Trends and Issues in Various Settings

Rapid Prototyping:

I will use technology education as an example for the use of rapid prototyping.  Technology students learn by doing, designing, and modeling products that they are creating.  Model-making has always been a part of design when it comes to producing something.  Usually students would have to draw something on paper and make their first models by cutting and gluing wood, paper, or other materials to make their models.  Through the use of computers and computer technology, students have the opportunity to create and manipulate any kind of design they can dream up.  Rapid prototyping even allows for 3 dimensional design in regards to this type of education.   By using rapid prototyping, students are not wasting time on building a model out of materials, trying to manipulate it, finding it doesn’t work as planned and then having to re-build the whole thing.  Drawings, plans, and parts don’t have to have prior approval from an instructor because there isn’t any.  Using rapid prototyping will also help students develop spatial skills according to Don Jalbert, a CAD/CAM mechanical design instructor at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center in Lewiston, Maine.  Maine states that RP can help young people realize that they have what it takes in the engineering field.  Students can no do more than draw a part, they can evaluate it, refine it, assess how it fits in a larger assembly and in some cases even hand it to someone.  The avenue is limitless when it comes to RP.  Games can be created to help learn different educational objectives, can be easily tested, refined, and changed as needed to meet instructional goals.  There is an opportunity to build all kinds of virtual stuff for students to learn with as well as giving them the opportunity to create it too. 

Deployable Learning Resource Centers – DLRC

Helping the military to use technology in training

Mobile units need to be equipped with as many of these units that they need for the desired goal.  Each mobile unit would consist of a server, network switch, printer, and laptop station.  It would be beneficial for each station to have the capability to be connected to a generator in case there is not power available to continue service.  The new iPad would be more efficient as it is smaller than a regular laptop, would take up less space and is very mobile when needed.  Wi-fi and 3/4G networks could be implemented and switched back and forth from when service for Wi-fi was not available.  This way, the units would be workable under most circumstances.  Remote areas would create problems that some 3/4G network solutions would remedy but there would still be some dead spots in this set-up.  Automatic updates need to be a part of the regular maintenance on the system so that all technology is up to date and usable.  Main centers would have a general plug in for sharing of information between computers when logged into the system so that all units could transfer information to one another. 

Step-Up-To-Excellence

1.  Differences between piecemeal and systematic change need to be understood prior to beginning.

2.  Brainstorming of ideas from the faculty for changes that are needed in the district to improve student achievement would encourage participation and ownership of the needed change.

3.  Discussion of changes meeting piecemeal or systemic criteria and identifying the changes that would require systemic change

4.  Keeping or achieving recognized status by emphasizing how GSTE and Step-up-to-excellence (SUTE) systems are used for successful schools that want to hit exemplary status. 

5.  Explain GSTE and SUTE systems and discuss how they are similar/different, how they emphasize the importance of team and team building, and are both a continuous and cyclical process,

6.  Focus on data and information that is available that helps explain the process while going over highlights and more detailed information of each. 

7.  Divide into teams and examine other districts that have implemented this procedure and have been successful in achieving their goals.  Come back together as a group and discuss findings.

8.  Send out a survey for feedback and preferences to share with administrators.

Centers for Faculty Development

San Jose State University Center for Faculty Development

Division of Academic Technology.

http://www.sjsu.edu/

Offers services in events, accessibility, programs, consultation, teaching resources, and tutorials.  Events are offered on a regular basis.  Events for this month include gMail basics, peer partners in teaching, creating faculty websites with website builder, engaging students online with Elluminate Live.  They also offer help with instructional design support, assessable materials, technology, and software application support. 

Teaching resources include information on syllabus development, assessment, teaching strategies, learning materials, technology tools, and student retention.

Accessibility provides resources for faculty for the Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI), designed to help faculty provide equitable access to education for its students with different various learning needs, experiences, abilities, and learning styles. 

Several tutorials listed in alphabetical order that help faculty with various technologies. Programs are given throughout the semester. They outline specific classes, found under events, to take and when completed the faculty will receive a certificate.

