I earned my BBA from The University of Texas at Tyler. My graduate study has been at University of Central Florida.
I started the Ph.D. in the Instructional Technology department of the College of Education at University of Central Florida in 2005. The focus of the program is the application of appropriate instructional technologies to the adult learner and validation of the Digital Propensity Index by Kelsey Henderson.
Instructional Technology as an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the systematic design of training and educational environments. Instructional Technology is not about computers; rather, the analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation and management of high-quality instruction.
An important part of assignments and portfolio assessment is reflection. After all, if I just posted my old assignments to the internet without any narrative, the assignments might not make a lot of sense. Reflection is part of the College of Education Conceptual Framework. At first, I thought the framework was just a bunch of administrative BS for staying accredited, but having reflection in the core shows me maybe it's got some validity.
Course description: Analysis of fundamental concepts of theoretical and procedural instructional systems design models with an emphasis on their cognitive origins, pedagogical bases, current and future values. Become versed in alternative instructional design theories and models. Examine alternative design models, analysis techniques, and instructional theories.
| Attachment | Size |
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| EME7634a_syllabus_sp06.pdf | 119.55 KB |
| EME7634_Fauser,Henry,Norman_Alternative_ID_models.pdf | 91.63 KB |
What are the most important considerations when choosing a particular instructional strategy?
Is it important for students to drive the speed of the course, are experience necessary for the experience, are teacher-directed methods appropriate?
Entry test - prerequisites Pretest - adapt instruction based on results Practice tests Final test
by: Marlene Fauser, Kirk Henry, and David Kent Norman on February 4, 2006
An Instructional Design model gives structure and meaning to a problem, enabling the would-be designer to negotiate the design task using a process or systematic method. Models help us to visualize the problem, to break it down into discrete, manageable units. The true value of a model can only be determined within the context of use. A model should be judged by how it mediates the designer's intention, how well it can share a work load, and how effectively it shifts focus away from itself toward the object of the design activity (Ryder, 2006).
The purpose of this paper is to analyze three instructional design models, one from each of the classifications classroom, product, and system. The analysis should compare and contrast the key concepts associated with each model. Additionally this paper will identify and describe arguments against the use of ISD models in general.
Instructional Design models are classified into three types, classroom, product and system (Gustafson & Branch, 2002). Classroom models are of interest to, and are usually designed for, professional teachers from K-12, community colleges, vocational schools, and other related areas. These models take into consideration the environment of teachers. Their users may view them as a guide rather than a methodology. These models focus on the use of existing materials rather than the design of new. The output of these models is small, a unit or module of instruction used within the school year. The models also have less rigorous formative evaluation and revision than product or system models.
Product-Oriented models, prescriptive in nature, are primarily focused on creating instructional products. These instructional products may be self-study, self-paced computer based training, or other materials that can be used by a student with reduced guidance. The methodology of these models may cause them to be confused with system models, but product models are not used to create comprehensive systems as system models are. Product development models demonstrate four assumptions: the instructional product is needed, something needs to be produced rather than using or modifying existing materials, there will be considerable emphasis on tryout and revision, and the product must be usable by learners with only facilitators but not teachers. These models are drawn upon as computer-based instruction has become more often the instructional delivery method of choice (Gustafson & Branch, 2002).
Systems-oriented models are used to develop large amounts of instruction. This can be courses or curricula and may include the development of new materials or the repurposing of existing materials. Systems models align with the ADDIE methodology, emphasizing front-end analysis and design phases. Gustafson and Branch observed emphasis on front-end analysis may result in a proposal for a non-training solution (2002). Systems models, unlike product development models, typically assume a large scope of effort.
The Gerlach and Ely Model is a prescriptive model that is well suited to K-12 and higher education. It is meant for novice instructional designers who have knowledge and expertise in a specific context (Braxton, Bronico, & Looms, 1995). Although drawn as a linear model, many of the steps are intended to occur simultaneously. The Gerlach and Ely Model recognizes most curriculum will be designed around the concepts to be taught in each subject matter and teachers, who are forced to adapt existing materials for use in their courses (Braxton, et al., 1995).
The first step in the Gerlach and Ely process is to simultaneously specify the content and objectives. With this model intended for K-12 teachers, these combined steps recognize that teachers know the content or think of content first, then define the objectives for that content. The objectives do need to be defined, however, for use in the next steps of the model.
The second step is to specify the entry point of learners, which for K-12 teachers may simply mean reviewing existing records. The third step is to perform five activities simultaneously: (1) determine strategy, (2) organize groups, (3) allocate time, (4) allocate space, and (5) select resources. The key is to determine which combinations will best allow the students to meet their objectives. The Gerlach and Ely model emphasizes using existing instructional materials rather than develop new materials.
After these simultaneous decisions are made, the next step is evaluation of performance. The teacher should determine what observable or measurable changes occurred in the students and if the observations can be attributed to the instruction. The model concludes with a feedback loop to determine the effectiveness of the instructions so changes can be made as necessary.
In 1995, Tony Bates presented a model for developing open and distance learning. Bates realized digital communications were going to be used more frequently for distance education. Early in his research, he acknowledged the fact that there are inherent limitations of distance education. Bates created a framework for selecting learning technologies which is still relevant today. The organizing framework that Bates proposed is called ACTIONS, which stands for access, cost, teaching and learning implications, interaction, organizational issues, novelty and speed.
Bates's model has what he calls a front-end system design. A front-end system design has four phases: course outline development, selection of media, development/production of materials, and course delivery. Within each phase, Bates has properly identified the team roles and the actions or issues to be addressed. Bates readily admits he borrows heavily from the ADDIE model from which he derives many of his ideas. One of the reasons Bates may have felt compelled to create an additional model to ADDIE is because ADDIE has been widely and often criticized for being too systematic. ADDIE is often said to be too linear, too constraining, and even too time-consuming to implement with regards to e-learning. While Bates may have been making an attempt to simplify ADDIE, he cautions course design may take as much as two years.
One of his main concerns, prompting the development of ACTIONS, was the way face to face course material was adapted for web or other distance learning approaches. Bates feels the traditional remote instructor concept is nothing more than face-to-face instruction without direct interaction. Bates also states these specific scenarios often fail to take advantage of the unique benefits that are available through the specific technology being used.
Additionally, in his 1995 book, Technology: Open Learning and Distance Education, Bates details cost analysis when designing distance or e-learning solutions. If his design and evaluation methods are followed, one would easily be able to determine the effect each dollar spent on this e-learning solution has had on a given student. This can be particularly useful when dealing with fiscal management issues.
The Bates Model provides the user with a plethora of tools and ideas, each of which will be useful for designing e-learning environments. The model is broken down into four distinct groups. Each group is replete with projects and assignments.
Castelle Gentry explains his model of Instructional Development in the course of a textbook. Gentry named his model the Instructional Project Development and Management (IPDM) Model. The IPDM model was born as a result of five conclusions Gentry made with regards to instructional design. The first conclusion admonishes introductory instructional design textbooks for not adequately linking relationships between instructional design processes and their supporting processes (Gentry, 1994, p. ix). The second of Gentry's conclusions says introductory instructional design textbooks should teach both what and how to "do", in other words "practical means for accomplishing specific tasks" (Gentry, 1994, p. ix). The third through fifth conclusions set a basis for Gentry to develop a generic Instructional Design model as a survey of instructional design processes, supporting processes, and techniques.
The result IPDM Model is has eight development components, defined by Gentry (1994) in a non-linear diagram.
The development components have five supporting components, defined by Gentry (1994, p. 5):
The development and supporting components are linked by information sharing between the two clusters for the duration of the project. Gentry designed his model to show instructional design is not a linear process.
When doing the comparison between Bates, Gentry and Gerlach/Ely's models, it was noted that all three models allowed for some variation in implementation; it would not be incorrect to modify the order of the steps depending on the settings of the instructional situation. This is especially true for the Gerlach/Ely model. The three models we have chosen to review all were published between 1994 and 1995.
The Bates and Gentry models both rely heavily on front end work. This means that the model assumes that step one will involve an extensive needs analysis. The information learned from the analysis will be crucial in the next phases of the design. In particular, the Gentry IPDM model is best for large scale projects, as demonstrated by the communication core of the model. Both Bates and Gentry also provide a framework for helping the designers determine the overall cost of the solution. This may include the cost of the technology needed for implementation. Bates and Gentry are also very good at providing personnel assignments for each phase of the design. This allows the designer to determine, up front, the type of personnel that will be needed throughout the design and implementation.
The main strength of the Gerlach/Ely model is practicing classroom teachers can identify with the process it suggests. The Gerlach/Ely model allows for a novice instructional designer whereas Gentry and Bates need some design expertise to perform front-end analysis. As a result, classroom teachers might be more likely to apply Gerlach/Ely. The Gerlach/Ely model differs from the other two by emphasizing existing content as the basis for new instruction. Basing new instruction on old content by forgoing front-end analysis may unintentionally reinforce traditional learning teaching patterns rather than promoting a re-examination of best practices in classrooms.
Instructional Designers cannot be effective if they are familiar with only one model. The designer must be able to fit the design to the situation and familiarity with various models will make that designer more successful. Analyzing various models demonstrates that although the models had differences, combined steps in various ways, or used different vocabulary, they shared a fundamental principle of attempting to deliver effective learning or educational tools.
In an article published in Training Magazine in April 2000, Jack Gordon and Ron Zemke lay out arguments against the use of ISD models. The article was the catalyst for a plethora of rebuttal articles, white papers, and seminars on why ISD is not dead and is still useful and relevant to the field (Clark, 2004). The arguments in the original article were:
Rebuttals concentrated on the question: Is it ISD that's flawed, or the manner in which it is applied that is the problem (Zemke & Rossett, 2002)? To address the argument of ISD being slow and clumsy, Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan conducts workshops in "Rapid Instructional Design" which includes strategies and design elements to move more quickly through the ADDIE phases and to use partial processes where appropriate (Thiagi, 1999).
Argument two discusses the use of ISD as a "technology" of instruction. Project management for Information Technology (IT) projects is seen as a science. Yet IT project management is an art as is Instructional Design. IT project management has addressed similar flaws in waterfall or linear project management processes. Additional project life cycles have been introduced in this discipline. These models, selected based on project and environmental factors, include: incremental or prototype based methodology, Barry Boehm's Spiral Model, and the Rush to Base Evolutionary Model (BU, 2005). Options such as these applied to ISD would allow for the flexibility and rapidness desired for delivery of an instructional solution.
The third argument is that following ISD models will produce bad training. Clark (2004) discusses how the "A" of ADDIE was never meant to stand for Performance Analysis and that Instructional Design should only begin once it is determined training is the solution to the problem.
Charge 4 assumes ISD jobs have a set of best practice procedures that must be taught to students who are not master performers. Saul Carliner suggests we should remember ISD is a value system that must be applied appropriately and all ISD needs is re-tooling for all the new ways of learning we see since ISD was first proposed more than 50 years ago.
Boston University Corporate Education Center. (2005). Courseware MDP405: Managing Information Technology v4.0.
Braxton, S., Bronico, K., & Looms, T. (1995). Instructional design methodologies and techniques. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from University of Michigan, Educational Software Design and Authoring Web site: http://www.umich.edu/~ed626/Gerlach_Ely/ge_main.htm
Carliner, S. (2003). An instructional design framework for the twenty-first century. Unpublished manuscript, Concordia University. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from http://education.concordia.ca/~scarliner/idmodel.pdf
Clark, D. (2004, June 7). The Attack on ISD – 2000. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_isd/attack.html
Clark, D. (2004, June 13). A hard look at ISD - 2002. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_isd/look.html
Gentry, C.G. (1994). Introduction to instructional development: Process and technique. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Gordon, J. & Zemke, R. (2000, April). The attack on ISD: Have we got Instructional Design all wrong?. Training Magazine.
Gustafson, K.L., & Branch, R.M. (1997). Survey of instructional development models: Fourth edition. Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearing house of Information & Technology
Ryder, M. (2006). Instructional Design models. Retrieved January 29, 2006, from University of Colorado at Denver, School of Education Web site: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html#comparative
Thiagarajan, S. (1999). Rapid Instructional Design. Retrieved January 29, 2006, from http://www.thiagi.com/article-rid.html
Zemke, R. & Rossett, A. (2002, February 1). A hard look at ISD. Training Magazine
by: Marlene Fauser, Kirk Henry, and David Kent Norman on February 18, 2006
Task Analysis involves the systematic process of identifying specific tasks to be trained and a detailed analysis of each of those tasks (Ehrlich, 2000). To be able to design learning supported instruction, designers must understand the tasks the learners will be performing (Jonassen, Tessmer, & Hannum, 1999).
The purpose of this paper is to apply three analysis techniques from separate categories of methods as described by Jonassen, et al. to one instructional goal. This paper describes the key concepts, application, and experiences with a technique each from the Job, Procedural, and Skill Analysis Method, Instructional and Guided Learning Analysis Method, and Subject Mater/Content Analysis Method. A sample of each analysis technique is provided in the Appendices.
The Job, Procedural, and Skill Analysis Method emerged during WWII when most training being developed was technical training which emphasized procedural skill development. These methods describe in a procedural manner the way jobs are performed. Analyzing steps has become the most common conception of task analysis and there are many methods and approaches published. Alternatively, Instructional and Guided Learning Analysis Method describe tasks how they are best learned. This may or may not be consistent with the ways the job is performed. Subject Matter/Content Analysis Methods consider that designers elicit instructional information from SMEs. This information will usually come to the designer in an outline form, chunked by the subject matter expert. This organizational method can be effective, but is not always the best way to represent the instructional content. Subject Matter/Content Analysis Methods offer alternate methods for representing content structure.
The task analysis approach emerged from the field of systems analysis when systems analysis was applied to the world of work (Jonassen, et al., 1999). The purpose of creating task descriptions is to enhance the performance of the overall system or to enhance job or task performance.
In order to conduct a job analysis, you must describe and analyze each task. The description should include the stimulus situation and the proper response. One would typically start at a general level and then get more specific (Miller, 1962 as cited in Jonassen, et al., 1999). Jonassen, et al. would argue that there are several advantages to creating task descriptions:
We must also consider the disadvantages of task descriptions as well. First, the process is generally limited to specific descriptive aspects of tasks. Secondly, the skill level of the task analyst must be high. Individuals with this level of skill may be difficult to find. Additionally, it has been found that the task description procedure as a whole does not help select specific tasks for training.
All of this information was considered when creating the analysis for the task of distance collaboration. The outline in Appendix A contains detailed information that follows the methods suggested by Jonassen, et al. (1999). There is additional information in Appendix B that further develops each solution and what it should be used for.
When going through this assignment, it was difficult for me to understand the level to which the analysis should be reported. I was torn between describing each button push and mouse click. For our chosen area, there are several categories where different applications could be used. I felt that it would be difficult to describe each button push for each individual software package as they did in the book for pre-flight checks.
I did notice, however, that putting this information on paper, provided me, an experienced technologist, with clear concise information which can and will be used to help others decide on platforms as well as conduct smooth, effortless collaboration sessions.
Learning contingency analysis differs from task analysis primarily in focusing on tasks in a learning environment rather than job performance (Jonassen, et al., 1999, p. 99). By focusing on identifying the behavioral components of tasks, the designer can discover the interdependencies among the tasks (Jonassen, et al., p. 99). Contingency analysis involves first sequencing the instructional content, followed by determining the most effective conditions for the instruction. For example, teaching algebra to a six-year-old during recess would be an extreme example of poor contingency analysis. First the child must have an understanding of basic arithmetic and a learning environment free of distractions.
The sequencing of instruction should reflect one behavior having dependence on another (Jonassen, et al., p. 100). To sort learning contingencies, Jonnassen cites Gropper's (1974) four behavioral components tasks can have:
Appendix A references eight steps for conducting a learning contingency analysis, which includes Gropper's behavior components as part of steps three and four. The hierarchical learning analysis is similar to Dick, Carey, and Carey's (1999) chapter on subordinate skills analysis. Dick, et al, describes a method of drawing relationships between learning components in a pictorial form, versus a bulleted, tabular form in contingency analysis. The fifth step of contingency analysis skips a few chapters in the Dick and Carey model, but is analogous to developing instructional strategy.
In all, the learning contingency analysis is best for environments where learning is important, rather than performance. It is a time consuming analysis meant to draw a roadmap for the most effective sequence of instruction. The result instruction framework is rigid and may not be appropriate for learning tasks which can not be directly observed. A large instructional unit could make a confusing set of sequential dependencies between tasks in step 3 as compared to the pictorial method recommended by Dick, et al., so a highly skilled analyst is to perform contingency analyses.
The Master Design Chart approach to task analysis is used when the educational ends are the development of the behavioral capabilities of the students (Jonassen, et al., 1999, p. 207). This method has its basis in two foundations. The first foundational principle states that instructional outcomes can be stated as behavioral objectives. The second states the use of instructional taxonomies to describe the outcomes. In using this method, the instructional designer classifies content according to behaviors but is not bound to any taxonomy.
To conduct a Master Design Chart analysis the designer constructs the behavior axis using a taxonomy of instructional outcomes. The designer can use more specific behaviors as appropriate. Next the specific items of content are identified and listed as the vertical axis.
Each cell in the chart is now analyzed and the relative emphasis required in the course or curriculum is noted in the cell. This is done on a continuum with 0 representing no emphasis and a number such as 3 or 5 representing the most emphasis. Although the resulting chart does not represent relationships among the instructional outcomes, it is recommended a relationship step be taken.
A Master Design Chart is constructed for a curriculum or a whole course rather than for an individual lesson. Although it gives an overview of the entire course, no information is included regarding any instructional strategy. A strength of this method is that the risk of omitting important content is reduced. Weaknesses of this method are that it is dependant on the skills of the analyst, lacks basis in needs assessment and is time consuming to construct.
For our course, the matrix was created using document analysis techniques. The result is included as Appendix E. The content included information about being a "Distance Manager" and included content on what a leader should learn and know to successfully manage a geographically diverse team. Concentration from this SME was on higher level techniques as opposed to the detailed tasks analyzed in the Job Task Analysis approach.
While creating this matrix it was difficult to determine how the task list should be written. My habit is to include the action verb associated with the learning event. The matrix provides that association to the taxonomy, a challenge for this designer.
I selected to analyze this method since much of my work comes to me from Subject Matter Experts. I hoped I could learn to use a Subject Mater/Content Analysis Method in my job performance. I found it contrary to my method of thinking, which does helps me see things from a new perspective. However I also found it tedious and am not anxious to complete the Master Design Chart.
After reviewing the previous techniques, it has become clear that while some techniques can be used for the broadest of applications, others have been designed specifically for certain tasks. The more finely tuned the instructional designer's skill set is, the more they will be able to select the most specific tool for the task.
The task analysis method could be considered the broadest within the subset that we evaluated. It could be used in nearly every scenario. However, the resolution that it lacks may cause the end product to be deficient. Learning about and when to use the most refined tools available is the difference between being a novice or an expert.
Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction: 6th edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ehrlich, D. (2000). Glossary of terms. Retrieved February 18, 2006, from the Northeastern Illinois University, Instructional Design II Web site: http://www.neiu.edu/~dbehrlic/hrd408/glossary.htm
Fazio, A., & Rieff, K. (2006, Jan). The distance manager. Presented at a meeting of the IT department of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.
Jonassen, D. H., Tessmer, M., & Hannum, W. H. (1999). Task analysis methods for instructional design. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
1. Identify the job to be analyzed - The job is distance collaboration. The focus of the analysis will be on the tools, etiquette and procedures of the collaboration. |
2. Identify all the tasks that make up that job. |
3. Develop a task description for each task. |
4. Develop a detailed task description for each task. |
5. Analyze each task to determine the requirements. (What does it take from the individual to make this task successful?) |
6. Determine the structure of the performance. (This means what order should things be done in) |
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Evaluation |
Select Hardware/ Software |
Top-down institution decision |
Institutional knowledge and commitment |
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Assemble committee for fact gathering |
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Develop criteria to meet needs of company (cost/ distribution) |
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Demonstrate selected software |
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Garner opinions |
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Narrow options |
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Select best fit |
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Purchase |
Provide monies |
Provide network infrastructure |
Survey responsible staff to analyze infrastructure impact |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks required for implementation |
Develop staff expertise |
Train trainers - each train must be able to communicate and demonstrate. |
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Develop proficiency in use of e-mail |
Train users - each user must be knowledgeable and realize benefits of software. |
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Select method of delivery |
Investigate new technologies - consider future needs. |
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Ensure telephony, mobile PCs, PDAs, etc are installed and supported. |
Users must be able to fully utilize hardware/software. |
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Use |
Use hardware/ software to communicate. |
Send and receive communications |
Software knowledge |
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Attach presentation(s) to e-mail. |
Send attachments to participants before scheduled meeting time. |
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Print attachments |
Purchase printers |
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PowerPoint* |
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* Popular software used in a variety of Distance Learning Methods |
Evaluation |
Select software |
Top-down institution decision |
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Develop criteria to meet needs of company (cost/ distribution) |
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Demonstrate selected software |
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Garner opinions |
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Narrow options |
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Select best fit |
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Purchase |
Provide monies for licensing |
Provide network infrastructure |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks required for implementation |
Develop staff expertise |
Train trainers - each train must be able to communicate and demonstrate. |
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Develop proficiency in use of PowerPoint |
Train users - each user must be knowledgeable and realize benefits of software. |
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Select method of delivery |
Investigate new technologies - consider future needs. |
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Install hardware and software for individual users |
Users must be able to fully utilize hardware/ software. |
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Attach presentation(s) to e-mail. |
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Use |
Use software to communicate. |
Prepare presentations before scheduled meeting times |
Use large clear fonts if presentation is to be broadcast of video conference link |
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Annotate as much as possible |
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Video Conferencing |
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Evaluation |
Selection |
Top-down institution decision |
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Assemble committee for fact gathering |
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Develop criteria to meet needs of company (cost/ distribution) |
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Demonstrate selected hardware |
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Garner opinions |
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Narrow options |
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Select best fit/validate compatibility. |
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Purchase |
Provide monies for hardware and software |
Provide network infrastructure |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks for implementation |
Develop staff expertise |
Train trainers - each train must be able to communicate and demonstrate. |
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Develop proficiency |
Train users - each user must be knowledgeable and realize benefits of software. |
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Select method of delivery |
Investigate new technologies - consider future needs. |
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Install hardware and software for individual users |
Users must be able to fully utilize hardware/ software. |
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Use |
Conduct equipment tests. |
Ensure equipment/network is working. |
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Presenter should engage and address remote audience. |
Develop training courses to enhance presenters and method of communicating via distance. |
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Remote audience should remain muted unless speaking to local site |
Provide documentation/ instruction to audience on requirements of interaction. |
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Ensure that all documents to be used are sent in advance and that font sizes are appropriate for the broadcast |
Provide documentation/ instructions to presenter on requirements of good transmission. |
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Teleconferencing |
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Selection |
Select telephones |
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Purchase |
Provide monies |
Provide telephone connection (hardware or wireless). |
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Conference leader should engage and address remote audience. |
Develop training courses to enhance presenters and method of communicating via distance. |
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Use |
E-mail/fax needed documents |
Ensure that all documents to be used are sent prior to the conference. |
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Online Chat |
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Selection |
Evaluate various online chat programs |
Develop criteria to meet needs of participants. |
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Implementation |
Training |
Make sure that all participants are familiar with the tools that will be useful for the collaboration. |
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Use |
Etiquette |
Decide on rules of engagement for online chat. |
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Communicate rules |
Inform users whether the chat session will be saved or not. |
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Forums |
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Selection |
Top-down institution decision |
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Assemble committee for fact gathering. |
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Develop criteria to meet needs of company (cost/distribution). |
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Demonstrate selected software |
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Garner opinions |
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Narrow options |
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Select best fit |
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Purchase |
Provides monies |
Provide network infrastructure. |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks required for implementation |
Develop support staff expertise |
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Inform uses of forum availability |
Send e-mail |
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Put information on website |
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Use |
Use hardware/ software to communicate. |
Develop documentation on software use. |
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Collaboration Software |
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Evaluation |
Select Hardware/ Software |
Top-down institution decision |
Institutional knowledge and commitment |
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Assemble committee for fact gathering |
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Develop criteria to meet needs of company (cost/ distribution) |
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Demonstrate selected software |
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Garner opinions |
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Narrow options |
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Select best fit |
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Purchase |
Provide monies |
Provide network infrastructure |
Survey responsible staff to analyze infrastructure impact |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks required for implementation |
Develop staff expertise |
Train trainers - each train must be able to communicate and demonstrate. |
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Develop proficiency in use of collaboration software. |
Train users - each user must be knowledgeable and realize benefits of software. |
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Use |
Use hardware/ software to communicate. |
Software knowledge |
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Attach presentation(s) to e-mail. |
Send attachments to participants before scheduled meeting time. |
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WebCasts |
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Evaluation |
Select Hardware/ Software |
Top-down institution decision |
Institutional knowledge and commitment |
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Assemble committee for fact gathering |
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Develop criteria to meet needs of company (cost/ distribution) |
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Demonstrate selected software |
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Garner opinions |
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Narrow options |
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Select best fit |
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Purchase |
Provide monies |
Provide network infrastructure |
Survey responsible staff to analyze infrastructure impact |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks required for implementation |
Develop staff expertise |
Train trainers - each train must be able to communicate and demonstrate. |
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Develop staff proficiency in use of webcasting |
Train users - each user must be knowledgeable and realize benefits of software. |
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Use |
Use hardware/ software to communicate. |
Software knowledge |
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Website (Intranet) |
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Evaluation |
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Purchase |
Provide monies |
Provide network infrastructure |
Survey responsible staff to analyze infrastructure impact |
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Implementation |
Assign tasks required for implementation |
Develop staff expertise |
Train trainers - each train must be able to communicate and demonstrate. |
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Develop staff proficiency in use of webcasting |
Train users - each user must be knowledgeable and realize benefits of software. |
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Use |
Use hardware/ software to communicate. |
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Steps |
Instructional Unit |
Step 1: Identify the tasks |
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Step 2: Identify the specific behaviors |
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Step 3: Determine the sequential dependencies |
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Step 4: Sequence the behaviors |
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Step 5: Plan the instructional progressions |
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Step 6: Analyze the criterion behaviors |
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Step 7: Select alternative instructional approaches |
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Step 8: Adjust for individual differences |
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Verbal |
Concepts |
Procedures & Rules |
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Define |
Identify |
List |
Describe |
Interpret |
Locate |
Apply |
Prepare |
Set Up |
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Culture |
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Time zones |
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Use of time |
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Vocabulary – location neutral language |
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Level of Formality |
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Regional culture |
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Corporate culture |
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Technical culture |
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Personal conduct |
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Beliefs/Assumptions/Values |
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Protocol |
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Etiquette |
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Communication |
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Clarity |
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Shared goals |
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Clear expectations |
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Meeting guidelines/agenda |
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Limit meeting length |
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Leadership Skills |
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Verbal communication |
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Written communication |
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Strong interpersonal skills |
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Technical skills |
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Facilitator |
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Establish trust |
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Team comfort with technology |
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Solicit participation/elicit responses |
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Coach |
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Team build/celebrate |
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Tools/technology |
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Within your firewall? |
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What’s available to all? |
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Practice |
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Include interactivity |
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Technology matches goal |
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Course description: Examination of the major elements involved in planning, conducting, and reporting survey research; emphasis is on the design, instrumentation, data analysis and data; interpretation for survey research.
