Mark Rash | markrash@vt.edu | August 29, 2009
1-1. Analyze an instructional situation (either real or hypothetical) and identify the features of the instructional process. Give background as to the nature of the instruction (goal and purpose) in addition to describing the six features addressed in your text. Your descriptions should be detailed enough that someone could reconstruct the situation.
I recently participated in an instructional situation at the multinational company for which I am employed. This was a three-day workshop that covered the fundamentals of effective business writing. While there were a number of performance objectives covered within the individual modules that made up the training event, the overarching goal of the program was to guide the participants to learn to write effective business communications in a manner that allows the reader to quickly find exactly what she/he needs to know and/or do as a result of the communication. The purpose of the instructional situation was to
This particular instructional situation seemed to follow a constructivist approach to learning, in which the learner is engaged to construct interpretations of reality by checking new information against old (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2008, p.11). While the session certainly consisted of a great deal of lecture content, there were a number of both individual and group activities in which the participants were engaged. Some of the individual activities were used to learn about software tools that would make application of the concepts easy. The group activities focused on how information can be better organized to enhance the experience for the intended audience. Some activities involved questions that sparked group discussion of key concepts and ideas.
There were a number of practice scenarios placed strategically throughout the session. After a key concept was taught either through lecturing or a group activity, a directly related task was assigned for the individual participants to complete on their own. This provided the learners with an opportunity to practice applying the concept that was just covered, as well as reinforce concepts that were covered previously in the course or that related to experiences the participants may have had prior to the instructional situation.
During all individual and group activities, the instructor made himself available to the entire class by walking around and observing the learners. If a participant or small group needed clarification or assistance, he worked with them individually. While the objectives were certainly the same for every learner, this allowed him to spend a bit more time with any individual or group that needed remediation or other help. Interestingly, the final individual project, which made practical application of nearly all of the key concepts taught throughout the event, required each learner to rewrite a 2-3 page business document of his/her choosing. Because the participants were from various parts of the organization, with very different roles, this allowed them to select communications that interested them and directly related to their world. The instructor again made himself available to anyone needing assistance and he intentionally spent a few moments with every individual in the class, customizing his critique and support for the needs of each participant.
For the small, individual tasks scatterred throughout the instructional situation, feedback was indirectly provided to each learner when the instructor asked the class for a volunteer to answer the question or demonstrate the task at hand. Small group activities ended with a brief presentation from each group and feedback was provided afterwards, often resulting in a class discussion. Feedback for the final individual project was customized for each individual and success was required before allowing the participants to "graduate" from the session and receive the software tools necessary to apply the newly acquired skills and concepts on the job.
The session began by having the participants review a hardcopy sample of a traditional business communication consisting of several pages of information scatterred among paragraph prose. The instructor then asked the learners to search the document for answers to a couple of questions that were answered inside the communication. The goal of this activity was not so much providing the answer to the questions, because the information wasn't applicable to the session. The point was more about the time the participants took to find the information. A discussion was then inspired on how every participant has encountered similar situations in which time was wasted trying to locate important information within a communication, or situations in which a communication or document an individual may have created did not portray the message or provide the information the writer may have intended. This built a strong case for the need to change the way the participants think about and approach business communications and made the entire session relevant because it was applicable in the learners' everyday lives at work.
The instructor was effective because of his knowledge of the subject matter, expertise in the software tools, and apparent commitment to the success of every learner. This made the social interactions between the participants and the facilitator very supportive, positive, and meaningful. The course also included a number of instructional activities that involved small groups and required interactions among them. This allowed the participants to not only learn from one another, but also to build metacognitive skills by becoming aware of their own thinking and learning (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2008, p.11). Because of the various departments and roles represented by the participants, the social interactions capitalized on the diversity of the group and made the instructional situation a meaningful experience.
References
Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., & Russell, J. D. (2008). In D. A. Stollenwerk (Ed.), Instructional technology and media for learning (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.