New faculty orientation program provides an opportunity to meet campus leaders, collaborate with colleagues, become familiar with campus resources and to learn tips on how to become a more successful faculty member.

Virginia Tech Faculty Development Institute

http://www.fdi.vt.edu/

This is a division of Learning Technologies

They offer year-round training, online resources, faculty support and many online resources.  Short courses, tracks, essential skills, teaching and technology, digital media development, research and technology, web development, research administration, and programming languages are offered.  There are peer mentoring programs, course development help, production, funding, and technology support for faculty and programs are given several times a week that cover numerous topics.  

Available programs for Spring 2011 include:One-on-One consulting on Tuesdays at various times

Essential Skills classes includes lessons on:\

         Campus resources at Virginia Tech

         MS PowerPoint 2010

         MS PowerPoing 2011

         MS Word Advanced Features for Mac and Windows

         Adobe Acrobat Professional

         Adobe InDesign CS5

         Securing your Computer – Security

         Adobe Acrobat 9

        

Digital Media Development classes includes lessons on:

Podcasting

GarageBand

Photoshop CS5 and Elements

IMovie

Web Development classes

         Web Design and Effective Web sites

         Ensemble

         Dreamweaver

         Google tools

         Scholar and ePortfolio classes

Teaching and Technology classes includes lessons on:

         Chat, Blogs, Wikis, Resources and Podcasting

         Prezi

         Web 2.0 Applications

Michigan State University Faculty and Organizational Development

http://fod.msu.edu/

Includes resources for leaders; resources on leadership; top ten lists for administrators; resources of faculty mentoring; and key dates. 

Also included are resources for instructors such as online instructional resources; SoTL information and resources; top ten lists for faculty; code of teaching responsibilities; and early career faculty programs. 

Programs are divided into two categories:

Faculty and Instructional Development and Organizational and Leadership Development.

Programs for Faculty/Instructional Development Opportunities include:

         Lilly Teaching Seminar Series

         SoTL Seminars

         Spring Institute on College Teaching and Learning

         Survive & Thrive for probationary tenure-system faculty

         From Associate professor to Professor: Productive Decision making at

         Mid-Center

         On-Demand Online seminars

         Programs for academic specialists

         Workshops for faculty leaders. 

         Co-sponsored opportunities, cohort programs, consultation and services for instructors and community building is also offered with additional choices. 

Organizational and Leadership Development Workshops and Seminars include:

         Leadership and Administrator Seminar Series

         Executive leadership academy

         Workshops for faculty leaders

         International permanent residency

         Leadership development webinars.

Cohort programs, consultations for academic leaders, and community building are also offered within this divisions as well as new orientations. 

Human Performance Technology

Human Performance Technology

We were instructed to identify a performance problem in our area of work and provide a non-instructional solution to solve the problem for our first question this week. 

When I found out that one of the processes used to create a solution for Human Performance Improvement (HPI) was behavioral psychology, I was all about that since much of my background has to do with this subject.  Behavioral psychology studies how we develop behaviors in response to stimuli.  Classical and operant conditioning define Behavioral Psychology because it is a theory that is based on behavior learned through conditioning.  Behaviors in the subject are acquired by interacting with the environment through operant and/or classical conditioning.   I won’t go into a deep explanation of these two terms but just give a reminder of what they represent.  Think of the famous “Pavlov’s dogs” for classical conditioning and remember that operant conditioning is an association between behaviors and consequences.  They are either positive or negative reinforcements or positive or negative punishment. 