Guiding Principle: No measure is ever reliable. Scores determined by a measure may be reliable depending on who completes the measure and the conditions under which the measure is completed (when and where).
Structure of the Reliability write-up
| Procedure One | Procedure Two |
|---|---|
1. Comment on the reliability of the scores by examining the reliability coefficient. Everyone has her/his own standards, but here are what mine tend to be: < .65 Poor; |
1. Comment on reliability coefficient |
2. Comment on the corrected item-total correlations |
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|
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| 2. Do nothing more | 3. Comment on how high your reliability coefficient would increase if you were to drop out all negative item-total correlations one at a time until you had no more negative corrected item-total correlations. |
| 4. Do nothing more |
Responses for the various features of the agency website were judged to be moderately reliable for the customer service representatives who participated in the survey, with a reliability coefficient of 0.778. A review of the corrected item-total correlations suggests that the questions for the website as a critical tool and a unique website in the marketplace do not correlate with the corrected total very well. Their elimination is warranted on the basis that reducing the scale to only relevant items would make for a better, more parsimonious scale. It turns out that removing the item may further be motivated by anticipated increase in the reliability coefficient reported in the output (0.884).
If HTML newsletters, online payments, Internet as a tool, and customer communication with the agency were removed, the reliability of the scale would increase to 0.963.
To examine the impact of removing both items, each item was removed one at a time. This approach is necessary because the impact of removing one item changes the relationship of the other item with the changing total.
Course description: A critical analysis of educational research design.
Three major types of questions are causal/comparative, relationship, and impact. Use a literature review as a funnel to narrow a broad area of research into a manageable contribution, which leads to "The purpose of this study is..." Classic or landmark studies would be considered good content for the introductory, broad part of the literature review. Use incremental blocks of studies as a transition to more focused topics in your area of research. The final question should be something you are genuinely interested in finding the answer to so you have the motivation to complete the report as time progresses.
The question should have a question mark at the end. The question should ask if there is a cause/effect, what impacts what, or if there a relationship (what two or more things are related). Should have a construct or construct level at the start that is narrowed down to something very specific. Could "self concept" really mean "body image"? Does "achievement" mean achievement in math, reading, overall, or something else? Include operational definitions for parts of the question to define "achievement" if you are looking for relationship between achievement and yearly income. Perhaps achievement has several six factors to consider observing in the study.
This study will investigate the effects of (treatment) on (population). The investigation will be conducted (describe the setting). The present study, within the context of (the setting), will be concerned with the following research questions:
Hypothesis 1: (Relate back to research question number 1). Hypothesis 2: (Relate back to research question number 2).
This study will investigate the effects of Digital Propensity on the preferences of insurance agency employees when information is presented with either text or graphics as the primary presentation format. The investigation will be conducted in a "real work" setting and will use a computer-based task. The present study, within the context of a work environment, will be concerned with the following research questions:
Chapter 1 of this study introduced the problem statement and described the specific problem addressed in the study as well as design components.
Chapter 2 presents a review of literature and relevant research associated with the problem addressed in this study.
Chapter 3 presents the methodology and procedures used for data collection and analysis.
Chapter 4 contains an analysis of the data and presentation of the results.
Chapter 5 offers a summary and discussion of the researcher's findings, implications for practice, and recommendations for future research.
Internal validity - how valid were the procedures that I followed in terms of the research method to obtain the information I need External validity - how generalizable is the information learned from a study
Internal validity
External validity
Bibliography
Campbell, D. T. & Stanley, J. C. (1966). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago, R. McNally.
Instructions: Use the following questions as a study guide for your comprehensive exam. 4-5 questions will be presented to you for your comprehensive exam. You are to select and respond to 3 to meet the requirements for your comprehensive exam.
Committee members:
Atsusi "2c" Hirumi (co-chair)
Stephen A. Sivo (co-chair)
Chuck Dziuban
E.H. "Mike" Robinson
Laura Blasi
Defended June 27, 2008
Practitioners have proposed that Digital Natives prefer graphics while Digital Immigrants prefer text. While Instructional Design has been extensively studied and researched, the impact of the graphical emphasis in instructional designs as it relates to digital propensity has not been widely explored. Specifically, this study examined the performance of students when presented with text-only and graphic-only instructional formats. The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between Digital Propensity Index scores of individuals and their performance when interpreting online instruction. A sample of students from the population of a large metropolitan university received the Digital Propensity Index questionnaire, which is a measure of an individual's time spent interacting with digital media. Each student was randomly assigned varying formats of a computer-based instructional unit via a public survey. The instructional unit consisted of the DPI questionnaire and six tasks related to the Central Florida commuter rail system.
Participants were asked to answer the DPI questionnaire on a website by clicking on a link in an emailed invitation. Following the DPI questionnaire, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group One saw three instructional tasks shown in text and shuffled in random order. Each task was displayed on its own webpage. By submitting an answer to the task, the group progressed through the website to the next task. Group Two saw graphic tasks first, again, shuffled in random order. After the first three tasks, the groups swapped instructional formats to view the opposing group's initial questions. Participants were timed on how many seconds they spent reviewing each task. Each task had an assessment question to evaluate the learning outcomes of the instructional unit. Finally, the DPI score of the participant was matched with the time spent viewing each presentation format.
The findings indicate that DPI score had a statistically significant prediction of time spent navigating each type of instruction. Though the link between DPI score and time spent navigating instruction was statistically significant, the actual measurable time difference between navigating text and graphic formats was only a fraction of a second for each increment in DPI score. Limitations and potential future research related to the study are discussed as well.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Norman_David_K_200808_PhD_protected.pdf | 3.3 MB |
Course description: Instruction and how it is delivered at a distance. Examines technologies, processes, and products of distance education with emphasis on e-learning.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| EME6457_syllabus_Sp06.pdf | 61.96 KB |
| EME6457_Norman,D._Distance_education_tools.pdf | 128.25 KB |
| EME6457_Tidwell,C.,&Norman,D.K._Standards_for_DE.pdf | 57.67 KB |
As a class assignment, I developed an instructional treatment plan for the following objective: Given a virtual working environment, avoid communication problems between virtual team members when working on a project.
We chose Nelson's Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) model because team skills are a higher order thinking activity. Nelson says CPS is not appropriate for memorized or procedural tasks and a CRT item would be "waste precious instructional time" and that "CPS is most appropriate when there is not a single answer to a question or best way of doing something" (Reigeluth, 1999, p. 247).
CPS was also chosen because the collaborative element in a virtual environment forces the students to experience the very topic they're studying and writing about. Each of the process activities in CPS is a small assessment of the enabling objectives since the group can't move on to complete the assignment until they have normed, agreed on the problem, defined roles, etc. I thought the true assessment of the enabling objectives would be performed as part of the debriefing, reflection, and discussion at the end of the unit.
Many texts have the condition, behavior, and criteria/degree elements of objectives (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005, pp. 123-139; Kubiszyn & Borich, 2003, p. 82; Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek 2006, p. 129; Stolovitch & Keeps, 1999, p. 356) and that Hirumi added audience (2005, ¶ 6). We tried to follow the samples in Dick, et al. (2005, p. 139), for the condition/degree of assessing intellectual skills by specifying things like "at least five peer-reviewed journals" in the sample assessment rubric. The other assessment rubric items were modeled from Dr. Hirumi's performance criteria for this assignment and peer evaluation for the end of the course.
I believe I can ask the question, "could I observe the learner doing this?" (Kubiszyn et al., 2003, p. 80; Dick et al., 1999, p. 127) to each of the objectives we listed in the treatment plan as part of the measurable behavior component of the objectives. Granted, the observation would not have an associated percentage completion or accuracy, but that goes back to the complexity of multiple solution theory in CPS. Dick et al, p. 139 has several samples without a CRT item as the assessment criterion for intellectual skill objectives.
Ways to improve the treatment plan are to include some of the degree elements from the assessment rubric earlier in the objectives, add more description and content to the instructional events, create an activity for forming and norming teams and an activity for role selection, and investigate taking some fuzziness out of the objectives.
References
Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Allyn and Bacon.
Hirumi, A. (2005, August 1). Unit 4: Performance objectives supplement. Retrieved September 9, 2005, from http://webct.ucf.edu/eme6613c/Unit04/u04info.html
Kubiszyn, T., & Borich, G. (2003). Educational testing and Measurement: Classroom application and practice (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley / Jossey-Bass Education.
Reigeluth, C. (1999). Instructional-design theories and models: 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2006). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (eds.). (1999). Handbook of human performance technology: Improving individual and organizational performance worldwide (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass / Pfeiffer
Course title: Working Effectively in Virtual Teams
Unit Number and Title: Unit 1.0 - Virtual Team Communications
Terminal Objective: Given a virtual working environment, avoid communication problems between virtual team members when working on a project.
Enabling Objectives: When assigned a task to be completed in a virtual team, you should be able to:
Prerequisites:
Time Requirements: Approximately 1 week
|
Designer's Notes: Collaborative Problem Solving This unit does not cover attitudinal parts of the lesson. The Collaborative Problem Solving grounded instructional strategy has been modified to meet the needs of this unit. CPS is a learner-centered learning environment, with a learn-by-doing participation attitude for participants, and the encouragement of exploration of multiple perspectives. CPS is not suited for learning factual information or procedural skills, rather different ways to apply a complex set of knowledge to different ways to complete a task (Reigeluth, 1999). The majority of this portion of the training is intended to be web-based. |
| Instructional Events | Description | Interaction | Media & Tool Selection |
| Build readiness (Prepare students for project.) | Creating an authentic learning problem is essential at this point (Stinson & Milter, 1996).
The review of the unit should address benefits and pitfalls of group work and how the group products will be evaluated. The instructor should ask students questions about the process and respond with appropriate adjustments, if necessary. Defining the exact problem for virtual teamwork should be done in collaboration with the learners. To guide the problem, the following guidelines should be used:
Learners will read the introduction on pages 118-119 on virtual team communications in the assigned text. Learners will also review the included web sites on the subject to help them become familiar with the subject matter. Unit Overview Unit 1.0 provides an overview of virtual teams by: (a) discussing benefits and pitfalls of virtual teams; (b) comparing them to face-to-face interaction; (c) listing rules and etiquette for virtual communication. The primary purpose is to avoid communication problems when working in virtual teams. Since Unit 1 is the start of your group work in this course, it will take slightly longer than other units with a full week commitment to complete. Start by reading pages 118-119 of your text to become familiar with the subject matter. When you have a good feel for the introductory text, post an authentic problem to the bulletin board you think might be possible to solve in the course of this unit. At the end of this unit, you will be assessed on your content knowledge and skills, group-process skills, and metacognitive strategies. |
learner - instructor, learner - content | Discussion board, text, web resources and email. |
| Form and norm groups | Users form their own groups of three to six members by posting profiles of their gender, ethnicity, relevant pre-existing knowledge or skills, and previous experience with working on a team (Reigeluth, 1999, pg. 259). Interested team members reply to posts to form groups. The instructor may need to assist learners having trouble finding a group. Instructor will create private discussion boards for each group or students will create a Yahoo group or use another collaboration tool with instructor approval. As part of the norming process, members should agree on operational guidelines. Assignment: Form Groups Post a short comment about yourself to the bulletin board with at least the following information: the problem you are interested in solving, sex, ethnicity, relevant knowledge or skills, and previous experience working with a team. Form teams of no less than three and no more than six members by replying to biographies. Each team should work with at least one person who is not already known. When teams are formed, send a short paragraph of some agreed upon operational guidelines for the group to the instructor. |
learner - learner, learner - instructor. | Discussion board, Internet resources. |
| Determine a preliminary problem definition |
Students will explore the challenges of virtual teams by reading pages 120-135 in the text on virtual team communications, and refer to suggested web sites that deal with the topic. Based on their findings they will summarize and determine which direction they wish to pursue in virtual team communications. They will need to focus on challenges facing virtual teams and validate these findings through their own virtual team experience. Each student will maintain a log of events throughout the virtual team experience. Assignment: Preliminary Problem Definition Develop a common understanding of the problem the group will solve. Each group member should post a short statement of their understanding of the problem. The group should choose one for the next step, and post it to their group presentation site. Be sure the selected problem statement has enough information readily available to support a timely solution before moving to the next step. |
learner - learner, learner - content | Discussion board, chat, instant messaging |
| Define and assign roles | Scribe and moderator are pre-determined by instructor. Students will need to determine and assign roles to other team members. It is important that the team member selected to be the moderator is aware of what is involved in keeping the project moving forward. The course information in WebCT on team roles will need to be reviewed. Assignment: Assign team member roles Students will need to understand the importance of clearly defined roles for an effective virtual team project. Each student will volunteer for a specific role within the team. Each student must understand the role they will be taking on to avoid misunderstandings and to make sure that each team member in a virtual team has a clearly defined role. |
learner - learner, learner - content | Discussion board, internet resources, email, chat, instant messaging. |
| Engage in collaborative problem-solving process | Learners engage in whatever means necessary to solve the problem.
Students will use the text, suggested web references, other web resources, and library resources to research their proposed problem. Students will need to clearly identify the area their specific area of research on virtual team communications being mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of virtual teams. Instructor will be available to answer online questions via the bulletin board, or email. Assignment: Engage in collaborative problem-solving. All team members need to contribute to the collaboration process. All team members will be expected to reply to discussion postings, virtual chat meetings (at established group times). Also, every team member is expected to participate in the instructor-student online chat session during the project as assigned by the instructor. |
learner - learner, learner - instructor, learner - content, learner - other, learner - interface, learner - environment | Discussion board, email, internet, chat, text |
| Finalize the solution or project | Students will write a 5-page group report on their findings.
This report will be posted to the course web site for other students to view and for the instructor to provide feedback and evaluation. Assignment: Finalize the project Review the assessment guidelines and write a 5 page group report on the findings of virtual teamwork. Post the final report to your group's presentation site. |
learner - learner | Web page, discussion board, email. |
| Synthesize and reflect | Each student will submit a one page summary of their experience being
part of a virtual team. This summary will focus on the challenges of
virtual teams, positives and negatives of the experience, and finally
a recommendation for future virtual team events. Students should also identify newly acquired skills from the group project and what, if any, metacognitive strategies they employed.
They will post two bulletin board postings on their recommendations for improving the virtual team experience. Part of this learning experience will also include a general chat time with the instructor on the experience as a whole. Assignment: Synthesize and Reflect Write a one page reflection. Discuss the challenges of working in a virtual team, the positives and negatives of the experience, what skills you acquired in the process, and what metacognitive strategies you employed, if any. Generate at least two recommendations for improving future virtual team events and post them to the bulletin board. Watch for a notice from the instructor about meeting in the chat room for a whole-class debriefing. |
learner - learner, learner - instructor | Discussion board, chat, email. |
| Assess products and processes | Each student will evaluate their learning experience and assign
letter grades to each member of the group based on the specified course
criteria using a teamwork evaluation form.
Students will provide comments on other student work in a constructive fashion via the bulletin board. Instructor will provide feedback on each groups report and virtual team summaries. Instructor will distribute electronic survey via email to all students to provide feedback on the virtual team experience. |
learner - learner, learner - instructor | Evaluation form, discussion board, email and multiple choice survey |
| Provide closure | Each student will receive a final grade on their final product, which
will include a group grade, and instructor direct feedback. The group evaluations will be summarized and shared with each member of the group for feedback. Student's will post wrap up insights on the whole process and will include what worked and what didn't work discussion posts. |
learner - learner, learner - instructor | Discussion board, email, grade tool. |
Webpages were selected to deliver most instructional events for a number of reasons (the tools in WebCT will be used for the project):
Email, chat, discussion board, and whiteboard will be used for various parts of the virtual team process:
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Designer's Notes: The enabling objectives for Unit 1.0 focus on higher order thinking skills, therefore an essay, discussion, and reflection are necessary for assessing virtual teamwork knowledge. The terminal objective for the virtual teamwork unit focuses on the cognitive domain. Each objective addresses the audience, required behavior, condition, and criteria or degree to which the performance will be measured. |
| Skill | Objective | Domain | Method | Item/Criteria |
| Communicate effectively in virtual teams | Terminal objective 1.0 - Given a virtual working environment, avoid communication problems between virtual team members. | Cognitive | reflective discussion | learner reflection, potential for real-world success, and the group processes of each team |
| Criticize virtual team communications | Enabling objective: 1.1 - Given example communications from virtual teams, criticize virtual team communications. | Problem solving | reflective discussion, post test: essay |
learners' gains in content knowledge and skills, group-process skills, and metacognitive strategies
|
|
Select appropriate communication tools for specified tasks. |
Enabling objective: 1.2 - Given a problem situation, select the appropriate communication tools for the specified tasks. | Concept | reflective discussion, post test: essay |
learners' gains in content knowledge and skills, group-process skills, and metacognitive strategies
|
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Evaluate advantages and limitations associated with virtual teams. |
Enabling objective 1.3 - Given a teamwork situation, evaluate the advantages and limitations associated with using virtual teams. | Cognitive |
Post test: essay |
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| Examine strengths and weaknesses of selected communication tools. | Enabling objective 1.4 - Given a list of communication tools, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. | Problem solving | Post test: essay |
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| Predict typical communication problems of virtual teams. | Enabling objective 1.5 - Given a teamwork situation, predict the problems typically associated with virtual teams. | Cognitive | Post test: essay |
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| Compare and contrast virtual and F2F team communications. | Enabling objective 1.6 - Given a communication scenario, compare and contrast the using F2F or virtual environments as the communication medium. | Cognitive | reflective discussion, post test: essay | learners' gains in content knowledge and skills, group-process skills, and metacognitive strategies
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Quality (___ /5pts): Completed all assignments to the level of quality expected by the group.
Responsibility (___ /5pts): Completed all assignments in a timely manner. Attended meetings.
Interpersonal Skills (___ /5pts): Worked well with other team members.
Attitude (___ /5pts): Projected positive attitude throughout project.
Contribution (___ /5pts): Contributed to the group in an equitable fashion.
Estimate the % contribution of the team member you are evaluating under the column marked "Individual" for major tasks completed by the team for each assignment. The % contribution of the individual plus the % contribution of all others MUST add up to equal 100% for each major task
| Tasks | % Contribution by Individual |
% Contribution by All Others |
|---|---|---|
| Exemplary |
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| Proficient |
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| Developing |
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Reigeluth, C. (1999). Instructional-design theories and models: 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Stinson, J. E. & Milter, R. G. (1996). Problem-based learning in business education: Curriculum design and implementation issues – Drawing on eleven years experience with a problem-based learning MBA program, curricular design and implementation. Retrieved March 1, 2006, from Ohio University Web site: http://www.ouwb.ohiou.edu/stinson/PBL.html
Course description: The study of major issues in editing, including levels of edit, grammar and mechanics, visuals, style, and the impact of technology. Learn how to edit a variety of professional documents (which could include correspondence, reports, instructions, proposals, online help, or Web sites) to make them more usable to their intended audience. Explore both copyediting and comprehensive editing and learn how to apply these to professional documents. In addition to learning how to edit the content, organization, style, and mechanics of professional documents, explore how the editing process is rhetorical. Finally, explore various ethical, legal, and management issues concerning editing.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ENC5216a_syllabus_sp06.pdf | 37.43 KB |
When I start writing a paper for a school assignment, I review each of the requirements of the assignment, making headings for each in a word processor. Then I try to link each part of the assignment with one or more of the objectives for the instructional unit. For example, in preparation for this assignment, I started with three lines at the top of a blank document in the following manner:
What is my writing process like? What is your first step in completing a paper? What is each subsequent step?
Of the four objectives listed for this instructional unit, “recognize and articulate your own writing processâ€, was the only objective to match the components of the assignment. I try to make the link between assignment requirements and objectives to double-check my interpretation of the assignment.
What I do next, in writing a paper, depends on the type of assignment. In the case of this assignment, I am reflecting rather than summarizing results of research, so I started writing immediately after I linked the assignment requirements with an objective. After each paragraph, I read back through what I said in the previous two paragraphs and make revisions.
