requires sensitivity towards new technologies throughout the design and development process. Alien Rescue 4 is designed as a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that delivers a 3-D learning environment within a 2-D framework to create immersive and realistic learning experiences. This complex design context has led all team members to learn to program within a 3-D game engine, use 3-D modeling languages, or to use Web-based programming languages (such as Flex and Cake PHP) to create the framework for the 3-D components. In doing so, the team has to keep pace with the emerging technologies and strategies that are compatible with the Web-based back-end framework and requirements of the 3-D game engine. Several team members had professional experience in database design and development. However, this process has required them to continuously update their knowledge to design a database system appropriate for a RIA with both 2-D and 3-D components. As such, maintaining sensitivity towards technology has been critical in this learners-as-designers context. All development team members of Alien Rescue 4 have been graduate students who are preparing for careers as leaders in instructional technology. The innovative technologies used in Alien Rescue 4--and the approaches that guided them--need to be appropriate not only as tools, but also for the the development of the graduate students as learners and as IT professionals. This has been a challenging task, as the process to select and implement emerging technologies has also required the team to forecast technology trends that would likely be instrumental in designing learning environments associated with their future careers. Student-Centered Learning An overarching principle of this learners-as-designers model is that it is student-centered. As illustrated in the above discussion, the characteristic of student-centeredness is reflected at multiple levels. The development of Alien Rescue provides an excellent opportunity for student designers to develop their technical skills as multimedia designers and developers and as educational researchers. At the individual level, each student brings his/her talents and his/her identified technical area or research agenda. At the team level, all members collaborate and support each other and contribute to a coherent final product. Faculty and more advanced students take on the role of mentoring,

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students having more expertise in one area mentor their peers, and all take ownership of their learning. Such an experience not only has enriched student designers'learning but also has prepared them for their future careers. So far, this experience has helped a number of students find multimedia design jobs, and a total of six doctoral dissertations and one master report have been produced as a result of working with Alien Rescue.

Summary Alien Rescue is a media riched problem-based-learning environment that aims at enhancing middle school students'problem solving skills. To help develop skills to solve complex and ill-structured problems, a set of multimedia based and interactive cognitive tools are provided. To create this technology rich environment, we use a learner-as-designer model in which the developers are university graduate and undergraduate students who work with faculty and learn various design, development, and research skills while producing an engaging product for younger learners. We will demonstrate the current version of Alien Rescue at the presentation and share our experience of using learner-as-designer model to develop Alien Rescue.

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