I teach fifth grade and one of the major issues in most classrooms today is behavior.  Students are not like they used to be.  They do not sit quietly at their seats with their hands folded nicely on the desk, their feet flat on the floor and their eyes focused on the teacher ready for instruction.  We cannot whack them over the knuckles if they are talking or not paying attention, and they tend to want everything right now.  Well, my new class this year was no exception.  So, I decided to use a little of my behavior modification knowledge on my class and it was quite a fun experiment that has worked out very nicely.  Basically, I clicker trained my kids.  Yes, that’s right, I clicker trained them, as in Karen Pryor “Don’t Shoot The Dog”

If they are doing what they are supposed to be doing, they get a click and then they can do what they want to do (obviously within the rules and regs of the school) for 2 minutes.  This has saved me numerous minutes of stopping instruction to correct a behavior that is not conducive to conducting instruction.  Now, I have the click down to about once a week and a class that is monitoring their own behavior.  It’s working quite nicely.  I’d say that would qualify for HPI!

EXAMPLES AND NON-EXAMPLES OF EPSS

Retrieved from: https://www.msu.edu/~sleightd/epssyn.html  2/17/2011

KEY CHARACTERISTICS

The key characteristics of EPSSs which make them different from other computerized instructions or tools are:

• computer-based
• provide access to the discrete, specific information and tools needed to perform a task at the time the task is to be performed
• used on the job, or in simulations or other practice of the job
• controlled by the user
• reduce the need for prior training in order to accomplish the task

These key characteristics are the minimum a program must have in order to called an EPSS. By definition it must be computerized ("electronic"). It must provide the specific information needed to perform a task, otherwise it would be no different from traditional training, which provides the information needed, but includes irrelevant data. It must provide the specific information when it is needed, otherwise there is no difference between it and traditional training, which provides the information, but not when it is needed. It must allow the learner to decide when information is needed, otherwise it is no different from teacher-controlled traditional training. And finally, the program must reduce the need for prior training in order to accomplish the task, otherwise why have a performance support system at all?

I thought that this would be a very informative chart about EPSS.  This gives a nicer picture of what EPSS is and isn’t. 

Here are some types of training programs and the EPSS characteristics they commonly possess. Some instances of these programs may demonstrate additional characteristics, but usually they exhibit the characteristics noted in the table. (Key characteristics are listed in the top part of the table.)

	Traditional Classroom	Computer-Based Training	Traditional Electronic Database	Online Help
Computer-based		X	X	X
Access to information and tools when needed to perform a task			X	X
Used on the job, in simulations, or other practice		X	X	X
Controlled by the worker			X	X
Reduce the need for prior training in order to accomplish the task				X
Easily updated			X	X
Fast access to specific, task-related information				X
Irrelevant information excluded				X
Allow for different levels of user knowledge		X		X
Allow for different learning styles		X
Integrate information, advice, and instruction	X

I think IPSS is a great thing.  It is probably not as widely used as it should be today because of the initial cost of implementation and possibly site licenses that might go along with this.  Many people in the workforce are also still “afraid” of technology which means that even if it is available, they won’t use it.  I do believe that it will become more prevalent in the future for numerous reasons and is slowly being implemented in small ways.  Even with small changes some employees are resistant.  I use gradebook in school and I love it, however, there are still some teachers that still record everything in a hard copy as well.  That’s a lot of extra work, which only makes the technology look like a burden instead of a help.  I do not make a hard copy of grades.  I am trusting that the technology works but I am much more comfortable with it than some. 

In the last few years some schools are beginning to use a system called DMAC (Data management for assessment and curriculum).  This is a software program that is a component of the Region VII Education Service Center and supplies Texas educators with the tools and services necessary to develop and improve the quality of education that is provided to students.  It was developed and is maintained by a team of software engineers and education content specialists.  They also provide support and training for the software for the users.  This softward helps track test scores and also has test bank questions that correspond to the TEKS that need to be learned for all students in Texas.  It is capable of transmitting data in so many different forms so that any information that helps an educator make their students successful is available.  Information is disseminated in a multitude of ways and it is saved and tracked internally for each student that is entered in the database.  It is mind-boggling how much information can be stored at this site and how easily it is available.  Not only that, it is automatically entered through scantrons so that the only thing that has to be manually entered is the key to the test.  Because of the way data can be achieved, it is an invaluable tool to not only individual classes but the school as a whole.  Having this type of data so easily available makes choosing the type of instruction needed for understanding very easy.  Objectives that the student is not meeting are easily seen so that they can be re-taught.  Objectives that the student understands are also evident.  This is certainly a good data = good decision making process.  The more knowledgeable we are about what our students know and don’t know, the better we can choose instruction that will suit the needs of our students.  