Had this assignment been to write about the results of research, I would have started by outlining the sections of the paper. Each section would contain a notation of the applicable requirements in the assignment. If any ideas come to mind for things to write about, I add them as short, incomplete notes in the section it belongs. I create a title page with a temporary title. Next, I start a literature review. The literature review almost always prompts me to change the title of my paper more than once. I only start writing the paper for an assignment when I have a solid topic statement or abstract for guiding the rest of the report.
Whether it be subject of the paper is reflection, research, or a topic where I am a subject matter expert, I revise the report in two paragraph chunks as I go. I think it helps confirm the flow between paragraphs. When I finish a complete section, I skim through the section before moving to the next to check flow. At the end of the paper, I walk away from the computer; final revisions are for a fresh sitting. In the ideal situation, I print the paper to edit with a pencil.
In my first critical revision, I check for using the same word to start sentences and grammar. I only read one sentence at a time to see if it makes sense. When I finish the pencil revisions, I make the corrections in the word processor and make my final read-through on the computer screen for the flow of the paper. Sometimes I move large chunks of paragraphs to other parts of the paper. At this point, I coax my wife into using a red pen on a print-out of the paper. For the most part, she revises for content, leaving comments on what I should leave out, expand on, or add. In ideal situations, I give the paper a third read before turning it in. Unfortunately, procrastination often prevents me from having the energy to put into a third reading.
Technical editing is an iterative team effort involving one or more editors, authors, subject matter experts (SMEs), and evaluators. Each team component has specialized roles. The editor provides direction, scope, vision, purpose. Editors verify adherence to applicable style guides as well as review drafts for usability, logic, arrangement, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and design. Writers translate information from subject matter experts to written form. Writers are responsible for arbitrating content presentation between the editors’ global scope and the SME’s specific content. Changes to text during the review process are the responsibility of the writers. SMEs provide expert input on required content. SMEs also serve as a specialist member of the evaluation team to review text for currency, accuracy, and adequacy. Evaluators serve as a third party to improve the effectiveness of delivery. Evaluation is performed in a one-to-one or small group format to include clarity, impact, feasibility, and generalizations. Field trial is performed with evaluators to judge the text’s effectiveness under the targeted conditions.
The editing process is a kind of life cycle. I developed a waterfall style diagram of the production process, consisting of 6 major parts, as shown in Figure 1: define project parameters, logical design, physical design, development, implementation, and maintenance.
Figure 1: Technical Editing WaterfallBetween each step, a review is performed by the editor, SME, and/or evaluators, to be implemented by the writers. Since costs to significantly revise a document increase as the document reaches completion, the review and changes are essential before moving on to the next step.
Course description: Systematic design of instruction including task analysis, learner analysis, needs assessment, content analysis, specification of objectives, media selection, evaluation and revision. Analysis of instructional design models.
The learning in the course is split into nine instruction areas: goal analysis, subordinate skills analysis, learner and context analysis, performance objectives, learner assessment, instructional strategy, instructional development, formative evaluation, and summative evaluation. I was assigned to work with a local non-profit organization to improve the human resources segment of their new employee orientation.
|
Method |
Type
of Test Item |
Sample
Behaviors |
|
Conventional |
True/False |
identify, recognize, select, choose |
|
Matching |
identify, recognize, select, discriminate, locate | |
|
Fill-in-the-Blank |
construct, develop, discuss, define, generate, identify, solve, locate, state | |
|
Multiple
Choice |
choose, discriminate, identify, recognize, select, solve, locate | |
|
Short
Answer |
define, discriminate, evaluate, identify, locate, state, name, select, judge, solve | |
|
Essay |
construct, discuss, develop, evaluate, generate, judge, solve | |
|
Performance |
Performance/Product
Checklists |
construct, solve, develop, generate, locate, perform, operate |
|
Assessment
Rubric |
choose, construct, generate, operate, perform |
|
Method |
Type of Test Item |
Learning Domain |
|
Conventional |
True/False
|
Verbal Information Concepts |
|
Matching |
||
|
Fill-in-the-Blank |
||
|
Multiple Choice |
||
|
Performance |
Performance/Product
Checklists |
Procedures/Rules |
|
Assessment
Rubric |
Problem Solving/Cognitive Strategies |
The difficult part of this project has not been meeting with the service learning partner or getting the information we need, it has been the deciding on what content is good or bad, correct or incorrect for charting in the goal analysis. At the start, everyone except James wanted to jump into reorganizing the Hospice orientation as we thought it should be, however the assignment called for drawing how the system is currently implemented.
As I sketched out the process of HR orientation with Michelle, we created skill boxes and verbs for what the client wanted to accomplish. Note, what the client wants to accomplish is different from what they are currently presenting, so the charting came to a halt as our group members debated four different interpretations of the assignment. Michelle interpreted the assignment to mean it was possible we were supposed to be sketching how Hospice actually does orientation, now. Since my verbs matched more of an ideal implementation of Hospice, it would have involved a total re-think of the goal analysis. Three of us turned out to be correct anyway, but only in parts. In retrospect, it might have been helpful to have just asked our questions earlier instead of debating our interpretations of the assignment requirements.
One of the most useful things I used during the assignments was the Gagne's list of verbs. I had trouble with adding verbs to the goal analysis because I imagined the verbs had to be some physical action I could observe. I hadn't considered the verb could just as easily been someone speaking a one-word answer to a question. As I started connecting verbal arrows to other boxes in the Visio file I created, I realized I have only a vague understanding of how to create the flow of connections for verbal information. I will need to re-read that section of Dick, Carey, and Carey to properly contribute my input to the team version of the analysis.
In a few partial group discussions, we played with alternative ideas methods for presenting the orientation content in the current program. For example, I think all of my group members believe most, if not all of the paperwork signed during orientation can be done individually, without consuming HR's staff time. By downloading the forms online, receiving them by mail, or coming in to review the current packet on their own shouldn't require as significant amount of time as HR is putting in now. If HR allowed employees alternative methods or opportunities to file personnel paperwork, they could use more orientation time to orient the new employees to the culture of the client's organization.
After reading draft assignments from other students in class, I had a new appreciation for following the flow of charts. Creating the proper breaks in flow for pagination, drawing arrows in the right direction, and picking the best verbs makes a big difference in what information a chart conveys. Even though 2c said the goal statement in the draft I presented in class was acceptable, I believe after re-reading Unit 1 Supplement, it can be improved to better clarify the learner, the real-life context, and the available tools for accomplishing goals. Right now, the goal I stated feels very heavy in what learners will be able to do. Michelle and James far exceeded my expectations of time commitments to this group project, and I have met with them in person and by phone on several occasions outside regularly scheduled face-to-face class meetings. I will be meeting again with James on Monday to clarify terms in the team learner and context analysis.
The attached assignment includes a goal and subskills analysis, and learner and context analysis of a non-profit.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| HOTC Learner&Context Analysis 20051002 blacked out.pdf | 64.56 KB |
| HOTC goal&ssa 20051002 blacked out.pdf | 56.35 KB |
| HOTC analysis phase feedback.pdf | 45.45 KB |
Measurable Action Verbs for Generating Performance Objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy for Learned Outcomes.
| Knowledge Level | Comprehension Level | Application Level |
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Arrange |
Classify |
Apply |
| Analysis Level | Synthesis Level | Evaluation Level |
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Analyze |
Arrange |
Agree |
Alternative Methods for Chunking Units into Lessons based on 5E Instructional Strategy
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Lesson 1 |
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Instructional Event (Explore) |
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Instructional Event (Explain) |
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Instructional Event (Elaborate) |
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Instructional Unit 2 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Lesson 2.1 |
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Instructional Event (Explore) |
Lesson 2.2 |
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Instructional Event (Explain) |
Lesson 2.3 |
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Instructional Event (Elaborate) |
Lesson 2.4 |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
Lesson 2.5 |
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Instructional Unit 3 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Lesson 3.1 |
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Instructional Event (Explore) |
Lesson 3.2 |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
Lesson 3.3 |
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Instructional Unit 4 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Lesson 4.1 |
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Instructional Event (Explore) |
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Instructional Event (Explain) |
Lesson 4.2 |
Lesson 4.3 |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
Lesson 4.4 |
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Instructional Unit 5 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Lesson 5.1 |
Lesson 5.2 |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
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Instructional Unit 6 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Lesson 6.1 |
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Instructional Event (Explain) |
Lesson 6.2 |
Lesson 6.2 |
Lesson 6.4 |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
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Instructional Unit 7 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Unit Overview |
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Instructional Event (Explore) |
Lesson 7.1 |
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Instructional Event (Explain) |
Lesson 7.2 |
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Instructional Event (Elaborate) |
Lesson 7.3 |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
Unit Summary |
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Instructional Unit 8 |
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Instructional Event (Engage) |
Unit Overview |
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Instructional Event (Explore) |
Lesson |
Lesson |
Lesson |
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Instructional Event (Evaluate) |
Unit Summary |
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Dick, Carey, and Carey (2005) outline a set of requirements for performance objectives in an instructional unit, including audience, behavior, condition, and degree. The audience is the target population to complete the assigned objective. Behavior includes an action verb to describe what the learners are expected to know and/or be able to do. Cues, stimuli, tools, scope, and complexity are part of the condition in a performance objective. Finally, the acceptable performance is defined by the degree. A complete objective would have all four components, for example, "provided with a list of insects, first graders will write the list of insects in alphabetical order with 90% accuracy."
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Domain |
Measurable Verbs/Behaviors |
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Verbal Information |
Arrange |
Label |
Recognize |
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Concepts |
Classify |
Represent |
Review |
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Procedures & Rules |
Apply |
Interpret |
Set up |
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Problem Solving |
Analyze |
Deduce |
Hypothesize |
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Cognitive Strategy |
Agree |
Choose |
Modify |
The instructional treatment plan builds on the analysis phase of the instructional design process. Some of the elements of the subskills analysis could be plugged right into the assessment alignment table. The organization I've been working with has an uncommon element of attitudinal and emotional importance, therefore the objectives of this plan include attitudinal elements otherwise not seen in a "proper" instructional treatment plan. Version 2.1 is a draft and the name of the organization has been removed since I didn't ask them about posting this to the internet.
One of the major stumbling blocks in completing this assignment was choosing a grounded instructional strategy. The assignment had a template, however the default Gagné instructional strategy seemed to be better suited for classroom, face-to-face instruction. Part of the effort in this project has been to present a large part of the orientation material in a web-based form, and WebQuests, paired with job aids, seemed like the closest grounded instructional strategy to our goal.
In the process of researching WebQuests, I developed a list of helpful resources such as the WebQuest template. I even signed up for a QuestGarden account, a PHP-based site for generating WebQuests. My professor, Dr. Hirumi, studied under faculty at SDSU. A guide on the building blocks of a WebQuest was also helpful in guiding the instructional strategy details for the treatment plan in my assignment.
During this assignment, I realized I'm rusty on rules for creating surveys. I used to know some good tips on trying to dumb-proof surveys, but I need a refresher. I think the Ph.D. program will have a survey course later in my plan of study. During the implementation of assessment tools later in this project, I may need to refer to my old marketing research textbook for some of those rules on survey creation. All I remembered to do was to not make the feelings about HR a double-barreled question.
After receiving feedback from Dr. Hirumi about version 2.2 of the instructional treatment plan, it was easier to see just how much the WebQuest instructional strategy was being modified to fit the objectives of the instructional unit. Tracy gave an example of a WebQuest she had used before. The task was to research George Washington. The process was to visit a website, read about George, answer some questions, and write an essay. The resources were the initial links provided to the learner, and the evaluation was over the essay. In the case of the client for this project, much of the "questing" is just browsing documentation prepared specifically to guide the learner through filling out their new hire paperwork.
As a result of the feedback from Dr. Hirumi, each part of the plan received some sort of significant modification. Initially, the plan included content to teach some attitudinal content, but that was removed in the final version, because we thought it would be better to allow hospice culture subject matter experts to develop a face-to-face presentation on what they wanted new employees to know. The initial objectives were choppy, and didn't follow 2c's ABCD rule for objectives. The instructional plan also lacked some sort of activity to reinforce the information in the readings. What I imagine for the Accident/Incident Report lesson is to present the new employee with three scenarios. They will need to identify which one requires an Accident/Incident report, then take information from the scenario to fill out a practice form.
The important thing to monitor as revisions were made to the plan is continuity from one part to another. At one point during the revision process, the objective for the learning about the employee assistance program only required learners to identify uses of the program, when in fact the learner also needed to know it was free, voluntary, and confidential.
The other continuity problem surfaced during revisions when we added scenario activities to the process. The objectives only accounted for making choices based on the Hepatitis B information sheet. Since the learners should know from the objectives they will have to apply information from a scenario in addition to the Hepatitis B information page, it was necessary to go back and amend the objectives. There was some discussion during the revision that adding all that information to the objectives "isn't how things are normally done". That was the problem though, the way people normally write objectives is incomplete and/or doesn't align the instruction and evaluation. At this point, the one bit of knowledge of aligning objectives is a reoccurring issue that will probably be one of the educational highlights of this Ph.D. program.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| EME6613_HOTC_Instructional_Treatment_Plan_2.2_blacked_out.html | 14.64 KB |
| EME6613_Instructional_Plan_Final_Feedback.doc | 90.5 KB |
| EME6613_Instructional_Plan_Preliminary_Feedback.doc | 76 KB |
Designer's Notes: The objectives listed in this instructional treatment plan are based on the subordinate skills analysis conducted on [removed]'s new employee orientation. This treatment plan focuses on the goal analysis item 1.0, "Follow policy and procedures mandated by Human Resources." Proof to work in the United States should include a link to valid forms of identification on a website such as IRS.gov or an internal webpage.
Course title: Orientation for New Employees of [removed]
Unit Number and Title: Unit 1.0 - Human Resources Pre-orientation
Terminal Objective: Given new employee materials, complete all tasks assigned by Human Resources.
Enabling Objectives: When provided instructional resources, scenarios, and job aids, you should be able to:
Prerequisites: Present an original of the following items to a Human Resources representative, who will visually verify and copy all items:
Time Requirements: Approximately 1 hour
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Designer's Notes: WebQuest This unit does not cover attitudinal parts of the orientation to give the [removed] culture subject matter experts an opportunity to develop a face-to-face presentation on [removed] culture. The WebQuest grounded instructional strategy has been modified to meet the needs of [removed] pre-orientation paperwork requirements. WebQuests are an inquiry-based strategy in which most or all of the information used by the learners is electronic. They focus learners' time and attention on using rather than looking for information. They are also used to support learners' effort to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. The critical attributes are pulled from the WebQuest template. This portion of the training is intended to be completely web-based. |
| Instructional Events | Description | Media & Tool Selection | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduction |
Prepare and hook the reader and provide a short overview. Stress the importance of completing this unit and illustrate to new employees how this unit will enable employees to start work. Learners will be provided with an overview of each unit that clearly notes benefits and importance of each unit as well as identifies problems and limitations associated with failing to address related skills and/or knowledge. Overview: Many of you may have some experience filling out Human Resources paperwork. This paperwork is important for starting work. This unit will provide an overview of Hepatitis B, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and Accident/Incident Reports. Human Resources paperwork provides [removed] with information to pay you. This unit is relatively short and should take you approximately one hour to complete. |
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| Task |
Describe the end result of what the learners' activities will be. This section should list the aforementioned enabling objectives included in this design document. Prerequisites should also be listed here, including what materials learners will need.
For this unit you will need:
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| Process |
What steps should the learners go through? Use a numbered list here to show the flow of the instruction. Providing the checklist here is recommended in the WebQuest template. Learners will be prompted with links to resources about Hepatitis B, the Employee Assistance Program, Accident/Incident Report, and job aids. You will be provided with instructional resources, scenarios, and job aids. During this pre-orientation you will complete the following processes:
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| Resources | Resources will be internally linked webpage's listing information about Hepatitis B, Employee Assistance Program, Accident/Incident Reports, and help documents for instructions on filling out each personnel file document. Each document for Hepatitis B, Employee Assistance Program, and Accident/Incident Report will have one or more scenarios to give learners practice with each area. Some type of webform will be used to allow users to answer questions about each scenario. Type and features of webform will be determined at a later date. Job aids will need to be designed to explain how to properly complete each form. A webpage describing acceptable Governmental IDs will be provided in this section. A link to IRS form W-7 and USCIS Form I-9 will be provided as a resource of acceptable Governmental IDs. [contact information removed] |
Web page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Evaluation | New employees will complete the checklist of items and turn it in to Human Resources. Checklist is included as part of the process of the instructional strategy and in the appendix of this document. | Checklist and multiple choice survey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conclusion | A couple sentences here will summarize what the new employees have accomplished during the orientation. Including some rhetorical questions and additional links is recommended by the WebQuest template for extending the experience beyond orientation. | Web page |
Webpages were selected o deliver most instructional events for a number of reasons:
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Designer's Notes: The enabling objectives for Unit 1.0 focus on the acquisition of verbal information, declarative knowledge, and attitudes rather than higher order thinking skills, therefore a checklist is suitable for assessing new employee success in orientation. The terminal objectives for the new hire orientation focus on conceptual, verbal, and attitudinal domains. Each objective addresses the audience, required behavior, condition, and criteria or degree to which the performance will be measured. |
| Skill | Objective | Domain | Method | Item/Criteria |
| Turn in required personnel paperwork to Human Resources | Terminal objective: 1.0 - Given new employee materials complete all tasks assigned by Human Resources. | Rules | Post test: New employee checklist |
Checklist item: ___ New employee paperwork complete |
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Make an informed choice about receiving a Hepatitis B vaccination |
Enabling objective: 1.1 - Given information and a practice scenario about Hepatitis B, new employees will choose to receive or decline a Hepatitis B vaccination. | Cognitive | Post test: Assessment Rubric |
Assessment Rubric is listed below |
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Identify characteristics of the Employee Assistance Program |
Enabling objective 1.2 - Given information and a practice scenario about the Employee Assistance Program, you should be able to identify characteristics of the Employee Assistance Program in a quiz with 100% accuracy. | Verbal |
Post test: true/false quiz |
T/F - Family members can participate in EAP |
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File an Accident/Incident Report |
Enabling objective 1.3 - Given information and a practice accident scenario, you should be able to accurately file an incident report with 100% accuracy. | Rules | Post test: Paperwork checklist |
Checklist item: ___ Sample practice Accident/Incident Report |
| Complete and submit all personnel file paperwork | Enabling objective 1.4 - Given job aids, you should be able to accurately complete and submit all personnel file paperwork and supporting documentation. | Rules | Post test: Paperwork checklist |
Checklist item: ___ All checklist items are turned in to Human Resources and accepted as complete |
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Designer's Notes: Sample assessments are a compilation of the assessment items listed in the assessment alignment table. The assessment items specified for enabling objectives 1.1-1.4 were compiled to generate checklists to measure the achievement of the terminal objective 1.0. Contact information on how to submit paperwork to Human Resources could be included in the checklist instructions. |
New Employee ChecklistUse this checklist as a guide for which documents must be completed, signed, and submitted to the Human Resources office.
All checklist items are turned in to Human Resources and accepted as complete __________ Initials of Human Resources Representative _____/______/_____ Date
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| Complete success |
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| Marginal success |
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| Incomplete file |
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| Accepted |
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| Declined |
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| Undecided |
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Course description: International and multicultural issues and how they affect the global impact of technology in education, training, and quality management.
I grew up between Galveston and Houston, Texas. I graduated from The University of Texas at Tyler with my business degree and moved to Orlando for UCF. I work for a company based in Tyler, TX as their technology director. I help facilitate training to small, paper-based insurance agencies to help automate and streamline their business practices.
While I was at UT, I took a course about marketing in China. As part of the course, we spent time in Beijing. In addition to visiting popular tourist attractions, we experienced some of the business aspects of China from the US Department of Commerce office and a small law and accounting firm. From the US Department of Commerce office, we got a view of their experiences working between US businesses and the Chinese government. What I found surprising was it was easy to set up shop in China, but difficult to maintain stability. Often the role of the commerce office was to mediate, usually unsuccessfully, issues where the Chinese government nationalizes US business operations. Copyright and patent issues were also a problem I was educated about. Chinese enforcement of US patent law is not common.
The law firm we learned from in China was primarily engaged in trying to resolve issues with the accounting practices of businesses in China. Bribes and mismanagement of funds within companies were commonplace for their clients. A large percentage of businesses became insolvent, not because the books were disorganized or "cooked", but just because gatekeepers were bribed to spend, take (or not take) actions, or otherwise inappropriately direct the company they worked for.
More important I think was the cultural immersion experiences. For example, my wife and I visited a McDonald's to compare the menu and food with the USA. While the menu, kitchen, decor, and uniforms were all the same, each employee took more pride in their work. An employee greeted us when we got our food just to make sure we were able to find a seat in the dining area. The buns were fluffier, the patties were centered in the bun, the wrapper was carefully folded around the hamburger, and the condiments seemed to be organized on the sandwich. The care they put into making our food was so extraordinary that we even noticed it for fast food.
Beijing is a heavily populated area. The air is heavily polluted, parts of the town are complete shambles, and not everyone has a car. It wasn't until we returned from China where we realized from rich to poor, the Chinese we encountered had very little sense of entitlements. People who lived in one room apartments with a single light in the ceiling, a bed, and plumbing were happy to have a place to live. It was a stark contrast to what I would see on CSPAN about the new Medicare plans that were being debated when I returned.
My interesting fact is my car. When I was in high school, my first car was a minivan by choice and has been my recurring car style purchase since.
My definition of culture is the sense of purpose a group of people have in life. Stereotypes of USA culture say people should grow up, get educated, get married, buy a house, have kids, and retire to a life of cruise ships and RVing. The culture to participate in the culture, the things you do in life should contribute to the success of that family and the business you work for. I believe there are four basic elements to create culture differences: geographic distribution, religion, language, and history.
My knowledge of cross cultural training comes from the orientation I had before flying to China and from leading a software development project with members from European countries. Language seems to be the biggest barrier I've experienced. It can lead to misunderstandings that were never meant. I've heard others cite cultures where something like waving at someone inappropriately or speaking at a time they shouldn't, can be offensive, however I haven't experienced that. The only example I can provide is an Indian family I knew when I grew up that would always point with their middle fingers. They just thought they were pointing and never understood they were giving the bird to everyone who saw.
My perception is the internet has caused not only training, but a large percent of global communication in general to move to English formats. If I could pick one international trend, I would say learning English is the biggest international trend right now.
My goal in this course it to take something worthwhile back to the company I work for that will help them with training customers the company is starting to acquire in Central and South America.
In my self assessment, I said I wanted to be able to take something back to the company I work for to help with training new customers in Central and South America. I got perspective on the troubles a foreign expatriate might experience when visiting the USA. What I will be able to bring to the company I work for will actually be related to hiring people from overseas. I will be able to prepare a set of tips for hiring foreigners since training the existing employees how they could improve their interactions with a new employee, will help the new employee adapt and be more successful.
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A recurring training practice I noticed was a self-awareness goal. One thing I expected to see a lot of in this course was content on specific differences between major cultures. None of the research or our class discussion seemed to emphasize reading pamphlets of differences between cultures. I can recommend when companies send employees overseas they should send people with the best ability to adapt to a different environment, not necessarily the person with the highest technical expertise, as is the common practice. As I said in assignment 2, by getting training participants to know they will have to make an effort to observe, internalize, and adapt to new host cultures, as expatriates, they will be much better off. Experiential learning methods seemed to be the best way to create adaptive expatriates
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I know using surveys or assessments to screen expatriate candidates can improve success in the host environment. An obvious training tip I hadn't thought of before this class is the importance of language training for expatriates planning on making a long-term commitment. The class discussion about the importance of educators in Asia was enlightening. I would have liked to have tried out a cross-cultural training workshop like I found in Delany-Barmann and Minner's 1996 publication from assignment 2 without knowing what the workshop was beforehand.
