INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN FROM AN ANDRAGOGIC VIEW

Andrea Filatro

WebCurrículo 20091

Abstract: This article reports on the instructional design proposal for an online
discipline of a post-graduate course for training instructional designers. It
describes the implementation and evaluation of the course, considering for that
the andragogic principles, especially Kolb's experiential
learning model. The proposed activities and results achieved are recorded in
terms of the contributions of online education to adult learning.

Keywords: instructional design, andragogy, adult learning, Kolb's experiential

learning model

Introduction

This article reports the experience of creating, implementing, and evaluating

instructional design (ID) for the discipline Creation Processes I - Scripts
and Storyboards, from the Specialization Course in Instructional Design for
Distance Learning at Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora.

The discipline in question, as well as the specialization course, aims to train

professionals capable of selecting and managing the development of media
productions for educational projects carried out at a distance, and who are
versatile, capable of proposing innovative solutions, and working in
multidisciplinary teams. For this purpose, it is based on the socioconstructivist
approach, reflected in the practices of interaction, collaboration and
evaluation carried out virtually.

1
Traducción del artículo original “Design instrucional sob uma perspectiva conectivista”. In:
Webcurrículo 2009. São Paulo: PUC-SP, 2009.
Working with adult students who graduated in different areas of knowledge
(pedagogy, technology, communication, and administration, among others) and
already active in the labor market, it is necessary to also have in
perspective the andragogical principles, which we discuss below.

Adult learning

Andragogy is a term coined by Alexander Kapp in 1833, that in the following years
circulated in European countries until it was definitively incorporated into
American instructional theory through Malcolm Knowles in the 1970s. It is
configured as a theory that considers the specific nature and conditions of the
adult apprentice (Knowles, 1998).

The demands for constant learning resulting from the acceleration of scientific
and technological knowledge suggest an “era of continuing education”
(lifelong learning), in which learning becomes a survival strategy in society and
the labor market. It is no wonder, therefore, that interest in andragogy has been
growing in last years, including in Brazil (DeAquino, 2007; Almeida, 2008; Kenski,
2008; Litto, 2008; Inamorato, 2008; Motta, 2008, among others), in a movement
similar to what has been happening with distance education and with the field of
instructional design.

We must emphasize, however, that although andragogy initially sought its identity
by detaching itself from pedagogy (the art and science of leading
children), adopting a broader view of pedagogical approaches, we find common
points between learner-centered andragogy and more contextualized
pedagogical approaches, to the point that some identify it as the “best
pedagogy”. However, it would be a mistake to ignore that, as
pedagogy, andragogy also folds out into a continuum of approaches ranging from
more structured tasks to most authentic contexts.

Almeida (2008), to whom we owe this understanding, retrieves Lindeman's text

(1926), one of the first to publish research results on adult education. He has
already highlighted common roots between andragogy and Dewey's thought, for
example, and in this, he is accompanied by Knowles (1998) and Kolb (1984),
two exponents in the andragogical discussion.

Concerning distance education in corporations, Kenski (2008) points out that

andragogy is "defined by the influence and incorporation of principles from
different theoretical and methodological currents - none of them unknown to
pedagogy". In addition to Dewey's "learning by doing", which points to an active
and participatory student model, the author also highlights Carl Rogers' thinking
about self-learning and the right of everyone to freedom to learn.

The main feature of adult learning would be the experience: "The most valuable
source in adult education is the learner's experience (...) Experience is the living
book of adult learner (...) The education adults will have very different
experiences from children's experiences and the autonomy of adults in their
learning process takes on very different outlines, although it is necessary to
create learning situations that favor the development of autonomy in
children” (Lindeman apud Almeida, 2008).

And, in the same text previously cited, Kenski (2008) reinforces the main focus
of andragogy as the “experience of the learning subject. It is assumed that, when
starting a course for its improvement or updating – especially those offered by
the companies in which they operate, in the training spaces, and in their corporate
universities –, they already have some training and professional experience. Also,
as an adult and responsible subject, he has values, practical knowledge, and is
aware of what he is looking for or what he wants to find in the course he is going
to take. Most of the time, his time is scarce and the motivation that leads him to
learn is linked to employability and the aspiration for promotions within the
company".

