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Slides from the 2000 CSUN Conference Presentation
SUMMARY
A web-based course on developing
process-oriented
instruction has been created to support teachers of students with learning
disabilities. The course focuses on raising self-awareness.
What is Process-Oriented Instruction?
The goal of process-oriented instruction is to teach students about themselves
as learners, and raise their awareness of their abilities and learning
preferences. Process-oriented instruction involves a teacher modeling and
thinking aloud as a way of uncovering for the learner, the cognitive and
metacognitive processes underlying learning. Process-oriented instruction
may be described as "Applied Cognitive Psychology" (Wong, 1992). Vermunt
(1995) defines process-oriented instruction as "... teaching thinking strategies
and domain-specific knowledge in coherence", aimed at "promoting the development
of meaning-directed and application-directed learning styles." Students
who possess these learning styles use deep processing and self-regulated
learning strategies, and to them, learning is seen as a personal construction
of knowledge. These students are motivated learners who seek out learning
opportunities.
Process aware learners learn to recognize and analyze patterns, and
ask themselves questions: "Is this problem like another I've experienced?",
"Why do I have trouble with this type of problem?", "How is my excitement
(or anxiety) affecting how I learn?", "What did I just do?"..., each of
which are conscious metacognitive statements. These questions become a
regular part of thinking that develop into a skill, and with practice,
become a regular part of a person's personality. Life-long learners, a
popular term in the realms of education, possess the skills and knowledge
that develop out of process-oriented instruction.
One of the keys to developing increased knowledge of thinking processes
is to develop models of thinking. Models help an expert learner put into
words (or pictures) "tacit" knowledge that is often difficult to verbalize.
Models also help the novice learner make sense of a vast number of interactions
between perceptual abilities, learning preferences, memory capacities,
and the accumulated knowledge of facts and procedures that govern how learning
occurs. By developing models of thinking, highly automated processes become
declarative knowledge, and the accumulation of this knowledge forms a content
area of it's own. This content knowledge differs from other content area
knowledge however. It can be compared to language, which is a "meta" system
of symbols we use to describe other systems of symbols that we use to represent
meaning (see a discussion of semiotics and sign systems). Metacognition
is another such "meta" system, used to regulate thinking, the development
of which is a primary focus of process-oriented instruction.
Metacognition and Learning Disabilities
Learning disabilities have been described by many as the ineffective use
of strategies. Children with learning disabilities are not necessarily
deficient in the quantity of learning strategies they possess, but rather,
apply them in inappropriate or ineffective ways, having less control over
certain aspects of their thinking.
Several characteristic profiles come to mind: disorganized, lacking
social skills, the class clown, each stemming from the inappropriate or
ineffective use of strategies.
Children with learning disabilities tend not to transfer strategy knowledge
across domains; skills they learn in one situation are not likely to be
applied in a similar situation in another content area. Research repeatedly
shows that strategy transfer has been difficult to achieve in children
with learning disabilities. For these children, a primary reason for this
lack of transfer is insufficient general knowledge about learning, knowledge
about one's self as a learner, and knowledge about task demands. Metacognitive
learners, on the other hand, are able to tap into a content area consisting
of models, strategies, and regulatory skills that can be generalized to
new learning experiences. A goal for educators of children with learning
disabilities should be to turn these often disorganized, unmotivated, though
often very bright children, into metacognitive learners.
Learning to Learn: Thinking and Learning Skills
To this end, Learning to Learn: Thinking and Learning Skills (Gay, 1999)
has been developed to teach self-awareness, metacognitive knowledge, and
knowledge of individual differences to teachers of children with learning
disabilities. The free10 week Web-based course adopts a "model and think-aloud"
approach. It puts the teacher in the place of the student, teaching them
about the cognitive and metacognitive processes underlying learning by
sharing their learning experiences and building "applied cognitive knowledge".
The entire course revolves around building a profile of ones abilities
and preferences, developing a personalized model of learning. With this
knowledge and skill, these educators are better able to teach these skills
to their students - with or without a learning disability.
