Went for consultation today...during the consultation, alfred mentioned about people's misconception about e learning. People tend to focus on the resources technology supporting e learning, very often they neglect the most important aspects of elearning and that is the tasks(content). this is when i realised im actually one of them. =x
i guess the "e" in elearning blurs everything..it makes one lose the focus. whenever one see the letter "e", they will directly link them to the internet, neglecting the learning that comes after it.

Finally finish the webquest project! tmr is the due date! hope it is not too bad...

Shall blog about this week lecture.For this week lecture, we had a mock exam. i am really glad that there was a mock exam.it allows me to better prepare for the examination. i have always worried about the needs assessment, but after the wednesday lecture, i felt better. i think i should be able to handle it during the examination..i hope i really can. Guess if there isnt any mock exams, i will be stunned when i recieve the exams paper, just like how i reacted when i saw the mock exam. I was feeling rather confused and lost when i went through the mock exam.
Having a mock is really a good idea and im sure many of us benefitted from it.

Is about time i start to study...2 more weeks to go!

Recently have been focusing on the webquest project. Last week, we presented our webquest and got some feedback from Alfred and Elmie. Our webquest was lacking colours and fonts were to small. So since last week, i have been trying to beautify it...haha hopefully is better now and not too childish =p I really hope to make it more attractive but due to technical constraints i wasnt able to...guess i might have to go learn some programming and coding before i can do all these.

Anyway, tmr is the last lecture and is also my last 8am lesson! hope i will be able to learn some stuff tmr from the mock exams!

Lesson learnt last week.

Procedure (rule-using)
- applying an ordered set of actions to achieve the goal
- elements for procedure learning
1. when to use
2. what are the steps
3. demonstration
4. worked examples
5. whole to parts (vice-versa)
6. practice
7. list the steps
8. execute
9. feedback

i agree that in elearning the two toughest events will be practice and feedback. i find that is rather difficult to analyse and interpret feedback and the coming up of practice to teach is really tough. i encountered something similar in my webquest project when i was planning the activity for the learners to reflect on what they have learnt.

Principles (higher-order rules)
- combinations of rules, concepts and facts
- expressed in cause and effect relationship
- elements for principal learning
1. statement of principle
2. when principle applies
3. factors and variables
4. illustration
5. explanation
6. context condition
7. practice
8. feedback

i feel that in principle teaching it is important to select the most appropriate method to teach in order to achieve the optimum result.

Needs Assement (revised)

In the cabbie case study, assessing it using a problem-solving model, there are three problems in the case.
The taxi drivers break traffic rules.
The taxi drivers are rude to the commuters.
The taxi drivers overcharge the commuters.

The errant driving habits can be due to following two reasons.
The taxi drivers have forgotten the basic driving rules.

The taxi drivers choose to compromise their knowledge due to intense competition and the company’s customer policies (to provide excellent service). An example would be the act of dropping off passengers illegally at double yellow zig-zag lines.
Despite the regulations governing road safety, the taxi driver most probably stopped at the yellow lines upon customer’s request for convenience (in alighting or flagging a cab in sight from their current location disregarding the road safety regulations). This can be further supported by the case study as they mentioned, “in the first place, people should not be flagging taxis in bus lanes or double yellow lines and at traffic junctions. If they do, then it is not fair to blame the taxi drivers who stop to pick them up.”
We believe that this problem is related to the employee’s performance. This is because if the drivers under-perform in customer service (ie. Ignoring customers’ requests), they may face complaints from their customers, which may affect their work performance ratings. The solution to this problem can be resolved through learning. This can be done by conducting lessons to teach drivers on how they can deal with some unreasonable requests of customers without offending them. For instance, the company could provide instructions on how to respond to customers’ request to stop at illegal areas such as the bus lanes. According to the case study, there is a picture depicting taxi driver dropping off passenger illegally along Paterson Road despite police warning not to do so. A good response from the taxi driver in this case would be to explain why he could not stop at the requested spot and suggest another nearest drop off point. For example, instead of saying “Cannot lah. Cannot stop here lah.”, the taxi drivers could politely suggest to the customer, “Dear Sir/Madam, I cannot stop here because it’s the double yellow lines and it is against the road regulations. If it’s alright with you, I could drop you off at the taxi stand after this traffic light.” However, in situations where customers are un-receptive to the explanations, the taxi drivers should not lose their temper, but instead they should remain polite and explain that this is against traffic rules, or it is a regulation stated by the company. A plausible reply would be, “Sorry Sir/Madam, I would drop you off here if I could, but it is a regulation stated by my company and I can only drop you off at the taxi stand. I’m really sorry about the inconvenience caused.”
Despite the presence of the problem, instructions have been offered for errant taxi drivers in the form of Road Safety Training Programme as mentioned in the case study. Therefore, we can move on to the next step of needs analysis, to use the discrepancy model.

