REIGELUTH (1996) INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN THEORY

An instructional-design theory is a theory that offers explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop. The kinds of learning and development may include cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual. For example, in  Smart Schools,  Perkins describes an instructional-design theory, called 'Theory One," which offers the following guidance for what the instruction should include to foster cognitive learning. The instruction should provide:

• Clear information. 

Descriptions and examples of the goals, knowledge needed, and the 

performances expected. 

• Thoughtful practice.

 Opportunity for learners to engage actively and reflectively whatever is to be learned-adding numbers, solving word problems, writing essays. 

• Informative feedback. 

Clear, thorough counsel to learners about their performance, helping them to proceed more effectively. 

• Strong intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. 

Activities that are amply rewarded, either because they are very interesting and engaging in themselves or because they feed into other achievements that concern the learner (Perkins, 1992, p. 45). 

This is an instructional-design theory. Of course, Perkins elaborates on each of these guidelines in his book, but this overview provides a good example of what an instructional-design theory is like. So what are the major characteristics that all instructional-design? 

First, unlike more familiar kinds of theories, instructional-design theory is design-oriented (focusing on means to attain given goals for learning or development), rather than description oriented (focusing on the results of given events). In the case of Theory One, the goal is to enhance learning "for any performance we want to teach" (p. 45). Being design oriented makes a theory more directly useful to educators, because it provides direct guidance on how to achieve their goals. 

Second, instructional-design theory identifies methods of instruction (ways to support and facilitate learning) and the situations in which those methods should and should not be used. In the case of Theory One, the methods (at this general level of description) are: clear information, thoughtful practice, informative feedback, and strong motivators. Perkins goes on to say, "Good teaching demands different methods for different occasions" (p. 53), and he describes how Theory One can underlie each of Adler's (1982) three different ways of teaching: didactic instruction, coaching, and Socratic teaching. 

Third, in all instructional-design theories, the methods of instruction can be broken into more detailed component methods,  which provide more guidance to educators. In the case of Theory One, Perkins provides considerable information about components for each of the four basic methods. For example, within the didactic framework, Perkins describes some of the components for clear information, based on Leinhardt's (1989) research: 

• identification of goals for the students; 
• monitoring and signaling processes toward the goals; 
• giving abundant examples of the concepts treated; 
• demonstration; 
• linkage of new concepts to old ones through identification of familiar, expanded, and new 
elements; 
• legitimizing a new concept or procedure by means of principles the students already know, crosschecks among representations, and compelling logic (Perkins, 1992, pp. 53-54).

And fourth, the methods are  probabilistic rather than deterministic,  which means they increase the chances of attaining the goals rather than ensuring attainment of the goals. In the case of Theory One, "Giving abundant examples of the concepts treated" will not ensure that the goals for the students win be attained. But, it will increase the probability that they win be attained. 

So, instructional-design theories are design oriented, they describe methods of instruction and the situations in which those methods should be used, the methods can be broken into simpler component methods, and the methods are probabilistic. 

An important characteristic of instructional-design theories is that they are  design oriented (or goal oriented). This makes them very different from what most people usually think of as theories. Theories can be thought of as dealing with cause-and-effect relationships or with flows of events in natural processes, keeping in mind that those effects or events are almost always probabilistic (i.e., the cause increases the chances of the stated effect occurring) rather than deterministic (i.e., the cause always results in the stated effect). Most people think of theories as descriptive in nature, meaning that the theory describes the effects that occur when a given class of causal events occurs, or meaning that it describes the sequence in which certain events occur. For example, information-processing theory is descriptive. Among other things, it says that new information enters short-term memory before it enters long-term memory. It doesn’t tell you how to facilitate learning. Descriptive theories can be used for prediction (given a causal event, predict what effect it will have; or, given one event in a process, predict what event will likely occur next) or for explanation (given an effect that has occurred, explain what must have caused it or preceded it). 

[Source: Charles M. Reigeluth, Instructional Design Theory and Models; A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, Indiana University, 1996)

PERKINS & UNGER'S TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR UNDERSTANDING (TfU)

Teaching and Learning for Understanding (TfU) is suitable guide to organizing learning in any situation where understanding is a priority.
TfU provides the guidelines about what generative topics will best support learners' construction of their understanding, about how to identify and develop suitable goals of understanding, about how to arrange a sequence to refine and advance understanding performance, and about what evaluation mechanism should be used to support assessment of understanding.