In the wake of Dewey, an entire school is based on the idea of experiential

learning. Kolb (1984) defines learning as "the process by which knowledge is
created through the transformation of experience", which is carried out basically
in four stages:
 a) concrete experience – experiencing reality through the perception of
impressions and sensations; it presupposes full involvement in new
experiences;

b) reflective observation – a reflection on what has been experienced; it

consists of thinking about the concrete experience from different
perspectives or schemes;

c) abstract conceptualization – understanding and formation of abstract

concepts and generalizations; it involves creating concepts that articulate
reflections and observations in logical theories;

d) active experimentation – applications of concepts and models in new

situations; it relates to the ability to make decisions and solve problems.

DeAquino (2007) discusses the role of the teacher in this cycle and lists
activities appropriate to each stage, among which we briefly cite:

a) direct experience – group problem solving; case studies; roleplays; field

visits; games; dynamics;

b) reflection on the experience – discussions in small or large groups;

preparation of reports;

c) generalization about the experience – summaries of what was seen

and accomplished; questions and answers;

d) application – planning of actions and attitudes; the practice of new skills

developed; discussion forums.

Kolb's model of experiential learning derives a theory of learning styles

(DeAquino, 2008), sometimes used in instructional design processes. However,
within the scope of this article, we have written the instructional design of an
online discipline in terms of the proposed learning activities according to the
experiential learning cycle described above.
Description of the experiment

The Specialization in Instructional Design for Distance Education is held in a

virtual learning environment, with five face-to-face meetings (bimonthly) and a
total workload of 380 hours.

The course structure provides that the sequence of each discipline is met
linearly, that is, students only dedicate themselves to one discipline at a time,
which in general is equivalent to four to five study units explored intensively
during a month.

Basing on the social constructivist approach, courses have a limited number of

students, using intensely the virtual learning environment for accessing content,
interact with peers, teachers, and pedagogical coordination, conducting
collaborative and self-learning activities.

The Creation Processes I discipline, already in its third edition, deals

with ID specification processes and tools, particularly scripts and storyboards. It
is expected that at the end of the course students will be able to:

• Analyze distance study units according to techno-pedagogical criteria,

interface design, and usability;

• Build storyboards of learning activities for course projects;

• Know specification tools for the development of learning activities;

• Specify the instructional design of a learning activity using ID tools.

Discipline is positioned in the curriculum after a block of foundation

disciplines and is complemented by the construction of text and
hypertext, of learning objects and usage patterns, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - Curriculum for the Specialization Course in Instructional Design for

Distance Learning (UFJF)
 Discipline CH
1. Concepts, the whiteness of the performance, and applications of 30
ID in online teaching
2. Pedagogical approaches and ID 30
3. Use of online distance learning tools 30
4. Methodology and analysis of the communication process 30
5. Planning and ID 30
6. Creation Process I (scripts and storyboards) 30
7. Construction of texts and hypertexts 30
8. Creation Process II (learning objects, use of SCORM standard) 30
9. Evaluation 30
10. ID and the monitoring and implementation of online courses 30
11. ID Seminar 40
12. Orientation of ID monograph 40

As it is an eminently practical discipline, the original ID is based on the activities

to be developed by the students individually, in small groups, and collectively.
Figure 2 reflects the main activities carried out according to the Kolb learning
cycle, as we describe below.

Figure 2 - Learning activities proposed for the discipline Creation Processes

I according to Kolb's learning cycle
To experience the diversity of pedagogical approaches, technological and
communication for online courses, students navigate freely tutorials, study units,
learning objects, and other online materials available in repositories
recommended for the educational activity. Students can also explore other titles
in addition to the recommended pre-selection, as long as access is available to
all other students in the class.

Direct experience with courses is followed by the reflective observation

stage. The students, organized in pairs, select a course for analysis. Based on
a script, the pairs examine, identify and justify their analysis regarding the
pedagogical, technological, and communicational aspects of the course
selected for experimentation, in terms of:

• level of use of the web (informational, supplementary, essential,

collaborative, or immersive);

• pedagogical approach (behaviorist, cognitivist, constructivist,

sociointeractivist);

• media used;

• type of interface (textual, graphic, semantic, social, intelligent);

• usability heuristics (according to Nielsen);

• nature of the ID (fixed, open, contextualized).