Discrepancy model
The goal of the instructional system is as followed,
The taxi driver upholds good driving habits when discharging his/her duty as taxi driver.
However, this goal is not well achieved. Although there is a road safety course for the drivers, the number of drivers who received warning letters remained high. As mentioned in the article, Comfort gave out 900 warning letters last year but they sent merely 150 drivers for the road safety course.


Curricular Map

Recognize traffic instructions


Recognize correct/incorrect Identify correct/incorrect driving
driving skills and habits skills and habits


……………………………………………………………………………………………...
Picking up passengers safely


Familiar with road directions

Operate a car

Innovation-based model
The nature of this innovation (road safety cum customer service course) is instructional. This is because drivers receive verbal instructions on how to deal with customers’ request and observe road regulations at the same time. Here is the learning goal to be achieved,
The taxi driver upholds customer service values without compromising traffic rules.
The behavioral objective for the goal will be,
Using the new innovation (road safety cum customer service course), the taxi drivers do not flout road safety regulations and receive less than 3 complaints from customers per month.
We find this learning goal to be appropriate and vital in this learning system. This is because in teaching them how to respond appropriately to customers’ requests, it avoids situations where they are forced to drop passengers off at illegal points or speeding (e.g.Customers request taxi drivers to speed up as they are “in a hurry”).
In addition, these learning goals also reinforce good road safety habits for the taxi drivers as it refreshes their memory of all road regulations. After conducting such lessons, taxi companies can also implement regular tests or checks to evaluate and ensure that these learning goals are kept up with. For instance, they can have evaluative practical exams to test how drivers’ respond to customers’ requests as well as their road safety practices. A reward and punishment system (Behaviorism) could be used in the form of merit/demerit points in this case. As mentioned in the case study, demerit points are given to cab drivers who violated the road regulations, hence in this reward and punishment system, merit points could be given to them as rewards for improvement in their performance.
The second problem on rudeness of taxi drivers can be related to the first problem. Due to intense competition or a bad day on the road, the taxi drivers may be feeling jaded and thus they tend to forget the need to practice courtesy. It can also be due to the poor attitudes of the passengers (e.g indecisiveness in where they want to go or speaking rudely to the drivers), which may irritate the drivers and thus being rude to them. This problem can be solved through learning; however there is no past instructions stated in the case. Therefore, we can proceed on to the innovation model.
Innovation based model
The nature of this innovation is instructional, whereby drivers are taught the proper etiquette when handling customers and how they can control their own emotions. The learning goal for this innovation is
The taxi driver upholds good manner when discharging his/her duty as a taxi driver.
The behavioral objective accompanying this goal will be,
The taxi driver can display good manner using the knowledge learnt in the course.
This goal is appropriate and essential to the learning system. It is important for the taxi drivers to practice good courtesy while carrying his/her duty as this will help avoid unnecessary problems.
Instructional learning is not sufficient to solve the problem. Similar to the first problem, we can adopt behaviorism by giving awards to taxi drivers who provide the best customer service.
Lastly, we address the problem of taxi drivers overcharging the commuters. The occurrence of this problem could be due to financial issues or dishonesty. This problem however cannot be solved through learning; hence an alternative non-instructional solution has to be sought. Current laws and fines (rewards and punishment system) will have to be made stricter to prevent taxi drivers from overcharging. Brochures containing information on taxi charges should also be made available on the taxis.
Therefore, in this case study, we can proceed with the next step of our learning design to solve the problem of taxi drivers having errant driving habits and poor courtesy.