Adaptive Learning Environments
The framework of the course includes seven navigation systems that add
adaptive structure to the course. Learners who prefer guided learning can
add structure to the content by proceeding through it in sequence, while
those who prefer global learning can add structure only where difficult
material is encountered.
The first navigation system consists of graphical button bars at the
top and bottom of each page, providing instant access to the nine major
sections of the course site. The section of the site currently accessed
is high-lighted by the corresponding graphical button turning green. The
second navigation system is identical to the first except that its presentation
is in a text format and it appears only at the bottom of each page. The
third system adds a linear structure to the content, allowing learners
to proceed through the course sequentially from beginning to end using
next and previous buttons. The forth system consists of a visually presented
hierarchy of ones position in the course content, using customary open
and closed folder and page icons found in most PC-based applications, which
are presented on every page. The fifth system consists of hypertext links
from within the content itself, providing direct links to related topics
in other areas of the course. The sixth system consists of colour coded
headings used consistently throughout the course indicating one's depth
in the material, location among the major sections of the site, and also
providing direct links back to the upper most pages in any given section
of the course. The final navigation system consists of a hierarchical site-map
that presents the course with numerical, textual, and visual structure.
Headings are integrated into the site-map, maintaining a visual presentation
of the hierarchy of ideas.
Learning to Learn also includes a set of "thinking type" icons, used
judiciously throughout the course to trigger particular types of thought.
These icons initiate thinking that might not emerge spontaneously in learners
with a learning disability. The icons include brightly coloured question
marks, check marks, and X's to indicate things learners should question,
things they should adopt, and things they should avoid. Other icons include
an open book, a pen and paper, and a scissors glue and paper icon to indicate
a reading exercise, a writing exercise, and a project suggestion, respectively.
Learning to Learn is also offered as a model of accessible Web-based
instruction, designed to provide content that is adaptive to a person with
a learning disability, accessible to a person with a visual impairment,
and both visually pleasing and interesting to a sighted person or "typical
learner."
Learning Modules
Each of the course modules contains five major components:
-
A Targets page which contains links to each of the major pages within
a module, forming a global outline of the week's topic
-
Course Notes which provide more detailed coverage of the topic
-
Hands On Activities which allow learners to consciously experience
themselves learning
-
An Online Discussion in which learners share their experience with
the activities
-
Web-based Resources which provide a diverse collection of information
useful for developing one's learning skills and developing process-oriented
instruction.
An optional course project is also available, providing hands on experience
developing Web-based process-oriented instruction, while reinforcing
participants
understanding of content covered in the course.
In addition to an introductory orientation week at the beginning, in
which participants learn how to use the course site, 10 general areas of
learning are covered. These areas include, in order: consciousness,
metacognition,
learning styles, memory, language, reading, writing, problem solving,
creativity,
and the biology of learning.
A typical module starts with a "Targets" page that outlines the topic,
providing hypertext links to the various course notes and activities from
within the context of the outline, and suggests goals and discussion topics.
Participants are instructed to read the course notes as an introduction,
try the activities to develop an awareness of particular learning processes,
and visit the Web resources to broaden their understanding of the topic.
Finally they report back to the discussion forum the experiences they had
with the exercises and the resources they found while searching the Web.
During the first week participants are introduced to a number of simple
activities which immediately trigger their awareness of learning in progress.
A concentration exercise reveals an ongoing internal dialogue (or chatter)
in one's mind, attention exercises reveal the flow of thoughts during problem
solving and academic activities, and discussions reveal differences in
learners' abilities to deal with various types of exercises. It quickly
becomes apparent that learners approach the exercises from a variety of
angles, and are quite aware of what they are good at and not so good at.
For most it is the first time they have devoted conscious effort to thinking
about thinking, and it often results in an "Ah Ha!" experience that permanently
changes the way they think about themselves as learners.
The second week expands on their developing self-awareness by introducing
learners to the concepts of metacognition and automaticity. A model of
learning abilities is also introduced at this time, providing a structure
from which to link content learned, with that that follows. The third week
introduces the notion of learning styles, outlining the various theories
and providing activities and discussions which reveal a broad range of
learning tendencies or preferences. During weeks four through nine specific
areas of learning are addressed, looking more closely at the development
of language, reading, and writing ability, and the nature of memory, problem
solving skill, and creativity. The final week focuses on developing an
understanding of biological processes involved in learning, how brain structure
and cognitive processing differ in those with learning disabilities, and
how things work differently in those with a developmental delay, Alzheimer's
disease, who experience a stroke, or who acquire other conditions that
change the biology of the brain.
