Subject: Re-usability of LOs & Instructional Purposes
From: Lester Gilbert (lg1@canterbury.ac.uk)
Date: Mon 14 Feb 2000 - 09:37:48 MET
From: Lester Gilbert <lg1@canterbury.ac.uk> Subject: Re-usability of LOs & Instructional Purposes Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 08:37:48 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)
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With a background both in Computer Science and in Instructional Systems
Design, I can see the seductive appeal of LOs. I can also see that LOs
cannot, in principle, achieve their purpose of reusability in the way
expected. I'll try to be controversially brief here <g>.
Any material that is specifically *designed* for an instructional
purpose is designed to meet one or more specific learning objectives. I
can imagine a unit, for example, that is designed to meet the objective
"By the end of the unit the student will be able to construct a Web
page using HTML and animated GIFs." To the extent that material is
designed to meet a specific objective, it must be less effective at
meeting other, somewhat similar objectives. I would have to tweak my
unit, for example, if I wanted the students to use simple Javascript in
the Web page, or some JPGs.
Also, any material that is specifically *designed* for an instructional
purpose is designed for use with a specific pedagogical method. For
example, my unit might teach Web pages, HTML, and GIFs by a lab-based
tutor-guided discovery method. To take those unit materials and use
them in a mass live-lecture situation would require a pretty thorough
re-write.
My hypothetical unit is effective, let us assume, precisely because it
has been carefully designed. Not only is it designed to meet a
specific learning objective and to use a specific pedagogical method,
it has also been designed for a particular target audience population,
to assume a particular set of pre-requisite skills and knowledge, and so
on. Its re-use, or the re-use of any of its constituent LOs, for any
other closely-similar objective, method, audience, pre-requisite
assumptions, and so on make it less effective. As the similarity
lessens, so does its effectiveness *necessarily* reduce.
My conclusions? LOs in general will only be re-usable for teaching in
a trivial sense. Their attempted re-use outside of their design
context will generally result in ineffective teaching and accidental
learning.
I might also guess that only LOs designed to very broad and very
general objectives will find any wide-spread re-use. Such a
generally useful LO will turn out to be a very substantial object, like
a book, in order to ensure some coherence. Smaller LOs will be of
almost no use to anyone other than a full-time properly-trained
instructional designer, whose professional job might well involve the
design of instruction using such objects.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lester Gilbert l.gilbert@cant.ac.uk
Dept Maths & Information Technology Tel (01227) 767700 x2813
Canterbury Christ Church University College Fax (01227) 782 904
Kent, CT1 1QU, United Kingdom http://www.cant.ac.uk
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