Promoting the Art of Learning

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists” – Eric Hoffer, an American social writer
I believe it is the responsibility of educators and parents to promote the art of learning, instilling in our students the voracious desire to be life long learners.  A variety of instructional design models have been developed to help teachers present lessons in a manner that will promote exploration, discovery, and application.  Two such models are the ADDIE and Gagne. 
The ADDIE is a five-part model http://www.learning-theories.com/addie-model.html
Analysis – the designer identifies the learning problem, the goals and objectives, the students’ needs, existing knowledge, and any other relevant characteristics. Analysis also considers the learning environment, any constraints, the delivery options, and the timeline for the project.
Design – the process of specifying learning objectives.  Storyboards (What, Who, How, Where, When) and prototypes are made and the look, feel, graphic design, user interface and content are determined.
Development – creation of the content and learning materials based on the design phase.
Implementation – plan is put into action.  A procedure for training the learner and teacher is developed. Materials are distributed.  After delivery, the effectiveness of the training materials is evaluated.
Evaluation – consists of formative and summative evaluations. Formative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program while the program activities are forming or happening. Formative evaluation focuses on the process.  Formative evaluation occurs in each stage of the ADDIE process.  Summative evaluation consists of tests designed for criterion-related referenced items and providing opportunities for feedback from the teachers and students.
Gagne’s model consists of nine events of instruction
http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art3_3.htm

1. Gain attention – stimuli activates receptors
2. Inform learners of objectives – creates level of expectation for learning
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning – retrieval and activation of short-term memory
4. Present the content – selective perception of content
5. Provide learning guidance – semantic encoding for storage long-term memory
6. Elicit performance – answer questions to enhance encoding and verification
7. Provide feedback – reinforcement and assessment of correct performance
8. Assess performance – retrieval and reinforcement of content as final evaluation
9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job – retrieval and generalization of learned skill to new situation
Both models promote exploration and creative thinking.  Both are centered on solving problems.  A weakness of the ADDIE is it appears that evaluation does not have any criteria for the validity of the final project. It focuses on the subjective worth of a program and the process.  It does not evaluate the validity of the solution. 
The Gagne model appears to provide three things that are very important in education and lacking in the ADDIE model.  One is the emphasis of gaining basic knowledge that is needed to complete the process and the valid interpretation of that knowledge.  The second is that it appears to provide more guidance to the student to ensure that the student will end up with a more valid result (step 5 in the model).  Third, the final criteria of enhance retention and transfer to the job ensures that there is a practical reality to the assignment (step 9). 
To begin the design phase for a lesson for our work experience program, I must keep in mind the students who are enrolled in work experience.  The work experience program is offered to high school students in grades 11 and 12.  The students must have a job in order to participate in the program.  They can be released from school 4th period to go to their job or they can add a 5th period to their schedule by going to work after school.  To earn 1 credit per semester the students must work 180 hours, turn in time sheets and complete six assignments. 
We have two types of students in work experience.  A few are highly motivated and are working to have money for a car, college, or help with family expenses.  Most of our work experience students are high risk for dropping out of school.  Their skills are low and they struggle in a regular academic setting.  They need money for a car and family expenses.  Sometimes they have a baby to support.
The students are employed, so they were successful in finding a job.  Often they are street-wise.  Our school is located in a rural community.  With the current economy, jobs are very difficult to find and keep.  The major industry is tourism.  Many of our students work in restaurants or resorts. 
Work experience does not meet as a class.  The work experience coordinators (the counselors and librarian) distribute a packet of lessons to the students who then complete and turn in the lessons throughout the semester.  Currently there is no opportunity for instruction.  I would like to use technology to offer instruction, but several of our students do not own computers.  So I will have to ensure that the students have access to a computer at school.