Education 2.0 - Nick Goodson - Week 5

1.   What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

My Alive project taught students how a camera worked.  There were several principles used such as creating strong links and prior knowledge.  This was done by connecting things learned in the past and in other subjects to what was being taught.  An example of this is how sunlight works and how the human works.  Also, my project was visual oriented which also aids in recall.  You could see the actions taking place on the screen as the camera performed its functions.  (Reigeluth, 1999)

2.   What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

My project contained informational as well as motivational feedback.  Questions were asked of the student.  When they gave their reply, they were given a response based on their answer.  The learner was also given a scenario and was asked to reason out what would be the outcome. 

3.   If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement)

At the beginning of the program, I would include a list of objectives and goals so that the student knows what they are about to do.  I would include more repetition.  Possibly, make a separate display where the student has to interact more and make decisions based on what they just learned.  In other words I show them how a camera works, then they have to make one work by initiating the steps in the correct order. 

Reigeluth, C. (1999, March 10). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html

TechGrads - Christa Tucker

1.     What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

Retrieval from memory occurs through links among nodes, and the links become stronger each time they are used (Reigeluth, 1999).  Although getting information into memory maybe an easy process, the difficulty is to retrieve information from memory. The challenge then becomes to create links strong enough to retrieve information as quickly and effortlessly as possible in a way that the interface, graphics or media does not constitute a limitation to learning.  Therefore, one of the goals of my Alice project was to convey to the learner an instructional design that aids the learning process.  When an instructional interface has too many features to be remembered, it can constitute a barrier to the learning process: the more items, the harder the task. Thus, cognitive load is a very important principle of learning that has to be considered when designing instructional multimedia (Reigeluth, 1999).

2.     What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

The application principle: Learning is promoted when learners are able to apply the new knowledge.  For my Alice project to be effective, the learner must be able to apply the concepts that were presented. 

3.    If you were required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task?

Given that this was my first attempt at either the Alice or Scratch project, I would take more time to pre-assess the learner and use feedback in order to redesigned to ensure instructional effectiveness. 

Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Instructiona-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html 

Tech Minds - Becky Navarro

1.What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.  


The three learning principles are creating links that are strong, dividing learning into 5-7 chunks of items, and relating to prior knowledge.  As mentioned by learning researchers, the problem is not getting information into our memory, but bringing it back.  The more you use a concept, less trouble you will have retrieving it.  So it proves that when I created the Alice or Scratch project I was able to connect back to my prior knowledge.  I studied computer programming more than 10 years ago and even though both programs are user-friendly, my prior knowledge did help me link concepts together and have the ability to recognize how the language works.  I grasp logical statements quick as all programming languages apply these the same, except with different syntax.  What made my learning easier was using visuals through the use of tutorials (Alice) and shared projects (Scratch) available. Alice tutorials introduced concepts from lowest levels to higher levels of application.  First tutorial was about the screen and objects and then tutorials started getting more complex.  I was able to understand many concepts, yet since Alice was new program to me I had play a tutorial, follow step by step, and then create mine.  


2. What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references. 


Principles of teaching variant tasks include routine, enrichment, and motivational tactics.  I developed a jeopardy game using Scratch  where I had several academic categories and the user would choose which categories and what points to answer.  This presentation relates to the routine tactic since it contains the way information is presented, practice, and feedback.  The user after reading instructions knew they had to answer a question and then will get a different feedback, depending if it was right or wrong.  Indirectly the enrichment tactic was also used when I used chunking through categorizing information in different academic subjects that way the student will know what subject the question will focus on.  Finally, the motivational tactic was also implemented by providing proper feedback and when they got a right answer users would get a positive message, while if they got a wrong answer they will get an encouraging message.  At the end, their score would issue them satisfaction.

1. 3. If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement).

Analyze - If I had to redesign this project, I would consider changing objectives, since I was skeptical to how Alice worked I chose a simple project and so did not address any preferred objectives.  I used Alice more as an informative animation.

Design - Instead of an informative animation, I would design a concept game or might add a game after the animation.

Develop/Produce - I would add a summary page at the end of the project so students can reflect on what they should have learned.

Implement- Have them see the animation, play the game, and then assess what they have learned.  Based on results I would then have to implement new changes, if needed.

References:

Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Instructional-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from  http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html  


Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Instructiona-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html 

1. 
   

