Instructional Design/Constructivism/Project Description

Wikiversity Project | Designing a Constructivist Learning Experience Project Proposal Prepared by Peter C. Honebein, 2/10/08

ADDIE Level: Design

Need: Designers of instructor-led training courses rely on too heavily on topic-based instructional strategies that rely primarily on a “data dump” of content to ensure learners have been exposed to virtually everything known about a topic. The learner leaves these experiences with knowledge in their heads, but little ability to apply what they have learned. Experts such as Neil Rackham and Sivasailam Thiagarajan argue that content-dump training is a waste of time, since it is not possible for learners to remember a vast portion of what they are taught.

The movement toward performance-based instruction puts enhanced emphasis on enabling people to perform key tasks well, while sacrificing a wide breadth of knowledge. Medical schools such as McMaster’s University in Canada have experimented with problem-based learning. Corporations such as Learning Tree International have integrated a blend of problem-based learning and goal-based scenarios into their lines of training products. These kinds of learning experiences, while more resource-intensive to develop, have shown marked improvement in terms of learner performance and learner satisfaction.

Learning Goal: People who are designing an instructor-led training course will be able to align the learning experience with constructivist principles, practices, and strategies.

Project: Develop an hour-long instructional module that contributes to achieving the module goal. This module shall consist of at least three self-paced lessons. The key deliverables and deadlines are:

Deliverable	Description	Deadline

February 27 Design document	Document that describes the audience, context, learning goal, learning objectives, and learning experience. Also includes the roles and responsibilities of the team members and other parties, and a task-based development schedule.

March 25 Beta Version	Content complete module that includes all lessons, interfaces, and activities. Ready for formative evaluation.

April 16 Final Version	Content complete module that has undergone formative evaluation with at least three members of the target audience.

Team Budget: 125 hours