5.1 Introduction
It’s time to close the circle, and say something about the last two activities in the course design activities cycle: the installation of the course or lesson in the learner’s programme, and the end evaluation of the design. This latter event is the moment of truth. Its result will tell you how successful you have […]
5.2 Installation
5.1. Installation Once a course or lesson has been tested and revised, it is ready for installation (activity 5, Fig. 1) in the system to which it belongs. This system could be a curriculum in a distance learning system such as in correspondence or radio or television network learning. It could be the programme of […]
4.4 Case study no. 5: Riding out the storm
Case study no. Riding out the storm In this case study we return to the Botany students and their encounter with the use of the scientific method of enquiry into the phenomenon of apical dominance in plants. The results, you will remember, were not all that we hoped for in this think-band-do-for-yourself type of experiment. […]
3.1 Introduction
3.1 Introduction ‘What is the difference between the mental gymnastics of thinking up a design and the mental gymnastics of working out a design?’The question took me by surprise. It came from a teacher on the second day of a Think Tank workshop in Friedberg, West Germany. It took me by surprise because, until then, […]
3.2 What does setting up the S-R events involve?
3.2 What does setting up the S-R events involve? An S-R event is an educational happening. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. It occupies a relatively short or relatively long time-slot in the course or lesson to which it belongs. It has its own identity. If necessary, you can, for example, temporarily […]
3.3 What choice is there for sequencing the S-R events?
3.3 What choice is there for sequencing the S-R events? ‘Chain’, ‘necklace’, ‘spiral’, ‘network’, ‘hybrid’ — these are the titles we use in the Think Tank workshop for the different methods of sequencing S-R events that a thought-up design can demand. A thought-up design has a ‘route map’ in it; it will tell you the […]
3.4 What does ‘controlling the quality of an S-R event’ involve?
3.4 What does ‘controlling the quality of an S-R event’ involve? This activity in working out a design is something that happens intuitively and automatically when you have some experience in working out designs. This is because, as you come to work out a thought-up design, the criteria for a good design which helped you […]
3.5 Case study no. 3: Pictures in your mind
Case study no. 3: Pictures in your mind From our own experience in learning situations, we know how special and important it can be to imagine something. Why then don’t we (as designers and teachers) give more attention to the use of the student’s imagination in a teaching-learning situation? Imagination can be a very powerful […]
3.6 Case study no. 4: Giving students the chance to think for themselves
3.6 Case study no. 4: Giving students the chance to think for themselves As a designer of courses and lessons you will always be in demand if you have success in creating response environments for learning in which students are given the responsibility and the chance to think for themselves. This was the case a […]
1.5 Is there a special language of design?
1.5 Is there a special language of design The answer to this, for design decision-making at the micro level, is ‘yes’. The language you choose (out of the several possibilities) depends on who brought you up as a designer, and upon your own experience. I was brought up as a designer to value and use […]