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This was the first class I actually had to use the university's online, library, journal, search system. It didn't help me with using a search engine so much as it just got me familiar with resources I haven't used before. I also realized during this semester the type of assignments I created for this class can be part of an online portfolio of research. After the end of last semester, the files I posted to my WebCT site were deleted. By putting the files on my website, I can keep them as a reference for myself and for Google searches. I don't think I'm the only person that has finished a class only later to realize 3 months later I did a brain wash of 70% of the things I learned earlier.
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The biggest part of the course I will take away isn't directly related to cross-cultural training. I will be able to apply the class discussion regarding the evaluation of training design with proper linking of objectives to assessment.
Doing the research to find information on cross-cultural training was informative, however I would have liked to had more professor-recommended cross-cultural training advice. Instead of assignment 5, I would have rather had a face-to-face meeting for professor-recommended training. I didn't feel like I got a lot out of assignment 5 or the class discussion.
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Each assignment was time consuming enough to take place of a class meeting to justify the mixed-mode design of the course. I can't speak for everyone, but it took me, give or take, 6 hours to complete each assignment from the time I started researching to when I posted the report. I'm sure I absorbed some information from all the publications I wasn't able to use as references. If the assignments were easier, I would say there should be a face-to-face meeting instead of skipping a class. I would expect if I took the class again to have to do similar research and report writing.
Next time, have the class meet on days where we wouldn't have to miss for Memorial Day. I missed the class time.
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Questions posed during class discussion to use where commonly, "did anyone else find something like that," but think I the most active discussion during class was when there was disagreement. I think tossing more hypothetical and devils's advocate type comments into the discussion would get more people to freely reference their research to defend their thoughts.
The cross-cultural training programs have a common goal, to assist in the acculturation of their clientele; however, the mediums and their individual focuses differ between the training programs. Many programs use a combination of different mediums to effectively train their clients while others focus on a specific medium. Some programs even use mixed modes in order to provide both a classroom setting and online training modules. In addition some programs instead of focusing on the acculturation will focus on the practicalities of the different cultures in order to provide information necessary for survival in society.
Important aspects common to all training programs include pre-training assessments of language and culture, relocation counseling and face to face instruction. Worldwork, Vital International, and VIP all use modes such a role-playing, simulations, group discussions, and games in order to provide their clientele with several different methods which individuals can learn. In comparison, Cg Associates concentrates on seminars and Window of the World uses a mixed mode of online modules and face to face interactions. Some programs focus on the practicality instead of the actual acculturation. This can be found especially in the University setting where the focus is on financial necessities and information pertinent to survival such as health care, employment, and transportation. Universities instead of providing seminars, or actual training sessions provide a guideline booklet to assist in international students arrivals to the new country. Worldwork and Cg Associates differed drastically in their instruction method between active workshops for Worldwork and passive lectures for Cg Associates. Likely, the optimal solution is to reinforce passive lectures with some sort of hands-on demonstration of knowledge.
Cross-cultural training programs also differ in their evaluation of their clientele. Olive Garden sends employees to train in Tuscany and upon completion trainees are required to demonstrate their training by preparing a meal. This is similar to the Executive Training Program in Japan where trainees must demonstrate their knowledge of Japanese language and culture by working in Japan. The Institute for Medical Education uses testing to determine if their clients have acculturated. Multi Lingua uses language tests to evaluate where students need help, then they offer on-the-spot assistance with phrase translation. One of the assignments predicted increased use of the internet for training and instruction.
Course description: Concepts of measurement and evaluation, classroom test construction, creation and use of derived scores, selection and use of published measurement instruments, current issues. Educational Testing and Measurement was the textbook for the course.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| EDF6432 David Norman create objective test questions.pdf | 20.45 KB |
As a graduate of the Texas public education system, I was required, starting in 3rd grade, to pass the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test for grade advancement and Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) for entry into The University of Texas for my bachelors degree. I have been in the midst of students who did not pass one or both exams. Opponents of school testing cite research showing long-term damage to students who are retained. In place of standardized tests, strong support systems, high expectations, caring, and more long-term, concept mastery evaluations are suggested (White, 2005, ¶9). I thought in grade school, and continue to think now, the high-profile exams I was required to pass were appropriate queries of my knowledge.
Thesis
Criterion-referenced tests are essential to create credibility and value for diplomas.
Proof
High-stakes tests impact many important decisions including grade promotion, high school graduation, administrative incentives and penalties, and teacher placement (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2003, p. 21). An increasing number of states are requiring students to pass a test to graduate high school, without necessarily providing remediation for students who fail (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2003, p. 21).
Texas has established the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) academic standards for reading, math, writing, science, and social studies (Student Assessment, Texas Education Agency). In the past, Texas administered the TAAS, and now administers the TAKS test on a criterion-referenced basis. Students and parents receive a report outlining the strengths and weaknesses of the student and a "pass", "pass with academic recognition", or "fail" result for each subject area. Students, parents, and teachers are able to better pinpoint where students and teachers need to concentrate. Over an eight year period, Texas was able to demonstrate, through the TAAS test, an increase in the percent of students meeting minimum state, academic expectations in reading, mathematics, and writing (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, 2002).
Teachers should be encouraged to break from their bubble of subject-area focus they have traditionally been stuck in from teaching models of the industrial age (Marshak, 2003). A case study in co-teaching revealed how teachers were influenced in states with high-stakes tests and felt compelled to teach only test-related material (Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., Graetz, J., Norland, J., Gardizi, W., & McDuffie, K., 2005). Instead of leaving out non-test teaching materials, teachers communicated with each other to compound educational value in classroom activities, in this case, computer class. In addition to teaching computer modeling, the computer teacher was able to create an activity that used computer modeling to teach world history. Students' test scores improved as a result and students requested copies of the software to take home for additional practice with other subject areas.
Refutation
Opponents of high-stakes testing work on the assumption where high standards are meant to drive low-performing disadvantaged students to work harder. The assumption of the high standards argument is students are all qualified to obtain high school diplomas. While an ideal education system would cycle all students through as educated graduates, not all students have the mental capacity, the personal motivation and persistence, or willingness to fulfill the requirements set forth by the education system. Deficient students are given the opportunity to re-take high-stake tests and should not graduate simply because they showed improvement, a capacity to learn, a willingness to participate, or the persistence to re-take tests and fail. The high school diploma should represent the ability to read, write, and do math for students who can demonstrate their mastery of state academic standards.
An Education Week survey showed "66 percent of teachers thought state tests were forcing them to concentrate too much on what was tested to the detriment of other important topics, and nearly half said they spent a 'great deal of time' helping students prepare for tests" (Doherty, 2002, ¶7). While students should learn more than what is on state tests, it is important for students to master essential, basic subject areas. The requirements on state exams should indeed supersede the education interests of individual teachers.
The American Educational Research Association made a statement concerning high-stakes testing, suggesting accommodations should be made for students not proficient in English (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2003, p. 21). In a country where government, business, and educational transactions are primarily English, high-stakes tests double as an assessment not only of content mastery, but communication skills. The added communication assessment is important, not something to protest. Surveys and research conducted by the government of Manitoba Canada, The Wall Street Journal, and the Association of Legal Administrators found communication and inter-personal skills among the highest demand skills of job applicants (Johnstone & Williams, 2003; Perry, 2002; The Association of Legal Administrators Competency-Based Education Job/Needs Analysis, 2004). Enabling students to avoid gaining proficiency in English does not benefit industries with shortages of job applicants nor the applicants in those industries. Knowing algebra is worthless if you don't understand the question where the details of the algebraic problem is explained.
Conclusion
Criterion-referenced testing is appropriate for schools when linked to the state's academic standards. Teachers can collaborate with others to compound educational activities to make up for time where education is spent directed on passing high-stakes tests. Texas has proven when test content is linked to state academic objectives, teachers and students are able to work together to improve education.
References
The Association of Legal Administrators Competency-Based Education Job/Needs Analysis. (2004, June 28). Association of Legal Administrators. Retrieved on June 27, 2005, from http://www.alanet.org/education/knowledgesurvey.html
Doherty, K. M. (2002, February 27). Assessment. Education Week on the Web. Retrieved June 27, 2005, from http://www.edweek.org/rc/issues/assessment/
Johnstone, P., & Williams, A. (2003, June 19). Manitoba Employer Survey 2000. Government of Canada. Retrieved on June 27, 2005, from http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/mb/survey/employer-shortage.shtml
Kubiszyn, T., & Borich, G. (2003). Educational Testing and Measurement: Classroom Application and Practice (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Marshak, D. (2003, Nov). No Child Left Behind: A Foolish Race Into the Past. Phi Delta Kappan, 8(3), 229-231.
Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., Graetz, J., Norland, J., Gardizi, W., & McDuffie, K. (2005, May). Case Studies in Co-Teaching in Content Areas: Successes, Failures, and Challenges. Intervention in School and Clinc, 40(5), 260-270.
Perry, D. (2002, May 20). Do You Have the Skills Most in Demand Today? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on June 27, 2005, from http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/perspective/20020520-fmp.html
Student Assessment. Texas Education Agency. Retrieved on June 28, 2005, from http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. (2002). Texas Education Agency. Retrieved on June 28, 2005, from http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/reporting/results/swresults/august/g310nse_au.pdf
White, J. (2005, June 30). Activity 1-Arguement Against Testing [Msg 1]. Message posted to http://webct.ucf.edu/
| Type of reliability | When | How | What |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal consitency | Assess a single dimension | Correlate each individual item score with the total score. | All the items on your test assess the same construct. |
| Interrater | Find consistency in the rating of some outcome | Examine the percentage of agreement between raters. | The reliability coefficient for your test indicates a poor, moderate, or high degree of agreement between respondents. |
| Parallel | Compare several different forms of a test to see if they are equivalent or reliable | Correlate the scores from one form of the test with scores from a second form of the same test with the same content. | Two forms of your test are equivalent to one other. |
| Test-retest | Reliability over time | Correlate the scores from time 1 with the scores of time 2. | The test gives the same results even if the participants didn't all take it at the same time. |
A good portfolio is both summative and formative in nature. The contributions to the portfolio should be evaluated as the portfolio is being created as well as a final evaluation as part of a continuous process.
Portfolios should reflect the immediate assignment task and the overall area of study. The content should reflect the interests, in addition to the abilities, of the student.
Cognitive Objective:
The student should be able to:
- Identify and describe common characteristics of programming frameworks
- Identify and describe issues related to standardized and open source frameworks in a clear and concise manner
- Reference and provide a short description of at least two popular PHP frameworks
- Evaluate the quality of named frameworks
Test Item:
In an article, titled "Why PHP sucks", on bitstorm.org, Edwin Martin complained about not having a standardized framework for PHP. He cited Struts for JSP developers and .Net for ASP developers as models for a standardized framework for PHP. As opposed to a standardized framework, PHP has a multitude of open source frameworks including Midgard, Horde, Blueshoes, Cake, Seagull, Sourdough, binarycloud, SMART, and many others. Compare and contrast having a standardized framework verses multiple privately developed frameworks. Use your analysis to build an argument defending or refuting Martin's complaint. Limit your response to two pages.
Score Scheme:
Points Score Basis 10 Identified and described common characteristics of programming frameworks 10 Identified and described issues relating to standardized and open source frameworks in a clear and concise manner 10 Referenced and provided a short description of at least two popular PHP frameworks 15 Effectively evaluated the quality of named frameworks 10 Essay follows APA style guidelines, contains no spelling or grammatical errors, and is completed on time. 55 Total Points
Test Blueprint |
Categories |
|||||||
|
Knowledge |
Comprehension |
Application |
Analysis |
Synthesis |
Evaluation |
Total |
(percentage) |
Content Outline |
(number of items) |
|||||||
1. The student can state the purposes for various string, database, and graphics functions in PHP. (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9) |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
30 |
2. Given a line of code, the student will be able to identify parse errors. (1, 4, 7, 10) |
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
4 |
20 |
3. The student can distinguish standard from PECL modules. (11, 12) |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
10 |
4. Given a programmatic situation, the student can apply a PHP function as a solution. (13, 14, 15, 16) |
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
4 |
20 |
5. Given generic character types for regular expressions, the student can identify the function of each escape sequence. (17, 18, 19, 20) |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
20 |
Total |
12 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
20 |
|
Percentage |
60 |
|
20 |
20 |
|
|
100 |
|
Directions
Circle the best answer that either correctly completes each statement or correctly answers the questions.
Directions
Each statement is either true or false. Circle True for each statement that is true and False for each statement that is false.
Directions.
Write a PHP function answer to each question in the space below each question.
13. What function would most accurately compare two string passwords?
strcmp()
14. What function would calculate the sha1 hash of a file?
sha1_file()
15. What function would convert a string into variables?
str_parse()
16. How would an administrator remove erroneous spaces from the end of a string?
rtrim()
Directions
Complete each sentence with the missing PCRE character match.
17. \s represents any _________ character/digit
whitespace
18. \W represents any __________ character/digit
non-word
19. \d represents any _________ character/digit
decimal
20. \w represents any __________ character/digit
word
Course description: In-depth study of the processes of planned change and adoption/rejection of innovations in educational settings.
This course focused on performing a needs assessment as part of the instructional design process. Heavy emphasis was put on identifying the optimals, actuals, causes, and solutions of problems in various organizations.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| EME6607 David Norman Needs Assessment Report blacked out.pdf | 102.88 KB |
| EME6607 David Norman Performance Problems Chart.pdf | 233.64 KB |
Course description: Introduction to the philosophical and conceptual basis of qualitative research methods, strategies for gathering, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative data, emerging issues.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Norman,David_Kent-Final_Poster.pdf | 74.5 KB |
On page 6 of Learning in the Field, by Rossman & Rallis, they discuss the difference between basic research and applied research, then they end the paragraph with mentions of "scientists" and "social scientists", but their research contributions go two different ways. How are "social scientists" not "scientists"? Moreover, if they had reversed the definitions of to read as follows, and if I had just been glossing over the section, it sounds reasonable written either way.
Original: "Scientists" may conduct research that leads to direct practical application; "social scientists" may conduct research that contributes to theory.
Flipped: "Scientists" may conduct research that contributes to theory; "social scientists" may conduct research that leads to direct practical application.
In the original definition, the original authors of the Big Bang Theory would be classified as social scientists? To compound the confusion, the earlier parts of the chapter all appear to say research should promote learning and improve a social circumstance, where then I would argue that direct practical application is best to improve those disordered circumstances. Is the whole thing a misplaced tangent in the flow of the chapter or am I just going to extremes?
Begin time: 7:47pm
End time: 7:49pm
Date: Sept 5, 2006
Location: Classroom Building 1, Room 113 at University of Central Florida
Observer: David Kent Norman
Frame: Classroom observation exercise
Time |
ON Observer Notes |
OC Observer Comments |
7:47 |
Shadow |
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Grey background |
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Brick wall |
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Building in background |
Broken with three horizontal lines that are white |
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Top hat on shadow figure |
Looks like also wearing coat or cloak and is male body build |
7:48 |
Top of building has extra windows |
Windows follow a vertical pattern |
Assignment Description
Schedule this the week we do not meet on campus. Duration: 15-20 minutes. Decide on a place, a time, and a frame or question to organize your observation. Make sure you provide a map or photo clearly labelled. If you go to observe a speaker or an event and the event is cancelled, either: 1) reschedule your observation or 2) re-frame your frame or question. (Don't write an observation of kids at the zoo after you arrive and find out the zoo is closed!) Feel free to pick a setting that is interesting for you (like the example where the observations were done at a cliff diving location). Please see the rubric which lists other requirements for this assignment which we looked at in class, like the use of a formal heading. Please use OC, ON, and MN which were covered in the class PowerPoint (See the PPT for an example). Please see the samples, but note both the strengths and the weaknesses evident in these samples.
Begin time: 2:43pm
End time: 3:20pm
Date: September 19, 2006
Location: Education Building Lobby at University of Central Florida
Observer: David Kent Norman
Frame: Individual observation exercise
Time |
ON Observer Notes |
OC Observer Comments |
MN Methodological Notes |
2:43 |
Girl in grey shirt standing at bagel checkout |
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Attendant in orange shirt is preparing food for customer in grey shirt |
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Attendant says to have a good day and hands food to customer |
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Another customer pours drink for herself |
Looks like coffee container and she has a gold badge on for a UCF employee |
|
2:45 |
Male bagel attendant talks to coworkers while taking money from customer |
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|
2:46 |
Customer goes around side to pour something in her cup |
Looks like she poured cream |
|
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Customer 2 walks back toward elevator |
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Attendant who checked out customer 2 wipes down appliance |
Looks like a microwave |
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Guy in table on m left is talking on a cell phone and making it hard to understand what the bagel attendants are saying to each other |
2:47 |
|
|
A loud gentleman is talking to someone in the gym behind me and overpowering even the guy on the cell phone |
|
Customer 3 approaches the bagel shop while talking on a cell phone |
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Customer 4 skips past Customer 3 in line |
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Customer 5 pours herself a drink |
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2:48 |
Customer 4 goes to condiment stand to get condiments |
Looks like she poured Splenda in her drink from a yellow envelope |
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Customer 5 answered her cell phone while the attendant was counting her change |
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2:49 |
The attendant broke open a new roll of coins to give change to Customer 5 |
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Customer 3 left without purchasing anything |
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2:50 |
Customer 6 ordered a bagel |
|
I couldn’t understand what she ordered on the bagel |
2:51 |
Customer 5 stirred something into her drink at the condiment station |
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Customers 4 & 5 left together |
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A new male behind me is entering the gym and speaking loudly |
2:52 |
Some people on the other end of the lobby are standing up from their table |
Looks like they’re preparing to leave. |
|
|
Customer 6 is still waiting for her bagel at the checkout |
She said something to the attendant about a quarter |
|
2:53 |
A man in a yellow shirt is talking to one of the ladies that stood up earlier |
|
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Customers 7 & 8 are waiting in line to checkout |
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|
2:54 |
Customer 6 is at the condiment station |
|
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|
Customer 9 stopped a girl walking by her to talk |
|
I didn’t catch what they were talking about |
|
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|
Customer 8 might have noticed that I’m observing people |
2:55 |
Customer 9’s bill was $7.85 |
She purchased a red bottle of something and had a big red bucket attached to her rollaway suitcase |
|
2:56 |
Customer 10 is the guy in the yellow shirt who was talking on his cell phone earlier |
He purchased a drink for his female friend at the table he has been sitting at |
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|
Customer 10 went to the condiment station to get a lid for the drink he just purchased and a stir straw |
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2:57 |
Customer 11 is wearing a blue shirt |
He asked if they sell just a regular bagel, the attendant asked if that’s all he wanted, and the customer just said he wanted the bread |
|
2:58 |
Customer 11 says he wants turkey and provolone on his bagel |
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Customer 11 talks to Customer 13 about doing some observation |
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Someone in the gym is yelling counts at people bouncing balls |
2:59 |
Customer 12 is female and wearing a brown skirt with green shirt |
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A man in a blue shirt and brown shorts walked through the lobby and into the CMC room |
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3:00 |
Customer 11 got his bagel and paid |
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Customer 12 paid while holding an empty cup, then filled up the cup after she paid |
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Customer 12 poured something into her drink from the condiment station |
Looks like she also added Splenda |
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Customer 15 skipped in line and filled up his drink without paying |
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Customer 16 has a tri-fold wallet |
She had to unfold the wallet all the way to be able to pay for her food |
|
3:02 |
Customer 17 purchased a diet coke in a plastic bottle |
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The female attendant brought a cart to the condiment station and moved the condiments to it |
|
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3:03 |
Customer 18 paid in cash and put her change in hear back right jeans pocket |
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The male attendant asked the female at the condiment station if she stole his rags |
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3:04 |
The attendant asked Customer 19 if she wanted cheese on her bagel |
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|
Female attenant asked man exiting the men’s room if he just got off work |
Man nodded his head |
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3:05 |
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|
Loud music just started in the gym and a man is yelling numerical counts |
|
Customer 20 paid for two bottles of Dasani water with a credit card |
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3:06 |
Customer 21 grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the cooler and put it by the cash register with a brown envelope |
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The music in the gym changes songs about every 5 seconds and just got louder |
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Customer 21 asked how the male attendant’s day is going |
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Customer 22 asked if he could just get a cup of ice |
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3:07 |
|
The counting in the gym seems to only be “1, 2, 3” |
|
3:08 |
Customer 22 is eating something in line |
Looks like a candy bar |
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Customer 22 asked how much for the cup of ice and the attendant did not charge |
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3:09 |
A girl in a grey shirt and blonde hair exited the gym and is talking on a cell phone by the chairs in front of the gym doors |
Something about money |
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Customer 23 and 24 are waiting for bagels |
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Girl on phone is happy she can leave whenever she wants |
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3:10 |
Girl on phone re-enters the gym |
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Customers 25 and 26 arrive in line at the bagel shop |
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Customer 25 is holding a bag |
Bag looks like it has chips in it |
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Customer 25 jogged back to the CMC room with her bag |
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Customer 26 paid from a small bag |
Bag looks like a coin purse |
|
3:12 |
Customer 27 is wearing a pink dress and pouring a drink for herself |
Customer 27 appears to sruggle to get money while holding a bag with paper in it under her left arm |
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Customer 28 pays for food out of her black backpack |
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Customer 29 hops up and down |
Appears to be excited about something the male attenant said |
|
3:13 |
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|
A croud of people just walked out of the hallway and is blocking my view of the bagel shop. Many are roudy |
3:14 |
Male in red shirt looks in the gym door window |
Walked past me and said “Rafial” |
Is speaking loudly behind me to the person he met |
3:15 |
Customer 31 has a large bag on her left shoulder |
Bag is black |
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Customer 32 purchased a lime Dasani he started drinking in line |
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3:16 |
Customer 34 got a diet coke from the refrigerator |
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Customer 33 paid from a pink pocketbook |
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A girl in a gold shirt with UCF on it carried a blue cooler through the lobby and into the gym |
Nobody helped her open the door |
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4 people followed behind cooler girl into the gym |
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|
3:17 |
Customer 37 has a purple backpack on her left shoulder with a purse |
|
Girl is standing in my view of the bagel shop |
3:18 |
Customer 37 dropped her purple backpack on the ground to put her purse on the counter by the cash register |
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Customer 37 is bending over by the cash register to fix the cuffs of her pant legs |
Male attenant is wearing gloves now to prepare C37’s food |
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Male attendant removed his right glove to swipe C37’s credit card |
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Date: September 19, 2006
Location: Education Building Lobby at University of Central Florida
Frame: Individual observation exercise

The male attendant serves customers. The amount of customers fluctuates throughout the day. More than half of the Einstein Bagels customers are female. The bagel stand attendants are familiar with the products and the work environment.
Low level of inference
The female bagel counter attendant appears to be involved with the operations management of the food preparation. She was involved in microwaving food, refilling condiments, restocking drinks in the refrigerator, adding more food to the food preparation area, and taking trash out. The male bagel attendant was concerned more with customer interaction, including taking orders, food preparation, and financial exchanges. Neither attendant seemed to be particularly subordinate to the other.
High level inference
The male attendant appeared to know the menu very well as he would ask customers for additional information about customers' orders without referencing a menu. The female attendant was not interested in customer interaction and was happy and efficient at her support role. She did at times stop to talk to individual customers who seemed like they had a past together; whether it was a past that was class or work related was not clear. The bagel attendant team worked efficiently together; each appeared to do things for the other during each food preparation step without asking the other to do so. The rights for the male attendant to work with money in the cash register and to give away a cup of ice for no charge suggests he has some sort of extra managerial role for the bagel stand. The noise, volume of the apparent coach, and traffic of UCF students in and out of the gym, and the short duration of each repetition from the coach, suggested the participants in the gym were not prepared for what ever they were practicing for. Customer 10, the guy in a yellow shirt, was likely dating the girl he was sitting at the table with judging from their body language and his apparent willingness to get anything she wanted from the bagel stand.
