Last Class Observations

Doh! I can't believe it's been a week since last class.  I had meant to post this the tomorrow after last class.  Well, technical IS a tomorrow after last class.

At any rate, last class we discussed what characteristics cognitive instructional theories would possess.  She did this by asking us questions that required us to apply our knowledge of cognitive learning theory to identify attributes of cognitive instructional theories.  Next (sorta) we discussed Gagne's 9 events of instruction, and she reviewed (activated prior knowledge) the information processing model diagram had studied previously and reminded us how each of the nine events reflected the information processing process (reviewing, elaborating, connecting gagne and instructional theory to cognitive theory and vice versa, organizing information for better storage and easier recall).  We discussed how each of the nine events could be implemented.  Then we broke into groups and practiced applying Gagne's model to one of the learning scenarios (rehearsal; enactment).  In this exercise we received feedback from peers on our instructional strategies, then had a chance to reflect as a team about the feedback our team's idea received (feedback; group reflection; deep processing).  Afterward we shared our experiences with the entire class.

Given my ever present suspicion about the assertion of the superiority of the team over the individual, I will remark about group exercises.  I notice that in these short group exercises that it works best (i.e., the group finishes the assignment) if I do not challenge the logic of the group.  Not that I think my way is superior, but sometimes I think the group makes assumptions that not all members share and time is wasted in clarification and discussion of why group progress is heading in the direction it is going. 

Okay, so in my group, the group immediately started creating a strategy for introducing the entire learning scenario, and not a piece (which would have been my preference for it might have yielded cleaner application of the assignment concepts).  I decided to go with the flow, and in the end our team learned that some of the strategies we chose didn't quite fit from a timing perspective.  They learned this from the outside peer feedback session. (to be fair, one of the critiqued piece was my suggestion!) Had this been a real working scenario, I would be the fly in the ointment, however, in class I've learned to keep quiet.  In the end we did learn quite a bit from this exercise.