I’m supposed to describe some type of informal learning that happened to me in my adult life.  Informal learning is supposed to be a lifelong process in which we acquire attitudes, values, skills, and knowledge from daily experiences, our educational influences, and our environment.  This would include school, family, neighbors, friends, work, play, and any other thing that we have had experience with.  It is not something that is structured or specifically taught by schools and/or employers.  

 I guess all of these things have helped to shape our personalities and the people we have become. 

My biggest informal learning was the process of becoming a professional musician.  I was not taught how to sing, play a guitar, manage a band, find my way from one place and state to another, or get along with the other band members. I learned this over time and through my experiences.  My purpose for doing this was because I really enjoyed it and then it was to make a living.  It was an awesome experience that I will never forget.  It was more than engaging, highly social, and a very important part of my life that helped me become the person I am today.  I was the lead singer, rhythm guitar player, sound tech, and band manager.  I also learned how to produce an album, copywrite songs, design a record label, and own all the rights to these productions.   I had lots of informal instructors, all of which I value highly and many of whom were very patient with me.  There wasn’t one instructor but many as well as teaching myself things along the way.  I went from playing and singing guitar in the basement of my home to performing live in front of thousands of people, now that takes some learning!  The interactions that I had between friends, family, and people I met all over the country shaped my future, my personality, and my belief that you really can do more than you think you can.  I owe a debt of thanks to everyone who has touched my life and that I have learned something from. 

Evaluating, Implementing and Managing Instructional Programs and Projects

Response 3 - Evaluating, Implementing and Managing Instructional Programs and Projects

Instructional Design Models

I decided to present a Formative and Summative model for evaluation since both are important aspects of the typical evaluations used in education. 

Formative Model:

Flagg, Barbara N. 1990.  Formative evaluation for educational technologies, Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawerence Eribaum Associates, Publisher.  Retrieved February 11, 2011 from http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/evaluation.htm

In Flagg’s model she includes four steps to evaluation.  Her first step is needs assessment and is used to obtain the reason for the instructional program.  Data is gathered that reviews existing studies, tests, curricula, and the target audience.  The second phase is the Pre-production formative evaluation.  This is the planning phase where the target audience and teachers are used in the process of making design decisions about content, objectives, and formats.  The third stage is the production formative evaluation.  In this stage, the instructional program is revised after considering the feedback from tryouts of the instruction with the target group.  Subject matter specialists, designers, and other experts work together to improve versions of the instruction program when needed here.  The final stage of Flagg’s process is the implementation formative evaluation.  This stage is concerned with how well the instructional program operates with the target learners in the environment for which it was designed.  During this stage, field-testing is conducted and feed-back from these tests are used to assist in developing any support materials that might be needed. 

This type of process would be well used at the beginning of an instructional period to find out what would be the best materials to be used to teach certain objectives to a specific audience.  Evaluation is on-going during this design so that changes can be made to ensure the success of the students.  Most teachers do this as part of their instructional process especially when beginning a new unit. 

Summative Model:

Smith, P. and Ragan, T (1999).  Instructional design  (2^nd ed.).  New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  Retrieved February 11, 2011 from http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbbagh/Resources?IDKB/eval_techniques_summ.htm

The first step of Smith and Ragan’s model is to determine the goals of the evaluation.  An important part of this stage is determining questions that should be answered as a result of the evaluation.  The second step is to select indicators of success that will determine where to look for evidence of the impact of the instructional program.  The third step is to select the type of orientation for answering the questions that have been identified as what a learner would know after instruction.  The fourth step is to select the design of the evaluation.  This would include what type of data is being collected, when it will be collected, and under what conditions it is to be collected.  The issues that need to be considered here are internal validity, external validity, and control.  The fifth step is to design or select evaluation measures.  Multiple measures can be used to judge the effectiveness of the instructional program.  The sixth step is to collect the data after the evaluator selects or develops an appropriate measurement instrument.  The seventh step is to analyze the data to measure the success of the instructional program.  The final step is to report the results by giving a summary, background, description of evaluation, results, discussion, and conclusions and recommendations. 