Instructions
Schedule this with a partner this week or the next week (over two weeks) Duration: 15-20 minutes Use: OC, ON, and MN (TN and Spradley’s Matrix, optional) Conduct an observation with a partner Keep fieldnotes, write up your notes into a memo. Exchange your notes and memo via CourseMail. Write a half page to a page responding to your partner’s work (strengths and weaknesses) Submit the Fieldnotes, Memo, and Response from your partner to the HW Box in one document. (Make sure you clearly label the Response with your name and your partner’s name.) Decide on a place, a time, and a common frame or question to organize your observation. Make sure you orient yourselves the same way (for example, label people and the objects in the setting the same way, so that it is easier for you to compare your observations). As with your solo observation, if you go to observe a speaker or an event and the event is cancelled, either: 1) reschedule your observation or 2) reframe your frame or question. (Don’t write an observation of penguins on a glacier after you arrive and find out the glacier has melted!) Feel free to pick a setting that is interesting for you both (like the example where the observations were done in a casino).
Begin time: 4:47pm
End time: 5:05pm
Date: September 20, 2006
Location: Breezeway of the Washington Center by Chick-fil-a at University of Central Florida
Observer: David Kent Norman
Frame: Paired observation exercise
Time |
ON Observer Notes |
OC Observer Comments |
MN Methodological Notes |
4:47 |
Lady is washing window with pole at the copy shop |
Holding keys in her left hand |
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Washer lady is wearing sunglasses |
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Older gentleman stopped to talk to the window washer and is sitting on concrete wall |
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Another lady stops to talk to washer lady and gentleman and tells her she can stop washing |
Washer lady keeps washing anyway |
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4:49 |
|
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Students at picnic table are talking loudly so I can’t understand the conversation with the washer lady and passersby |
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Gentleman walks away from washer lady |
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Undergrad male walked behind me talking on a cell phone and wearing blue and black backpack |
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Guy at picnic table yelled at girl passing |
Girl named Rockelle |
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Rockelle stopped by the table to talk to the guy and the other two girls at the picnic table |
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4 students passed by the coke machines |
Looked like undergrads |
|
4:52 |
3 gentleman passed by the washer lady |
One was listening to headphones and all looked like undergrads |
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Students at the picnic table are talking about law school |
Rockelle is thinking about joining law school program |
|
4:53 |
Rockelle is scared, petrified about her LSATs and can’t focus on her clients |
Rockelle seems young to have clients |
|
4:54 |
Older gentleman passes the coke machines |
Holding a leather portfolio and looks confused about where he’s going |
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Rockelle said she is a “worry wort” |
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4:55 |
3 people passed coke machines |
One was older gentleman carrying a gym bag |
|
4:55 |
Guy passes washer woman |
Carrying papers on his hip and dressed in a brown suit; looks like undergrad |
|
4:56 |
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The background noise of people talking in the breezeway is making it hard to hear even the people at the picnic table next to me. |
4:57 |
Two people passed the washer woman |
One was female, the other male, both looked like young undergrads |
|
|
Washer woman steps back from the windows |
Looks like she’s inspecting her work |
|
4:58 |
Washer woman walks away from the window, taking her bucket of solution |
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4:59 |
5 people walk by coke machines |
4 look like young undergrads; one girl had a brown belt wrapped around her shirt and a neon green skirt |
|
5:00 |
Two girls walked by the copy windows and then through the picnic tables. |
One stopped to sit at a picnic table by herself and opened to her cell phone to read something in it |
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Four guys walked through the step part of the breezeway |
Looked like they weren’t even old enough to be in college |
|
5:01 |
A group of 6 people walked through the step area of the breezeway |
All were dressed professionally |
|
5:02 |
Girl who walked through tables and sat down to read phone is staring at me |
Might have noticed I’m observing; she is eating some junk food and drinking a coke |
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Girl in red shirt walked by coke machines wearing a red shirt with Greek letters on the front |
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|
Three older ladies walked by the coke machines |
One had a gold badge on like what UCF staff wear |
|
Date: September 20, 2006
Location: Breezeway of the Washington Center by Chick-fil-a at University of Central Florida
Frame: Paired observation exercise

Copy center windows and washer lady

Picnic table people and the coke machines
Low level of inference
The traffic for the breezeway travels in specific directions on the sides of the planters, like traffic flow. People walked towards the bookstore on the side of the coke machine, whereas on the other side of the planter, by the copy center, people walked towards the student union. The group of four students at the picnic table, next to my observation table, was interested in law school. Only people walking towards the student union walked between the planters in the breezeway.
High level inference
None of the traffic appeared to be confused about where they were going. The traffic flow on the sides of the planter suggests the observed people walk the path frequently. The older traffic held papers as if they were professors walking from their office to a classroom. Many of the students in the picnic table had comments about how to get accepted to law school, but the disagreement between them makes them look like they don’t really know what they’re talking about. It is easier to walk by the coke machines towards the bookstore than it is to walk on the side of the copy center or between the planters.
Judging from the speed the window washing lady cleaned the windows, she is experienced at window washing. The window washer lady expected to work outside for an extended period of time based on the sunglasses she wore. Both people who stopped to talk to her were friends, close acquaintances, or coworkers since they stopped and sat on the side of the planter near where she was washing.
The study lead by Judith Correson Caruso (2004) was started as a result of a two part publication by Marc Prensky (2001a, 2001b) where he coined the terms "Digital Native" and "Digital Immigrant" to describe students' use of technology.
Methodology
Findings
Future trends
Conclusion
Caruso, J. B. (2004 September). ECAR study of students and information technology, 2004 Convenience, connection, and control. Educause Center for Applied Research. Retrieved on September 5, 2006, from http://www.usit.uio.no/it/suit/stud2004-rapport/ecar.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Prensky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001, December). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon 9(6). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Presnsky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
In a two part publication by Marc Prensky (2001a, 2001b), he outlined changes he believes have been affecting the decline of education in the US. Prensky makes the assertion that the thinking patterns and brains of today's students have fundamentally and irreversibly changed, to a point where our education system is not designed to teach to the new thinking patterns. "Digital Immigrants," those instructors of the pre-digital age, struggle to teach "Digital Natives," who's "native language" is grounded in electronics. Though Prensky cites some indirect evidence to reinforce his claims, he confesses he had not directly observed Digital Natives (2001b). This study concentrates on investigating Prensky's specific claim that Digital Natives prefer their graphics before text (2001a).
His list of causes for change includes computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and other digital toys. He also makes the claim that students are spending six times more of their time playing video games and watching TV than reading. Prensky named his new breed of student the "Digital Native." The remaining population, who was not born into a digital lifestyle, is conversely named "Digital Immigrant."
The evidence Prensky (2001b) cites for why Digital Natives think differently is based in neuroplasticity, social psychology, and studies of children using games for learning. He discusses psychological malleability, attention span, and the design of games as variables within each respective category of evidence. He claims the difference between Natives and Immigrants is evident in teaching styles and is the cause of why Natives can't pay attention to instructors.
Prensky identifies Digital Immigrants as a population more likely to use the Internet as a secondary resource, print documents rather than review them on a computer screen, and call email recipients to confirm receipt of emails. Part of the claim of difference between Natives and Immigrants is a language barrier, much like children might only know about turntables or phonographs from a history class. Digital Natives are accused of having "the attention span of a gnat" for old ways of learning, favoring instead anything else (2001b). As such, Prensky outlines five generalizations for the preferences of Natives and Immigrants which he thinks affect learning.
Prensky (2001a) believes Digital Natives prefer to receive information quickly, parallel process, and multi-task. He contends Natives prefer random access to resources, graphics in presentations before text, do best when they are networked, and have instant gratification, with frequent rewards. Finally, natives prefer games to "serious" work. Conversely, Prensky's Immigrants prefer performing linear tasks slowly, individually, as part of a serious process.
One explanation Prensky offers for the evolution of digital migration relates back to adoption in cultural migration theory. In cultural migration, children easily adopt new ways of the culture, forcibly resisting the old. It is the older members of the population who are forced to adopt the new ways.
Eggen and Kauchak (1999) say a learning experience involves dispositions and attitudes, metacognition, and general transfer of knowledge. In fact, the more widely recognized process of learning is more complex. The Modal Model (Bruning, Schraw, Norby, & Ronning, 2004; Healy & McNamara, 1996) defines information processing in terms of sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory and short-term memory is limited by attention, prior knowledge, and the context in which experiences occur (Bruning et.al., 2004).
Attention is important for converting cues in sensory memory to working memory to be processed for long-term memory (Ormrod, 2006). Without the transfer of inputs from sensory memory to the higher parts of the memory chain, learners cannot rehearse information in short-term memory to remember the inputs in long-term memory (Bruning et.al., 2004; Eggen & Kauchak, 1999). Complaints of students not paying attention in the classroom is not new (Kassinove & Summers, 1968; Wetstone & Friedlander, 1974). Gagné (1969) made his attention research the top-most important part of his instructional strategy. Research of graphics in education before the "digital age," shows evidence that students prefer colors in presentations (Gaines, 1970). The Gaines publication references 29 publications related to color-forms acting as a instinctual stimulus or preference for children. The placement of items on the screen determines the importance of the content; items higher on the screen appear to the viewer to be more important and attract attention (Thorsen, 2006). The content at the top of the screen should be used to grab students' attention.
Schema theory relates to reader expectations for inputs (Garner, 1987). When incoming information fits readers' expectations, the information can be encoded into memory quickly (Garner, 1987). In technical prose, comprehension schemas are based on the extraction of information based on extracting the microstructure from text and deriving a macrostructure to serve as the "gist." The macrostructure parts are stored in memory and are used for future memory expansion, recall, and inferences (Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978). Readers' goals are based on their within-culture "textual-schemata", which can be predicted based on what readers consider relevant based on their existing macrostructure (Garner, 1987). Readers' existing schema classifies all propositions of inputs as either relevant or irrelevant (Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978).
Motivation is a key component behind the dispositions and attitudes of learning situations (Mueller, 1992). The field of behavioral psychology, or more simply Ivan Pavolv's conditioned response study, may serve as some explanation for graphical preferences of Digital Natives. Combined with cognitive psychology, or the relationship between environmental events and their outcomes, organisms learn particular situations produce particular results (Mueller, 1992). Digital Natives' experience with favorable results from graphical activities may also have a link in cognitive psychology.
All living organisms must categorize experiences to survive since not every situation should be treated the same (Smith, 2004). Learners also have a general state of prediction and expectation (Smith, 2004). The result is that we are far more likely to care about what is going to happen in the future than what is happening right now. Smith says prediction is the core of reading because it cuts down on the number of possible alternatives when we decide what to do with what our eyes are looking at. One of the constraints of prediction is prior experience and knowledge (Smith, 2004).
Smith goes on to discuss two sides of reading, which he names visual and non-visual. The more non-visual information a person has, the less visual information they need to understand what their eye are seeing and vice versa. When reading is difficult, it is because of a deficit in one of the two areas of visual or non-visual input, the link between the brain and visual input can be a bottleneck and cause functional blindness. The functional blindness causes critical information for understanding to not be passed down the memory chain: sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory. This point is only exasperated by the link to prior experience where Klausmeier, Ghatala, and Frayer (1974) found prior experience can lead subjects to ignore parts of a later task. Here, the preference of Prensky's Digital natives to have graphical presentation first is a result of the failure for the learners to analyze text stimuli in sensory memory as a cue fore relevant response (Mueller, 1992). On the other hand, noise in a message, irrelevant details, or lack of relevant prior knowledge may serve as a distraction, disruption, or activation of the wrong prior knowledge in a learning experience (Clark & Lyon, 2004).
To date, there are no theories or conceptual frameworks to link Prensky's observations with a solid foundation of research. The preferences of learners may be impacted as a result of conditioning to specific environments; however, even with differing backgrounds of electronic exposure, digital immigrants and digital natives should have statistically insignificant differences exposed to a similar, base set of optimal learning conditions which fit the learning abilities of students outside the window of digital aptitude. Clark and Lyons (2004) give a formula of conditions to support learning with six psychological events, which may support higher level framework of learning. They also put differences between learners on the same level of importance for creating optimal learning conditions, citing prior knowledge and special ability as limiting variables. While using Doom, a classic computer game, in a lesson to teach 20-year-olds may not have the same impact on Digital Immigrants, the reason Digital Immigrants may not have similar impact is not because of limited digital experience per-say, but rather that they simply don't share the same prior knowledge as the Digital Natives who played Doom. There would be a similar situation within a group of Digital Natives if some had not played Doom when others had; the link to building on prior knowledge would be different.
References
Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., Norby, M. M., & Ronning, R. R. (2004). Cognitive psychology and instruction (4th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29. Retrieved on July 27, 2006, from the University of Southern Queensland Web site: http://www.usq.edu.au/material/unit/resource/clark/media.htm
Clark, R. C., & Lyons, C. (2004). Graphics for learning: Proven guidelines for planning, designing, and evaluating visuals in training materials. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (1999). Educational psychology: Windows on classrooms (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Gagne, R. M., & Rohwer, W. D., Jr. (1969). Instructional psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 20, 381-418.
Gaines, R. (1970 December). Children's selective attention to stimuli: Stage or set? Child Development, 41(4), 979-991.
Garner, R. (1987). Metacognition and reading comprehension. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Healy, A. F, & McNamara, D. S. (1996). Verbal learning memory: Does the modal model still work? Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 143-172.
Kassinove, H., & Summers, M. (1968 January). The developmental attention test – A preliminary report on an objective test of attention. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 24(1), 76-78.
Kintsch, W., & van Dijk, T. A. (1978). Toward a model of text comprehension and production. Psychological review, 85(5).
Klausmeier, H. J., Chatala, E. S., & Frayer, D. A. (1974). Conceptual learning and development: A cognitive view. New York, NY: Academic Press, Inc.
Mueller, R. J. (1992). Instructional psychology: Principles and practices. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing Company.
Ormrod, J. E. (2006). Essentials of educational psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Prensky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001, December). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon 9(6). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Presnsky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
Smith, F. (2004). Understanding reading: A psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read (6th ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Thorsen, C. (2006). TechTactics: Technology for teachers second edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Instructions: Duration 20 minutes. Interview one person (NOT your partner) using your questions for your mini-study and then share the transcript with your partner for peer review. Here you are: 1) practicing the interview process and 2) testing your questions.
Please follow the rubric and submit (as one document) your transcript, the related memo and any field notes (optional). Clearly label each section. Note that your peer review is a separate assignment. Once you have transcribed your interview, please send the transcription and your memo to your peer for critque, and likewise give them written feedback for their work on the interview. Please see Padgett for details on the transcription.
The interview process has been related to something I have been working on researching for several semesters. Unfortunately, I have spent much of my discussion time during research talking with other instructional technology academics about the topic of Marc Prensky's Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. The purpose of this interview was to talk with someone who I viewed as borderline between a Digital Immigrant and Digital Native so they could potentially see both sides of the characteristics between the two. Included is an analytic memo and transcript of the interview.
It also served as a pre-pilot to my mini-pilot study for EDF7475a Qualitative Research in Education. The questions were pre-written and approved by the University of Central Florida IRB committee. The informed consent document was read, for the most part, verbatim from the version the IRB approved, with exceptions for the obvious differences. The original informed consent document was designed for an anonymous, web-based questionnaire.
The overall goal of the questionnaire was get other thoughts about the accuracy of the adjectives Digital Native and Digital Immigrant, coined by Marc Prensky. Prensky's descriptions of each type of person are based in a large part on age, which is why Lollita was a convenient participant, as closely randomly selected as possible. Generally, a Digital Native is named as such because they grew up with video games, mobile phones, the Internet, digital cameras, and so on, whereas Digital Immigrants did not have such technologies as children, so they have had to adapt to incorporate them in their lifestyle.
Before I started the interview, I expected Digital Natives to be more simply defined as a young person and a Digital Immigrant as and old geezer. I was actually concerned the answers to my questions would be so short and matter-of-fact, I wouldn't have much to follow up on. I even got a little adrenaline rush of fear when she asked what a Digital Native was. The interview instantly got a feeling of a difficult exam rather than a casual interview. I've taken plenty of tests where I just have no idea what the answer to a question is, so I was glad with Lollita picked up and ran along with an answer. It was almost like she was thinking aloud, which was great for extracting information from the interview process. She broke the parts of the terminology down to things she was familiar with.
At times, in the interview, she seemed to stray from the topic to tell some sort of personal story I didn't think at the time had much to do with the interview questions. In reflection, I could have probably asked follow-up questions to tie her personal story back to the question and make her talk even more and faster. For example, Prensky suggests Digital Immigrants won't be as successful as Digital Natives unless they make an effort to become Digital Immigrants, as opposed to being digitally ignorant. When Lollita started talking about her Mexican neighbor, I might have been able to tie that in to success; for example, something along the lines of, "How do you think not learning English affected your neighbors' success in life?"
I feel like there should be a set of follow-up questions related to Lollita's line of thinking about resistance to new technology, then saying Digital Immigrants should make multi-dollar business out of it. That might have better helped define the business relationship she was putting on the differences between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants.
As the interview went on, the conversation turned from an awkward series of pauses, to something more like a free-flowing brainstorm. Getting to the brainstorm stage of the interview, and so quickly, made it kind of disappointing for the interview to end, especially since I have so much of this topic riding on my dissertation.
In terms of inferences, she thought Digital Immigrants were hard-working, self made business owners. Digital Natives were more likely to follow a structured, incremental series of promotions through a corporation. She saw how not every culture or country is digitally fluent. She agreed, in part, with Prensky to say older people would prefer to do things in a more face-to-face manner, whereas a younger person would prefer Internet-enabled methods of communication.
Trying to interview in a noisy restaurant, while your participant is trying to eat, with a limited lunch hour may not have been the best environment for me to have done this interview. The time constraint for their lunch period may have kept her answers shorter than they could have been. That was especially evident at the end of the interview when she politely asked if we could wrap up the interview. Also, asking someone I didn't know makes it hard for me to ask follow-up questions later on. However, on the other hand, the questionnaire and IRB approval are all based on a matter of anonymity in the first place, so I have a better understanding for why a researcher might go through all the extra effort to make a study confidential as opposed to anonymous in nature.
I did not take any notes during the interview. I was trying so hard to keep her attention with eye contact; I didn't feel comfortable with recording and writing things. In retrospect, I probably should have just asked her if doing both was alright with her.
Transcript
1 |
DKN: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed today, so I can practice my interviewing for class. The participant asked to be identified as simply Lollita. (.) This interview should take 15 or 20 minutes. Our location is the Panera Bread (.) on uh, (.) in Waterford Lakes. (.) [shuffling paper] I'm going to read a document to you that is important for your own protection. |
2 |
L: Ok. (.) What is it? |
3 |
DKN: The school has a procedure (.) er (.) office or whatever called IRB that's supposed to monitor the studies done at the university to make sure nobody is hurt in any way during research projects. (.) I'm going to read the (.) um (.) disclaimer to you that they had me submit for approval. Ready? |
4 |
L: Yes. |
5 |
DKN: Ok. Just stop me if at any point you don't understand or agree with something (.) I am a graduate student in Instructional Technology at the University of Central Florida. I am conducting a pilot study this fall, the purpose of which is to determine perceptions of how Instructional Technology students think age affects proficiency with using electronics. (.) This research study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). (.) Your interview will be conducted in via an online survey service. The link is below. The questions will be predetermined. There will be a free response area at the end of the survey where you may suggest topics and opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented. The survey may be completed at your convenience. (.) In your case, your responses will not be anonymous or confidential. They will she shared with the rest of the students in my class and my professor, and might be used in any papers I publish in the future, even though I'm not quite sure if I would actually include this interview. (.) There are no (.) anticipated risks, compensation or other direct benefits to you as a participant in this interview. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. You are free to withdraw your consent to participate and may discontinue your participation in the interview at any time without consequence. If you have any questions about this research project, please contact my faculty supervisor, Dr. Laura Blasi at: 407/823-1761. Information regarding your rights as a research volunteer may be obtained from: (.) Barbara Ward, Institutional Review Board (IRB) University of Central Florida (UCF) (.) 12202 Research Parkway, Suite 501; Orlando, Florida 32826-3252 Telephone: (407) 823-2901 (.) If you decide to participate in this research study, you must be at least 18 years old and give consent that I can get for archival on this recording. If you agree, go ahead, say you're over 18, say your name, and say you agree. |
6 |
L: My name is Lollita, I'm well over 18, and I'm more than happy to take yer survey. |
7 |
DKN: Ok, then. (.) Question 1. (.) Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
8 |
L: Uh (.) A what? |
9 |
DKN: A Digital Immigrant. If I pointed at someone and called them a Digital Immigrant, what skills would you think they had with electronics? |
10 |
L: I guess (.) since it has the word immigrant in it (.) they wouldn't be very experienced with them (.) but then even immigrants have some sort of exposure to a new land. I guess by that you mean someone who is learning electronics so they can adapt to a new environment. I always think of New York when I hear the word immigrant and pictures I've seen of immigrants getting off boats to see the US for the first time. With that mental picture I see someone who wants to learn how to be a US citizen, or in this case, someone who wants to learn how to use electronics, but has kind of an old accent of their old ways. You know (.) as I think about it more (.) there are also Mexican immigrants who I also have noticed don't necessarily even try to learn English. I had a neighbor once who's wife didn't even know English. We just waved at each other in the driveways and I talked to the husband when he was home since he worked in retail. So with that picture, maybe this Digital Immigrant person is resisting new technologies? Could you clarify it for me? |
11 |
DKN: Well, (.) I already have an idea of my own. (.) I'm more interested in what you think about it. |
12 |
L: Alright fine. Uhm (.) In that case, (.) I'm going to hope you have a positive outlook on life (.) and I'll go with the New York images. Then a Digital Immigrant is someone who sees all the new electronics out in the world and wants a piece of the action. I bet it doesn't take them long to be that guy who owns Blockbuster and the football team, who started from nothing, worked hard, and made a multi gazillion dollar business out of it. |
13 |
DKN: Alright (.) I think that covers that question. I'm very curious to hear about the next topic. So question 2. Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
14 |
L: I had a feeling something like that was coming. [chuckle] I don't think a Digital Native would have an appreciation for the things available to them. Cell phones are just a part of their normal, daily life. They just expect email to be there and work. I think of entitlements when I think of natives, but I'm not sure what exactly is an electronic entitlement. I spose the Internet could be an entitlement. It's just always there, it's the basis for a lot of communication and business. They probably get their news off the internet instead of from the TV. Since it's probably just something normal to them, they wouldn't even realize how cool it is to be able to get an old book off the Internet from a library in another continent. They wouldn't have the same attitude to do cool stuff with it like an immigrant would. |
15 |
DKN: Alright (.) now describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
16 |
L: Why does it have to differ? Can't they have the same background? |
17 |
DKN: Well, like I said before, I already have thoughts on the matter. I'll back up then. Do you think a Digital Immigrant would have different formal education than a Digital Native? |
18 |
L: I don't know why they would. Someone in their 20's could get a Ph.D. just the same as someone who's had their Ph.D. since 1960 and they could be in different countries from different colleges of learning, like business and biology. (.) I spose they could have different ways of having done their homework. The old guy probably had to use a card catalog on the library whereas the young one searched Google all the time and complained about their professors in a blog somewhere. (.) You know, I complained about a professor online once and they actually found it and confronted me about it. I don't recommend it. At least wait until after you graduate. By then, you probably won't care about complaining anymore. |
19 |
DKN: I guess I may need to revise that question in the future. |
20 |
L: Yeah, I think so. |
21 |
DKN: Next, describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
22 |
L: I bet they want everything by email. They probably just want to talk to their professor over Yahoo Messenger or something. You know, I bet all the new students in college that bring laptops to class don't even listen to the lectures. I can see them surfing the internet, checking their email, blogging if that's what it's still called, downloading the newest and coolest new games. Kids are always talking about how bored they are or how tired they are. They probably want to just sleep in till noon every day, goof off in front of the TV, and get to the school junk whenever it's more convenient. Maybe they open an email in the morning and decide not to work on it till after dinner. |
23 |
DKN: Alright, now describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
24 |
L: First, I bet the retiree is the one that takes over the group leadership. They probably try to setup a face-to-face meeting somewhere, exchange phone numbers, addresses, email information. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old is probably thinking to themselves that they just want to meet online. You know, I've heard that before, but I've never really quite understood what it means to meet online. Do people really set up cameras and try to have a screen full of other people's cameras? My thinking outloud is probably driving you nuts, huh. |
25 |
DKN: Absolutely not. You're actually being quite helpful. |
26 |
L: I don't know how, but anyway. The freshman probably wants to write some Office documents and fire them back and forth via email. The old guy probably wants to meet at the library in a study room and draw on the caulk board. |
27 |
DKN: I think that will do for that question. Next, describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
28 |
L: Powerpoint seems like it would be a popular choice. I bet you can even get slides from the book publishers now so you don't even have to create the content yourself. Even if they can't get them from the publishers, they probably copy a bunch of text from the textbooks that the students don't read anyway then read the Powerpoints to the students during class. I guess if they were a really old professor, they could have some overheads or something. |
29 |
DKN: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
30 |
L: I procrastinated on an assignment once. It was for a web class where we had to use webct and upload the final work to the homework dropbox thingie. I was ready to turn it in at the last minute, but my internet connection went down. By the time I called Bellsouth, got everything working again, the dropbox thing was closed. I ended up having to email the assignment through webct email, which the professor never checked, and I had a bunch of headaches explaining why the assignment was late, the professor complaining about it not being turned in, in a way that made it organized for them to grade papers, and. It was just a bad experience. I ended up getting 20 points knocked off the assignment, which still makes me mad because I had the work done, it was just my connection and the professor didn't believe me. I did learn not to procrastinate quite as much, though. |
31 |
DKN: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
32 |
L: I always like to think I'm smarter than my boss. My boss told me once, though, that I wasn't old enough to have the experience to handle being promoted. I sure didn't like that answer since I thought I was smarter than him in the first place. Who knows, maybe I said something to piss him off. Needless to say, I don't work there anymore or talk to that jerk. I need to go. Can we wrap this up? |
33 |
DKN: Sure, I just have some short questions left. I'm going to read some age categories. Tell me which one yours falls in. Under 25, 25 to 34? |
34 |
L: That one. |
35 |
DKN: 25 to 34? |
36 |
L: Yes. |
37 |
DKN: What is your highest educational degree? |
38 |
L: I have a BA. |
39 |
DKN: Please, could you suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
40 |
L: Not really. I need to go. |
41 |
DKN: Alright then. (.) Uh. (.) I appreciate the time you gave me. |
42 |
L: No problem. (.) Good luck with the rest of your assignment. |
Instructions: Please upload the feedback you received from your peer on your interview transcript here, along with your brief response either: a) responding to the comments or b) documenting your own reactions to reading someone else's interview. (2-3 pages single-spaced total) DO NOT include the transcript or memo from YOUR OWN interview. Please title the document using YOUR last name before you upload as required in the Protocols, but also please make sure the reviewer's name is clearly identified on the top of the document.
