Page 64 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

52 3 Linking Learning Objectives, Pedagogies, and Technologies

Concept application: identifying and using appropriate concepts (both concrete
and abstract concepts). Examples of concrete objects include chairs and tables.
Examples of abstract objects include hate and social cohesion.
Rule using: applying a rule to a given situation or condition by responding to a
class of inputs with a class of actions. An example of rule using is to multiple the
probabilities of individual events to determine the probability of both events
happening.
Problem solving: combining lower level rules to solve challenging problems.
Solving problems is the aim of most learning tasks and the tasks are often
complicated.
The main point is that the type of thing to be learned is an important aspect of
instructional planning as it links to learning objectives, activities, outcomes, and
assessments. The type of thing to be learned can help one identify a likely
instructional method and strategy. There are, of course, other aspects to be taken
into account, including the learners, their prior knowledge, and the setting in which
learning will take place (see, for example, Eckel, 1993; Spector, Johnson, & Young,
2014).

3.2.2 Instructional Strategies and Types of Learning
Objectives

An instructional strategy is a description of an approach to a particular instructional
or learning activity. Instructional strategies are closely linked with the type of thing
to be learned. For example, if the thing to be learned is how to remove the radar
from an airplane, then it would not be appropriate to only use expository (i.e.,
telling) or inquisitory (i.e., asking) instruction. This is a procedural task that is best
learned by showing and doing—of course, some information is necessary such as
where the radar unit is located and what safety precautions must be taken.
A strategy for learning such a task could be a combination of demonstrating and
modeling the task, and then having learners perform the task, with feedback pro-
vided along the way. A variation could be breaking the task down into subtasks and
using a part-task approach. For example, the first preparatory steps (e.g., turning off
all systems and removing panels to gain access to the radar unit) might be treated as
one chunk and practice until mastered. There are many instructional strategies that
instructional theorists have developed over the years in addition to the general
expository and inquisitory strategies mentioned earlier. Examples include the fol-
lowing (these are only meant to be suggestive, as alternative strategies might be
appropriate for the instances cited and this list is far from exhaustive):

a. Drill and practice—appropriate for learning verbal information that for what-
ever reason must be committed to memory.
b. Tutorial instruction—appropriate for learning simple procedures or how to
navigate within a particular software system.