What are your initial reactions to this theory/model? What are barriers to its use? What benefits might be expected for those who overcome the barriers?
As, with PSI, my first thought was "Hey, that's we're doing!" In this course, we gather pre-requisite knowledge through readings and lectures and then work in small groups to solve a real world problem (how to create effective instruction online) by applying what we've learned. We'll get present our results (our modules) and receive feedback from our professor. There's definitely some parallels at least.
As far as advantages and disadvantages, I think that Paul Wilson found the best analogy in his research- that group work can either be a "monster or a miracle." For many, group problem solving helps student engage in their learning, work towards a goal, and retain information better. (I have seen this "miracle" in my classroom many times!) Working in groups can also be frustrating, time consuming, and distracting at times. In elementary school, this "monster" sounds more like five groups of five children fussing over who gets to use the materials, whose turn is first, or whose sitting on whose notebook, while with adult learners the conflicts may be more about division of time or resources. Wait, it's pretty much the same thing. : )
More than once, I've heard a school leader say that the common complaint about employers today is not that the students can't read or do math, it's that they don't know how to work and solve problems together. I don't know the source of this data, but I could see how it could be true. If students learn through guided design, I think they would be much more prepared for many different workplaces.
Would you attempt to use this theory/model with the students you are currently teaching or hope to teach in the future? Why or why not? Could elements of the theory/model be modified so that it would work with your current/future students?
I use elements of guided instruction on a regular basis in my classroom. Since I teach elementary age students, self-instruction is not a big piece of the learning process. Most of the pre-requestie knowledge is introduced and taught in a whole group or small group teacher guided setting. My students do however work together in small cooperative groups every single school day. Sometimes, their activities are more structured and do not include the problem solving compenent of the guided design approach, but include assigned roles within their group- like manager, note-taker, discussion leader, etc. Other times, such as today in science when my students used circuit building materials to work as a group to make a bulb light up or in math when their groups created word problems using fractions, those little fourth graders were definitely using critical thinking skills to work together to transfer their knowledge to solve a real problem.
Since we're taking learning theories/models that were not necessarily created with the Web in mind and turning them into Web modules, what Web-based tools or resources could be leveraged to carry out this learning theory/model online?
It seems a little trickier to plan guided design online than the past two theories, but it's very obviously possible, since many of the group projects I've worked on over my online graduate classes have been coordinated and completed across the virtual world. Elluminate, as we all know, is a great way to communicate with group members synchronously with audio, text, document sharing, and/or video. Tools such as Google Docs or Writeboard allow those working together to easily share work that can be edited by different team members. For those who want a little bit more of that interactive element, a program such as Second Life might be a way for group members to "meet" in a setting that they could discuss and plan solutions.
References:
Casada, M. E., & DeShazer, J. A. (1995). Teaching professionalism, design, and communications to Engineering freshmen. In Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (pp. 1381-1385). Anaheim, CA.
Trivette, C. M. (2005). Effectiveness of guided design learning strategy on the acquisition of adult problem-solving skills. Bridges 3(1).
Wilson, P. N. (2004). Mutual gains from team learning: A guided design classroom exercise. Cardon Research Papers in Agricultural and Resource Economics (No. 2004-07). Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona.
The first thing I though of while reading about this method was our ECI 517 course as well. This is one of the few courses I've taken with collaborative projects and it has been a little refreshing from all the independent work I've been doing. I don't think I could manage all my courses if they used this format --online GD I think is logistically more complicated than F2F-- but I am enjoying the opportunity to work with peers on a project. What is your impression? Do you think GD is more difficult to structure in distance learning courses like this one, or about equally challenging.
ReplyDeleteI loved your description of group work at the elementary level. I'm fourth grade teacher (old class blog: www.skoodlers.com/blog) as well and can say first hand that your description is a very accurate one at times. It takes quite a bit of structuring in the beginning of the year to get them used to working as a team. Aside from instructing student in groupwork, I also occasionally need to provide them with incentives to work as a team or stage it as a competition, though a I'm hesitant to pit teams against each other unless in friendly and necessary.
Enjoyed the post!!
I too thought the guided design theory was driving this course - and as much as the thought of online group work made me nervous, another part of me was glad that at least one of the 5 courses I am taking for this certificate involved group work since I know that e-learning projects are often a team effort with multiple roles and stakeholders.
ReplyDeleteUsing second life is a good idea - I used to think there was too high of a barrier for people to use, but over a long term project I can see it being a useful option.
Your post also reminded me of my middle school days when we had a regular group assignment to create books - from writing the story, to doing illustration, to cover design, etc. Of course it was all very low-tech with paper, cardboard and plastic ring binding. But in principle our assignments for this course are not all that different!
Not trying to jump on what everyone else has been commenting about but I do see a lot of the guided design model in our course but I do have one question from all of this, and that is how can this model truly be placed into an online environment? I know there are some tools online but I feel these might not make this model truly work but did not know if you had any suggestions.
ReplyDeleteRachel,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that Guided Design can be used in an elementary school setting. This process seems to work in a high-tech and a low-tech environment.
Rachel, I have seen the miracle too. I have given a couple of classes for the army in the last few months. This first one didn't go so well. It was mainly lecture and I could tell I was putting people to sleep. When it came time for the second class, I was trying to find ways to make the students more engaged in learning. It was about the time I started reading about Guided Design so I created a class based on this theory. It went well. We don't give tests so I have no way to officially tell if knowledge was gained. But, the learners did seem to understand and apply what was taught before we split into groups. I could look at them and see they were really interested in what was being taught even though we go over the same topics year after year in the army. I will use Guided Design again!