Reviewer Name: Boaventura DaCosta
Interviewer Name: David Norman
The following summarizes my (Boaventura DaCosta) critique of David Norman's interview.
First, it appears that David didn't follow the format (notation) outlined in our text for transcription. He didn't use the participant initials; however, he did accomplish the same result by bolding the dialog of one of the interviewer and not the interviewee to distinguish between the two. This works fine for two people, but if there were three or more, using the initials would have been a better solution.
Second, David was diligent in following protocol with his consent to ensure the participant understood the interview, the processes, what was expected, and that the participant's identity was protected. He essentially followed what was approved by the IRB and even tried to explain the IRB to the participant. He lastly was sure to obtain the participants permission in the recording.
Third, even though David explained the interview process and outlined the purpose of the interview, he didn't seem to explain two fundamental concepts of the study, which were Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Perhaps this was part of the interview process, but at the beginning of the interview one of the hurdles appeared to be that the participant didn't understand those terms. David, however, brought this out in his memo, so he was aware of it and appeared to learn from it.
Fourth, since the interview questions were so open-ended and it appears that the interviewee was supposed to figure out the concept of digital natives and digital immigrants (maybe), the interviewee seemed to stray a bit in their answers. David could have done a better job of keeping the interviewee on track, but perhaps he was trying to see where the interview would go. He noted this in his memo and so I believe he's learned from it.
Fifth, David did a good job to ensure that the interviewee did most of the talking. However, the questions he asked didn't seem to help elaborate or perhaps even clarify. David might want to rethink some of the questions, or perhaps even interject new questions that might help the interviewee elaborate on their answers. David followed his interview questions, but interjecting new questions to help elaborate might have been helpful. David alluded to this in his memo.
Lastly, I didn't see any evidence of that he tried to use Seidman advice that was presented in class. This isn't to say that David didn't attempt to use any of it, but I didn't see any references to it in David interview materials. It might prove advantages to perhaps keep a copy of the advice with him during the interview process to guide him.
As soon as I read some of Ben's reactions, I made some changes to the transcript I submitted to him, most noticeably to include initials for myself and the participant. I was glad to see my bolding idea worked out for understanding the flow of the transcript.
Not describing or defining Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants was a conscious decision on my part. I believe the terminology Prensky coined could affect what materials get emphasized in a literature review. My intention was to explore the accuracy of the definitions. In fact, the participant took some deviations from the Prensky definition of the terms. From my point of view, the participant's definitions give some evidence the terminology may need to be refined to properly describe what Prensky intends to describe in his papers and in tern what is validated in research.
The fourth note Ben makes to say describe the open-endedness gave a perfect result, in my opinion. Since I had never asked the questions before, I had no idea whether going straight through the survey would take five minutes or thirty. My goal was to make sure I minimally got through the questions I had in my pilot study. If time was left over, then I could have, and wished I could have, pursued the topics in more detail. The moments where my participant strayed from the topic were probably opportunities to tie their experience into more detail related to my research had I the opportunity to continue the interview longer. Ben's inference about not having a Seidman reference sheet with me was correct. Even if I had taken a sheet of Seidman advice with me to the interview, I was too concerned with getting someone to just complete the questionnaire to have referenced it. Instead, comparing my product to Seidman's suggestions as part of this review process will have to serve as a learning increment for improving for my next interview.
Reading Ben's memo and transcript gave me ideas for doing research in the future in terms of interview preparation. This past week, I participated in a focus group for About Orlando Market Research, which I took note of how a full-time moderator operated. Even when people asked him questions, he was able to redirect them back into questions for the focus group participants. I also took note that he had a two page agenda to organize the time he had with the group. His sheet was outlined with blocks of time to keep the topics from overrunning or going short. If he didn't get enough responses to a question to fill his pre-planned block of time for that topic, he dug deeper into the topic of that moment. Each block of time had pre-defined questions to ask in case to make sure he didn't forget anything. I had initially joined the research panel for About Orlando because I know how hard it can be to get participants for surveys, but it actually turned out to be something I will recommend to other students for experiencing how people do qualitative research for a living with demanding clients who focus more closely on the dollar than in a classroom.
My questionnaire was designed to pilot over the Internet, so I had to be a bit creative with the IRB process of informed consent. In the end, I believe the interview result came out as closely as was possible to anonymous. Even after having done the interview, I could probably not identify the participant again; I think the remaining identifying information was minimized.
I also noticed some flaws with my survey after the fact. For example, the age distributions of the age categories on my survey are not equal. Most use a ten year increment; however, under 25, 55-59, and 60+ don't fit in that mold. I am also curious whether IRB would have had a problem with me asking an exact age since that would be closer to actual identifying information. The open-endedness of the educational degree was too much; it left room to say undergraduate, or BA, or BA in Special Ed, or even MA in Special Ed from UCF with a thesis on childhood development. I probably should have also given the participant a paper copy of the informed consent information.
A Pilot Study for EDF 7475: Instructional Technology Students' Perceptions of How Age Impacts Proficiency with Electronics
Problem: Marc Prensky makes his conclusions ("research") based his observation from memory
Question: Are Prensky's observations reproducible in the minds of other educators?
Significance: Impacts presentation of content to learners of different backgrounds.
See our texts...
Lit review: Scarce supply of academic research related to Prensky; industry uses his coined terms
Clark & Lyons (2004) "Graphics for Learning" provides a base conceptual framework
Ask educators if their experience matches Prensky
See our texts and the readings related to the IRB
Data
Triangulate:
Distribute web-based questionnaire
Cite similar studies
Quote existing adult learning theory
Interpretivism:
Why?
No validated instrument exists to measure "digital propensity". Even lead researchers in graphics for learning (Clark & Lyons) don't make a definitive declaration to support or refute Prensky.
How?
Use triangulation to compare the results of the questionnaire to educators with existing similar studies and adult learning theory.
Methodological Limitations
Differential selection and selection maturation interaction: Subscribers to the IT listserv have likely had exposure to the topic from professors and have background that may skew their responses.
Self reporting error and bias
Random sampling error: Questionnaire is available to every subscriber. Only particular people may respond.
Instrumentation: Un-piloted questionnaire may not test what it is meant to test
Next steps
Works Cited
Warne, D. (2006, August 23). Unlock work internet or risk losing staff: Microsoft. APC Magazine. Retrieved on August 23, 2006 from http://www.apcstart.com/site/dwarne/2006/08/1104/unlock-work-internet-or-risk-losing-staff-microsoft
Clark, R. C., & Lyons, C. (2004). Graphics for learning: Proven guidelines for planning, designing, and evaluating visuals in training materials. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Prensky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001, December). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon 9(6). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Presnsky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
Date |
Entry |
9/9/2006 |
Mom died. Leaving for Houston tonight. |
9/12/2006 |
Finally got some dial-up Internet access. I received an email back from Tracy Dietz asking questions about my IRB application and sent a response today, too. She asked for a copy of the informed consent document, which I thought I sent in the first application, but sent a copy again. |
9/13/2006 |
Apparently I don't understand what the informed consent document is that Tracy Dietz wants, because she said I didn't send it again. I tried to email Dr. Blasi to get her advice on what I should be sending to IRB, but can't stay connected long enough to send the email. |
9/17/2006 |
Back in town. Way behind on everything having to do with regular life. Emailed Dr. Blasi about IRB informed consent problems. |
9/24/2006 |
Quit my job to catch up with school. I haven't done a single assignment for my Wednesday night class all semester. Behind in reading for Tuesday night and need to start doing background research for comprehensive exams. |
9/25/2006 |
Dr. Blasi hasn't replied. Perhaps I should have asked her through WebCT email instead of regular campus mail. |
9/29/2006 |
Dr. Blasi reminds there is no IRB approval letter for my study yet. Perhaps time to try a new approach. |
10/1/2006 |
Read about Zoomerang online survey software and got an account. Got familiar with the interface to build a survey online. I think this will be a perfect tool for getting anonymous surveys online. |
10/4/2006 |
Asked Dr. Hirumi to bump my comprehensive exams back two weeks. Needed more time to do research for mini-pilot and comps. With luck, I'll be able to double up on research between the two projects. |
10/5/2006 |
Discovered the adult learning textbooks from last year might actually be helpful in the research behind Prensky. Bruning, Schraw, Norby, & Ronning planted some seeds about expertise related to Prensky's propositions. Should ask Dr. Hirumi what he thinks. |
10/9/2006 |
I entered the questionnaire into Zoomerang and put the informed consent document on the page before the survey starts. Then I duplicated a large part of the informed consent to the first contact email and mixed it with some of the Tailored Design Method. I sent the Zoomerang output and initial contact to IRB for another try. |
10/10/2006 |
Something I did changed IRB's opinion on my informed consent. Perhaps it was actually seeing the flow of clicking on Zoomerang to know informed consent must be viewed before the survey to make the difference. Barbara Ward is expected to approve the IRB application. Also started on the Powerpoint for the proposal presentation for class. Identified Ruth Clark as one of the most likely to be helpful during the research behind the validity of Marc Presnky's claims. |
10/13/2006 |
Meet with Roy Marquez to brainstorm about Prensky's propositions. Roy found an article by Kalyuga, Chandler, and Sweller that appears to serve as a springboard for finding more relevant articles regarding expertise and instructional presentations. I identified "broadcast" and "interactive" as important key words for discussing Prensky. Roy and I discussed the revisions to Prensky to say 1) people gravitate towards interactivity, 2) Digital Natives choose interactivity over work, 3) Digital Immigrants choose familiarity over interactivity. We posited that interactivity leads to exchange of ideas and information, and stimulus with regards to creating interactivity involved the major senses. Discussed propositions by Don Tapscott to say the Internet forces natives to search for information, therefore it develops their thinking and investigation skills; kids learn things easier; that the n-gen doesn't have to memorize as much because they can type it in word and recover it later; even with a supposed short attention span, n-gens can still spend hours on the computer Posited that "discovery learning" allows students to click on their interests and therefore have the instant rewards Prensky identified; familiarity with regards to immigrants or experts leads to the equivalent of convenience and rituals surrounding those conveniences; comfort with text means learning game skills on a computer is too much effort if they're already skilled with text; experts/immigrants are used to broadcast forms of information and may or may not have a relationship to Pavlov studies of conditioning; developed a "hierarchy of interactivity," thought to be related to why young people might choose computers over reading a book. |
10/17/2006 |
Had another brainstorm meeting with Roy Marquez. Developed a list of "attack" to tear apart and reassemble the following statements:
Keywords identified to discuss Prensky: active, broadcast, asynchronous, full sync, passive, engaged, interactive |
10/18/2006 |
Pulled some ideas together regarding adult learning theory.
|
10/20/2006 |
Found schema scripts in Bruning, Schraw, Norby, & Ronning. Received script book by Schank and Abelson. The script book is not what I expected and the diagrams inside are hard to read (as in understand). Only the first section of the book appears to be immediately helpful in what I'm working on. |
10/22/2006 |
Added rewards and consequences to the hierarchy of intractivity. Found several resources that I added to my comprehensive exam regarding expertise. |
10/24/2006 |
Presented the proposal presentation Powerpoint in class. Decided some aspects of my research may need to be reinvestigated regarding it possibly being a case study. Piloted my questionnaire. The participant showed the DI and DN names may not be completely appropriate for what Prensky discusses in his papers. Talked with Roy and Ben about doing peer review. Ben gave me a hard copy of his memo and a CD with the recording of his interview. |
10/26/2006 |
Listened to Ben's interview and read his memo. He did a good job with the transcription, adding pauses in the text where appropriate. I noticed there were more pauses in his interview than in mine. |
10/29/2006 |
Entered the transcript of my interview on my personal website. Before I published it, I realized IRB might disagree with me putting the contents on the Internet for the world to see, especially since my IRB document says all my research will be done anonymously. I didn't think there were any true identifying characteristics of my participant, especially if I replaced her name with Anonymous, but I opted to leave it unpublished just in case. |
11/1/2006 |
Did all the final writeup of commentary about Ben's interview. Gave him some advice on how I might have handled parts of his interview differently. Would have been nice to read his reply to my reply instead of it just being submitted to the homework box. |
11/4/2006 |
Submitted the response to Ben's comments about my memo to the WebCT homework box. It was interesting to note Ben thought some of my survey went wrong with in fact it went exactly the way I hoped in terms of information discovery. I'll have to note here to remind myself to tell him in class since I won't be sending him a copy of the Word document. |
11/7/2006 |
Realized during class the title of my study says "students," but the listserv I used is not limited to students or even UCF. There is a good chance UCF IT professors answered the questionnaire as well as industry professionals who have never taken a formal academic instructional technology class also participated in the questionnaire. Dr. Hirumi has noted in the past at his monthly social meetings he encourages people all over the country to join the UCF IT listserv. As far as I know right now, it should only affect my project title. |
11/10/2006 |
Started entering the Digital Propensity Index questionnaire on Zoomerang to prepare it as a possible route for validation. Called Zoomerang to ask how much it costs to purchase a survey audience if I didn't have one on my own. They have a 200 response guaranteed minimum and it costs $1350. Their 500 guaranteed responses from a random sample of general population is $2350. Not only was it too expensive, but they offer incentives for people to take surveys so I would have another thing to have to declare as possible reporting error if I published the results of any research using their population. |
11/11/2006 |
Investigated Keller's ARCS model as a way of measuring Prensky's propositions. Discovered dissertations done at FSU under Dr. Keller that used surveys Keller developed and validated to measure instructional motivation with regards to ARCS. Keller has a manuals titled "Manual for Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS)" and "Manual for Course Interest Survey (CIS)". Was not able to locate them in the UCF library for interlibrary loan, on Google, or in EBSCO. |
11/13/2006 |
Contacted Dr. Keller and Dr. Hirumi to get manuals on the Course Interest Survey and the Instructional Materials Motivational Survey for Keller's ARCS model. Keller didn't reply, but I met with Dr. Hirumi in person, who had a copy of the surveys, the reliability analysis results and some of the details on how to score the results of the survey. 2c thought they would be good surveys to use in my dissertation and that the documents he sent me would have enough details for what he expected to see in Chapter 3 of my proposal. |
11/14/2006 |
Had class tonight. Dr. Blasi was serious about creating a physical poster for the presentation on the 28th. A Powerpoint uploaded to the homework box won't cut it. |
11/16/2006 |
Bought a poster board at Walmart tonight. Got it home and it was too short. Won't be able to go find another one - going to shrink the text to get it to all fit on the board. |
11/24/2006 |
Dr. Keller replied to my email. I just need to tell him where I'm going to school and who my advising professor is, then he'll send me the aforementioned ARCS documents. |
The Prensky stuff I have been doing has been planned to be researched on insurance industry professionals. When I piloted the survey instrument for the Digital Propensity Index to a sample of the professionals I had planned on surveying, I only had a 0.4% response rate compared to over 4% for undergrads, 10% for the graduate students, and over an estimated 30% for instructional technology cohort, using the same contact emails. It may be time to re-review the Dillman TDM for the 2007 update on doing surveys. I may also need to ask Howard at CHL Marketing in person if I could use his list of customers as contacts.
The idea behind piloting to the insurance professionals, even though I wanted to save them for my dissertation, was to make sure the DPI questionnaire was valid for them. Unfortunately, I probably will not make that discovery, nor will I get enough responses in my dissertation, using that audience and a quantitative method, to graduate. That may mean it is time to open my realm of considerations to a more mixed-method type of survey.
Dr. Hirumi forwarded an email to the Instructional Technology listserv about a researcher in the UK who is expanding on Prensky's research, and bringing it to the attention of government. Though I thought some of the comments in the article were made for flash and drama, it still had very little real evidence to explain the differences between Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives.
The article discussed having children get more exercise to release good chemicals in the brain. One of the points said children play games before going to sleep, which releases chemicals in the brain to keep them awake longer when they actually do try to fall asleep, then suffer in school from sleep deprivation. While that doesn't have anything to do per say with instructional technology or the design of instruction, it is a notable point of interest to not have your kids playing games right before they go to bed. In fact, I fail to see why any of the article is related to the design of instruction.
Preliminary findings appear to show comments on the following items related to technology, electronics, and digital toys:
Digital Immigrants |
Mixed |
Digital Natives |
|
|
|
A recurring theme is how Digital Immigrants use electronics for task completion, whereas Digital Natives additionally use electronics for entertainment.
One downside of interviewing people already potentially familiar with Prensky is how one person preferred to argue with how I asked questions and my use of "Digital Native" and "Digital Immigrant," rather than just answer as I had asked.
I noted one respondent age 60+ said "old school" college processors will deliver course materials as "force fed, instructor delivered, and stale." If older people are truly Immigrants, should they think instruction is stale, even if it is their preference?
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Norman,David_Kent-Analytic_memos.pdf | 557.43 KB |
Marc Prensky (2001a, 2001b) coined the terms "Digital Native" (DN) and "Digital Immigrant" (DI) to categorize what he thinks are people on two sides of a digital divide with regards to educational experiences. DNs are stereotyped in his article as younger individuals with many thousands of hours interacting with digital toys. DIs are stereotyped as older individuals with a background having less electronics expertise. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine which skill sets fit each adjective according to journeymen of instructional technology. The results of the questionnaire may help determine how much the definitions of DI and DN may be linked to "trendy" electronics and how various electronics might be used to update the Digital Propensity Index Questionnaire (Henderson & Hirumi, 2005) for improved validation scores or other future revisions.
The questionnaire was distributed in a web-based format to the instructional technology email listserv of students and faculty at the University of Central Florida in the College of Education. The University of Central Florida Institutional Review Board approved the project on October 12, 2006, under IRB #06-3778 entitled "Instructional Technology Students' Perceptions of How Age Impacts Proficiency with Electronics." Dr. Laura Blasi was the supervising professor from the College of Education department of Educational Research, Technology and Leadership at the University of Central Florida.
The respondents described DIs as older individuals skilled with telephones, VCRs, simple computer functions including word processing and Internet searches, copy machines, and using the library. DNs were thought to be additionally skilled with knowledge of blogging, portable digital music players, mobile phones, and computerized games. Use of digital cameras, skills of Internet navigation, DVD players, and ability to program VCRs were mixed between respondents. Knowledge and use of electronics for DIs were generally explained in terms of task completion whereas DNs use electronics for both task completion and entertainment. DNs were also credited with an ability to transfer skills from one electronic device to another quickly and a higher likelihood to use digital equipment for communication. Several respondents compared the DI to DN in terms of skills with Microsoft Office, saying DIs had only enough skills with Microsoft Office to complete their work.
