Topic 19

PRINCIPLES IN SELECTING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS BASED ON THEIR APPROPRIATENESS

Objective

After completing this topic, you shall be able to:

1. select instructional materials or educational technologies base on

the SECTIONS Model that will be appropriate in presenting topic
or lesson.

Introduction

Topic 18 exposed you to the integration of technology in teaching and learning. A list of various types of
learning resources found in the Internet is also presented to help you enhance your learning. In
connection with the previous topic, discussions in Topic 19 will help you decide on appropriate
Instructional Materials or Education Technology, either traditional or technology based, that
complements with the lessons you are going to discuss and the type of learners that you have. The
discussions will also guide you in considering various aspects in utilizing Instructional Materials.

To help you with that, I will present to you a model for selection of instructional material or educational
technology. There are many other literatures regarding the principles of selection of educational
technology, what I am going to present to you is the SECTIONS model as stated by A.W. (Tony) Bates
(2015) in his Book entitle “Teaching in a Digital Age” specifically in “Chapter 8: Choosing and using media
in education: the SECTIONS model. Having the acronym SECTIONS, it would be easier for you to
remember the appropriate way of selecting instructional materials or educational technology. So be
ready and read this module so that you can answer the activity at the end of this topic.

The SECTIONS Model

The acronym SECTIONS stands for:

S – Students
E – Ease of Use
C – Cost/Time
T – Teaching Functions
I – Interaction
O – Organizational Issues
N - Networking
S – Security and Privacy

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S – Students

 Student demographics
You should consider the diversity of your students. Think that your students have
different economic, religious, cultural and educational backgrounds. The instructional
materials to be used should be inclusive to diverse type of learners.

 Access
You should consider the availability and affordability of the materials to the students. If
it is not convenient and affordable, the students will lose its interest and will not learn
from it.
For example, you cannot let your students watch a video on YouTube when you do not
have computer and internet connection in your school or most of your students do not
have computer and Internet access in their homes. The tendency is that the students
will not watch the video thereby they learning from it will be difficult.

 Differences how students learn

You should know what type of learners you are dealing with. Are they visual learners,
spatial, kinesthetic, auditory or combinations of those. Or do they have learning
impairments?

Make sure that the instruction materials being used does not only cater to the dominant
learning style of the class. It must also consider other types of learners.

E – Ease of Use

You may consider answering these questions in choosing instructional materials?

 Is it easy to use?
 Is it reliable?
 Is it easy to maintain or update?
 Do you have enough technical and professional support?
 Is it beneficial to your way of teaching?
 What are the risks in using it?

C – Cost/Time

In the past, cost is a major consideration in selecting instructional materials. This was
lessened due to the advent development of modern technology such as:

 Smart phones – which allows text, audio and video to be both created and
transmitted by end user at a low cost.
 Internet – allows open source software, printed materials, ebooks, audio and video
to be downloaded for free.

What you have to do is to choose from this wide range of instructional materials and
technologies that fits your teaching styles, relevant to the learning content and
appropriate for varied type of learners.

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T – Teaching Functions

As a teacher you must consider whether the instructional materials you will choose:

 Cater to the learning needs of your students

 Appropriate to the learning content covered
 Relevant towards the achievement of the intended learning outcomes
 Supplement the teaching strategies you are going to use
 Effective in developing skills of the students

I – Interaction

You must consider how different instructional materials facilitate student interaction.
There are three interactive characteristics of instructional technology:

 Inherent interactivity – it automatically push learners to respond. Example:

Behaviorist computer-based learning.
 Designed interactivity – an activity is designed to enable students to respond.
Example: Providing a comment box to blog that is posted to allow students to share
their idea or disagreement to the contents of the blog.
 User-generated interaction – end user voluntarily interact with the material.
Example: A student may write a reflection to film showed in the class without being
told by the teacher to do so.

O – Organizational Issues

The selection of instructional materials should also consider organizational issues such
as:

 The structure of teaching activities – In some institutions, they already structured

the learning activities for the students. This gives teachers little academic freedom
in selecting instructional materials.
 Instructional and technology services – Some institutions have limited affordances
to such technologies like in the public schools.
 Institutional support – Does the institution provides support by allocating
appropriate budget for the acquisition of instructional materials.

N - Networking

The instructional material you may select may also suggest the students to
communicate with other learners, subject specialists, relevant people in the community
and professionals in the field through social media sites such as:
 blogs
 Facebook
 LinkedIn
 Google Hangouts

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 S – Security and Privacy

Institutions want to eliminate the possibility of their students being harassed and bullied
online because they want to protect their security and privacy. Institutions can
effectively manage students’ security and privacy by creating an online environment
that is strictly controlled. In this environment, students can freely share their opinions
without the fear of being harassed or bullied.

Reference:

Bates, A.W. (Tony) (2015). Chapter 8: choosing and using media in education: the sections model.
Teaching in a digital age. Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International.
Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/9-pedagogical-differences-
between-media/

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