The key elements in the design instruction for understanding:

1. Generative Topics:
   Topics should be presented to help to generate students' construction of the understanding. Four basic attributes serve criteria for generative topics:

• Central to a domain or discipline
• Accessible and interesting to students
• Interesting to the teacher
• Connectable: the topics should connect diverse themes within and beyond the disciplines; the topics should also connect to students' prior experience.

The topic selection emphasizes the relevance to the discipline as well as to the learners, the authenticity of the topics, and the complexity of the topics.

2. Understanding Goals: What is it that learners should strive to understand the generative topic? The descriptions of the goal should be explicit and public, the goals should be nested to include multiple themes, and the focus of the goals should cover the content knowledge, methods, purposes and forms of expression in the domain.
3. Understanding Performances: a sequence of performance should allow learners ready entry to the topic, advance their understanding and bring them to a contextually appropriate level of understanding. Learners should be provided with opportunities to explore and to manipulate the physical objects; then it comes to a phase, in which the learners should be exposed to a guided inquiry to systematically engage in understanding the topics; finally, the learners should carry out a culminating performance to demonstrate their understanding.

Also, the understanding performances should meet the following criteria:

• Relate directly to understanding the goals
• Develop and apply understanding through practice
• Engage multiple learning styles and forms of expressions
• Promote reflective engagement in challenging, approachable tasks
• Publicly demonstrate understanding: the principal performances need to be visible at least in their outcomes

4. Ongoing Assessment
   Ongoing assessment recognizes the importance of feedback in learning. Instead of end-unit assessment, TfU proposed that the teachers should develop ongoing assessment early and often in the learning process to give students informative feedback. Students are assessed on the sequential understanding performances instead of separate tests. Multiple sources of feedback are encouraged, e.g. peer evaluation. The planning of the ongoing assessment needs to consider who should give feedback and when as well as the sufficient time for feedback and follow-up rethinking.

Ongoing assessment should be part of the learning experience and meet the following standards:

• Criteria are relevant, explicit, and public
• Occur frequently
• Multiple sources
• Gauge progress and inform planning: the results of the assessment should provide revision and planning to address particular needs or emergent problems.

Perkins and Unger (1999) suggested to ask four major questions in planning:

1. What do you really want your students to understand?
2. What can you do to help them build those understandings?
3. What actions can they take to help themselves to build their own understandings?
4. How will we, and they, know that they understand?

[Source: Perkins, D. N., & Unger, C. (1999). Teaching and learning for understanding. In C. M. Reigeluth, (Ed), Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory, Volume II. pp,91-114. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates]

FACTORS OF SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

What makes a community of practice succeed depends on the purpose and objective of the community as well as the interests and resources of the members of that community.  There are 4 factors contributing to the successful community of practice. 

INDIVIDUALS OF COMMUNITY OF PACTICE

Members of communities of practice are thought to be more efficient and effective conduits of information and experiences. While organizations tend to provide manuals to meet the training needs of their employees, CoP's help foster the process of storytelling among colleagues which, in turn, helps them strengthen their skills on the job. (Seely Brown & Duguid 1991)

Studies have shown that workers spend a third of their time looking for information and are five times more likely to turn to a co-worker rather than an explicit source of information (book, manual, or database) (Davenport & Prusak 2000). Time is saved by conferring with members of a CoP. Members of the community have tacit knowledge, which can be difficult to store and retrieve outside. For example, one person can share the best way to handle a situation based on his experiences, which may enable the other person to avoid mistakes and shorten the learning curve. In a CoP, members can openly discuss and brainstorm about a project, which can lead to new capabilities. The type of information that is shared and learned in a CoP is boundless (Dalkir 2005). Duguid (2005) clarifies the difference between tacit knowledge, or knowing how, and explicit knowledge, or knowing what. Performing optimally in a job requires being able to convert theory into practice. Communities of practice help the individual bridge the gap between knowing what and knowing how. (Duguid 2005)

As members of communities of practice, individuals report increased communication with people (professionals, interested parties, hobbyists), less dependence on geographic proximity, and the generation of new knowledge. (Ardichvilli, Page & Wentling 2003)

SOCIAL PRESENCE

Communicating with others in a community of practice involves creating social presence. Tu (2002) defines social presence as "the degree of salience of another person in an interaction and the consequent salience of an interpersonal relationship" (p. 38). It is believed that social presence affects how likely an individual is of participating in a COP (especially in online environments). (Tu 2002) Management of a community of practice often faces many barriers that inhibit individuals from engaging in knowledge exchange. Some of the reasons for these barriers are egos and personal attacks, large overwhelming COP's, and time constraints (Wasko & Faraj 2000)