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
ability to use the telephone, simple cell phone functions (such as programming phone numbers, but not changing ring-tones, or customizing screens), simple computer functions, such as turning on and off, using a word processing tool for simple typing of documents, and writing or forwarding text emails. They have the ability to surf the web by using a search engine for basic searches. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Frequent use of instant messengers and text messaging, customizing feautures on cell phones, email, instant messengers. Use of digital cameras and uploading images or documents to the web. Advanced |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
There is no formal education differenciation between Digital Immigrants and Natives. I my experience in the corporate training world, it seems that most Digital Natives with only a high school education are far more technically savvy than Digital Immigrants with college and graduate school educations. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Through email and the web, with some class interaction... but emailing a paper to a professor is preferred over printing it out and bringing it to class. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19-year-old: a few in-person meetings, maybe at the start of the project to assign tasks and then a follow up meeting mid-project. Mostly they would communicate via email for critiques and sharing documents, chat sessions, virtual bulletin boards, and uploading documents to a server if provided by the class. A 60-year-old would probably prefer to meet in person, spend time in the library,in the library |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
Mixed-mode |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Yes, druing the hurricanes when people didn't have power on the coast... we couldn't upload what we needed right away. Good thing the professors were sympathetic! |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Yes, it often takes our "older" project managers and instructional designers longer to pick up on new programs, such as |
Q9: What is your age? |
25-34 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Undergraduate degree |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
I'm sure you already have read most of his work, but Karl Kapp has great articles out on training differences between the generations... Boomers, X, and Y generations. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Minimal. They would have issues programming VCRs, using PCs, cell phones and other electronic devices. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
They would be completely comfortable with all electronic devices. They would not use directions unless completely stuck. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
The DI would require education on the use of any electronics used in instruction. The DI would also prefer print based media. The DI would prefer face to face classes. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Web broadcast, Podcast, Web Courses. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
Email, Chat rooms, Blogs, Video/Phone Conference. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
It depends on the professor. Professors will generate and present lessons based on the professor's preference. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Technology has never negatively affected my success on a project for work or school unless the technology itself failed. (Internet down....etc) |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Email, posting, chat, phone conference...etc. |
Q9: What is your age? |
35-44 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Masters |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
|
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
basic skills, such as using MS Office products. Nothing terribly technical. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Fearless when it comes to using the latest and greatest game or online software (such as my space). |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
Boring class rooms with stand-up instruction to the infusion of interactive electronics to aid in learning. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
online |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
online in chat rooms (asynchronously or synchronously). The elderly person would prefer to meet for coffee and discuss things in person. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
mixed mode of online and f2f. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Having very little access to the instructor or the SME. When you have a question, you usually need an answer before moving on -- if there are huge time delays (days/weeks) then the online application becomes a bad experience. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Yes. When the person could barely type, let alone use the software provided for the project. |
Q9: What is your age? |
45-54 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
MA |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Not all "immigrants" are ignorant to technology. There are highly skilled programmers and users of the latest and greatest technological devices. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
typing, search skills, use of buttons and icons |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
typing, search skills, LEET speak, better use of buttons and icons, short cuts |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
An immigrant would have little if any use of computers in class. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
slides ahead of class electronically. Electronic books instead of hand held books |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
eh, a 19 year old may be more proficient at online meetings and more my prefer them. But, I think many young people and most retirees would prefer to meet in person. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
eh, offering many mediums for communication is great no matter what. Having materials available online is a must. forums and chats online would also be appreciated I'm sure. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
other than having technical issues of compatibility or hardware/software failure technology is not a problem. The bigger problem is having a common base of skills for all members of a project to work on..... |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
young people that can't understand what is necessary to do a proper job is sometimes an issue. |
Q9: What is your age? |
25-34 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Masters |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
|
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
little or none, just learning |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
little or none, just learning |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
"native" would likely have been taught computer skills or using computers as a learning medium where as "immigrants" may not have been. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
CBI, podcasts, internet, videogame |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19year old= email,IM,some in person 60year old= in person f2f meetings, paper&pencil, books |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
i think it depends on the age of the professor and the subject they are teaching rather than age of their audience in most cases. professors, like anyone else, go with what they are comfortable with. a younger professor may teach using alot of computer technology because that is what they were taught with, whereas an older professor may prefer the paper&pencil method b/c that is what they have always used and it has "worked in the past". however a professor who teaches computer technology may be more open to using the same technology in their lessons regardless of their age. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
I continue to have challenges with webct presentation sites. Although I have no training in creating these sites, I have been able to master the basic presentation site, but this semester I wanted to venture to the next level of the presentation sites. I tried to create my site in another format & had some difficulty with the links. because I could not figure out how to solve the problems and the professor could not access my work, I switched back to the basic format. the boundry created by my lack of experience with this type of technolgy affected my ability to deliver my work. additionally, I feel I have taken a step back in my technolgy education by going back & relying on what I already knew how to do. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
for me I would not say age was an issue just experience. I know people my age &older that have more experience with technology than I do |
Q9: What is your age? |
35-44 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
BA, working on MA |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
team work: D immigrants & D Natives working together. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
minimal |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
maximine. Mostly gaming and communication electronics. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
The immigrant will require some face-to-face lecture along with training for web courses where the native will have already acquired online skills and most likely will want their courses online when suited. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
electronic vs printed |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
The retiree will most likely like to meet in person with the group where the younger student would prefer chat-rooms or discussion boards. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
Using powerpoint presentations online. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Processing speed for image generators. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Research project which included young and established commercial vehicle drivers. |
Q9: What is your age? |
60+ |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
M.S. and M.A. |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Gaming and transfer-of-training. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Functional skills where such a person is able to use the internet for research and communications as well as operation of digital home equipment (dvd players, etc). |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Highly functional where such a person utilizes digital devices consistently throughout each day. The term native implies that a person is completely fluent and comfortable with digital technology. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
Based on what I know about digital immigrants and digital natives, I can describe the formal education of each group in this way: 1. Digital Immigrants: largely traditional instruction where the instructor presents information and students return it without much alteration. Collaborative efforts were tightly controlled by the instructor, and most information was text-based, Digital Natives: Though some digital natives are experiences traditional kinds of classroom experiences, there is much more emphasis on the effective incorporatation of digital technology into the curriculum. In addition, more collaboration techniques are implemented. Students are encouraged to explore. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Interactive Graphical interface leading to text |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19 year-old college Freshman: online where live collaboration happens via chat and documents are shared through a repository. F2F meetings would only take place if deamed absolutely necessary by the group. 60 year-old retiree: F2F or phone conference where all group members were working in the same place and time with the same documents. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
I think most college professors still prefer the lecture as a means of presenting material to any age group. However, I think that many college professors are now generating lessons electronically and deploying them online as a supplement to the f2f interaction. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
I haven't had an experience where I was not able to be successful using technology for a class. Any snags I've run into have been solved. In each case, the professor made an adjustment. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
I think that during my graduate work (both M.Ed. and Ph.D.) my age has helped me in so far as maturity is concerned. I think that by virtue of the fact that I'm lived to almost 40, my life experiences have helped to focus me on the goals I've set for myself. |
Q9: What is your age? |
35-44 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
M.Ed. |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
|
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Basic navigation skills. Ability to turn on/power off; not totally competent in finding files, downloading to specific locations, or using MS Office at or above 60% utilization of features. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Fluency in non-specialist computer use. At least 60% or higher utilization of MS Office and program specific features. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
D.I. would not have had prep courses on modern technology (computers and software). |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Via email/text msg: a fully descriptive, non-vague message that includes a task list/time table. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19 yr. old would be more willing to participate without face to face interaction while a 60 yr. old would find face to face meetings necessary and online less fruitful if not impossible. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
By establishing a format that can be used by many students that would not lead to unanswered questions or clarifications due the student. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Yes, my wifi connection would cut out when the cordless phone rang. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
In one case our class was to have in in-class activity. The older students did not show for reasons unknown. If interacting with the younger students was what they were avoid, then yes, age was a boundary to there hands-on learning. |
Q9: What is your age? |
25-34 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
MA |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Perhaps including a section on MS Office as a boundary. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
basic skills; minimal technical skills; daily operations that may be familiar based on job responsibilities, etc. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
technical skills; knowledge of the basics and most of the workings beyond that |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
digital natives have been taught via computers or with the supplement or assistance of computers/technology; immigrants were taught without (or with minimal) computer/technology usage |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
via email |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
the 19-year old and the 60-year old would have a generation gap because of the advent of computers and technology; the 19-year old would likely prefer asynchronous modes of communication and the 60-year old likely would not |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
the college professor would probably have knowledge of how 19-year olds learn, but may or may not teach accordingly - he might post things online in addition to giving hard copies if he were going to accomodate the native learning styles |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
i've had some luck in working with people who are pretty proficient in technology. i think it's because it is basically required to take courses in our program. email and internet are required, not only for communication purposes but for coursework too - so, no i can't think of a boundary in that respect |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
|
Q9: What is your age? |
Under 25 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
finishing masters now |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
|
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Proficient at using standard word processing software such as WORD. Use of the internet for basic searches. Able to do searches on library systems. Able to use email. May not know all the details, but can find what they are looking for and write papers and letters, etc. Not able to use more complex features of electronic systems. Uses cell phones and palm electronic scheduling devices. Uses basic powerpoint features for presentations (text and graphics). |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
All the above, but more skillful and knowledgable of special features or capabilities of the software available. Also more apt at using IPODs for downloading music, files, etc. Instant messaging and development of pre-formated type websites such as myspace. Uses cell phone features such as text messaging more often than immigrants. Powerpoint presentations would include the use of linking to websites, multilevel powerpoint links, using special formating features, etc. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
Digital immigrants began their education with little use of electronic devices, but have gradually adopted the use of electronics in their professions and in continuing education platforms. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Online course website. Unless too many materials. Then they would rather buy a booklet of materials at the bookstore. Takes too much time to access course every week and download multiple files. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
Both would prefer face to face. But the 19 yr olds would not be uncomfortable using an electronic platform, whereas the 60 yr old may not be as comfortable. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
I think it would depend on the professors preference which varies greatly. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
None |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
None |
Q9: What is your age? |
45-54 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
PhD student (graduating Dec 2006) |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Electronics is very broad and I wasn't sure if you wanted to include Ipods. These were hard generalizations to make. I know young students that dislike electronics and older adults that love using all technology available to them. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Low skills, use technology only when necessary |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Highly skilled in technology |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
None really. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
online |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
The 19 year old would probably prefere phone or IM, whereas the 60 year old would probably prefer face to face interactions. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
Textual |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
No |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
No |
Q9: What is your age? |
25-34 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Masters |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
|
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
"Digital Immigrant", as Prensky defines, is not referring to electronics but rather the digital sphere -computer technology. Electronics refers to too large and too established a field. Answering how the question reads I would say DI's would have all the skills necessary for electronics. The DI of Prensky's world is fearful, resistant and ill-prepared for the opportunities and uses presented by digital technology. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Again, I think "electronics" is a poorly defined realm and somewhat incorrect when used in relation to the premise put forward by Prensky. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
Digital Immigrants were raised on objectivist curriculum while Natives are more accustomed and adept at constructivist learning strategies. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
ipod |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19 -interactive media, web-based 60 -f2f |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
assuming the professor is DI -f2f, paper |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
using email often doesn't allow acknowledgement of receipt of attachments. wasn't aware that an attachment was not received. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Ceased getting contract work from a company because I moved out of state and it was perceived by the DI's at the company that f2f would be necessary |
Q9: What is your age? |
35-44 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Masters |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
as mentioned, I think either a clearer definition of the terms you use in the survey or a better aligned question; vis a vis "electronics""digital-native/immigrant" would give more valid responses. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
I would expect that a digital Immigrant" is someone who knows how to use a computer, but did not grow up with one. I would expect a range in the area of competency from not very experienced to very experienced. I would expect a digital immigrant to be competent in using most types of electronic products, but not to feel as if using those products were second nature to them. In some areas, I would expect that a digital immigrant might encounter some level of difficulty when trying to program electronics such as VCRs, etc. They wouldn't intuitively know how to program the tool and use all of the capabilities the electronic tool may have. I think they might rely heavily on the instructions that come with these products and not necessarily be able to really decipher them. Also, I think digital immigrants still feel far more comfortable touching/using print-based materials than electronically-based materials. Finally, they may not be conversant with the world of video games since they did not grow up with them. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
I expect them to be like my son, who can figure out in just a few minutes (sometimes seconds) how to do something with an electronic product that I will spend hours trying to understand. I think digital natives live and breathe electronics, and can't conceive how they could manage without them. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
A digital immigrant is someone whose formal education from the elementary grades through high school and possibly college did not involve the use of computers for any portion of their education. They received lecture-based instruction that included very little involvement on their part. They were the recptacles, the teacher/professor the fount of all wisdom. They also had few if any experiences work in groups or collaborative teams as part of their learning. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
I think they would prefer to receive most of it in a digital format whether by computer or other electronic device. I think they may also dislike traditional lecture and other traditional modes of delivering course materials. I think they want to have more say in how they will go about learning, and be more independent in choosing how they will learn. I also think they may wish to receive some of their learning in a format that is different from traditional textbooks; perhaps textbooks that combine content within the text with on-line research learning activities, and games in which learning occurs, but are challenging and fun to use. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
A 60 year old retiree would probably prefer to meet face-to-face with the other project group members and have a very structured linear approach to how the project team would work together. I actually think that most 60-year-olds would be uncomfortable with collaborating on a group project. They grew up with a more competitive model for how work should get done, not a collaborative or cooperative model. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
Depends upon the college professor's comfort level with alternative delivery modes. Most still seem prefer traditional methods regardless of the age group they fall into. They don't seem to be comfortable or competent with using online delivery of instruction, or other alternative delivery methods. They LIKE to lecture, although most adults and most college-aged youth HATE lectures. They like lectures even though lecturing is the least effective method of learning. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
I can't really say that it was a technology boundary, more like the professor's discomfort and lack of knowledge realted to using the technology impacted me negatively. This had nothing to do with a grade, but with my feeling that I could have gotten so much more out of the class if the professor had been even moderately competent in using technology. Since I work for a company that uses technology every day in the production of work it isn't that technology is not appreciated, but that the company fails to understand why it is important to provide continuous training and exposure to the latest ideas and developments in technology. We have lost contracts because we didn't have the technological expertise required. The company talks a good game about keeping skills current, but fails to back it up with funding. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
I can't think of an example. I work with people much younger than myself, and I like that. They are open to new ideas and to using new technologies. |
Q9: What is your age? |
55-59 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
B.S. |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Perhaps instead of just lumping all "digital Immigrants" together, you may consider that amoung those belonging to this group there are varying levels of comfort and understanding of the use of electronic technology. I know that I am different from most of my friends wjo are in my age group. I like using new technology, but have contradictory attitudes about specific types of technology that are usually based on my personality type or physical needs rather than that of being a digital immigrant. For example, I LOVE email, but don't see the need to spend much time on a cell phone either talking or texting. But then again, I don't see the need for talking very much on a phone period. :-) I'd rather write an email message. Also, the size of the screen on a cell phone is definite turn-off for me because my vision makes it difficult for me to see screens that small. I would not be a good candidate for learning or information delivered in that mode. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
The Digital Immigrant (DI) is a middle-aged or older individual, educated (12+) or not educated (>12), with basic computer skills, i.e., knowledge of accessing the Internet for general information and securing an e-mail account. Note: There are two groups of DIs from my perspective: the non-academic individuals with minimal skills I just described and the academic individuals who, while immigrants, possess a significant understanding of electronics such as returning students or displaced workers who have acquired "electronic" skills to reenter the work force. In addition to intellectual groupings, there is the affective grouping to consider as well. Digital immigrants embrace the world of electronics or find themselves frustrated and/or overwhelmed. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
The digital native is someone born into the age of communications and technology. These individuals have been exposed to electronics since birth. They are comfortable with all technology and are adept at all or most electronics. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
I am a digital immigrant. From my personal experience, digitally immigrating as a graduate student has been somewhat difficult to very difficult depending on the subject matter and requirements for a particular course. While I am surrounded by schoolmates who are electronically acclimated, I have found myself inadequate to participate in many discussions. I have always felt my written and oral presentations to be quite inferior to those of my teammates. Of course, the learning experiencing has been exceptional because there is so many natives willing to share their knowledge. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
On-line with visuals supported by text. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
The primary difference, in my opinion is the way in which DIs and DNs communicate and create. For the DI, scheduled face-to-face interaction throughout the project is extremely important supplemented by e-mail collaboration. The DN does not place great value on F2F and would prefer sharing knowledge and ideas electronically with occassional get-to-gethers to formalize/finalize projects. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
An electronic format with occassional group F2F meetings. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
My first year as a graduate student presented many electronic obstacles for me. WebCT was extremely intimidating for me and not knowing anyone yet, my attempts to develop a relationship with WebCT left me anxious and frustrated as I struggled to complete required assignments in a professional and timely manner. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
I have never perceived age as a boundary academically or professionally. I believe technology is timeless--attitude is as important as apptitude. |
Q9: What is your age? |
45-54 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
BA |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Adolescent use of electronics as a means to socialization and acceptance. |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
I imagine a "digital immigrant" would not have grown up with consumer electronics and computers in their lives since birth. So, the digital immigrant might be less likely to use and less skilled in the use of consumer electronics such as Ipods, video and computer games,digital cameras, comupters, use of web sites, VCR's DVD's. A digital immigrant is less likely to frequently use the internet and less likely to have the prerequisite computer skills for blogging, on-line banking, collecting music for mp3 players, email, digital picture taking, gaming, shopping, etc. I know older people who do not have a credit or debit card, use the internet or even pump their own gas. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
I imagine the person grew up with electronics or computers since their birth. They have developed the skills over their entire life to figure out electronics of many types. My daughters have never been without a computer in their household. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
Digital natives are more likely to a have received some part of their education on-line or via electronic device, whether it is a computer program to learn math skills or taking a cousre through Florida Virtual Schools. Many digital immigrants might not have had anything more than a "scantron" grading system for their tests, if that. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
I believe freshman would like to receive some of their course materials Via WebCT or another course management system or the internet. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
Last year, I was in a college course which utilized a course management system with both younger people and older people. The age of the person did not seem to be the factor as to how they wanted to collaborate. Those that were not native English speakers definately wanted to collaborate face to face. Those that were too busy working full time or really didn't want to collaborate did not want to meet F2F. Those that didn't want to collaborate wanted either do NO work or tried to run the project like a general. The 60 year old retiree could really want to use the computer or course management system to collaborate so they didn't have to be on location, I believe it depends upon the person's experience and personal preference. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
Funny you should ask this! (Yes, humor is a little bit more difficult online, but you can stil show your personality online!) I am a college professor who loves to have course materials, course email, course assessments, resource links and discussion boards in a course managemment system. While it take times to put the materials on-line, you can can offer much more flexibility to the students and yourself. The students have much more flexibility when it comes to taking quizzes, especially for vocational courses or skill based classes. Also, I don't have offer make-up exams, the quizzes can be available for as long as I want. I can offer practice tests that the students can utilize without consequences. The best thing for me, the professor, is that I don't have to individually grade ALL of the quizzes and or I can gave some short answer quizzes which grade themselves!! I love the course management for vocationl skill building evercises! You can have questions with pictures, matching, fill in the blanks, short answers and essay questions. The course management system has a grade book which in the newer software releases is very flexible and helpful. I love not having to hand calculate grades (of course, I can do it in Excel,too, but in course management system the students can see the grades whenever they want. I can generate emails for students and they love being individually addressed! |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
I had a professor who gave arbitrary and frivolous quizzes/tests on a course management system. It is a bit of a pain to send the email, and try to get the professor to reconsider the point in an online class. The professor also never figured out that they were not organized and had directions and rules all over the course materials. I was penalized because I did not read one little thing in one little place not where the main assignment was. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Specifically, I have had younger male instructors who will not give a perfect grade to a group of older woman, no matter what one does to the project. Our group actually used some new software that the instructor did not know about. He was not willing to even consider that "older" women had some great or innovative ideas. I believe I can learn something from almost everyone I meet or have in class. |
Q9: What is your age? |
45-54 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
MS, (for now!) |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Maybe you should ask about gaming experience. Maybe there is a Differentiation between gamers and non-gamers. |
Q1: Based just on the label “Digital Immigrant”, what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Levels of technological proficiency would vary from immigrant to immigrant; some would be very adept and comfortable, others not at all. Technological proficiency couldn't be assumed in an immigrant. |
Q2: Based solely on the label “Digital Native”, what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Very comfortable with electronics, able to easily learn new skills without outside assistance, enthusiastic about acquiring new technological abilities. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a “Digital Immigrant” might differ from a “Digital Native.” |
Digital immigrant: lots of direct instruction, note-taking, researching term papers at the library using books & copy machines, typing term paper on typewriter. Digital native: dislikes too much direct instruction (lecture), likes to research/read via internet, is more proficient using computer for gathering information than using library, word processes papers, posts them on class web site/blog, or Emails them to teacher. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Online, very convenient accessible any time the study mood hits. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19-year-old might prefer to collaborate virtually (synchronously or asynchronously by computer/internet); 60-year-old might prefer face2face. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
If the professor understands digital natives, he/she might prefer to harness their technology interests and abilities for coursework as much as possible. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
No; I am very comfortable with technology and enjoy the opportunity to learn something new, even if a project depends on it. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
No; I have never been too far outside the norm when it comes to my age in school. At work, my coworkers expectations were pretty much in line with my level of experience (not necessarily related to my age). |
Q9: What is your age? |
25-34 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Master of Arts |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
The impact that socioeconomic status and gender have on digital natives (understanding how these differences affect students technology proficiency and interests). |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Person has "accents" to older technology and is perhaps unwilling to learn something new. Skills might include using a word-processor, email, and surfing the Internet. |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Much more advanced than digital immigrants. Pluged into with skills such as surfing, searching, using portable devices, etc. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
Digitial Immigrant education might include much more f2f, teacher-lead, etc. Digital natives might be more online, self-paced, student-lead, etc. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
I suspect most wouldn't be interested in attending class, in that it would interfer with thier drinking. So, probably online or a mix-mode course. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
19-year-old would probably rather do it completely online, using IM, email, etc. 60-year-old would probably prefer f2f meetings. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
It would depend on the professor. If they are computer savy and have an interest in online courses, they might follow that, other than a traditional f2f approach. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Company filtering emails, in the process stopping emails from the customer. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Older folks having an unwillingness to learn new technology. |
Q9: What is your age? |
35-44 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
M.A, working on PhD. |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
|
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Entry level - on a scale of 1-5, probably a 1 or 2 |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
More advanced - on the scale of 1-5, at least a 3 |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
I'm not sure formal education is the determining factor. In my mind a digital immigrant is a person who is older than 50 and did not grow up with computers. The digital native is younger and computers have been a part of their life from teen years (if not earlier) on. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
I am certain that most are comfortable with computers and capable of online courses. This may not fill the needs for social interaction of campus and whatever remedial courses they may need. |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
Probably not. I have been in this situation many times during my tour d'education and while younger people are more savy with the computer, older people have already paid their dues. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
It depends on the professor. If they are of the old school, then the course material will be force fed, instructor delivered, and stale. If the instructor (of any age) is in tune with the changing scenery of education - then the delivery will be interactive, collaborative, and spontaneous. |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
Yes, I am challenged to this day with the ever changing world of computers and the many wonderful resources they provide. Could you help me find professional development for community colleges before 10/29? As Dr. Blasi would request, it needs to be scholarly. :) |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Never, I won't allow it. Whether I am taking classes or teaching - it is a level playing field. |
Q9: What is your age? |
60+ |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
MA and post grad cert |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
I have reread your questions and I am not sure where you are going. And that is ok. I am not sure that you would have the blend of 19 year olds and seniors in the same classes. I have been working on my degrees for 20 years now and I can't remember this circumstance. Good luck with your survey and analysis! |
Q1: Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
The basics - VCR/DVD/Digital Camera - user but not a programmer |
Q2: Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
Grew up in the digital age with a remote in hand; owns a computer and/or laptop and a portable music device. |
Q3: Describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
DI - primarily face to face traditional delivery modes. DN not confined to time or space. |
Q4: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
Online/email |
Q5: Describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project in a course versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
Chat session vs. face to face or conference call. |
Q6: Describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
Traditional lecture mode |
Q7: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
ONly when I needed to post an assignment by a certain deadline and my internet service failed. I wished I could have faxed it or dropped it off. |
Q8: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
Not age per se, age and lack of experience make some projects difficult to complete. |
Q9: What is your age? |
45-54 |
Q10: What is your highest educational degree? |
Specialist Degree |
Q11: Please suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
Training and support go a long way towards overcoming the barriers of age. |
Henderson, K. L., & Hirumi, A. (2005). Digital propensity index (DPI) questionnaire. (Available from Atsusi Hirumi, Instructional Technology, University of Central Florida, P.O. Box 161250, Orlando, FL 32816-1250)
Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Prensky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001, December). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon 9(6). Retrieved November 25, 2005, from the Marc Presnsky Web site: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
The real participant's name has been removed to protect anonymity.
The interview process has been related to something I have been working on researching for several semesters. Unfortunately, I have spent much of my discussion time during research talking with other instructional technology academics about the topic of Marc Prensky's Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. The purpose of this interview was to talk with someone who I viewed as borderline between a Digital Immigrant and Digital Native so they could potentially see both sides of the characteristics between the two. Included is an analytic memo and transcript of the interview.
