Instructional Design Principles and Technology

Introduction

Gagne, Wager, Golas, and Kellier (2005) asserted that curriculum developers should apply contiguity, repetition, reinforcement, and social-cultural principles of learning to instructional design.  Educational technology does support this process in an effort to make instruction and learning effective.  Regardless of the technological resource, each one can play a significant role in learning and the learning process.  Three innovative, interactive technologies were researched and explored to see how technology can support education in any classroom, but in this case a science classroom.

Instructional Technology 1: Wallwisher

          Wallwisher is an online sticky board where students can generate and share ideas in the form of text, audio, video, and graphics (see demo). Students can post comments with links to support their contributions to the classroom virtual discussion. Educators can use Wallwisher for classroom announcements; brainstorming activities, summarization, and anything else that they would like it to do to support instruction.





Instructional Technology 2: Google Docs

          GoogleDocs is a site that facilitates the sharing of documents for collaboration.  Student and teachers can edit, comment, and publish final drafts for public view.  Google Docs stores documents that are uploaded or created onto the main site.  Additional features include spreadsheets, calendars, and creating forms.  The form feature provides teachers with the ability to create assessments and then analyze the data to make sound decisions about future instruction. 



Instructional Technology 3: Livebinders

          When an educator or student needs a place to store documents and websites, Livebinders provides the venue to do it.  Livebinders is a website that allows students and educators to make a virtual 3-ringed binder to organize and store a variety of information, including video, audio, and graphics.  Binders that are made private can be equipped with an access key for those allowed to view the binder. 

Using These Tools to Make a Lesson

An introduction lesson on science was created to demonstrate how each technological resource could be integrated into a science classroom—of course, any content area will work—without taking away from the purpose of the lesson.  The following chart describes the conceptual, theoretical, or research framework associated with each resource.

	Wallwisher	Google Docs	Livebinders
Conceptual, Theoretical, or Research Framework	Brainstorming: It supports finding strategies for scaffolding for new information (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 71). Knowledge-Sharing: Students are likely to retain information in collaborative groups (Ormrod, 2008). Constructivism: The theory adopts a student-centered authority approach to subject matter (Johnson, Dupuis, Gollnick, Hall, & Musial, 2008, p. 327).	Social Learning: Kozma (1994) references illustrations of media that merge constructivist and social learning theories when identifying computer-based learning environments and using technology to help solve problems. Collaboration: Metacognition plays a great role in collaboration (Martinez, 2010). Communication: The key to a successful student is frequently based on how well he or she communicates with his or her teacher (Moller, 2009) and peers. Knowledge-Sharing: This is possible with existing technologies because learners can store, process, and apply knowledge via technological resources (Neches, Fikes, Finin, Gruber, Patil, Senator, & Swartout, 1991). Data Collection: allows teachers to create surveys to gather student information and create meaningful learning targets (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 25)	Digital Information Literacy: “Students will be expected to apply the basics in authentic, integrated ways to solve problems, complete projects, and creatively extend their abilities” (ISTE, 2011).

References

Gagne, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C., & Kellier, J. M. (2005). Principles of instructional design. Belmont, CA: Thompson.

ISTE. (2007). The ISTE NETS and performance indicators for students (NETS.S).

Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Student_2007_EN.sflb.ashx

Johnson, J. A., Dupuis, V. L., Gollnick, D. M., Hall, G. E., & Musial, D. (2008). Foundations of American education: Perspectives on education in a changing world (14th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.

Kozma, R. (1994). "Will media influence learning: Reframing the debate." Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19.

Martinez, M. E. (2010). Learning and cognition: The design of the mind. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.


Moller, M. T. (2009). Technology integration and student communication. Retrieved June 12, 2011, from http://www.educator2educator.com/index.php/site/topic/technology_integration_and_student_communication


Niches, R., Fikes, R., Finin, T., Gruber, T., Patil, R., Senator, T., & Swartout, W. R. (1991). Enabling technology for knowledge sharing. Retrieved, June 8, 2011, from, http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=enabling+technology+for+knowledge+sharing&aq=f&aqi=g1g-v2&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=55a60aabf7224a16&biw=1280&bih=595

Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Human learning (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Denver, CO: McREL.