For abstract conceptualization, students use the basic texts of the discipline and
retrieve materials from the previous disciplines (texts, activities, discussions), so
that they can integrate the knowledge built over at least one semester of
studies, in the six previous disciplines (according to Figure 1).

In the same way, all the analysis scripts, the respective titles analyzed by the
pairs, and the teacher's feedback for the completed scripts, as well as a general
analysis of the group of courses examined, are available for a free consultation
and collective discussion in the forum.
The active experimentation stage takes place through the proposal to create a
new online course. This activity, carried out on an individual basis, is started in
the previous discipline “Instructional planning and design”, with a general
definition of the course proposal, and is complemented in the following
disciplines, until reaching the final monograph work.

In this discipline, the course is created in two stages of specification with scripts
or storyboards (initial specification and post-analysis review), carried out
individually by the students, under the guidance of the teacher, and following
templates in textual or graphic format, or another format freely chosen by the
students.

The experiential learning cycle is restarted with the last activity proposed for the
discipline, in which each student performed the cross-assessment of the online
course specified by another colleague, applying the same script for the analysis
of the initial activity.

The evaluation is multidimensional, covering the participation of students in

collective activities, the delivery of scripts, storyboards, and cross-evaluation.

Results

Online course creation implies decisions and actions for which students prepare
throughout the Specialization Course, but which in the specific discipline of
creating online courses need to be objective and implemented. Developing the
storyboard, for example, is for many students a turning point to test their skills
as instructional designers, articulating their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in
the pedagogical, technological, communicational, and organizational fields. In
this sense, starting the discipline through concrete experience with courses
created by others helps to reduce the anxiety that accompanies such a
challenge.
The possibility of observing and reflecting on a diversity of educational actions
contributed to broaden the students' perspective about the possibilities of online
education, since as a rule the students seem conditioned to their own
experiences or pedagogical preferences.

In the different editions of the discipline, there is a “discovery” of the breadth of

solutions made possible by online education. Students used to more
contextualized educational actions come to understand the potential and
limitations of more structured approaches. Students used to more direct
pedagogies (and already surprised by the active and participatory instructional
design of the specialization course they are taking) show satisfaction in finding
a known battlefield. The same can be said for the use of media, the types of
interface, and the nature of ID, among other aspects analyzed.

Such discoveries further strengthen the learning links between the students,
since it is clear to the group the multiplicity of experiences represented in the
community. This is portrayed by an intensification of discussions in the forum,
which become more branched and whose center shifts from teacher-student
communication to student-student communication.

Although the proposed activities follow temporal linearity, determined by the

academic calendar and the profile of the students (mostly involved in full-time
professional activities and with equally intensive family responsibilities), the
stages of the experiential learning cycle are mixed, since the environment
virtual allows the parallel exploration of the texts that support the discipline, as
well as the sharing and public discussion in the open forum for each unit.

We must also consider that the discussions in the forum provide not only
reflection and abstraction, but also the report of other experiences and even the
sharing of access links to educational actions developed by the students
themselves in their professional context, expanding the stage of concrete
experience.

The examination of basic texts makes more sense because it is closely related
to reflecting on experiences and directly subsidizing generalizations for practical
application. This is also evident in the discussions in the forum, regarding topics
on the readings, requests for complimentary bibliography, and
recommendations of related titles by the students themselves.

Publish and access results of partial stages of learning (scripts, storyboard

versions, cross-evaluations), as much as the feedback provided by the teacher
and other colleagues contribute to the collective and authentic construction of
knowledge linked to the real needs of the students, in addition to mirroring the
proposal for formative evaluation, in which assessment for learning is privileged,
rather than assessment of learning.

In terms of evaluating the design of the discipline itself, specific activity is

performed in the second study unit to provide contextualized adjustments
(during the execution of the discipline). Through asynchronous virtual activity
(via chat tool or instant messenger), students talk in real-time with the teacher
and with each other, answering some specific questions about their learning
and freely expressing their difficulties, suggestions, and comments.

With each new edition of the discipline, the ID incorporates students'

suggestions obtained from evaluations of the course as a whole or of the
discipline specifically. In these adjustments, the experiential learning model has
been preserved as the underlying proposal of the course or explicitly in specific
units of study.

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