MOTIVATION

Motivation to share knowledge is critical to success in communities of practice. Studies show that members are motivated to become active participants in a CoP when they view knowledge as meant for the public good, a moral obligation and/or as a community interest (Ardichvilli, Page & Wentling 2003). Members of a community of practice can also be motivated to participate by using methods such as tangible returns (promotion, raises or bonuses), intangible returns (reputation, self-esteem) and community interest (exchange of practice related knowledge, interaction).

COLLABORATION

Collaboration is essential to ensuring that communities of practice thrive. Research has found that certain factors can indicate a higher level of collaboration in knowledge exchange in a business network (Sveiby & Simon 2002). Sveiby and Simons found that more seasoned colleagues tend to foster a more collaborative culture. Additionally they noted that a higher educational level also predicts a tendency to favor collaboration.

Wenger (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder 2002) identified seven actions that could be taken in order to cultivate communities of practice:

1. Design the community to evolve naturally - Because the nature of a Community of Practice is dynamic, in that the interests, goals, and members are subject to change, CoP forums should be designed to support shifts in focus.
2. Create opportunities for open dialog within and with outside perspectives - While the members and their knowledge are the CoP's most valuable resource, it is also beneficial to look outside of the CoP to understand the different possibilities for achieving their learning goals.
3. Welcome and allow different levels of participation - Wenger identifies 3 main levels of participation. 1) The core group who participate intensely in the community through discussions and projects. This group typically takes on leadership roles in guiding the group 2) The active group who attend and participate regularly, but not to the level of the leaders. 3) The peripheral group who, while they are passive participants in the community, still learn from their level of involvement. Wenger notes the third group typically represents the majority of the community.
4. Develop both public and private community spaces - While CoP's typically operate in public spaces where all members share, discuss and explore ideas, they should also offer private exchanges. Different members of the CoP could coordinate relationships among members and resources in an individualized approach based on specific needs.
5. Focus on the value of the community - CoP's should create opportunities for participants to explicitly discuss the value and productivity of their participation in the group.
6. Combine familiarity and excitement - CoP's should offer the expected learning opportunities as part of their structure, and opportunities for members to shape their learning experience together by brainstorming and examining the conventional and radical wisdom related to their topic.
7. Find and nurture a regular rhythm for the community - CoP's should coordinate a thriving cycle of activities and events that allow for the members to regularly meet, reflect, and evolve. The rhythm, or pace, should maintain an anticipated level of engagement to sustain the vibrancy of the community, yet not be so fast-paced that it becomes unwieldy and overwhelming in its intensity. 

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice]

INTRODUCTION OF COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

A community of practice (CoP) is, according to cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession. The group can evolve naturally because of the members' common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created specifically with the goal of gaining knowledge related to their field. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that the members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally (Lave & Wenger 1991). CoPs can exist online, such as within discussion boards and newsgroups, or in real life, such as in a lunch room at work, in a field setting, on a factory floor, or elsewhere in the environment.

Communities of practice are not new phenomena: this type of learning practice has existed for as long as people have been learning and sharing their experiences through storytelling. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger coined the phrase in their 1991 book, 'Situated learning' (Lave & Wenger 1991), and Wenger then significantly expanded on the concept in his 1998 book, 'Communities of Practice' (Wenger 1998).

Wenger abandoned the concept of legitimate peripheral participation and used the idea of an inherent tension in a duality instead. He identifies four dualities that exist in communities of practice, participation-reification, designed-emergent, identification-negotiability and local-global, although the participation-reification duality has been the focus of particular interest because of its links to knowledge management.

He describes the structure of a CoP as consisting of three interrelated terms: 'mutual engagement', 'joint enterprise' and 'shared repertoire' (Wenger 1998, pp. 72–73).

• Mutual Engagement: Firstly, through participation in the community, members establish norms and build collaborative relationships; this is termed mutual engagement. These relationships are the ties that bind the members of the community together as a social entity.
• Joint Enterprise: Secondly, through their interactions, they create a shared understanding of what binds them together; this is termed the joint enterprise. The joint enterprise is (re)negotiated by its members and is sometimes referred to as the 'domain' of the community.
• Shared Repertoire: Finally, as part of its practice, the community produces a set of communal resources, which is termed their shared repertoire; this is used in the pursuit of their joint enterprise and can include both literal and symbolic meanings.

