Evaluating, Implementing and Managing Instructional Programs and Projects

This week I looked at evaluation models in Instructional Design and was asked to find two models I could use in evaluating my instruction.  The first model I found was the Addie Instructional Design Model. It is probably one of the best know instructional models that was originally developed in 1975 to help  instructional designers and training developers.  Since it’s beginning there have been over one hundred variations of the model.  It was one of the first instructional design models to propose an organized process for developing and improving instruction.  ADDIE is an acronym for analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. 

Analysis phase - The problem is identified, goals and objectives are established and the environment and learner characteristics are identified.
Design - The instructional strategies are identified and the media choices are made.
Develop - The materials are produced according to the design phase.
Implement - At this point, prototypes are tested with the intended audience putting the product into full production.  Trainers and learners are also instructed on how to use the product.
Evaluation - This consists of the Formative and Summative Evaluations. Actually the Formative is present in each stage and the Summative consists of criterion related referenced items and providing opportunities for feedback from others.
One unique feature of this model is each step has an outcome that feeds into the next step. If the instructor follows these steps exactly it will help insure important issues are not overlooked or forgotten.  The concerns with the ADDIE model point toward it’s age.  Even though it has been redesigned several times, critics still feel it was developed at a time when instructional design was very new and the design courses had to be created quickly to meet the demand. Many think in the beginning, there were fewer expectations about what the training should accomplish.  Still others  argue this model produces passive type training activities and there is a lack of learner input..  Turning these around toward active learning takes a tremendous amount of effort, which is something many teacher are not willing to do. An evaluation using this model in my instruction will take a look at the different steps in a Heredity Lesson. I designed the lesson earlier this year with the Science teachers to use in their classrooms.
Analysis Phase - The purpose of this instruction is for students to learn about dominant and recessive traits in heredity.  Students will be instructed how create a Wordle word cloud and insert different characteristics of dominant and recessive traits they learn from instruction. The purpose/objectives for this lesson are:
1.  Make a distinction between inherited and acquired traits.
2.  Relate genes to the inheritance of traits.
3.  Inherited Traits are observable characteristics passed from parent to child.
4.  All traits an individual possess makes them unique.
5.  Although individuals may share traits with others, traits between family members are more common.
The learners were 7th graders with diverse learning abilities.  The diverse abilities include visual and auditory learners, ESL students and students with learning modifications.  To address these problems the script of the video will be read aloud, materials will be provided to assist in identifying traits and the teacher will act as a guide to answer any questions.  The room will be set up to give the learner the best possibility of success and computers and a printer will be available to students to complete their project.
Design -  The Instructional Objective for this lesson involves using Wordle as an active learning strategy.  Students will complete a list of the dominant and recessive observable traits discussed and seen in the classroom with 100% accuracy.  Students will also learn to use the Web 2.0 tool Wordle. The teacher will act as a guide walking around the room, asking guiding questions and offering help or assistance as needed.
Develop - Students will produce a word cloud.  The dominant traits will be listed with Capital letters and the recessive traits will be listed in lower case letters.  Information for the traits is obtained from the Design phase. Copies will be made of the Wordles to display on the wall in the Science classroom. The instructions for producing the Wordle will be presented by the teacher using an overhead projector and a laptop to demonstrate the activity and answer any questions.
Implement - This lesson will be presented in the 7th grade science classroom. Students will need access to the computer and the Web 2.0 tool, Wordle. The instructions for producing the Wordle will be presented by the teacher using an overhead projector and a laptop to demonstrate the activity and answer any questions.  A finished copy of a Wordle will be shown to students to verify what is expected in the activity.
Evaluation - Evaluation of the students will be the finished product in addition to a teacher student discussion.  Characteristics of traits, the appearance of genes in the passing of traits and what is needed for certain traits to appear will be included in the discussion.  With the availability of laptops a Web program called TodaysMeet may be used with the discussion to increase participation.  This will also help answer questions, highlight areas of misunderstanding and give students a chance to make comments.
 