After this week tutorial, i finally understand how week four learning design can be applied. Had a hard time doing it during the tutorial as there's ALOT of things that im not sure of...
So i went hm dl exe(had some difficulty as exe and AVG r in conflict) and tried it out..surprisingly i know how to use it and is pretty easy!
Now i feel more secure for my webquest project.=)

Summary of this week lecture

Instructional strategies for fact learning
- Organizing strategies
- Mnemonics (Linking)
- Elaboration strategies

Instructional strategies for concept learning
- name the concept
- definition
- show prototype
- provide examples
- non-examples (eg. confusions, misinterpretation)
- attributes
- practice
- feedback

According to the lecturer, we can bring in the learning design that we learn in week four lecture to author fact learning. (im still confused here =x)

It is very important for us to differentiate between fact and concept when designing e-learning as the approaches are different.

currently still in the process of editing assignment three..having a tough time...the curricular map and sorting of objectives into their subordinate, coordinate and superordinate were really tedious for me as i am still confused about them. guess i will have to seek help from elmi...

yay! finally finished the needs assessment..had a tough time figuring out and understanding them..seems easy but is actually not as easy as i thought =x do comment on it...wants to know what went wrong because im still abit confused...

Needs Assessment

In the cabbie case study, assessing it using a problem-solving model, we feel there are problems with the instruction (ie. from the employers to the employees). There is a contradiction between the road safety regulations and the company’s customer policies. An example would be the act of dropping off passengers illegally at double yellow zig-zag lines.

This may also be due to the innovations, which the taxi drivers may be unaware of. These new innovations refer to the changes to road regulation.
Despite the regulations governing road safety, the taxi driver most probably stopped at the yellow lines upon customer’s request for convenience (in alighting or flagging a cab in sight from their current location disregarding the road regulations). This could be further supported by the case study as they mentioned, “in the first place, people should not be flagging taxis in bus lanes or double yellow lines and at traffic junctions. If they do, then it is not fair to blame the taxi drivers who stop to pick them up.”

We believe that this problem is related to the employee’s performance. This is because if the drivers underperformed in customer service (ie. Ignoring customers’ requests), they may face complaints from their customers and this may affect their work performance ratings. The solution to this problem can be resolved through learning. This can be done by conducting lessons to teach drivers on how they can tackle customer’s requests without offending them. For instance, the company could provide instructions on how to respond to customers’ request to stop at illegal areas such as the bus lanes. A good response from the taxi driver in this case would be to explain why he could not stop at the requested spot and suggest another nearest drop off point. For example, instead of saying “Cannot lah. Cannot stop here lah.”, the taxi drivers could politely suggest to the customer, “Dear Sir/Madam, I cannot stop here because it’s the double yellow lines and it is against the road regulations. If it’s alright with you, I could drop you off at the taxi stand after this traffic light.” However, in situations where customers are un-receptive to the explanations, it should be reminded to the taxi drivers that they should not lose their temper, instead they will need to remain polite and state that this is a regulation stated by the company. A plausible reply would be, “Sorry Sir/Madam, I would love to drop you off here but it is a regulation stated by my company and I could only drop you off at the taxi stand. I’m really sorry about the inconvenience caused.”

However, we feel these desired performance are not offered by taxi companies as emphasis has been placed on cab surveillance instead. Therefore, we will now asses this case study from the innovation-based model.
Innovation-based model
The nature of this innovation is instructional. This is because drivers receive verbal instructions on how to tackle customers’ request and observe road regulations at the same time. There are three learning goals to be achieved.

1.to strike a balance between customer service and road safety for the taxi drivers.
2.to reinforce good driving habits.
3.to keep them updated on the changes in road regulation.

We find these learning goals to be appropriate and vital in this learning system. This is because in teaching them how to respond appropriately to customers’ requests, it avoids situations where they are forced to drop off at illegal points or speeding (e.g.Customers request taxi drivers to speed up as they are “in a hurry”).