Although this is a fairly detailed and time-consuming process, the steps involved are useful in traditional education models.  Again, as teachers we are usually going through this process in one way or another but having a guideline to work by would be beneficial to insure the success of the students through the learning process. 

Technical Innovation:

In my recent position, there has not been any new innovations, however, there were several at my last position so I will address those.  The school decided to provide every teacher with an interactive whiteboard in their classroom.  I was elated to say the least, but there were many who did not share my feelings.  I thought it would be a great advantage to have the capabilities in my classroom that this new feature would bring.  Not only would I have the ability to have students interact with the lesson directly, I could also walk around the room and observe from a different perspective because of the controls on the board.  I had not realized how complex many of the other teachers felt this new addition would be to their classrooms.  Most were simply afraid to experiment with it to use it to its full potential and instead used it mostly as a screen.  The whiteboards came, and although several teachers tried them, most of them remained as a simple screen hanging on the wall and used on an irregular basis.  Quite possibly, if the teachers had been involved in some training prior to the adoption of the boards, it would have eased their tension and allowed them to explore the concept of this technology in their classrooms.  For those teachers that did embrace this new system, well, we pretty much went crazy with it.  The students loved it, the teachers loved it, and of course we had some fun and interesting lessons using it.  I don’t believe I even reached the full potential of the board because of the regular duties of teaching and the time it takes to fully engage the board and new material in the classroom.  I have recently found out that there may be some interactive boards coming to my current school and I was very excited at the possibility of working with this technology again.     

Situational Leadership

The question posed to us is how would we use Situational Leadership to develop a series of professional development sessions that focused on technology use in the classroom for teachers. 

One of the first things that would need to be done would be to improve the communication between the teachers and those involved in the instruction to become a more credible leader.  The leader has to have energy, self-reliance, and drive in order to be successful at implementing professional development that will have meaning to the teachers.  There must be a collaborative work environment in order to achieve sustainable results and the leader must be effective in setting goals, providing clear direction, listening, observing, monitoring and giving feedback.  The leader must also employ the most talented individuals within the system to help with instruction during the sessions. 

A leader must be flexible and adaptable in order to manage diversity within the audience.  They must also understand that there are many learning styles and that no particular one of them is better than the other.  The leader must be able to make a commitment to the project, be able to build motivation, confidence and productivity within the system.  The leader must be able to diagnoses what type of instruction will be needed and how to best deliver it.  They must be flexible enough to alter the instruction when it is needed and find experts within the field of instruction to help facilitate learning.  By using others within the community of the school, others will understand that the goals for the instruction are obtainable and used within the system with success. 

The leader must understand how much guidance to give and when and how it is needed.  This means that the leader and other’s who may be instructors need to understand the subject matter being taught.

Since the leader probably will not know everything about the technology that will be presented within the professional development, they need to find people who are experts in that field to make presentations and training available that will achieve the greatest success for learning within the community. 

The leader also needs to understand what technology is available to the campus, who is or is not using it, and if it is available to everyone or just a few.  They also need to understand what the campus budget is in regards to what professional development needs to be explored.  It would not make any sense to have professional development on student responders if they were not available to the classroom.  If certain technology is only available on certain campuses, then planning must be initiated that will involve different instruction on different campuses. 

The task of heading professional development for educators is certainly not a small one.  Knowing that there is a system available to help guide the production of professional development was interesting to learn. 