For Etienne Wenger, learning is central to human identity. A primary focus of Wenger’s more recent work is on learning as social participation – the individual as an active participant in the practices of social communities, and in the construction of his/her identity through these communities (Wenger et. al 2002). In this context, a community of practice is a group of individuals participating in communal activity, and experiencing/continuously creating their shared identity through engaging in and contributing to the practices of their communities.

The structural characteristics of a community of practice are again redefined to a domain of knowledge, a notion of community and a practice (Wenger et. al & 2002 pp 27 - 29).

• Domain

A domain of knowledge creates common ground, inspires members to participate, guides their learning and gives meaning to their actions.

• Community

The notion of a community creates the social fabric for that learning. A strong community fosters interactions and encourages a willingness to share ideas.

• Practice

While the domain provides the general area of interest for the community, the practice is the specific focus around which the community develops, shares and maintains its core of knowledge.

In many organizations, communities of practice have become an integral part of the organization structure (McDermott & Archibald 2010). These communities take on knowledge stewarding tasks that were formerly covered by more formal organizational structures. In some organizations there are both formal and informal communities of practice. There is a great deal of interest within organizations to encourage, support, and sponsor communities of practice in order to benefit from shared knowledge that may lead to higher productivity (Wenger 2004). Communities of practice are now viewed by many in the business setting as a means to capturing the tacit knowledge, or the know-how that is not so easily articulated.

An important aspect and function of communities of practice is increasing organization performance. Lesser & Storck (2001, p. 836) identify four areas of organizational performance that can be affected by communities of practice:

• Decreasing the learning curve of new employees
• Responding more rapidly to customer needs and inquiries
• Reducing rework and preventing "reinvention of the wheel"
• Spawning new ideas for products and services

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice]

TEACHING METHOD OF COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP

Collins, Brown, and Newman developed six teaching methods rooted in cognitive apprenticeship theory and claim these methods help students attain cognitive and metacognitive strategies for "using, managing, and discovering knowledge". The first three (modeling, coaching, scaffolding) are at the core of cognitive apprenticeship and help with cognitive and metacognitive development. The next two (articulation and reflection) are designed to help novices with awareness of problem-solving strategies and execution similar to that of an expert. The final step (exploration) intends to guide the novice towards independence and the ability to solve and identify problems within the domain on their own. The authors note, however, that this is not an exhaustive list of methods and that the successful execution of these methods is highly dependent on the domain.

Modelling

Modelling is when an expert, usually a teacher, within the cognitive domain or subject area demonstrates a task explicitly so that novices, usually a student, can experience and build a conceptual model of the task at hand. For example, a math teacher might write out explicit steps and work through a problem aloud, demonstrating her heuristics and procedural knowledge. Modeling can include modeling of expert performance or processes in the world.Coaching

Coaching involves observing novice task performance and offering feedback and hints to sculpt the novice's performance to that of an expert's. The expert oversees the novice's tasks and may structure the task accordingly to assist in the novice's development.Scaffolding

Instructional scaffolding is the act of putting into place strategies and methods to support the student's learning. These supports can be teaching manipulatives, activities, and group work. The teacher may have to execute parts of the task that the student is not yet able to do. This requires the teacher to have the skill to analyze and assess student abilities in the moment.Articulation

Articulation includes "any method of getting students to articulate their knowledge, reasoning, or problem-solving process in a domain" (p. 482). Three types of articulation are inquiry teaching, thinking aloud, and critical student role. Through inquiry teaching (Collins & Stevens, 1982), teachers ask students a series of questions that allows them to refine and restate their learned knowledge and to form explicit conceptual models. Thinking aloud requires students to articulate their thoughts while solving problems. Students assuming a critical role monitor others in cooperative activities and draw conclusions based on the problem-solving activities. Articulation is described by McLellan as consisting of two aspects: separating component knowledge and skills to learn them more effectively and, more common verbalizing or demonstrating knowledge and thinking processes in order to expose and clarify them.Reflection

Reflection allows students to "compare their own problem-solving processes with those of an expert, another student, and ultimately, an internal cognitive model of expertise" (p. 483). A technique for reflection could be to examine the past performances of both expert and novice and to highlight similarities and differences. The goal of reflection is for students to look back and analyze their performances with a desire for understanding and improvement towards the behavior of an expert.Exploration

Exploration involves giving students room to problem solve on their own and teaching students exploration strategies. The former requires the teacher to slowly withdraw the use of supports and scaffolds not only in problem solving methods, but problem setting methods as well. The latter requires the teacher to show students how to explore, research, and develop hypotheses. Exploration allows the student to frame interesting problems within the domain for themselves and then take the initiative to solve these problems.

