Module Redevelopment

There remains some confusion about the module redevelopment assignment. So, below I have laid out a series of explicit steps that you can work through that will help you complete this assignment. I hope that this clarifies expectations.

1. Choose a module: For purposes for this example I will choose the module on B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning.
   
   
2. Review the associated theory with particular attention to the Principles of Instruction and the Educational Applications. These two sections are included in the chapters in your book and will help make the transition from theory to practice.
   
   
3. Review the Learning Objectives I have identified for the module you have chosen. These are listed on the web page for each module. Determine if these objectives are reasonable objectives based on the application of the theory under consideration.
   
   Ex.: For the module on operant conditioning, the educator who believes solidly in operant conditioning as the basis of education would recognize that learning is "the acquisition of new behaviors." Therefore, all learning objectives must be stated in terms of behaviors to be acquired, performed, or learned. After reading my objectives, you might decide that some of them need to be rewritten, others discarded, and still others added. But, whatever set of learning objectives is finally developed- the general content to be learned remains Operant Conditioning.
   
   
4. Create a final list of learning objectives.
   
   
5. Review the entire module, layout, design, sequence, etc. Determine if these characteristics represent the theory you are covering.
   

   Ex: For the module on Operant Conditioning. One of the keys to this approach is building from simple behaviors or responses to highly complex behaviors or responses. Another characteristic is sequencing such that each response builds on the previous response. A series of questions Skinner might ask to teach about reflexes follows:

   1. A doctor taps your knee with a rubber hammer to test your ____.
   2. If your reflexes are normal, your leg ____ to the tap on the knee with a slight kick.
   3. In the knee jerk or patellar-tendon reflex, the kick of the leg is the ____ to the tap on the knee.
   4. The stimulating object used by the doctor to elicit the response is a _____ .

   As you can see, questions start with a very simple response many people know. Then they build one upon another, and the answer to each is often incorporated in the next. This is an example of the kind of sequencing that Skinner proposes. Obviously, another important factor in the Skinnerian model is reinforcement. In my example above I have not provided a way for the learner to test his answer and receive reinforcement (maybe just testing the answer and knowing the correct response is enough- not everything is based on candy). This is a serious oversight and must be addressed because reinforcement is the key to everything in a Skinnerian system. The module itself may or may not have reinforcement built in.
   

6. If the module as currently designed does not incorporate the major ideas of the theory being discussed, determine what will have to change so that the module better utilizes the theory of instruction being discussed.
   
   Ex.: In the module on Skinner, is adequate reinforcement provided? If not, what will you change to make this happen? What about sequencing, does the module allow for increasingly complex responses that build upon earlier responses? What about the stimulus discriminant- do you need to address its role? (These are a few examples of questions related to Skinner- do not think that this is all that needs addressed.)
   
   
7. Determine how you will communicate to me the changes that are necessary to make the module an example of the theory being discussed. This may be done by actually creating new web pages, it may be done by creating "prototype page." (i.e. drawings or models of pages, not actual hypertext documents). I suspect that it could be communicated via a lecture given on videotape. I am not concerned with the type of support material provided- whatever helps you communicate is fair game. Once you've chosen your approach- implement it.
   
   
8. Create a text document. This document needs to explain what you did in step 7 and why. If you choose to complete this assignment entirely in a text-base document, then it is not necessary that you have a separate document that details the first. Rather, in this case, the first document simply needs to have the explanatory notes included in the text.

   Ex.: If you sketch out some examples of web pages that you would add to alter a particular module, I need an explanation of why the new web pages are the way they are. Do not assume that I will make the leap that the new page offers reinforcement for a correct answer. Tell me explicitly that is what the page is designed to do.