The ultimate goal of the current version of the Learning to Learn course
has been to develop a general awareness of the importance of including
learning skills instruction as a natural part of teaching/learning within
any content area. The course stresses the need to adapt instruction to
multiple formats, providing students with reinforcement through different
modalities, and supporting students with a weakness in one or more modalities
by providing alternative formats that express the same meaning.
Future Directions
Development of a new framework for the Learning to Learn course is underway
that incorporates the variety of perceptual formats (hearing, seeing, reading,
and doing), and structural formats (linear, hierarchical, or webbed), adopting
the adaptability of the current version of the course. The new multimedia
framework will provide exploratory data from which to develop an understanding
of how a diverse group of learners approach instructional material presented
on the Web. Data will be collected that records learning in progress. This
data will include a navigation history for each participant, consisting
of a record of internal links followed and time spent on each page, along
with results from a number of tests, inventories, and surveys collected
throughout the course.
Patterns of navigation will be recorded and analyzed, and compared with
results from the various exercises, inventories, and tests taken throughout
the course. Four types of criterion measures will be collected for comparison
with navigational tendencies: 1) memory ability on tasks measuring verbal
and visual memory performance; 2) learning preferences collected from the
Sternberg-Wagner Thinking Style Inventory and Howard Gardner's Multiple
Intelligence Inventory; 3) qualitative accounts of participants' experiences
with the exercises throughout the course, collected from postings made
to the course bulletin board; and finally 4) participants' attitudes and
beliefs about the course and it's content, and their experience with computers,
the Web, and Web-based instruction. The ultimate goal is to create an
intelligent
tutoring system that can learn about a learner and adjust itself to match
the needs of the learner.
It is expected that visual and verbal learning tendencies will be displayed
through the preferred use of graphical or verbal/textual navigation systems,
as well as global and sequential preferences displayed through the use
of global and sequential navigation systems.
Future development also includes the addition of a "Social Skills" module,
and the development of a complementary course that focuses more on specific
strategies such as note taking, test taking, comprehension, and organizational
strategies.
Conclusion
Learning to Learn is unique among hundreds, if not thousands, of learning
skills courses available on the Web. It does not focus on teaching the
strategies that we commonly think of as learning skills. Rather, it teaches
self-awareness. With this metacognitive knowledge in hand, learners are
better able to adapt and make the most out of "what they've got".
Though the current version of the course was created for teachers, the
original version was created for high school students, with an emphasis
on teaching self-awareness and compensatory strategies to students with
learning disabilities. As the course framework evolved it became a tool
for teachers of these students. The ultimate beneficiaries of Learning
to Learn are young learners, particularly those who don't do well in the
classroom for one reason or another. Teachers are able to use a public
version of the course to support these students, providing alternative
formats, reinforcement, and learning in a motivational environment that
adapts to ones abilities and preferences.
The Learning to Learn project is part of the Special Needs Opportunity
Windows (SNOW) project, a collaboration of educational institutions, government,
and professionals in the fields of technology and special education. The
SNOW project Web site is hosted by the Centre for Academic and Adaptive
Technology (CAAT) at the University of Toronto in Ontario Canada. More
information can be found at the URLs below.
References
Vermunt, J. D. (1995). Process-oriented instruction in learning and thinking
strategies. European Journal of Psychology of Education 10(4), 325-349.
Wong, B., Y., L.(1992) On Cognitive Process-Based Instruction: An
Introduction.
Journal of Learning Disabilities. 25(3), 150-152.
Gay, G., R. (1999). Learning to Learn: Thinking and Learning Skills
http://snow.utoronto.ca/Lear
n2/introll.html
SNOW- Special Needs Opportunity Windows
http://snow.utoronto.ca
CAAT- Centre for Academic and Adaptive Technology
http://caat.utoronto.ca |
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