Team Education 2.0 Week 5 - Natalie Price

Team Education 2.0 Week 5 – Natalie Price

Module 2 – Invariant Tasks, focuses on designing instructions.  Reigeluth (2012) Stated that “Invariant tasks require memorizing factual information or routine procedures. They do not require any understanding, nor do they require learning how to deal with variation.”

Review the project you created from CSTE 5336 – Alice or Scratch interactive game project. From the Alice or Scratch project you created, let’s review the invariant tasks which you had applied.

1.   What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

2.   What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

3.   If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement)

1.  The principles of learning invariant tasks accomplished in this Alice project are that the step have to be done in a specific order  and over and over to create links to build a finished product.  If it is not done in a specific order or the program would not work.   According to Ginn, she talks about Piaget’s stages of development or learning.  They say that invariant means that you can’t skip stages or reorder them.  As far as chunking in Alice and Scratch, the block were divided into smaller items and had to be placed specifically to make a larger block for the finished product. (Ginn,)

2.  The principles of teaching invariant tasks the were accomplished with Alice or Scratch were repetition, practice, prompting and feedback.  In the Scratch project I did was about math.  The student was able to answer a problem by typing in the answer and prompted when wrong.  They then were prompted to try again.  If they needed help, they got feedback.  Kulhavy says when a student gets a problem right, it should be confirmed that it is correct.  (Kulhavy, 1977)

3.  I would analyze the students learning objectives, and then develop a game that started with basic math and would build to advance math.  Then I would introduce it to the students as a practice to enrich the objectives that were taught.

References;

Kulhavy, R. (1977).  Feedback in written instruction.  Review of Educational Research, 47, 211-232

Ginn, W.  JEAN PIAGET - INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.    http://www.sk.com.br/sk-piage.html

Module 2: Invariant Tasks

Week 5 Due Dates: teammates' individual posting by Tuesday 2/28; Discussant's summary by Sunday, 3/4.

Please follow the guideline for online discussion to provide your input and feedback through the following blog site:

 cste5319week5module2.blogspot.com 

Module 2 – Invariant Tasks, focuses on designing instructions.  Reigeluth (2012) Stated that “Invariant tasks require memorizing factual information or routine procedures. They do not require any understanding, nor do they require learning how to deal with variation.”

Review the project you created from CSTE 5336 – Alice or Scratch interactive game project. From the Alice or Scratch project you created, let’s review the invariant tasks which you had applied.

1.   What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

2.   What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

3.   If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement)

Tech Minds - Kimber Brown

Invariant tasks require memorizing factual information or routine procedures. They do not require any understanding, nor do they require learning how to deal with variation. They require what Ausubel (1968) referred to as "rote" learning. (Reigeluth, 1999) Why do we need to memorize any routine procedures? Most higher forms of learning are not possible unless certain information has been memorized first, to the point where it is an "automatic" "response-that" is, we don't have to think about it, which frees us to use our cognitive resources on higher matters. (Reigeluth, 1999) 1. What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references. The three principles of learning listed in Module 2 (Reigeluth, 1999) are creating links which are strong, chunks of about 5-7 items, and relating to meaningful prior knowledge.  During the Scratch and Alice projects, I felt like the most challenging element was that I had no interest and no prior knowledge about programming and/or creating games. This made it extremely difficult to learn how to use either of the programs and how to create meaningful activities for learning. I think this made it even more challenging because I am tech savvy and don't like not being able to figure it out. I really struggled with these programs, in fact I did not even finish the Alice project. I turned in two parts, but not the third because I was so frustrated. I found scratch to be more GUI and I was able to figure it out easier. I was also able to figure out a few commands (chunk 5-7) that worked and use those program commands across the game. This made Scratch easier for me to use and figure out. 2. What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references. Reigeluth (1999) listed the principles for teaching invariant tasks as routine tactics, enrichment tactics, motivational tactics, and review. During the Scratch project I was able to incorporate the element of literature into my scratch game making it motivational. I felt like my game had purpose.  3. If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement)

If I had to do this project over again, I would probably drop the course. I'm just kidding. I hated Alice, so I would hope that I had the option to use the programing language of my choice. I would probably give more thought to the audience and the purpose of the game. I would then take more time to figure out the commands, so that my game would not be boring. Then I would have some other people test it out and give me feedback. This would allow me to make the necessary changes. 


Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Instructional-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from  http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html  

Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Instructiona-Design Theories Site.Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html

Team Education 2.0, Week 5

1.What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.
Cognitive/Information Processing Theory; According to Cohen (2006), with invariant learning approach, it is assumed that people learn to detect complex visual patterns which relies on specifications such as putting items in order, sorting or listing. In relation to Alice, students are required to use step-by-step approach to populate the Alice world with objects and create methods that will manipulate these objects to perform a task. In this case, information received are processed and used to create a story or a game.

  2. What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references. 

Motivational Task; The key factor to academic success of every teaching and learning activity is student motivation(Gonzalez & Mendez, 2011). As students create or develop their Alice project, there should be a need to acknowledge every successful step created. This encourages the student to put in more effort( building confidence) to accomplish the task and improve on their creative skills. When students see the objects in Alice world perform methods(actions) created, it brings satisfaction to students and build their confidence that a goal has been accomplished.  

Reference

Cohen, A. L. (2006). Contributions of Invariants, Heuristics, and Exemplars to the Visual Perception of Relative Mass. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v32 n3 p574-598 Jun 2006. 25 pp.

Gonzalez, E. J. & Mendez, J. A. (2011). Implementing Motivational Features in Reactive Blended Learning: Application to an Introductory Control Engineering Course

IEEE Transactions on Education, v54 n4 p619-627 Nov 2011. 9 pp.

1. 3. If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement).

Analyze; In redesigning the Alice project, students would be allowed to set goals they would like to achieve. This will include identifying what objects they would need to build their Alice world around in the objects gallery, giving them an idea as to a topic to choose.

Design; Students will use the step-by-step process or instructions in “world’s details” widow to build up their story board or game. In so doing, they will make use of cognitive or information learning process where the information learnt from the Alice tutorials is applied used to develop the project.

Develop/Produce; Students will develop an instructional chart or a flow chart showing the developmental  stages of their project. This written document will demonstrate or interpret their story line in a step-by-step order.

Implement;  Students would be given rubrics to follow, which will assist them understand what is expected of them. It will also serve as a reference point to monitor students work.

Tech Minds - Lauren Schwartz

Module 2 – Invariant Tasks, focuses on designing instructions.  Reigeluth (2012) Stated that “Invariant tasks require memorizing factual information or routine procedures. They do not require any understanding, nor do they require learning how to deal with variation.”

Review the project you created from CSTE 5336 – Alice or Scratch interactive game project. From the Alice or Scratch project you created, let’s review the invariant tasks which you had applied.

1.   What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

The three principles of learning listed in Module 2 (Reigeluth, 1999) are creating links which are strong, chunks of about 5-7 items, and relating to meaningful prior knowledge. I feel that when learning the invariant tasks for the Alice and Scratch project, I think all three principles needed to be accomplished.

When learning the Alice and Scratch software to complete the project, I remember having trouble at first associating the things I would learn in the models and tutorials and connecting them to on the programming. It is stated “that getting information into memory is easy, that the only real obstacle is retrieval from memory” (Reigeluth, 1999). I believe this to be true, because as I knew the things I was learning from the tutorials, retrieving them when necessary was difficult and someone garbled. This connects both the first and third principles to the project. It was difficult to create strong links to the information I had learned and how it fit with my project as opposed to the project I had learned. Since the projects were similar (one I was creating and one I learned from), it was possibly, eventually to create strong links that allowed me to accomplish the task at hand. With relating to prior knowledge, I had to take in what I already knew about programming, combined with what I was learning, and create a program. I can remember with both Alice and Scratch that my project ideals changed often with new connections I made to the software. As for chunking of about 5-7 items at a time, since our minds can “productively work on memorizing up to about seven items at a time” (Reigeluth, 1999), I had to make adjustments to Scratch. With the Scratch project, instead of attempting to learn everything at once, I broke it up into sections and only worked on one color at a time. This helped me to make sure that I was learning all I could and needed from each color, as well as focusing on just one thing at a time, since each color had at least 5-7 parts.

