Squawk!

It's official...this project is driving me nuts! I went to bed an hour and a half ago, desperate for sleep, but couldn't get my brain to turn off. I tossed and turned, kept the poor dog awake, and finally got up and am back in front of my computer desperately searching for inspiration. Saint Isidore, HELP!

I'm following the steps, searching through Dick, Carey and Carey for ideas, hoping for some glimmer to hang my hat on. I feel like I'm just going through the motions, that I don't really understand the whole DCC model at all, and that my Learning Object is going to more closely resemble the Titanic than anything else.

I keep questioning my original proposition (ok, so it's the 3rd or 4th or 10th proposition). Is it too big? Is it too small? Is it even a valid instructional goal? My little boat is lost out in the great big sea of Instructional Design, and there's no anchor in sight. Land? Yeah, right. Island? Not even. At this point I'd be grateful to see an albatross in the sky...at least it would mean I'm not alone.

Perhaps it would help if we had some method of communicating with each other. The discussion board in the Digital Graphics and Animation class has been a real help, allowing us to share ideas and frustrations, and not feel as if we were flying solo. I know I can call the professor for this class, but what is it going to help for her to listen to my angst? I'm not secure enough in what I've done so far to think that she can help me sort it out and find the salvageable bits. I don't know if I'm the only one not getting it, if I'm being too anal about the whole thing, if my work so far has some validity, or if I need to just trash the blankety-blank thing and start over from scratch.

But I can't do that. The date for the journal is today. Or is it? In the notes for the current lesson, there is a deadline of December 2 (Happy Bday to me) but in the notes for the Wrap Up and Final Project it says it was due on December 6th but the date has been moved to the 8th and that her grades are due by 9:00 a.m. on the 10th. Then it says I have to have my course notebook submitted by May 10th. (?!?) Then we're back to the Learning Object and Journal being due on or before December 6. And it ends with saying that the notebooks must be mailed no later than December 10th so they can be graded on Wednesday and Thursday (that would be the 12th and 13th, no?).

I've been such a pest about problems I've had with the objective quizzes that I hate to question the dates...again. (I've already asked about them once.) So. There it is. I have to get this thing done. I have to trust that I'm doing it well enough that it won't totally sink in the mud. And I have to trust that I'm understanding more than I think I am. Sigh. No sleep in sight for a while yet.

Trial Runs

I'm two days behind from my original schedule, but still within acceptable parameters (I hope). I have managed to confuse myself beyond all belief: should I be submitting the entire lesson, is it okay to submit the learning object for one portion of the lesson, am I anywhere close to doing this correctly, ad infinitum.

At least I was able to give the lesson two trial runs today, one with a teacher who is new to the district and needs to finish the module so she can get credit for our upcoming Comp. day. The other was with what could easily be my most discriminating audience, my 8th grade Advanced Tech Apps class.

The teacher came to my classroom during her conference to work through the module, concerned that she was going to need help since she describes herself as a "Technophobe." Fortunately she came during one of my smaller 7th grade classes. The kids are working on Excel right now, and need a lot of attention to help them stay on track, so I was only able to check in with her occasionally. Things went very smoothly right up to the section on setting the body text in a serif font. The unformatted document has (had!) the headings inline with the body text, and she kept trying to select an entire paragraph and change the font. Of course that undid the work she'd done setting the headings in sans serifed font. Other than that glitch, she was able to complete the work on her own, and seemed very pleased with her own work. She even asked to print it out!

I adjusted the unformatted document so that the headings are on separate lines from the body text they relate to, and then I entered the Den of Lions and asked my half-dozen Adv. kids to work through it. I told them it was for a course, and that I needed constructive feedback...but to feel free to try to break it. Bless their hearts, they did try! Some kept asking "What's a title?" while others chose fonts that were totally unreadable. They had fun changing the font size and pointing out that I was only showing one method for centering text, and not a favorite method at that. (They are firmly convinced that keyboard shortcuts are better than menus any day of the week.) They liked the L.O., but suggested that it be recorded with a higher volume. I will need to do this before turning it out to wide world.

So, there it is.

Am I done? I have no idea. Have I completed the assignment the way the professor intended? Again, no idea. I'm going to let it rest for a few days, see if some of my fellow students post something that will help guide me in this dilemma, and then take it from there. Sigh.