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_apprenticeship]

INTRODUCTION OF COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP

Cognitive apprenticeship is a theory of the process where a master of a skill teaches that skill to an apprentice.

Constructivist approaches to human learning have led to the development of a theory of cognitive apprenticeship. This theory holds that masters of a skill often fail to take into account the implicit processes involved in carrying out complex skills when they are teaching novices. To combat these tendencies, cognitive apprenticeships “…are designed, among other things, to bring these tacit processes into the open, where students can observe, enact, and practice them with help from the teacher…”.This model is supported by Albert Bandura's (1997) theory of modeling, which posits that in order for modeling to be successful, the learner must be attentive, must have access to and retain the information presented, must be motivated to learn, and must be able to accurately reproduce the desired skill.

Part of the effectiveness of the cognitive apprenticeship model comes from learning in context and is based on theories of situated cognition. Cognitive scientists maintain that the context in which learning takes place is critical (Godden & Baddeley, 1975). Based on findings such as these, Collins, Duguid, and Brown (1989) argue that cognitive apprenticeships are less effective when skills and concepts are taught independent of their real-world context and situation. As they state, “Situations might be said to co-produce knowledge through activity. Learning and cognition, it is now possible to argue, are fundamentally situated”. In cognitive apprenticeships, the activity being taught is modeled in real-world situations.

By using processes such as modelling and coaching, cognitive apprenticeships also support the three stages of skill acquisition described in the expertise literature: the cognitive stage, the associative stage, and the autonomous stage. In the cognitive stage, learners develop declarative understanding of the skill. In the associative stage, mistakes and misinterpretations learned in the cognitive stage are detected and eliminated while associations between the critical elements involved in the skill are strengthened. Finally, in the autonomous stage, the learner’s skill becomes honed and perfected until it is executed at an expert level.

Like traditional apprenticeships, in which the apprentice learns a trade such as tailoring or woodworking by working under a master teacher, cognitive apprenticeships allow the master to model behaviors in a real-world context with cognitive modeling. By listening to the master explain exactly what she is doing and thinking as she models the skill, the apprentice can identify relevant behaviors and develop a conceptual model of the processes involved. The apprentice then attempts to imitate those behaviors with the master observing and providing coaching. Coaching provides assistance at the most critical level – the skill level just beyond what the learner/apprentice could accomplish by herself. Vygotsky (1978) referred to this as the Zone of Proximal Development and believed that fostering development within this zone leads to the most rapid development. The coaching process includes additional modeling as necessary, corrective feedback, and reminders, all intended to bring the apprentice’s performance closer to that of the master’s. As the apprentice becomes more skilled through the repetition of this process, the feedback and instruction provided by the master “fades” until the apprentice is, ideally, performing the skill at a close approximation of the master level.

[This entry is an excerpt from R. Shawn Edmondson's doctoral dissertation, entitled Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Telepresence-Enabled Cognitive Apprenticeship Model of Teacher Professional Development (2006)]

MY HOBBY

Everyone got their own hobby and  it is more than one. Just like me, I like reading and browsing internet when I am free. To make me get connected to internet easily at anytime and anywhere, I just bought Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. I am very satisfy with it since it is very user friendly and it replaces my note book, diary, laptop because it can provide all of them, even more! It is very convenient for me to download all the journals and articles for my writing and I can read it at anytime without bring any book and paper, just my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. I highly recommended this gadget for university students like me!

Other than that, I also like marathon. I just started this hobby since last year and I had participate a few events of marathon at Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya. Instead of make me more healthy, I also can mix with sport people and gain the knowledges and skills about the right running outfits and shoes, and how to maintain my fitness and energy for far distance running. 

Putrajaya Night Marathon 2011

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011

Energizer Night Race 2012, F1 Circuit, Sepang

Adidas King Of The Road 2012, Sunway Pyramid

Putrajaya Night Marathon 2012

The next event is the Penang Bridge International Marathon on December 2012 and this the last time that the event will be held at first Penang Bridge as it will be held at second Penang Bridge starting next year. Hope to see you guys there!