The next model I found was the ARCS Model. This was a very interesting model of Instructional Design to research.  It is based entirely on motivation skills to help learners succeed. Before the ARCS Model was introduced, classroom instructors did not have the information or models available to use in motivating learners.  John Keller(1983,1984 & 1987) is an Educational Researcher who created the model. Its purpose was to help educators meet their objectives by designing activities and strategies as a guide to stimulate students and help them develop knowledge.  The model has been extremely popular and used around the world in schools, corporations and government.  The ARCS acronym stands for attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction.  The words were chosen from research human motivation.
Attention - In this phase different activities should be made available to students to spark their interest.  This can include active participation, humor, brainstorming or specific examples.  I remember a science teacher at our school who would begin many of the units he taught with jokes and riddles to capture the students attention.  They loved the humor and you could hear them repeating the jokes in the hallway.
Relevance - This is where the benefits of the study are explained to the learner.  They will understand what they learn and how it can be applied to their lives.  This can include present work or adding the knowledge to skills they already possess.
Confidence - This strategy explains to the learner what can be expected from the activity. Sharing this with the students should motivated them to have a desire to study.
Satisfaction - The experience the learner will receive once the activity is completed.  This sense of achievement can be recognized by praise from a higher up, special activity or entertainment.  Our school used to take students on a trip to the movies in December for those who had maintained a B average or above and had met the behavior objectives since the beginning of the year. This was quite successful; the students looked forward to a small break from school near Christmas.  
As with any instructional design there are strengths and weaknesses. The strengths with this model include:
1. This is a very easy model to follow.
2. It provides the students ample time for research and completion of the project.
3.  Students are allowed to choose the material they are to learn.  The teacher is present to help solve problems.  
4.  The teacher is accountable for the activity and the outcome.
The weaknesses identified were:
1. The teacher may not be familiar with the audience.  If this is the case, gaining the interest of the group and motivating them may be difficult.
2. The instructor needs to be creative with the material in order to keep the students interested.  I remember teaching my class about the different areas of the brain and how they perceived objects.  We studied pictures of illusions as the lesson went along and the students were so involved.  They loved the effect the different illusions had on their thinking.
3.  There must be funding for the instructor if necessary.
To illustrate how I would use this model to evaluate my instruction, I will take a lesson I recently completed with a science teacher.  The lesson discussed elements, namely understanding the nature of protons, and neutrons and electrons and where they are located within the element. In the Attention phase before I began the lesson I would begin with some humor about elements.  A good website for this subjec can be found at http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/jokes/chemistry.html .  We learned about this technique in a teacher training before at the beginning of the year.  Many teachers at our school that have used this introduction and had great results.During the Relevance phase I would explain how important it is to know a little about each element.  This is something that I would add to the lesson I had planned.  I can understand how it might help the students understand the importance of studying this material.  Some elements mixed together can be very poisonous such as ammonia and bleach (sodium hypochlorite).  I then give a few more examples of chemicals they may be familiar with  before I began the Prezi presentation.  In the Confidence phase of the lesson, I would stress how important it is to use the Periodic Table when working with these elements.  The table gives so much information that is expected of them to be learned.  They just have to know a few rules to correctly find the information needed for protons, neutrons and electrons.  This could help them with worksheets or a test later. They just need to be able to read the periodic table. They would then complete a group activity by putting the elements in different stations around the room based on specific information. This was basically what I had planned for this stage of the model. Finally in the Satisfaction stage I would have them create a model of an element with the protons and neutrons in the middle and the electrons circling around the outside. The class could then try to name the elements that were made with the use of the periodic table.  Each model would be held up and students could raise their hand to answer. This would be the activity to replace the worksheet I had planned. The class studied the first twenty elements so each student could complete one himself or work with a partner.  Positive feedback and reinforcement should make each student feel good about their accomplishments.

Reading through the textbook I thought of several questions that should be asked when looking at instructional design.  These questions are not directed toward how much the learner will acquire through instruction, but rather based on other areas of the design.

1.  What are the education needs acting upon this training project?
2.  How will you define success for the student and the program? You must set achievable
    goals.
3.  Was the model easy to use?
4.  Are the individual content units complete, accurate, and up-to-date?
5.  Will the teacher deliver the instruction face-to-face or online? Will it be instructor led unit or
    will it be self-paced?
6.  What technology best promotes the particular learning goal in an efficient manner?
7.  Has sufficient time been allotted to design the program?
8.  Can the training/instruction be improved?
9.  Is it worth improving?
10. What are the risk factors associated with this investment?  Factors that need to be looked at
     are multiple stakeholders, lack of leadership or a change in leadership, rapid changes in
     technology and misalignment of objectives.

I am always trying to get teachers to try new technology tools to use in lessons in the classroom during this time of economic decline, in addition to the fact kids love technology.  This is such a relevant topic today and I was so glad to see it as one of our questions. I just attended a Library Academy workshop this week and learned so much about Google Docs and the interactive tools you can use with it in the classroom.  Everything from students creating presentations, using note taking tools, teachers worksheets, interactive tools to use during discussions and teacher created tests. The tests can even be graded by a program called Flugaroo.  Using the Situated Leadership Theory.  According to the theory, successful leaders can use more than one type of leadership style.  The style needed is based on the maturity of the people on the team and the task details. The four styles or phases are:

Phase I - The leaders tell the group what to do and exactly how to accomplish it without being overbearing.
Phase II - The leaders still provide leadership and direction but they move to a role where there is more communication with the group, they clear up any misunderstandings and acknowledge improvements. At this point the leader wants to “sell” the group on his idea, product or service.
Phase III - As the group becomes more confident, the leader now focuses more on relationships within the group and the results they are achieving.  Decision making is also shared.
Phase IV - The leader passes most of the responsibility to the follower or group. they have learned to work together to produce the main idea, product or service. The leader still but is less involved in decisions.

Since I used to teach science, I can see how these would be so helpful to a science teacher.  More up to date facts for teachers to use in class and students to use in presentations.  The leader will be the a teacher on another campus who is skilled in the use of the Google Docs and has used them in his classroom. He will be explaining to the eight other 7th & 8th grade teachers on our campus.  

Leadership Style	Description
Telling/Directing	The leader makes the presentation explaining the benefits of using Google Docs in the classroom and giving teachers a preview of the ones they will use. He explains  the benefits and how it will involve the students more actively and at the same time save work for the teachers and money for the district.  He then explains to teachers which docs, or applications, would be useful giving an example of how to use each one.  He leaves teachers with a detailed Smore website page, he has designed, which gives teachers all the websites they visited with the information he has given.  They may use this information to refer back to when setting up the docs to use in the classroom.
Selling/Coaching	The group meets back in two months.At this meeting the leader still provides direction but at the same time starts moving to making relationships with those in the group and wanting to hear what they have to say. He begins by asking about problems they may have which need to be cleared up.  He then praises their use of the tools and asks if they don’t agree many have made instruction easier and more organized.  He asks others to share their experiences to help those that are not quite on board.
Participating/Supporting	The group will meet in another two months.  By this time all teachers are familiar with the tools.  The leader focuses on hearing what has been going with using the tools in instruction.  He does not direct, but listens more as the group begins to make decisions about the use of Google Docs in instruction.
Delegating	In another two months when they meet, the leadership role has now moved to the teachers.  They are very familiar with the product and have begun to use it daily in their classes.  They work more as a team solving problems that come up between themselves.

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ISU College of Education - http://ed.isu.edu/addie/

Learning-Theories.com -  http://www.learning-theories.com/addie-model.html

Online Teaching Tips - http://goo.gl/YEG5e

Motivation Design - http://goo.gl/In7tC

Learning Theories.com - http://goo.gl/YnyTl

Upside Down Learning - http://goo.gl/Rt9W1

ADDIE model - http://goo.gl/fbl3H

ARCS model - http://goo.gl/XIDB2

Questions image - http://goo.gl/f3jCG

Situational Leadership - http://www.heftfaculty.co.uk/node/589