On a side note, I really have been doing this all my life except not in the venue of technology.  As a dog trainer, I have had to figure out who my audience was, what their level of understanding of training was, what was the best way to get them to understand the objectives, and how to put everything into play to make the learning successful.  I also had to know who was “getting it” so that I could enlist them into helping those who hadn’t quite mastered the performance so that those learners could see that it was possible for someone other than the instructor to be successful.  Personality certainly plays an important part in how easy or difficult it is for new learners to be successful.  Different personalities of the instructor have to come into play at different times of the instruction so that learners can benefit the most from it.  For instance, being funny can sometimes relieve the stress of learning something totally foreign to someone.  If the teacher is not focused or an expert in their field, then they will not convey confidence in their instruction and the learner will not feel that the instructor is credible.  It takes many years to be a successful leader and instructor and although we can read all we want about it, the only way to really know how to do it, is to do it.  Through information, guidelines, and an understanding of what needs to be learned, the instructor will learn themselves what it takes to make their learners successful within that venue. 

Theories and Models of Learning and Instruction

Gagne’s and Construtivist Theories

Learning Goal:  Teaching 5^th grade students about simple adaptations.

I would first show the students a power point slide of a chameleon and ask them they knew what the organism was and where it lived.  I would also ask if any students have ever seen a live chameleon or have an animal that would be similar to the chameleon and why they are similar.  I would then inform them that they are going to be learning how to identify traits that help a particular species survive and reproduce in their habitat.   

Next I would explain to the students that there is an environment of chameleons under some butcher paper that I have already placed on their tables in their groups.  They will have 30 seconds to look at the environment, replace the paper cover and write in their journals what they saw.  After they are finished writing we will have a class discussion as to what the students saw regarding number and color.  I might also have the different grouping tables put their information on the board. 

(The chameleons will be pasted to newspaper print with several cut out from newspaper and several in different colors)

Students would then be able to look at the environment again to see and compare their answers with those of the class.  After they have had a second chance to look for several minutes, the actual numbers will be given to them. 

Students will then create their own camouflage chameleon to be placed in the classroom.  When students are finished creating their chameleon, they will all exit the classroom.  They will re-enter one by one to place their chameleons and return outside the classroom.  Students will then all re-enter the classroom and have a chance to search for other student’s camouflaged chameleons around the room.  A class discussion will occur about certain adaptive characteristics that made it easy or difficult to locate the camouflaged chameleons and why it would be important for an organism to posses these characteristics.  Students will then write in their journals what they have learned. 

I found this reference to Gagne’s nine events of instruction on the web at edutech wiki:

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Nine_events_of_instruction

The conditions of learning

Gagné's most essential ingredients of teaching are:

• presenting the knowledge or demonstrating the skill
• providing practice with feedback
• providing learner guidance

These elements have to be designed differently according to the type of learning level (learning goal) to be achieved. For Gagné, instructional design means to first identify the goal (a learning outcome) and then construct the learning hierarchy, i.e. do a task analysis of skills needed to perform a measurable activity that demonstrates a learning goal.

The nine events of instruction

Gagne's 9 general steps of instruction for learning are:

1. Gain attention:
• e.g. present a good problem, a new situation, use a multimedia advertisement, ask questions.
• This helps to ground the lesson, and to motivate
2. Describe the goal:
• e.g. state what students will be able to accomplish and how they will be able to use the knowledge, give a demonstration if appropriate.
• Allows students to frame information, i.e. treat it better.
3. Stimulate recall of prior knowledge
• e.g. remind the student of prior knowledge relevant to the current lesson (facts, rules, procedures or skills). Show how knowledge is connected, provide the student with a framework that helps learning and remembering. Tests can be included.
4. Present the material to be learned
• e.g. text, graphics, simulations, figures, pictures, sound, etc. Chunk information (avoid memory overload, recall information).
5. Provide guidance for learning
• e.g. presentation of content is different from instructions on how to learn. Use of different channel (e.g. side-boxes)
6. Elicit performance "practice"
• let the learner do something with the newly acquired behavior, practice skills or apply knowledge. At least use MCQ's.
7. Provide informative feedback ,
• show correctness of the trainee's response, analyze learner's behavior, maybe present a good (step-by-step) solution of the problem
8. Assess performance test, if the lesson has been learned. Also give sometimes general progress information
9. Enhance retention and transfer :
• e.g. inform the learner about similar problem situations, provide additional practice. Put the learner in a transfer situation. Maybe let the learner review the lesson.

