Revised 3/00; Author: Tim Eiler, Past National President, Triangle Fraternity

• Introduction
• Domains of Learning
• The Instructional Development (ISD) Method
• THE LESSON PLAN
• Appendix A - Teaching Strategies for Adult Learners
• Appendix B - Learning Domain Taxonomies

At the completion of this manual, the reader should:

• Know the definition of learning
• Know the characteristics of adult learners
• Comprehend Thorndike's laws of learning
• Know the Domains of Learning and their structures
• Comprehend the Instructional Development Process

Overall, this manual will not turn you into a balanced, very knowledgeable, practiced instructor. Those things come only with a lot more study and experience in the field. As we Triangle volunteers are often called upon to develop training sessions, discussions, etc. and then actually put what we or others have developed into practice, we need to have the basic skills in those areas to do an effective job. This manual will give you the basic knowledge and comprehension you need to begin to be able to do that. In addition, it will give us all a common "language" we should use when communicating with other volunteers about education projects.

The author is a former professional technical educator who trained U.S. and foreign astronauts.

GENERAL

Learning defined:

Practical learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior or attitude which comes as a result of some stimulus. Such stimuli can be experiential, such as putting one's hand on a hot burner. The change in behavior or attitude here stems from the positive or negative perceived impacts of the behavior...i.e. the behavior or attitude is created (or reinforced) or deleted. The stimuli may also be tutorial, such as education. The change in behavior or attitude is formed based on the perceived value of the concept or principle to be gained.

All of our members are adults. It is necessary, therefore, to know what kinds of characteristics adult learners have so that education aimed at them will effectively satisfy them. The more the education fits their level of maturity, the more likely that they will pay attention and will use the information you present.

• Has a need and a capacity to be self-directing
• Brings a base, however small, of practical experience to the situation
• Organizes learning around real-life problems.

See Appendix A for some teaching strategy applications of these characteristics.

• Primacy: That which is learned first is best retained.
• Intensity: A vivid, dramatic experience teaches more than a routine, boring experience.
• Readiness: People learn best when they are ready to learn and they will not learn much if they see no reason for learning.
• Exercise: Things most often repeated are best remembered.
• Effect: Learning is strengthened when it is accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying feeling and is weakened by an unpleasant feeling.
• Recency: Other things being equal, the things most recently learned are best remembered.

The practical applications of Thorndike's laws should be self-obvious.

There are 3 different domains of learning. The psychomotor domain deals with skill development, often physical skills. The Cognitive domain deals with primarily mental knowledge, skills, and abilities. The affective domain deals with attitude development.

Each of the domains has its own structure, or hierarchy, which is known as a taxonomy. The way to read the taxonomy is that the lowest level is the "entry" into the taxonomy. As a person progresses upward in the structure, the "task" becomes more complex and requires more of the knowledge, skill, ability, or attitude being instructed.

The primary use of the domains of learning in putting together a lesson or other form of education is that it forces the instructor to assess whether the thing to be learned is primarily a skill or ability, primarily knowledge or ability, or primarily attitude. This is a necessary thing to know as it will determine greatly what methods you use to teach it for maximum effectiveness. The domain taxonomies are useful in forcing the instructor to determine what level of the domain the material to be taught is. In other words, if the student only really needs to be able to recite the list of the domains of learning (cognitive domain, knowledge level), then I would not want to instruct him how to put the domains of learning into his own words (cognitive domain, comprehension/interpretation level).

See Appendix B for more detailed descriptions of each of the taxonomy levels for each domain.

Psychomotor:

5.  Originate
4.  Adapt
3.  Perform Automatically
2.  Perform Unaided
1.  Perform Aided

Cognitive:

6.  Evaluation
5.  Synthesis
4.  Analysis
3.  Application
2.  Comprehension
    C.  Extrapolation
    B.  Interpretation
    A.  Translation
1.  Knowledge

Affective:

5.  Characterization
4.  Organization
3.  Valuing
    C.  Commitment to a value
    B.  Preference for a value
    A.  Acceptance of a value
2.  Responding
    C.  Satisfaction in response
    B.  Willingness to respond
    A.  Acquiescence
1.  Receiving
    C.  Controlled attention
    B.  Willingness to attend
    A.  Awareness to attend

ISD is a process used to plan, design, develop, and evaluate training. The methodology is derived from research in learning psychology and it is often referred to as an "engineering" approach to training.

The reason ISD is linked to engineering is due to the fact that it is systematic, goal-oriented, and incorporates feedback into the system. The ISD method is clearly laid out, but yet flexible enough to handle development of all types of training, such as training manuals, classroom lessons, computer-based training (CBT), etc. Note that all phases of the process feed back on each other

One EXTREMELY important concept to remember is that ISD calls for STUDENT-CENTERED objectives based on a needs analysis of knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes required or desired by the STUDENT.

