David T. Chura LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.

com/in/davidtchura Twitter: @dchura _____________________________________________________________________________________ August 2011 Dave Churas Personal Notes from e-Learning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer Two types of e-Learning goals: Inform lessons that communicate info (e.g. new product features) Perform:procedure Lessons that build procedural skills (e.g. how to complete a report) Perform:principle Lessons that build principle based skills (e.g. how to close a sale) Use simulation - job-realistic examples/cases Three types of e-Learning Receptive: info acquisition includes lots of info Directive: responsive strengthening require frequent responses from learners Guided discovery: knowledge construction provide job realistic problems How do people learn? Human memory has two channels: visual and auditory Limited capacity for processing info Learning occurs by active processing New knowledge must be retrieved from long-term memory for transfer to the job Course design Contiguity principle Integrated text and graphics results in better learning people learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone (bike pump example) Do not use graphics that are decorative only and dont improve learning Place corresponding words and graphics near each other Dont display feedback on a separate screen from practice or question Dont link to second browser windows or screens Modality principle - present words as speech rather than onscreen text Exceptions include when necessary for memory support (e.g. math formula) Redundancy principle presenting words in both text and audio can reduce learning Exception when there is no graphic or if the learner would need to exert greater effort to understand audio rather than text. Coherence principle- adding interesting material can reduce learning Examples: entertaining, but non related stories; background sound/music; detailed text Personalization principle-use conversational style of narration not formal Use: you, your, I, our, we

Use pedagogical agents/coaches

Practice/self-check/quizzes Use questions that require learner to apply new knowledge as opposed to recognizing lesson info Example: -Mark builds a box by completing the following steps click all where he has made a mistake versus -Click each statement that describes what to do when building a box Practice should require learners to process info in job realistic context Few or no questions that require only rote recall of info Distribute practice throughout the lesson Use self-questioning if lesson lacks a practice exercise/question(e.g. How are, how would, what are, how does) Leveraging examples in elearning use worked examples Worked examples: step-by-step demo of how to perfrom a task or solve a problem Replace some practice activities with worked examples Collaborative learning use chat, message boards etc for collaborative learning Course Navigation/Control Design navigation options based on tradeoffs: Content sequencing, pacing and access to learning support Learner control user has choice to select specific topics, move at own pace Best for learners with prior knowledge; advanced lesson or course in a curriculum; learners have good metacognitive skills, course is low complexity (info versus skill development) Program control fewer learner choices Tips Use links sparingly that take learner away from teaching screen Allow learners to control pacing studies found performance on tests significantly better when learned control rate of presentation Use problem solving exercises/self-checks