Application of First Principles:

The lesson involves real world situations referring to the survival of an organism in its environment due to adaptations.  A way to change this to first lesson principles would be to begin by telling the students they are going to learn about how certain organisms are able to survive in their environments because of unique characteristics.  Problem solving could be applied by determining if these organisms could survive in a different ecosystem just as they are or would the organism need to change.  Recalling prior knowledge could be done in the same fashion as described above.  The demonstration phase of the lesson would be accomplished by showing students several different organisms in their different ecosystems and having the students come up with ideas on how that organism survives in that environment.  The application principle would be considered the same as when the students look at the environment the first time to see if they can spot the chameleons.  The watch me principle would be applied when students themselves have to find the organisms.  Another step could be added here to see if the students could create an organism that would live in an ecosystem of their choice.  They would have to create one and tell why and how it can live in the environment they choose. 

Whole-task, scaffolding, and mathemagenic model:

Students will work in small groups of 3 to 4.  Provide students with a computer-generated scenario of an ecosystem and the organisms that live in that ecosystem.  Present problems within the ecosystem that are data based within the computer.  Students must accomplish survival of the organisms within the ecosystem to maintain homeostasis and success in preserving the ecosystem.  Each group will have a different ecosystem to work on and will share ideas about might work across ecosystems as they solve some of the same problems presented in different ecosystems.  Problems presented will build on knowledge that the students show while solving problems.  Computer will generate the next sequence of problems dependent on responses from students. 

At the end of the lesson, going to school could also be tied into this model to show students that they need to have the proper tools in order to survive and be successful in school. 

K9 Narcotics Detection

Attention:

Perceptual Arousal – Show a photo of several thousand dollars confiscated from a productive K9 search. 

Inquiry Arousal – Ask the students to smell two different objects, one with a strong smell that would be easily identified and the other with a very weak odor.  Tell them that the K9 can detect small odors very successfully just like it was easy for them to identify the strong odor.  Make the comparison that the K9 can detect the small odor like the human can detect the well recognized and strong one.   

Variability – Do a blind-fold test to see if they can identify objects, show video clips of dogs detecting odors under water, show live demonstrations of dogs finding hidden target scents in different situations during the training.

Relevance

Goal Orientation – Know what level experience and training that handlers may have previously had.

Motive Matching – Students need to understand that if they do not properly conduct a search that they will be unsuccessful in identifying the target scent and possibly allow the infusion of a greater amount of narcotics in the community.

Familiarity – Use background knowledge of the handler to determine what instruction is necessary for a successful team.  Knowing if the handler has any type of  K9 training experience would determine how to incorporate lessons.  Also know if the K9 has had any prior training and match that to the ability of the handler.

Confidence

Learning Requirements – Make first efforts at detection easy for the dog and handler to understand and build from there. 

Success Opportunities – Allow the student to search for known hides before asking to search for un-known hides.  Make first un-known hides attainable to build confidence in trusting the K9. 

Personal Control – Handlers will know they are successful in handling and reading the K9 if they find the target scent.

Satisfaction

Intrinsic Reinforcement – Allow handlers that understand the process to help other handlers with problems they may be encountering.  Allow handlers to create their own hides to determine if other handlers are successful at finding the target scent.  They can discuss what was good and not so good about their choices.  

Extrinsic Rewards -  Build in more difficult tasks that the handlers can be successful at during training.  Do school and/or local searches that will help the community.

Equity – They will be self-reinforced doing this type of work.

The benefits to learning about design research is that it adds to the “teacher toolbox” with different strategies that can accomplish learning.  By investigating a myriad of possible incorporation's to learning and how they are accomplished, a teacher will have greater knowledge on problem-solving themselves within the classroom.  It also allows the instructor to understand why something works or doesn’t work in the field of education and how it might apply to their own classrooms.