The Joys of Camtasia

I have created the Learning Object for centering the title, and am delighted to find out that the newer version of Camtasia allows one to create Flash quizzes!

When I rework this unit of instruction over the Winter holidays, I fully intend to use this nifty aspect of the software. To be honest, I'm feeling way too nervous to experiment with it for this project. I'm back to feeling alone in the wilderness with no idea how I'm supposed to be proceeding with the whole thing. From what I've been reading about Learning Objects, they should be stand-alone, reusable items that support learning. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting, but I'm not certain the Learning Object should encompass the entire lesson; rather that it should be for one portion of the lesson. Even when I look at the L.O.s I just discovered in the CSCOPE curriculum, they are not entire lessons, but modules that can be plugged into any number of lessons.

Saint Isidore?? Help!

Instructional Strategy

Keeping ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction) in mind, I'm ready to take all the information I have gathered so far and use it to create a sequence of instruction. This lesson should take approximately 45 minutes, in a lab setting, or alone using a personal computer at home or at school. Since it is so narrowly focused on basic Word principles, there is not a great deal of extraneous material to deal with, which is good. I'm just about done in on this project, and I know I've done it to myself.

For Pre-instructional activities, samples of poorly formatted documents can be used. It would be best if this was done using a computer and projector, so the document could be changed in real-time and allow the learners to see why using the spacebar is not the best way to indent and align text. It would also allow the instructor to change the fonts to demonstrate the differences between serif and san serif as well as legible and illegible. For the online version, a Camtasia file will be created, demonstrating the same principles. This will also serve as the time to bring home the major points of the lesson from the overarching goal:

Plan, create, and edit documents created with a word processor uuing readable fonts, alignment, page setup, tabs and ruler settings.

Using the unformatted document "Writing," the learner will move through each of the steps in order:

1. Start the word processing software
2. Open the unformatted file
3. Save the document with an appropriate name
4. Change the margins
5. Set the title and sub headings in a san-serif font
6. Set the body text in a serif font
7. Center align the title
8. Indent all body paragraphs
9. Save the document
10. Exit the program

The assessment checklist will be provided to the learners so they can verify having completed all the steps, and further activities in the Word Processing unit will allow them to continue to use the skills learned in this first, basic lesson.

I have confirmed with the Curriculum Coordinator that she is comfortable with this being offered in a workshop setting and as a Do-It-Yourself activity with the files available on the school intranet as well as the Internet.

Now it's time for the Learning Object. I hope I'm not totally wrong here. I have created the unformatted document, the attendant handout, and I'm only creating the Learning Object for one particular aspect...centering the title.

I'm going to use some of my students and a couple of faculty members, as well as my family for the formative evaluation. They will be given all the materials, including the L.O.

Assessing Needs

What is the problem? What do they need to be able to do? These questions keep looming and I'm having trouble narrowing the goal. I stare at the TEKS for Technology Applications and keep dithering between an Internet-focused learning object and a Word Processing learning object. I really, really! want to do one on using Delicious, but that's not formally addressed in the TEKS. Do I want to hang my entire project on something I think is a real asset to learning, or do I go with something I can easily justify with the TEKS?

When I look at my potential audiences (teachers and/or students) I can see that for formal, classroom-based learning the Word Processing is more essential. A recent announcement from the choir director for upcoming concerts is an easy example of what not to do. Since the Curriculum Director has asked me to revise the Word training module, it only makes sense to kill two birds with one stone. Guess I just answered my own question. Word Processing it is.

Now for the DCC analysis. According to my chart I've got nine steps to go through and only eleven days in which to accomplish them. Day by day, one bite at a time, I've got to work my way through their system and make my project conform. For this first step, I need to:

1. Analyze performance problems
2. Clearly define instructional needs
3. Clearly define instructional goals
4. Generally describe learners, performance context and the tools available.