In addition, these learning goals also reinforce good road safety habits for the taxi drivers as it refreshes their memory of all road regulations. After conducting such lessons, taxi companies can also implement regular tests or checks to evaluate the goals and ensure that these learning goals are kept up with. For instance, they could have evaluative practical exams to test how drivers’ respond to customers’ requests as well as their road safety practices.

A reward and punishment system (Behaviorism) could be used in the form of merit points in this case. As mentioned in the case study, demerit points are given to cab drivers who violated the road regulations, hence in this reward and punishment system, merit points could be given to them as rewards for improvement in their performance. Awards could also be given for taxi drivers who are nominated for best customer service. Therefore, in this case study, we can proceed with the next step of our learning design as we find that there is a need to do so.

Learning design -- to bake valentine day cupcake

i find the in-class assignment useful. initially i was still abit blur after doing the reading but after doing the assignment, i have a better understanding of the learning sequence and it will definitely benefit the webquest project.i guess my post comes abit too late =X

Some key points from week four reading....

Essential elements of a learning design
1. learner agreement
2. acknowledgement of the learning context
3. learner challenge
4. Provision of practice

Learning design typology

1. Rule-based
2. Incident-based learning design
3. Strategy-based learning design
4. Role-based learning design

These different learning design are useful when comes to the planning of the appropriate learning experience for the learners. however, sometimes is almost impossible to use only one type of design. Personally, i feel that to attain the optimum outcome, we will need a combination of design. hmm just a thought...which design fits our education system? strategy-based learning design?

Behaviorism, cognitivism, socioculturalism (part one)

behaviorism

-identifying learning objectives and reinforcing behavior (through rewards and punishment
-shaping the learner's behavior to get the desired outcome
-learning process involves learners and behavior
-believe behavior is shaped by the environment
-bad name in academic world, better in the corporate world
-behaviorism and its conception of human nature (people are selfish; do things that benefit themselves)

This theory is useful for learners who lack of drive and initiative. With rewards the learners may be encourage to learn as they feel more motivated. However, i feel that having punishment, they may result in backfire.The learners may feel less motivated and resist learning. Also, this form of learning may not work in the long run.Not all people go for rewards!

Cognitivism
-do with people own's internal representation
-the interaction between stimulus and response
-learning is about changing (build new concepts and theories)
-set up the environment and allow the learners to go explore themselves (independent learning)
-believes people have intrinsic motivation (the desire to learn, oppose to behaviorism concept of human being selfish)

Cognitivism is useful in dealing with creativity and imagination. This is because creativity is not to be taught but to be explored and experienced.Also, i have just realised that cognitivism can be applied to playing of games. i observed that people play the game better as time goes by. this is because in the process of playing, they are actually learning from their experiences and this would be a good example of cognitivism i guess....

Sociocultural approach
-learning takes place across system
-shift focus from individual learner to a larger system
-require content, tools and language
-interaction with others
-ivle

This theory encourages cross-learning across different individual. Like ivle, it has the function of forum that allows students to interact and learn from one another.

i guess the most interesting about these theories are that they are not only applicable to learning (education) but it can be applied even to the learning of our own culture.

Behaviorism, cognitivism, socioculturalism (cont..)

This is my reflection after doing the readings on the three different theories again. i feel that these three theories seem to reflect Singapore education system. The theory of behaviorism reflects the primary school education system. In primary school, the teachers set the behavior of the learners. They decide what to be taught to the students to achieve the desired outcome. As we move on to secondary school and junior college,they tend to focus more on developing the student's creativity.this is when cognitivism comes into place. They provide the students with space to explore new ideas, develop new ideas and thus develop creativity. Moving to tertiary education, they promote independent learning, whereby they provide us with the tools for learning and let us go learn them ourselves. i feel that this is the reflection of the sociocultural approach.

after first week lecture, i realised this module is far more demanding than what i have expected =( nevertheless, lecture is pretty fun with the activties.
e-learning isnt as simple as what i thought. we can actually looked at it from various perspectives and these different perspectives provide me with new insights. interesting!