It also served as a pre-pilot to my mini-pilot study for EDF7475a Qualitative Research in Education. The questions were pre-written and approved by the University of Central Florida IRB committee. The informed consent document was read, for the most part, verbatim from the version the IRB approved, with exceptions for the obvious differences. The original informed consent document was designed for an anonymous, web-based questionnaire.
The overall goal of the questionnaire was get other thoughts about the accuracy of the adjectives Digital Native and Digital Immigrant, coined by Marc Prensky. Prensky's descriptions of each type of person are based in a large part on age, which is why Anonymous was a convenient participant, as closely randomly selected as possible. Generally, a Digital Native is named as such because they grew up with video games, mobile phones, the Internet, digital cameras, and so on, whereas Digital Immigrants did not have such technologies as children, so they have had to adapt to incorporate them in their lifestyle.
Before I started the interview, I expected Digital Natives to be more simply defined as a young person and a Digital Immigrant as and old geezer. I was actually concerned the answers to my questions would be so short and matter-of-fact, I wouldn't have much to follow up on. I even got a little adrenaline rush of fear when she asked what a Digital Native was. The interview instantly got a feeling of a difficult exam rather than a casual interview. I've taken plenty of tests where I just have no idea what the answer to a question is, so I was glad with Anonymous picked up and ran along with an answer. It was almost like she was thinking aloud, which was great for extracting information from the interview process. She broke the parts of the terminology down to things she was familiar with.
At times, in the interview, she seemed to stray from the topic to tell some sort of personal story I didn't think at the time had much to do with the interview questions. In reflection, I could have probably asked follow-up questions to tie her personal story back to the question and make her talk even more and faster. For example, Prensky suggests Digital Immigrants won't be as successful as Digital Natives unless they make an effort to become Digital Immigrants, as opposed to being digitally ignorant. When Anonymous started talking about her Mexican neighbor, I might have been able to tie that in to success; for example, something along the lines of, "How do you think not learning English affected your neighbors' success in life?"
I feel like there should be a set of follow-up questions related to Anonymous's line of thinking about resistance to new technology, then saying Digital Immigrants should make multi-dollar business out of it. That might have better helped define the business relationship she was putting on the differences between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants.
As the interview went on, the conversation turned from an awkward series of pauses, to something more like a free-flowing brainstorm. Getting to the brainstorm stage of the interview, and so quickly, made it kind of disappointing for the interview to end, especially since I have so much of this topic riding on my dissertation.
In terms of inferences, she thought Digital Immigrants were hard-working, self made business owners. Digital Natives were more likely to follow a structured, incremental series of promotions through a corporation. She saw how not every culture or country is digitally fluent. She agreed, in part, with Prensky to say older people would prefer to do things in a more face-to-face manner, whereas a younger person would prefer Internet-enabled methods of communication.
Trying to interview in a noisy restaurant, while your participant is trying to eat, with a limited lunch hour may not have been the best environment for me to have done this interview. The time constraint for their lunch period may have kept her answers shorter than they could have been. That was especially evident at the end of the interview when she politely asked if we could wrap up the interview. Also, asking someone I didn't know makes it hard for me to ask follow-up questions later on. However, on the other hand, the questionnaire and IRB approval are all based on a matter of anonymity in the first place, so I have a better understanding for why a researcher might go through all the extra effort to make a study confidential as opposed to anonymous in nature.
I did not take any notes during the interview. I was trying so hard to keep her attention with eye contact; I didn't feel comfortable with recording and writing things. In retrospect, I probably should have just asked her if doing both was alright with her.
1 |
DKN: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed today, so I can practice my interviewing for class. The participant asked to be identified as simply Anonymous. (.) This interview should take 15 or 20 minutes. Our location is the Panera Bread (.) on uh, (.) in Waterford Lakes. (.) [shuffling paper] I'm going to read a document to you that is important for your own protection. |
2 |
Ok. (.) What is it? |
3 |
DKN: The school has a procedure (.) er (.) office or whatever called IRB that's supposed to monitor the studies done at the university to make sure nobody is hurt in any way during research projects. (.) I'm going to read the (.) um (.) disclaimer to you that they had me submit for approval. Ready? |
4 |
Yes. |
5 |
DKN: Ok. Just stop me if at any point you don't understand or agree with something (.) I am a graduate student in Instructional Technology at the University of Central Florida. I am conducting a pilot study this fall, the purpose of which is to determine perceptions of how Instructional Technology students think age affects proficiency with using electronics. (.) This research study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). (.) Your interview will be conducted in via an online survey service. The link is below. The questions will be predetermined. There will be a free response area at the end of the survey where you may suggest topics and opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented. The survey may be completed at your convenience. (.) In your case, your responses will not be anonymous or confidential. They will she shared with the rest of the students in my class and my professor, and might be used in any papers I publish in the future, even though I'm not quite sure if I would actually include this interview. (.) There are no (.) anticipated risks, compensation or other direct benefits to you as a participant in this interview. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. You are free to withdraw your consent to participate and may discontinue your participation in the interview at any time without consequence. If you have any questions about this research project, please contact my faculty supervisor, Dr. Laura Blasi at: 407/823-1761. Information regarding your rights as a research volunteer may be obtained from: (.) Barbara Ward, Institutional Review Board (IRB) University of Central Florida (UCF) (.) 12202 Research Parkway, Suite 501; Orlando, Florida 32826-3252 Telephone: (407) 823-2901 (.) If you decide to participate in this research study, you must be at least 18 years old and give consent that I can get for archival on this recording. If you agree, go ahead, say you're over 18, say your name, and say you agree. |
6 |
My name is Anonymous, I'm well over 18, and I'm more than happy to take yer survey. |
7 |
DKN: Ok, then. (.) Question 1. (.) Based just on the label "Digital Immigrant", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
8 |
Uh (.) A what? |
9 |
DKN: A Digital Immigrant. If I pointed at someone and called them a Digital Immigrant, what skills would you think they had with electronics? |
10 |
I guess (.) since it has the word immigrant in it (.) they wouldn't be very experienced with them (.) but then even immigrants have some sort of exposure to a new land. I guess by that you mean someone who is learning electronics so they can adapt to a new environment. I always think of New York when I hear the word immigrant and pictures I've seen of immigrants getting off boats to see the US for the first time. With that mental picture I see someone who wants to learn how to be a US citizen, or in this case, someone who wants to learn how to use electronics, but has kind of an old accent of their old ways. You know (.) as I think about it more (.) there are also Mexican immigrants who I also have noticed don't necessarily even try to learn English. I had a neighbor once who's wife didn't even know English. We just waved at each other in the driveways and I talked to the husband when he was home since he worked in retail. So with that picture, maybe this Digital Immigrant person is resisting new technologies? Could you clarify it for me? |
11 |
DKN: Well, (.) I already have an idea of my own. (.) I'm more interested in what you think about it. |
12 |
Alright fine. Uhm (.) In that case, (.) I'm going to hope you have a positive outlook on life (.) and I'll go with the New York images. Then a Digital Immigrant is someone who sees all the new electronics out in the world and wants a piece of the action. I bet it doesn't take them long to be that guy who owns Blockbuster and the football team, who started from nothing, worked hard, and made a multi gazillion dollar business out of it. |
13 |
DKN: Alright (.) I think that covers that question. I'm very curious to hear about the next topic. So question 2. Based solely on the label "Digital Native", what skills would you imagine such a person having with electronics? |
14 |
I had a feeling something like that was coming. [chuckle] I don't think a Digital Native would have an appreciation for the things available to them. Cell phones are just a part of their normal, daily life. They just expect email to be there and work. I think of entitlements when I think of natives, but I'm not sure what exactly is an electronic entitlement. I spose the Internet could be an entitlement. It's just always there, it's the basis for a lot of communication and business. They probably get their news off the internet instead of from the TV. Since it's probably just something normal to them, they wouldn't even realize how cool it is to be able to get an old book off the Internet from a library in another continent. They wouldn't have the same attitude to do cool stuff with it like an immigrant would. |
15 |
DKN: Alright (.) now describe how the formal education of a "Digital Immigrant" might differ from a "Digital Native." |
16 |
Why does it have to differ? Can't they have the same background? |
17 |
DKN: Well, like I said before, I already have thoughts on the matter. I'll back up then. Do you think a Digital Immigrant would have different formal education than a Digital Native? |
18 |
I don't know why they would. Someone in their 20's could get a Ph.D. just the same as someone who's had their Ph.D. since 1960 and they could be in different countries from different colleges of learning, like business and biology. (.) I spose they could have different ways of having done their homework. The old guy probably had to use a card catalog on the library whereas the young one searched Google all the time and complained about their professors in a blog somewhere. (.) You know, I complained about a professor online once and they actually found it and confronted me about it. I don't recommend it. At least wait until after you graduate. By then, you probably won't care about complaining anymore. |
19 |
DKN: I guess I may need to revise that question in the future. |
20 |
Yeah, I think so. |
21 |
DKN: Next, describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to receive their course materials. |
22 |
I bet they want everything by email. They probably just want to talk to their professor over Yahoo Messenger or something. You know, I bet all the new students in college that bring laptops to class don't even listen to the lectures. I can see them surfing the internet, checking their email, blogging if that's what it's still called, downloading the newest and coolest new games. Kids are always talking about how bored they are or how tired they are. They probably want to just sleep in till noon every day, goof off in front of the TV, and get to the school junk whenever it's more convenient. Maybe they open an email in the morning and decide not to work on it till after dinner. |
23 |
DKN: Alright, now describe how you think a 19-year-old college Freshman would prefer to collaborate on a group project versus a 60-year-old retiree. |
24 |
First, I bet the retiree is the one that takes over the group leadership. They probably try to setup a face-to-face meeting somewhere, exchange phone numbers, addresses, email information. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old is probably thinking to themselves that they just want to meet online. You know, I've heard that before, but I've never really quite understood what it means to meet online. Do people really set up cameras and try to have a screen full of other people's cameras? My thinking outloud is probably driving you nuts, huh. |
25 |
DKN: Absolutely not. You're actually being quite helpful. |
26 |
I don't know how, but anyway. The freshman probably wants to write some Office documents and fire them back and forth via email. The old guy probably wants to meet at the library in a study room and draw on the caulk board. |
27 |
DKN: I think that will do for that question. Next, describe how you think a college professor would prefer to generate and present lessons to 19-year-old college freshmen. |
28 |
Powerpoint seems like it would be a popular choice. I bet you can even get slides from the book publishers now so you don't even have to create the content yourself. Even if they can't get them from the publishers, they probably copy a bunch of text from the textbooks that the students don't read anyway then read the Powerpoints to the students during class. I guess if they were a really old professor, they could have some overheads or something. |
29 |
DKN: Can you give an example of when a technology boundary negatively affected your success on a project for work or school? |
30 |
I procrastinated on an assignment once. It was for a web class where we had to use webct and upload the final work to the homework dropbox thingie. I was ready to turn it in at the last minute, but my internet connection went down. By the time I called Bellsouth, got everything working again, the dropbox thing was closed. I ended up having to email the assignment through webct email, which the professor never checked, and I had a bunch of headaches explaining why the assignment was late, the professor complaining about it not being turned in, in a way that made it organized for them to grade papers, and. It was just a bad experience. I ended up getting 20 points knocked off the assignment, which still makes me mad because I had the work done, it was just my connection and the professor didn't believe me. I did learn not to procrastinate quite as much, though. |
31 |
DKN: Can you give an example of when you perceived age was a boundary in the success of a project at work or school? |
32 |
I always like to think I'm smarter than my boss. My boss told me once, though, that I wasn't old enough to have the experience to handle being promoted. I sure didn't like that answer since I thought I was smarter than him in the first place. Who knows, maybe I said something to piss him off. Needless to say, I don't work there anymore or talk to that jerk. I need to go. Can we wrap this up? |
33 |
DKN: Sure, I just have some short questions left. I'm going to read some age categories. Tell me which one yours falls in. Under 25, 25 to 34? |
34 |
That one. |
35 |
DKN: 25 to 34? |
36 |
Yes. |
37 |
DKN: What is your highest educational degree? |
38 |
I have a BA. |
39 |
DKN: Please, could you suggest topics and/or opinions in any area you feel is relevant to the topics presented in this questionnaire. |
40 |
Not really. I need to go. |
41 |
DKN: Alright then. (.) Uh. (.) I appreciate the time you gave me. |
42 |
No problem. (.) Good luck with the rest of your assignment. |
Epistemology is your way of looking at the world; how you understand your knowledge of the world.
Reflexivity is one practice used and documented by researchers that increases the internal validity of the study.
Emic is the term anthropologists use to describe insider or participant perspectives.
Fieldnotes, memos, and keeping a journal are three forms in which a researcher generates data for analysis in a qualitative study.
Three ways to determine trustworthiness are asking, is it 1) acceptable practice, 2) competent practice, 3) ethically conducted?
Some of the strategies for ensuring credibility and rigor are
Member checking is verifying one's data and interpretations with study respondents. It helps to guard against investigator bias and gives the respondents a chance to correct your data if it is inaccurate.
Question: What should I do if I have to conduct interviews with English speakers and my native language is Italian -- should I use a translator?
Answer: If you are fluent in English, you may not need a translator, but you must be able to personally translate cultural meanings from the other language. If not fluent, consult with a translator and discuss with them beforehand what your questions are to make sure they can translate and not loose meaning from the participants. Not having a translator and not being fluent can create a lot of work for yourself or having a translator that mis-quotes meaning can alter the results.
Reflexivity allows researchers to be critical of their own biases. It opens the door to examining ways in which they are part of the setting, context, and social phenomenon since the researcher's mere presence can modify the actions of the participants. Researchers often change their perspective while researching, and reflexivity can out those differences.
Prompt: Discuss questions a school can ask regarding informed consent and describe how you as a qualitative researcher could respond to those questions.
Answer: What is the focus of the research? What are the guiding questions? Why and for whom is the research being done? What role(s) will school personnel be asked to play in this research? What feedback will the school receive, what form will it take, and at what stages of the research process will it be provided? The the conceptual framework should be used to answer some. Some of the content is required for IRB approval and may be able to be carbon copied to the school administrators.
Inductive data analysis is the process of reasoning from specific details to a general body of knowledge to a theory. Deductive data analysis is opposite; it takes a theory and tests it's applicability.
high inference observation: The boy may have gotten his feelings hurt by the group of girls that whispered something in his direction.
low inference observation: The boy is building a castle in the sandbox; girl put a feather on the top of the castle; the boy and girl are friends.
Grounded theory is an approach to data analysis that uses theoretical sampling.
Voicing is a characteristic of narrative design.
Local knowledge and situated lives are characteristics of ethnographic design.
By leaving out triangulation, member checks, a peer debriefer, memos, and fieldnotes, your study will be weak in terms of external validity.
Grounded theory is oriented towards action and process whereas interpretivism would have the researcher spend more time with the data, returning to it over and over as assertions develop. Grounded theory is geared to build a theory from interpretations of the data by the researcher's background of literature, personal experience, and interactions with the data. The product is an inductively derived theory from the phenomena it represents. The theory must meet four criteria to be considered valid: fit, understanding, generality, and control. Grounded theory is intended to work on a "best fit" basis rather than exact fits with similar cases. Readers look for credibility of the data, adequacy of the process, and the empirical grounding of the research findings; empirical grounding includes generation of systemically related concepts, range of variation and specificity built into the theory, and considerations of process. There seems to be a general theme of flexibility when working with grounded theory. With interpretivism, instead of drawing conclusions from the data, the data is is used to reinforce assertions. The product of interpretivism is a written report consisting of empirical assertions, analytic narrative vignettes, quotes from field notes, interviews, data reports, interpretive commentary framing, theoretical discussion, and a report of the natural history of inquiry in the study. The grand idea behind the report is to allow the reader to experience the setting, survey the range of evidence, and they allow the reader to consider the personal basis of the author's perspective throughout the study. With regards to validity, Erickson calls for deliberate searches for disconfirming evidence, avoiding the problem of premature typification.
Trustworthiness: Conform to standards of acceptable and competent practice with ethical conduct.
Four factors affect the credibility of a study for cross-group comparisons: selection effects, setting effects, history effects, and construct effects (LeCompte and Goetz). Morse recommends investigator responsiveness, methodological coherence, theoretical sampling and sampling adequacy, and active analytic stance, and saturation as strategies for ensuring rigor. Establishing validity includes determining the extent to which conclusions represent reality and assessing whether constructs represent or measure categories of human experience.
Course description: Examination of appropriate methods in applied educational contexts. Consideration of analysis strategies for educational data, emphasis on identification and interpretation of findings.
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| Syllabus_Sp06.pdf | 138.19 KB |
- interval/ratio data = normally distributed
- there are three methods to describe data
- three levels of measurement match the three methods of describing data to form a matrix
Statistics method/levels matrix:
| Central tendency | Variability | Graphics | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal (categories: male/female) | mode; "the most frequently occurring value was..." | what are the groups? what is the frequency of each category? | bar chart |
| Ordinal (rank) | median; could also use mode, but not mean | range; "the rankings range from one to 200" | histogram for range of big value pool; bar chart for frequency of small number values |
| Interval/ratio | mean; could also use mode and median but are not very likely to do so | standard deviation (measure of distance from the mean); variance (standard deviation squared) | histogram (is usually based as core/background of normal distribution curve) |
What is correlation?
How one changes with the other. ex: Pearson's correlation coefficient
Descriptive practice using NELS-88 data
standardize the following:
- In SPSS, click Analyze -> descriptive statistics -> frequencies -> move mother education to the right & move move comprehensive race to the right
- For mother ed and race, keep "Display frequency tables" checked. Select median and mode in the statistics button, and bar chart with frequencies in the charts button.
- For reading score, uncheck the "Display frequency tables" checkbox; in statistics button select mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis; and in charts button select histogram
* with continuous data like test scores, generating a frequency table or bar chart is a waste of time
** with continuous data like test scores, always generate skewness and kurtosis
Why dependent samples t test could be significant and independent t test not for the same numbers Both use the formula t=mean difference/standard error, but the way standard error is calculated is different because in independent samples, you don't have the relationship of paired data you have in the independent test
sample writeups of SPSS results
asymptotic is for huge samples in Mann-Whitney results
r = multiple correlation coefficient
The correlation table and the regression's model summary table say the same confidence value (Pearson post versus r)
regression line formula: y = bX + a
don't forget to change the SPSS axis in graphics to start at zero to more accurately represent the data
Looking at assignment 2-3
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| EDF7403_Norman_A2-3_t-tests,etc.pdf | 224.45 KB |
Course description: Correlation, regression, path analysis, and structural equation modeling in educational studies. Use of path analysis and structural equation modeling to test theory.
Course description: An examination of education related research initiatives.
Course description: Design of educational evaluation; analysis of data, descriptive and inferential statistics, interpretation of results.
The coursework was focused on learning Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Assignments included homework assignments, quizes, and collaborative reports.
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| weighted_group_mean_handout.pdf | 55.63 KB |
| EDF6401_David_Norman_Collaborative_Report.pdf | 799.93 KB |
| EDF6401_David_Norman_Final_Collaborative_Report.pdf | 926.07 KB |
| EDF6401_David_Norman_Practice_with_t-tests.pdf | 158.9 KB |
| EDF6401_David_Norman_Unit_1_Quiz.pdf | 147.07 KB |
Course description: An examination of theory and research on adult learning with emphasis on practical applications, instruction, and technology use in educational and workplace settings.
Major topics covered in the course were the information-processing model, sensory memory, perception, attention, working memory, representing declarative knowledge, representing procedural knowledge, acquisition of declarative knowledge, acquisition of procedural knowledge, and problem-solving.
I had to write a literature review for this course. To get started, I found some notes of things to look for when reviewing literature. One book by R. Murray Thomas said to look in the following stages:
The problem I had with those tips were that they only really make sense if the literature review is in the context of a whole research project. If you're just doing a literature review, a different book by Donna M. Mertens had some more focused advice in a 9 step format:
Mertens also suggested asking the following questions:
Then I came up with the following additional questions from just reading other literature reviews:
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| Comparison of Web-based distance education and classroom instruction A literature review.pdf | 70.54 KB |
I completed my MS at the University of Central Florida in 2005.
Course description: This course covers various database technologies in business organizations, including database systems, multidatabase systems, data warehousing, data mining, and object-oriented databases.
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| ISM6217 David Norman data modeling homework.pdf | 558.58 KB |
| ISM6217 David Norman Exam 1.pdf | 551.56 KB |
| ISM6217 David Norman Exam 2.pdf | 390.42 KB |
| ISM6217 David Norman SQL homework.pdf | 3.65 MB |
Course description: Provides students with in-depth, hands-on experience with networking hardware and software. Teamwork emphasized in acquiring a master of networking concepts.
This course was finely geared toward earning the Cisco CCNA certification. After completing this course, I took the certification exam and became a CCNA.
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| ISM6908 David Norman subnetting notes.pdf | 1.81 MB |
Course description: This course covers advanced topics of information systems development, including analysis of system requirements, design, implementation and operation.
This was a course centered around a semester-long project for developing some sort of information system. I helped build an information system in Visual Basic 6 for the professor to use in his research. The admin password is ism6121 and the exit password is drjohnson.
Course description: Course is designed as an overview of human resources practices, techniques and strategies.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| MAN6305 David Norman Final Presentation.pdf | 7.39 MB |
| MAN6305 David Norman survey data.spo | 1.14 MB |
| MAN6305 David Norman survey statistics.pdf | 161.82 KB |
| MAN6305 David Norman survey.pdf | 110.34 KB |
Course description: This course provides an investigate of issues relevant to effectively managing IT activities and the challenges facing IT managers and some potential solutions to deal with them.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ISM6305 David Norman data warehousing individual.pdf | 25.18 KB |
| ISM6305 David Norman data warehousing group report.pdf | 7.94 MB |
Course description: Structured approaches to the development of computer-based information systems in business.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ISM4113 David Norman NOMAS Presentation 1.pdf | 394.76 KB |
| ISM4113 David Norman NOMAS Presentation 2.pdf | 131.91 KB |
Course description: This course will focus on the strategic management of networks (voice,video, image, and data). coverage includes network management systems, LANs and the internet.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ISM6227 David Norman Network Design Project Notes.pdf | 1.52 MB |
| ISM6227 David Norman VoIP InfCorp paper.pdf | 1.26 MB |
I completed my BBA at The University of Texas at Tyler in 2002. As a freshman, my schedule was largely arranged to complete the program of study in a cohort.
This class was centered around a CISSP certification textbook and network security manual.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| MANA5340 David Norman presentation.pdf | 73.16 KB |
| Topic | Chapter |
|---|---|
| Introduction | 1 |
| Basic Chemistry | 2 |
| Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| Basic cell anatomy | 4 |
| Cell membranes | 5 |
| Energy and chemical reactions | 6, pp. 119-128 |
| Enzymes | 6, pp. 128-140 |
| Cellular Respiration | 7 |
| Photosynthesis | 8 |
| Mitosis | 9, pp. 193-204 |
| Meiosis | 9, pp. 204-215 |
| Mendelian genetics | 10, pp. 216-226 |
| More genetics | 10, pp. 226-242 |
| DNA replication | 11 |
| Protein synthesis | 12 |
| Molecular genetics | 13, 14 |
| Biotechnology | 16 |
| Human genetics | 17 |
I. Biologically important elements
II. Atoms
III. Elements
IV. Isotopes
V. Chemical bonds
VI. Polar and nonpolar substances
VII. Properities of water
B. water is a moderator of temperature
C. water adheres and coheres
D. water is a good solvent for many substances
VIII. Functional Groups
B. Different molecules that have the same functional group will have some properties in common.
IX. Isomers