2.   What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.

Reigeluth (1999) listed the principles for teaching invariant tasks as routine tactics, enrichment tactics, motivational tactics, and review. In the games that I created for Alice and for Scratch, I think that they included all four of the principles listed above. My Alice project involved the students finding shapes. The students were to find the correct shape by helping a farmer “round up the shapes”. This project included routine, enrichment, and motivation by telling them if they had received the correct answer (motivation), using the same method for the different shapes (routine), and allowing them to learn and prove what they had learned through the choosing of the correct shape (enrichment). Finally, after the student had gotten the shapes correct, there was a review that took them back through the shapes they had learned and identified.

My Scratch project also taught these principles as it was counting astronauts in space. Routine was used as the same method was used throughout the game (something of importance with younger students), enrichment with learning about space and counting, motivation with the astronauts doing a dance when the students clicked them, and review when the student was able to go back and complete the game again, reviewing the material they had already done.

The games I invented also went through the formal that Reigeluth lists as features of a good drill-and-practice game: Creating a Scenario, Designing a Score-Keeping Mechanism, and Designing the Instruction. (Reigeluth, 1999).

3.   If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement)

If I had to redesign either of my projects, I would start by analyzing the levels the students are at by pre-assessing them on the material prior to creating the project. Next, I would design different levels of the projects, for the more advanced learners, as well as for the lower-level learners. I would then develop/produce a better scoring ability in each of the games. The games that I created were more of a continuous game, without being scored, but the teacher could tell if they had answered correctly by where they were able to get to in the game. I think that a better score-keeping mechanism would be great additions to both projects. In implementing it, I would allow the students to do the game once and record their scores, then I would have them complete it again the following day and see if there was any improvement after more teaching on the subject was done. If the students weren’t improving, then instruction would need to be altered (using them as both pre-assessments and formative assessments).

Resources:

Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Instructional-Design Theories Site. Retrieved from  http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html  

Reigeluth, C. (1999). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Instructiona-Design Theories Site. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html

TechGrads - Rachel Mallory

Module 2 – Invariant Tasks, focuses on designing instructions. Reigeluth (2012) Stated that “Invariant tasks require memorizing factual information or routine procedures. They do not require any understanding, nor do they require learning how to deal with variation.”

Review the project you created from CSTE 5336 – Alice or Scratch interactive game project. From the Alice or Scratch project you created, let’s review the invariant tasks which you had applied.

1. What principles for learning invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.
2. What principles for teaching invariant tasks had accomplished in this Alice or Scratch project? Explain the reasons with references.
3. If you are required to redesign this project with Alice or Scratch, how would you apply the Development Process to complete this task? (Analyze, Design, Develop/Produce, & Implement)


1. The principles for learning invariant tasks are 1. Creating links which are strong with repetion, 2. Chunks of about 5-7 items, and 3. Related to meaningful prior knowledge, using visuals and music, which are easier to remember than words (Reigeluth, 1999).
When we were learning how to create projects in Alice and Scratch, we relied heavily on steps and flowcharts. These elements addressed the principles of Chunking and Using Visuals. We had to practice these steps in Alice and Scratch over and over with examples before we could create our own, addressing the first principle of Creating Strong Links. We were given guided practices, presented in chunks and with visuals to reinforce the steps. Then we could create original projects for the final assignment.

2. The principles for teaching invariant tasks are Routine, Enrichment, Motivation, and Review (Reigeluth, 1999).
My Alice and Scratch projects concentrated on practicing math facts, with a game character providing feedback when the student was right or wrong. This kind of educational game addresses the principle Routine by allowing presentation, practice, and feedback (Reigeluth, 1999). It then addressed Enrichment for difficult tasks by allowing the user to try again when answering incorrectly. Motivation was included because a monkey or a starfish or an astronaut would cheer and the game would include sound effects when the user answered correctly. Review was the main purpose of the game, as the design assumed the user had already learned the math facts and needed practice.

3. I would analyze the specific objectives for the content and consider the specific needs of the learners at that level. If I were to continue with math facts, I would try to chunk that game into the different numbers (for example, round one is all of the math facts for 1, round 2 is the facts for 2, etc.). I don’t believe there is a mnemonic for math facts. It is truly an invariant, rote list. Then I would implement into the classroom and closely monitor and evaluate progress among the users.



Reigeluth, C. (1999, March 10). Principles for learning invariant tasks. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2c.html

Reigeluth, C. (1999, March 10). Principles for teaching invariant tasks. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m2e.html