1. Looking at various word processing products from the target audience (middle school teachers and students), several TEKS deserve to be addressed:

• 126.12.C.2.C - use digital keyboarding standards for data input such as one space after punctuation, the use of em/en dashes, and smart quotation marks;
• 126.12.C.7.A - plan, create and edit documents create with a word processor using readable fonts, alignment, page setup, tabs, and ruler settings;
• 126.12.C.7.E - create a document using DTP techniques including, but not limited to, the creation of multi-column or multi-section documents with a variety of text-wrapped frame formats;
• 126.12.C.10.D - demonstrate appropriate use of fonts, styles, and sizes, as well as effective use of graphics and page design to effectively communicate;

Whew! Big bite! If those standards are the "desired status" and the documents I have from various teachers and students are the "actual status" then there is definitely a "need." At least I've got that much to go on.

I need to walk away from this for a bit, and come back with Dick, Carey and Carey in hand to finish my Day 11 work.

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(Updated 11:18 pm) I'm still thinking too broadly. I need to narrow the focus considerably. I keep going back to the essentials of a Learning Object: digital, reusable in a variety of contexts, supports learning, etc. For the "reusable" bit to be met, it will need to be something very basic, not constrained to Microsoft Word but reusable in multiple applications.

Look again at my learners: entry level tech skills, at best. True, there are many who have some knowledge of Word or of PowerPoint, but I don't want to target them. I want to go with the lowest common denominator, I think. First day on the computers for kids, teachers who know how to check email and take attendance, and that's it. I've been pushing for higher level training, but for this I need to go back to basics.

Oh, how I wish we had a discussion board going for this module! This is the point of this course where I would really benefit from bouncing ideas off colleagues and listening to their thinking.

Okay, back to the TEKS...126.12.C.1.F! That's the one! ...perform basic software application functions including, but not limited to, opening an application program and creating, modifying, printing, and saving documents. 126.12.C.7.A plan, create, and edit documents created with a word processor using readable fonts, alignment, page setup, tabs and ruler settings. Clear, basic, something that needs to be known. According to David A. Wiley's paper, this is something for which a Learning Object would be ideal. Time to re-read the paper and start applying DCC to my identified learning need. With any luck, I'll have my Instructional Goal and Overview of Learners written before I fall asleep.

Counting the Days

Oh Bother! I'm looking at the calendar and the model journal Dr. Ray gave us, and I'm seriously considering hitting the panic button. The journal, with a schedule using the Dick and Carey and Carey model for developing a "learning object," is due by December 2. Wow! That's only 12 days away!

Okay, unpanic. I've done the readings, I'm exploring learning objects and feel like I may be getting a handle on them. Now it's time to start with DCC:

1. Assess needs to identify the instructional goal - I really need to settle on this tonight. Do I want to do something for my students, or for teachers? I'll use the TEKS, either way, but the language might be a bit different. No, not for a learning object, would it? By definition, the L.O. is supposed to be reusable in different contexts. I need to include the needs, goals and generally describe the learners, performance context and tools available. Hmm.
   
2. Instructional goal analysis - this will be very time-consuming I suspect, based on my tendency to go overboard on minute details. This is something I will have to watch closely. I should end up with a diagram (Gliffy?) of the main steps as well as the KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) required to perform each of the main steps. Oh! And don't forget to designate the entry behaviors.

It's eleven o'clock at night, and this is the time I choose to get wired? No. I still have one more day of school to get through. I'll mull this over as I drift off to sleep and try to have a coherent starting point for my goal in the morning.

Instructional Development Journal Fun

Just opened the lesson for the next two weeks in the ISD course, and discovered that we are supposed to create an "Instructional Development Journal" to document our progress as we create a learning object for the course. I wonder if this blog will qualify? :)

If I'm going to use Isidore to do this, I need to be certain to fulfill the requirements, which include: writing on a daily basis (uh oh), reflect on the process of using the DCC model as I create the learning object, and document the steps required for the model. This might work, or then again maybe I need to use my wiki to document what I am doing.

"Learning Objects." Hmm. New term, but it seems to represent an idea I'm familiar with and just didn't have a name for. According to the University of Wisconsin's (Milwaukee Campus ) Center for International Education, one of the definitions includes these characteristics:

• smaller units of learning (2-15 min)
• self-contained (can be taken independently)
• reusable (in multiple contexts for multiple purposes)
• can be aggregated (can be grouped into larger collections of content)
• tagged with metadata (for ease in searching)

I need to take a close look at the Internet Study Module I'll be teaching this afternoon and see if anything in there would be appropriate as a foundation for creating a learning object. Sounds like this is going to be fun!