Process

• Analysis Phase
• Ask the following questions:
• Is there a problem and can training solve it?
• What knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes are required by the student at the outcome?
• What do the learners bring to the training?
• Task Analysis - Learner Analysis = Training Required
• Design Phase
• Develop student-centered training objectives (from the Training Required part of the equation above.)
• Develop your evaluation techniques (if you intend to have any.)
• Group your objectives into lessons (if more than one lesson will be required.)
• Develop formal lesson plans and specifications (see later section of this manual)
• Development Phase
• Develop training materials that your lesson will require (props, charts, handouts, CBT software, etc.)
• Conduct small group tryouts or "test market" your lesson with an appropriate group or groups.
• Implementation Phase
• Deliver training/lesson to students.
• Develop student records if that is required (to track progress through a series of sequenced lessons, etc.)
• Maintain or store any hardware or software and make updates as required.
• Evaluation Phase
• Analyze student feedback and feed this information back to previous phases.
• Assess how well graduates perform immediately and/or over time.

The need for a formal lesson plan stems from two different areas. First, a written, formal lesson plan will help you organize your thoughts into more concise patterns and will, therefore, allow you to present a better lesson than if you just jotted down some notes or "wing it." Second, the lessons you develop should be good enough that others could use them as is or modify them. No one can use what they don't have, however, so if you produce a consistent lesson plan, others can read your "notes" and Triangle can save a lot of effort and money by avoiding the reinvention of the wheel. Make sure that a copy of your lesson plan gets on file with the National Office staff.

TRIANGLE FRATERNITY "TITLE OF LESSON" "TYPE OF LESSON" LESSON PLAN

PART 1A

LESSON TITLE: "Title:"

REVISION: "level"

AUTHOR: "authorname"

DATE: mm/dd/yy

LESSON LENGTH: X hours (with breaks)

NO. PAGES: pgs

TARGET AUDIENCE: Briefly describe target audience

INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA: Describe any media required (whiteboard, manual(s), overhead projector, etc.)

INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD: Describe the main method/type of the training

TRAINEE PREREQUISITES/PREPARATION: List/describe any trainee prerequisites

TERMINAL OBJECTIVE(S): List the student-centered objectives here.

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE(S): List measurable performance criteria expected from the student here.

Lesson Synopsis: Provide a brief synopsis of the lesson here.

Additional References: List any you might have

TRIANGLE FRATERNITY LESSON PLAN - PART 1B
Lesson Strategy: Describe your organization pattern and overall strategy. Briefly flesh-in the details of how you intend to accomplish that strategy.

Lesson Outline: Include the outline (schedule) for the lesson in this area.

Key To Abbreviations and Acronyms Used: List any of these you might have used. Some good, standard ones to use to speed up development and reduce the "size" of the plan are shown here:

MP #    Main Point and number (correspond to outline major headings)    
LOQ     Lead-off question       
FUQ     Follow-up question      
AR      Anticipated Responses to a question     
GA      Given Answers to a rhetorical question  
EX      Exercise        
ATVY    Activity        
STRY    Story (not used in this lesson) 
PS      Proof Support   
CS      Clarification Support (not used in this lesson) 
VG #    Viewgraph and number (not used in this lesson)  
CHT #   Chart and number        

Notes To The Instructor:

Give the instructor any special instructions or notes in this section.

Evaluation Strategy:

Describe how student mastery of the subject matter will be measured. Define the timeframe in which it will be measured.

Evaluation Items:

Include any "test questions" you might have here.

TRIANGLE FRATERNITY LESSON PLAN PART 3 - TEACHING PLAN
This section will contain a relatively detailed narrative of what you intend to teach. It's a generally good idea to write it pretty much out as you intend to speak it/show it/etc. Even though you don't have to follow the writing EXACTLY, it will help you crystallize your thoughts, work out rough areas, etc. You must have all the various parts shown below, however, in order to do an effective job, so don't skip any.

INTRODUCTION

Attention:      

Motivation:

Overview:


BODY

MP #1:

MP #2:


CONCLUSION  (5 minutes)

Review:

Remotivation:

Conclusion:

Because of their different learning-related characteristics, adults learn differently than young people. Because they learn differently than children, it is important that the instructor/facilitator of a training session for adults use different strategies in delivering the material...we cannot assume that our members will learn the same way as we ourselves were probably taught as children.

As a brief refresher, adult learner characteristics are:

• Has a need and a capacity to be self-directing
• Brings a base, however small, of practical experience to the situation
• Organizes learning around real-life problems

In Triangle, we would expect the normal member age to be roughly 18-24 years. As we've seen in the last decade, however, more and more members are returning students, so the age range of those you may be teaching may be much higher. You need to be prepared for the wider variance in age and the needs and questions that an older student may bring to the table.

Logistics:

• Ensure the students know ahead of time when the lesson is to start and end.
• Arrange the room in ways that will stress interaction
• Start on time - the student will look to you to set the tone...their time is important. If you can start on time, keep the students very informed about delays, including specific estimates of when you will be starting
• Provide a comfortable environment - hard chairs and desks probably won't cut it, even for men used to it in classrooms...the material we typically present isn't typical for them and so the typical college classroom isn't as likely to work
• Provide frequent, structured breaks - again, their time is important and they'll expect you to not treat them like they need time to digest what you tell them. Research shows that an adult can handle slightly longer instruction periods than children, but try not to go more than one hour without a break
• End on time - if you go over the time in any significant way, you'll lose the students' attention. In fact, if it looks like you're headed for a run-over, you'll lose it before the end of the lesson.

Lesson Content:

• Make it understandable - ensure that the content contains enough information for the student to grasp the fundamentals of the concepts/principles involved before expecting the student to be able to apply them
• Make it practical - reinforce the relevancy of the content by including practical applications and examples
• Make it interactive - for various reasons, adults tend to "tune out" of lectures, they want to feel like they aren't the "only ones who are learning the material", and they want to hear a wider variety of information and opinions than just that given by the instructor.
• Make it age/experience appropriate

Teaching Methods:

• Show your credibility - explain why you are qualified to teach about the material, especially if you can show that you obtained your grasp through experience. If they don't trust that you are qualified on the subject, they'll tend to tune out.
• Interactive, Interactive, Interactive - in addition to just probing for participation, don't forget to find out why they want to learn the material.
• Practical, practical, practical - when it comes to adult students, it can't be said enough times that they want to know how they can actually use what they're learning.
• Co-opt more-experienced and older students - involve them in the teaching by asking them questions, probing further when they ask questions, and outright asking them to "teach" by sharing insight or information.
• Keep your own intensity level high - your energy level tends to be contagious.
• Vary your voice tone, volume, and pitch - this helps to keep the student focused on you and the material.
• Don't be afraid to say "I don't know" - if you don't, it's pretty likely the student will find out you don't and it you lose your credibility, you lose your audience...if you don't know, though, don't forget to also tell the students that you will provide an answer at some specific point in the future.
• Tailor your method in real-time - you're not omniscient and sometimes your teaching method plan just won't fit a specific group, so be prepared to modify to fit on the fly.

Evaluation:

• Make the learners aware of the evaluation criteria in advance - this helps the student know what's most important, so he can attend that material particularly.
• Ask questions to identify the level of comprehension - evaluation is not a punishment for the students and neither is it an exercise in sadism...it's only purpose is to find out how well YOU did as an instructor and to find out what deficiencies the student has regarding the material presented so that he may be corrected.
• Introduce learners to new problem-solving opportunities during evaluation - this gives the student a chance to test his level of comprehension, as well as providing you with an opportunity to provide more practical application.
• Provide deep level debriefs when possible - don't just say "the answer to 3 was a, the answer to 4 was b", but rather talk through the solutions.
• Involve the student in the debrief - teaching is often the best way to learn and it certainly helps to solidify understanding of the concepts/principles in question.
• Seek feedback from the students - doing so can solidify your credibility and it provides you an opportunity for improvement, as well.

As with any product, in order to achieve maximum effect, a learning opportunity has to be "engineered" correctly. In order to do the design, one must have understanding of the materials that can be used and their various properties. That's why it's important to know and understand the domains of learning and the properties of each. Once an instructor is aware of the level of learning he intends to help the student achieve inside a domain, he can construct appropriate training objectives and he can also identify the specific method and content of student evaluation. Once training objectives and evaluation methods are defined, it's only a small step to be able to identify the material that supports the training objectives and the methods to be used in delivery of the material.

The three independent learning domains, or areas of learning:

• Cognitive (thinking)
• Psychomotor (doing)
• Affective (feeling)

A taxonomy describes the levels of learning within a domain.

The way to read one of these taxonomies is that the lowest level is the "entry" into the taxonomy. As a person progresses upward in the structure, the "task" becomes more complex and requires more of the knowledge, skill, ability, or attitude being instructed.

Psychomotor Taxonomy:

Affective Taxonomy:

Some important notes about this taxonomy:

1. Because it takes longer just to get to the valuing stage than we typically have, I'm not going to do more than just briefly cover the top two tiers here. Suffice it to say that these two are the result of years of life and work.
2. Values drive Attitudes and Attitudes driver Behavior. (In return, Behavior helps cement habits, which can reshape Attitudes, which can reshape Values)

The author of this document is: