ELearning/Course design/Learning activities/Application

Preinstruction | Content | Application | Assessment | Follow-through

All this is moot without application. - Aristotle

Engagement, practice, and application activities all serve to reinforce the learned content and, potentially, extend learning beyond correct or incorrect into the higher levels of analysis, evaluation and creation where new meaning is created and negotiated. When selecting activities, special attention needs to be directed at aligning them with the level and domain stated in the learning objectives. Many activities have wide application and can be designed to fit the need. Take the time to review this extensive list of possible activities and identify those that fit your purpose (learning objectives!).

Analysis

Generally, evaluating information as to its currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose, especially information obtained from the internet. Analysis is also applied to specific circumstances such as the results of experiments, case studies, current events, diagnosis, and identity (e.g., fingerprints, retinal scans). Document analysis can be text-based or a photo. In forensics, the item might be analyzed for handwriting or linguistic style. In linguistics, the document could be studied for style. In poetry, it could be an explication of a single work. A historical work could also be analyzed for historical learning.

Association

Associative learning is based on making connections between things such as actions, events, and outcomes. Pavlov's classical conditioning taught his dogs to associate the sound of a ringing bell with food. We associate a cloud-covered sky with rain. We associate exercise with health. In the educational setting, we can teach students that certain behaviors and methods are associated with successful outcomes. Procedures, guidelines, and problem solving models are examples. Diagnostics involve a high degree of associative learning, as do different forms of literature and music.

Blog

A "public" online journal that users can continuously update. They utilize a simple interface that makes it easy to construct, add audio, graphics, video, and weblinks. Additionally, readers can add comments to interact with the blogger and other readers. Most blogs on the internet are personal or journalistic. Blogs are being used in a variety of courses including health education, writing, student teaching, journalism, and economics.

Brain (2003) describes blogs this way:

A blog is normally a single page of entries. There may be archives of older entries, but the "main page" is the primary interest of visitors.
A blog is organized in reverse-chronological order, from most recent entry to least recent.
A blog is normally public -- the whole world can see it.
The entries in a blog usually come from a single author.
The entries in a blog are usually stream-of-consciousness. There is no particular order to them. For example, if I see a good link, I can throw it in my blog. The tools that most bloggers use make it incredibly easy to add entries to a blog any time they feel like it.

Find more information at How Blogs Work

Card sort

The term card sorting applies to a wide variety of activities involving the grouping and/or naming of objects or concepts. These may be represented on physical cards; virtual cards on computer screens; or photos in either physical or computer form. Occasionally, objects themselves may be sorted. Sorting can be used as practice for correctly grouping objects or concepts (e.g., plant classifications), or it can be used as a group method for building new classifications (e.g., website menu). Sorting provides a method for identifying relationships between:

Terminology (what people call things)
Relationships (proximity, similarity)
Categories (groups and their names)

Case study

Realistic problems and scenarios for students to explore, discuss and draw conclusions and, perhaps, even act on. Case studies generally review scenarios that have already taken place, decisions have been made, and results known. Cases may include real and imagined scenarios, critical incident analysis, case studies, vignettes, and anecdotal accounts. "Real-life problems are nearly always ill defined, where it is probable that no one answer will satisfy everyone and pat school' answers satisfy no one." (Brandon, 2004). Case studies are popular in law, business, medicine, and education.

Chaining

Seen when a series of responses is rewarded, eventually forming a complex behavior. Solving complex math problems can be chained where each step of the process is rewarded in some fashion (including a sense of mastery). Chaining can be seen in procedural learning, such as operating a microscope, baking a cake, and conducting an investigation.

Cognitive apprenticeship

A process of modeling desired thought processes and behaviors, followed by student practice and reflection (Quinn, 2005). Modeling not only demonstrates cognitive strategies, but also makes explicit the thought processes used to arrive at a product or solution. These thought processes include identifying and selecting alternatives, as well as demonstrating mistakes and recovering from them. Student practice may need to be simplified initially and gradually increased in true-to-life complexity. Reflection encompasses considering instructor feedback and metacognition (see Metacognitive activities below) regarding how their thinking is evolving to include the modeled processes.

Comprehension monitoring

Comprehension questions embedded within reading, videos, etc. to help the learner determine whether he or she understands the material.

1. Concept mapping (credit Wicked Problems)

Concept mapping

Organized in a manner similar to learning maps, concept mapping is a graphical tool for organizing and representing knowledge; a tool for visualizing conceptual understanding. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts (Novak & Cañas, 2008). Words on the line, referred to as linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between the two concepts.

Concepts are represented in a hierarchical fashion with the most inclusive, most general concepts at the top of the map and the more specific, less general concepts arranged hierarchically below. The hierarchical structure for a particular domain of knowledge also depends on the context in which that knowledge is being applied or considered. Therefore, it is best to construct concept maps with reference to some particular question we seek to answer (a focus question). The concept map may pertain to some situation or event that we are trying to understand through the organization of knowledge, thus providing the context for the concept map.

Another important characteristic of concept maps is the inclusion of cross-links. These are relationships or links between concepts in different segments or domains of the concept map. Cross-links help us see how a concept in one domain of knowledge represented on the map is related to a concept in another domain shown on the map. In the creation of new knowledge, cross-links often represent creative leaps on the part of the knowledge producer.

A final feature that may be added to concept maps is specific examples of events or objects that help to clarify the meaning of a given concept.

For specific instructions, see Wicked Problems

Constructive controversy

Essentially online debates, constructed controversy groups are made of four students divided into pairs, with one pair taking the "pro" position and the other the "con" position. It can be created in a discussion board, wiki, or blog. Here are two approaches.

Approach 1:

Pairs prepare their best case possible for their assigned position.
Pairs present their case to the opposing pair, beginning with the "con" position.
Pairs present rebuttals, again with the "con" position going first.
Group debriefs the activity by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the various issues, and when they may be appropriate in different circumstances.

Approach 2:

Pairs prepare their best case possible for their assigned position.
Pairs present their case to the opposing pair.
Period of open discussion in which the two sides argue forcefully and persuasively for their position while subjecting the opposing position to critical analysis. Rules of netiquette (online etiquette) are observed at all times.
Pairs reverse positions and argue for the opposing side.
The group drops all advocacy and comes to a consensus of their best judgment about the issue.

Decision scenario

The same as case study except that decisions are left to learners and feedback and/or consequences provided in response to those decisions. Students can also be asked to consider the possible or probable outcomes of their decision. Scenarios are constructed as "decision trees" and provide the opportunity for experimentation and rehearsal safe from physical, financial, or psychological risk.

Diary: Documenting process

Especially appropriate for creative endeavors, diaries (including visual diaries) provide a history of ideas and the process to be reviewed, enhanced and used. They serve as an anchor for thinking and working, without which one can lose site of why and how the project evolves. See also #Journaling. View a video on visual diaries.

Discussion

Courses that include online discussion forums maximize student learning in a number of ways, promote student involvement and feedback, and may inadvertently provide an outlet for students to voice their frustrations otherwise saved for program administrators (Markel, 2001). Keep in mind the recommendations regarding devising good discussion starters (see Creating Discussion Starters) and group size. Groups larger than 15 discourage interaction (see Learning Communities). Through discussion, students . . .

Are exposed to multiple perspectives
Practice expressing themselves clearly
Collaborate
Reflect on learning experiences
Learn from each other
Are more likely to think before expressing themselves
Extend learning derived from reading, listening, and viewing instruction

A number of researchers have pointed out that discussions are the least favored learning activity among students (Watkins, 2005; Hannon, et al., 2002; Hara, Bonk & Angeli, 2000) because, one, participants feel they don't learning anything additional from the activity, two, there is little interactivity taking place (serial monologues) and, three, the lack of involvement on the part of instructors. There are a number of ways to increase the quality and variety of student participation. A few examples:

Role Reactions. For discussions centered on reading and viewing assignments or current events, assign one or more individuals to react from a set of roles or perspectives.
- Person who will believe anything
- The advocate
- The naysayer
- The supportive non-believer
- The devil's advocate
- The author of the article
- The individual(s) at the center of the article/reading
- The challenger of presented facts
- The scientist who asks a lot of questions
- The politician looking for an angle
- The student who knows nothing other than what the article says
- The teacher who wants his or her students to learn from the article
- The web surfer who finds lots of related information on the internet

In the News (small groups). Ask students to locate a recent news article related to the topic, and post a 100 word summary and link to the article. Group members discuss the articles and select one to share with the full group (summary and link posted in a different discussion board). Ask all students to read and respond to at least one post.

Ask, Answer, Challenge, Refute. An approach to discussion that is also a learning game, created in a typical discussion forum or as a mobile application. Given a topic, subject, or case, participants post questions, answer questions, challenge answers, and present rebuttals to challenges for points. Adding different point values for facts, concepts, etc. adds complexity and engagement. Assigning scores can be accomplished by agreement of the players or, if they are unable to agree, by appeal to the instructors, a student "panel", or a vote of the whole class.
- Ask a question = +10 point
- Answer a question = +20 points
- Successfully challenge an answer = +40 points
- Unsuccessfully challenge an answer = -40 points
- Refute successfully = +40 points
- Refute unsuccessfully = -40 points

Learner-led Discussions. Students are taught how to lead the discussion forum early in the course. For each unit, the student discussion forum leader sends the instructor a list of the insights and questions generated by the forum. The instructor posts a response to all students in the forum. This procedure allows the forum to be student led while enabling the instructor to give qualitative feedback to students without undue added burden of time.

Elaboration

Establishing associations in memory between new information and previously acquired information (Dick, Carey & Carey, 2005). The more detailed the elaboration, the greater likelihood that learners will be able to recall it later.

Mental imagery (Robert's prose runs fast into the night . . .)
Analogies (the human brain is like a . . .)
Mnemonic devices (MAGIC MERV is used in nuclear safety operations to help technicians remember the eight parameters that must be controlled to ensure subcriticality of fissile material)
Paraphrasing (in your own words . . .)
Personal examples (asking students for personal examples related to the content aids learning and makes the subject more personally relevant)

Evaluation

Assessing information, writing samples, etc. against established criteria. Rubrics are the most common format for articulating criteria. Evaluation activities are especially important for assessing the value of information. See also peer review.

Experimentation

Any activity involving variables that are manipulated and the resulting outcomes observed, reported, and evaluated. We see this most often in the physical sciences like chemistry where chemicals are mixed and the results observed. Physical lab kits are available from a number of vendors, and there are web-based simulations available. This same approach can be used in social sciences such as psychology and sociology where the relationship between variables is already known. For example, population variables can be manipulated and the results represented. See also simulation.

Exploration

A free-form approach to searches where students are assigned to explore a physical or simulated environment for the purpose of observing for specific phenomena and recording them.

Fading: Backward

An expanding number of steps in a worked example are left for the learner to complete, beginning at the last steps and working backward. For example, a five-step problem is presented to the student with all but the last step completed, which the student finishes. A second example is presented with just the first three steps completed, requiring the student to complete the last two. Additional problems are presented until the student is completing the entire problem.


2. Backward fading (credit: Ruth Clark)

Fading: Whole task

As with backward fading, the learner undertakes an increasing number of steps with each new example, except that the order of student-performed steps moves from easiest to most difficult. This requires that task steps first be rank ordered in terms of difficulty, complexity, or other criteria.


3. Whole task fading

Feedback

Information about (1) the consequences of actions, and (2) the state of a system, product, or process compared to an ideal state as defined by standards, guidelines, and other criteria. Students can provide feedback for themselves and peers through the same process as instructor-provided feedback. See peer review below and the Feedback article under Teaching Online.

Feed forward

Guidance and suggestions for correcting or improving another's work for the next iteration or version. See the Feedback article.

Games

Learning games utilize facets of entertainment games in service of learning objectives. Games include goals, rules, feedback, outcomes, challenge or competition, and interaction within a setting or story. Historically, learning games have been used for lower-level objectives such as remembering and understanding (crossword puzzles, Jeopardy). However many gaming experts believe serious games are most useful for teaching higher level cognitive skills like analysis, critical evaluation, autonomy, decision-making, and teamwork (Whitton, 2010; Quinn, 2005). So called "mindless" games also have many cognitive benefits (Bavelier & Green, 2016).

Physically, playing action games over time increases activity in widely dispersed regions of the neocortex, including the dorsolateral PFC (sustaining attention), parietal cortex (task switching), and the cingulate cortex (self-monitoring).

Benefits

Current research is focused on neuroimaging during game play to discover how games rewire our brains to improve memory and cognitive functions (Bavelier & Green, 2016; Bilton, 2014). Research has repeatedly demonstrated the power of some games. Older adults who played NeuroRacer performed better at memory and attention tests. People who played first-person shooter games improved visual attention, mental reasoning, and decision-making skills. Laproscopic surgeons who played video games were 27% faster and made 37% fewer mistakes than nongamers. Working with second graders, Wexler et al. (2016) engaged students in a 5-minute brain-training game (priming) immediately before math or reading curricular content games, with increased performance. Doing three 20-minute brain training sessions per week for four months increased gains on school-administered math and reading tests compared to control classes.

"Video games are exceptionally good at building players’ spatial skills (which are themselves important not only for future careers in the STEM fields, but also because they aid in the here-and-now understanding of mathematics). It even appears to be the case that differences in the informal educations of boys and girls account for a large part of the gender gap in spatial skills. That is, boys play more video games and get more informal practice in mentally manipulating three-dimensional objects. One study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found that having girls spend time playing action video games nearly eliminated the difference in spatial cognition between the girls and their male counterparts. Video games are also excellent vehicles for developing the skill of inductive reasoning. Watch a young person learning his way around a new video game: He won’t get out the manual and read about it first. Instead, he’ll jump right into playing, figuring out the internal structure of the game as he goes. This process is the essence of the scientific method, and could be useful training for scientific thinking" (Paul, 2014).

So called "mindless games" (overpowering zombies, aliens, and the like) also change some aspects of cognition for the better. Individuals who regularly play action games demonstrate the following (Bavelier & Green, 2016):

Improved ability to focus on visual details
Heightened sensitivity to visual contrast
Increased ability to mentally rotate objects (imagine them from different perspectives)
Increased speed of multitasking (switching attention among tasks)
Faster reaction times (10% gain)
Increased ability to maintain attention
Increased ability to extract more visual, auditory, and other information about a task being performed
Increased cognitive flexibility (e.g., changing tactics when a tried-and-true tactic fails to work anymore)
Better decision-making under pressure

Bavelier & Green (2016) emphasize that obsessive play is not necessary to gain the benefits. They achieved significant results by asking subjects to game play about one hour a day, five days a week for several weeks.

Rules for building games

4. Challenge and skill in games

One of the most important aspects of games, according to learning game enthusiasts, is the experience of "flow" while playing well-designed games. Flow is a "state of complete absorption or engagement in an activity, with maximum immersion, presence, and arousal" (Killi, et al., 2012). Millard & Conesa (2009) provide a useful model (Figure 4) for the condition of flow. Other essential design details include (Bavelier & Green, 2016):

Careful pacing (beginning with a low number of zombies attacking and increase with play level)
Switching between focused and divided attention (appropriately switching between focusing on one zombie and scanning the action of all zombies)
Presenting new challenges, pushing players out of their comfort zone
Rewarding players on different time scales, promoting planning across different scales (seconds: defeating a single zombie, minutes: finishing a single excursion, hours: finishing a campaign, and days: finishing the entire game)
Customization for special audiences (slower pacing and less violence for elderly, teaching those with attention deficits to learn from their past experience, treating specific disorders such as lazy eye)

Creating games that teach entire content areas (e.g., diffusion theory) are exceedingly complex to create, requiring many development cycles. Enfield (2012) provides an excellent account of taking an existing game through six development cycles, and there were still more to complete. As such, they are not often affordable for low-volume use. Game-based learning is, however, more realistic when it is not designed to be stand-alone, but rather placed within the context of other activities so they foster and support reflection and the experiential learning cycle as a whole. Learning games can be of original design, copied from or modified existing games.

Gamer types

Beyond having fun and passing time, gamers play their games for a number of reasons, or rather, for a number of purposes. The kaleidoscopic variety of human personality and interest is reflected in the multiple-user video game arena (Bartle, 1996). "People have different reasons for playing your games; they don’t all play for the same reason you do."

5. Game player types (credit: Bartle, 1996)

Achievers regard points-gathering and rising in levels as their main goal, and all is ultimately subservient to this. They are interested in doing things to the game, ie. in acting on the world. Exploration is necessary only to find new sources of treasure, or improved ways of wringing points from it. Socialising is a relaxing method of discovering what other players know about the business of accumulating points, that their knowledge can be applied to the task of gaining riches. Killing is only necessary to eliminate rivals or people who get in the way, or to gain vast amounts of points.

Explorers delight in having the game expose its internal machinations to them. They are interested in having the game surprise them, ie. in interacting with the world. They try progressively esoteric actions in wild, out-of-the-way places, looking for interesting features (ie. bugs) and figuring out how things work.

Socializers are interested in people, and what they have to say. They are interested in interacting with other players. The game is merely a backdrop, a common ground where things happen to players. Inter-player relationships are important: empathising with people, sympathising, joking, entertaining, listening; even merely observing people play can be rewarding - seeing them grow as individuals, maturing over time.

Killers get their kicks from imposing themselves on others. They are interested in doing things to people, ie. acting on other players. This may be "nice", ie. busybody do-gooding, but few people practice such an approach because the rewards (a warm, cosy inner glow, apparently) aren't very substantial. Much more commonly, people attack other players with a view to killing off their personae (hence the name for this style of play). The more massive the distress caused, the greater the killer's joy at having caused it.

From a game design perspective, a particular game may attract one type over the others. However, if the game appeals strongly to one over others, the others will more likely lose interest. Over time, games that involve all types of players will remain in the market longer.

Game types

Types of games include:

Adventure. Players undertake a series of tasks or puzzles, interacting with the virtual world, engaging with other players, and more to achieve the game objective. A compelling narrative holds the plot together. Adventure games present a context for analysis, problem solving, lateral thinking, and teamwork.

Platform. Movement of players through a landscape, encountering obstacles and challengers, finding treasures, etc. with an overall goal in mind. These games are useful for developing eye-hand coordination, planning and strategizing, sequencing problem-solving steps, and ability to think quickly.

Puzzles. Problem-solving in many forms, including words, logic, math, verbal and numeracy skills. Example: Portal 2

Role Play. Multiple players in competition or collaboration to develop strategies, solve problems, and overcome obstacles. Role playing games provide a context for building collaboration skills, social interaction, negotiation, systems thinking, and strategy.

Shooter. Players move through a simulated environment using weapons to shoot at enemies. Moving through the environment requires some navigational capabilities. Bosch (2012) found that teenage shooter game players perform as well or better than interns in robotic surgery simulations, suggesting that such games may be a valuable training tool for future surgeons. Example: Half Life 2-3

Sports. Simulate taking part in a sporting event or tournament. Useful to teaching tactics, rules, thinking and making quick decisions. Example: Pro Evolution Soccer

Strategy. Players make strategic and tactical decisions within a scenario to meet the goal of the game. Movement of armies, progression through stages of development, management of resources, or creation of environments to achieve specific purposes. Useful for teaching planning, decision-making, testing hypotheses, strategic thinking, management skills, and experiencing the consequences of actions. Example: StarCraft2

Casual Games. Designed to be played in short bursts, chunked into many small levels that follow the same pattern. Can be created to serve most learning goals already discussed.

Bartle (1996) provides the following guidelines to emphasize, or favor, the type of players you are targeting, encouraging, and/or that fits with the subject/behaviors you are targeting. These strategies can be combined to encourage or discourage different styles of play.

To emphasize players:

add more communication facilities
add more player-on-player commands (eg. transitive ones like tickle or congratulate)
make communication facilities easy and intuitive
decrease the size of the world
increase the connectivity between game sections
maximise the number of simultaneous players

To emphasize the world of the game:

have only basic communication facilities
have few ways that players can do things to other players
make building facilities easy and intuitive
maximise the size of the world (ie. add breadth)
use only "rational" connections between game areas in most cases

To emphasize interacting with the game :

make help facilities produce vague information
produce cryptic hints when players appear stuck
maximise the effects of commands (ie. add depth)
lower the rewards for achievement
have only a shallow level/class system
produce amusing responses for amusing commands
edit all area descriptions for consistent atmosphere
limit the number of commands available in any one area

To emphasize acting on the game:

provide a game manual
include auto-map facilities
include auto-log facilities
raise the rewards for achievement
have an extensive level/class system
make commands be applicable wherever they might reasonably have meaning
have large puzzles, that take over an hour to complete

Game examples

Application of diffusion theory: Diffusion Simulation Game

The Small Business Game

from MIT Game Lab: A Slower Speed of Light

Multiple learning games built with Smartbuilder: Smartbuilder.com

Generalization

Occurs when a learner is able to select out generalized patterns from specific examples. Stories or case examples, for instance, can be separated into surface and structural features. Surface features might include names, places and the like while structural features may include problem structure and patterns of analysis. Card sorting is a game-like activity that can facilitate generalizing. The diagnosis of physical symptoms is also a form of generalizing.

Generating examples

A form of elaboration in which students are asked to produce personal and real-world examples of phenomenon, concepts, etc. Related to the subject matter under study. Generating examples make the subject matter come alive, more relevant, and also enhances the physical process of learning.

Generative note taking

6. Graphic organizer: Fishbone diagram

Learners add their own thoughts, reactions, and question to lecture and book notes. This activity is not recommended for novice learners because it forces split attention, adding to cognitive load. Advanced learners more familiar with the content are better able to integrate the two activities, especially when instructed to generate ideas, questions, etc.

Graphic organizer

A visual representation of knowledge that structures information into a pattern using labels. They represent thinking strategies and help learners structure their thinking by visualizing the organization and relationships of items, concepts, analysis, etc. They are useful tools for critical and creative thinking, organizing information, and understanding relationships. Venn diagrams, pie charts, process diagrams, and timelines are examples. Figure 6 is a Fishbone diagram, also called a cause-effect diagram or root cause analysis, used for identifying possible causes for a problem. See more examples of graphic organizers for student use.

Group projects

Any major assignment involving groups of 3 to 5 students. Refer to Group Learning in the Teaching online module.

In-basket exercise

An in-basket test or an in-basket exercise is used by companies and governments in hiring and promoting employees, but is also useful as an application activity. During the activity, learners receive a number of mails, telephone calls, documents and memos. They then set priorities, organize their working schedule accordingly and respond to mail and phone calls.

Interviewing

Interviewing other persons as a form of skill practice, differentiated from interviewing to obtain information.

Investigation

Conducting fact-finding inquiries. Researching and evaluating organizations and deciding which ones might be most useful in keeping current with the subject under study.

Joining organizations

Researching, applying for, and joining, relevant professional organizations associated with a profession serving as a gateway to real-life experience, exposure to working professionals, and associated activities.

Journaling

A form of personal reflection and sense-making on the meaning, implications, and personal reactions to subject matter under study. "How do I know what I think until I see what I've written?" Learning journals can provide a “live” picture of Learners' growing understanding of a subject or experience, demonstrate how learning is developing, keep a record of thoughts and ideas throughout a learning experience, help identify strengths, areas for improvement and preferences in learning. A learning journal helps learners to be reflective about their learning, meaning that a journal should not be a purely descriptive account of what we did but an opportunity to communicate with ourselves about our thinking processes: how and why we do what we do, and what we know think about what we did.

Manipulatives

Physical objects designed to be moved or arranged by hand as a means of developing motor skills, constructing physical representations, or understanding abstractions, especially in mathematics. Manipulatives can also be programmed to represent physical objects on the screen.

Memorization

Accomplished by repeated exposure to words, songs, facts, definitions and the like. Examples include flash cards, with the stimulus on the front and the correct answer on the back. Jeopardy-like games and self-tests are also good memorization tools.

An interesting twist on memorizing involves drawing the words and concepts we want to remember. Researchers have shown that drawing is a better memory aid than visualizing the words, writing a description of the physical characteristics of the word's meaning (designed to encourage deep-level encoding of the words), and more effective than looking at pictures of the words (Wammes et al., 2016). They attribute this advantage to, as we have repeatedly asserted, the integration of multiple brain processes working together. In this case, semantic, visual, and motor aspects of a memory trace.

Mental model building

We each have within us thousands of mental models – ranging from our understanding of dogs to how our senses work, to how the universe is constructed. In the beginning, our mental models are bare structures with little detail, and likely containing misconceptions. As our experience and understanding grow, they become more complex, refined, and accurate. Most of the time, these mental models, or schema, remain unconscious. However, they can be used as a learning tool when made explicit. As a form of metacognition, students can be assigned to creating and evolving their own personal mental models. See Learning theories for a full discussion of mental models.

Metacognitive activities

Metacognition is an important-sounding word for a very everyday process. We are thinking about our thinking, feelings, and behaviors. We 'metacognize' whenever we reflect upon our thinking process and knowledge. “It's something we do on a moment-to-moment basis. We reflect on our thoughts, feelings, judgments and decisions, assessing their accuracy and meaning.” This kind of introspection is crucial for making good decisions. Do I really want that bar of chocolate? Do I want to go out tonight? Will I enjoy it? How sure am I that I'm right? Is that really the correct answer? If we don't ask ourselves these questions as a kind of faint, ongoing, almost intuitive commentary in the back of our minds, we're not going to progress very smoothly through life.

Metacognition is also fundamental to our sense of self: to knowing who we are. Perhaps we only really know anyone when we understand how, as well as what, they think - and the same applies to knowing ourselves. How reliable are our thought processes? Are they an accurate reflection of reality?

As a metacognitive learning activity, we are asking learners to consider themselves in relation to the object of consideration. We see metacognition in several activities on this page, including comprehension monitoring, using diaries and journals, reflection.

Some important issues for your learners to consider:

How accurate is my understanding of the material I just reviewed? What parts do I have difficulty with?
Do I agree with everything I just read, saw, heard, or experienced? Is there something I question or disagree about?
How has this course impacted my thinking, values, etc.?
How do I see my beliefs and behaviors in relation to my technology use, gender, race, and age issues? Has my use of technology led to more superficial relationships? Do I show signs of gender bias, racism, or age bias? What do I want to do about it?

Metacognition training

Students, and people in general, tend to overestimate their own abilities. This can result in inflated expectations and disappointing outcomes. Casselman & Atwood (2017) found that students in a general chemistry course overestimated their scores on a midterm exam by an average of 11%, and the bottom quartile overestimated their scores by 25%.


1. Encouraging results for metacognitive training (credit: Casselman & Atwood, 2017)

The researchers provided a semester-long metacognitive training regimen to one group while another group served as the control. Students using the training regimen increased their performance by an average of 4%, and the bottom quartile improved by 10% compared to the control group. "The goal was to create a system that would help the student to better understand their ability so that by the time they get to the test, they will be ready."

The regimen consisted of weekly quizzes, with students predicting their scores prior to testing and feedback that identified topics each were struggling with. Students were then asked to prepare a personal study plan. Metacognitive training resulted in improved assessment performance on each subsequent midterm exam and on the American Chemical Society (ACS) general chemistry final exam (Figure 1 above).

Multimedia projects

More and more, people are sharing their lives by creating and posting multimedia messages including video, audio, animation, images, illustrations, and text. Witness the onslaught of YouTube, Vimeo, and other sharing sites. Cost has ceased to be an issue; there are now open source alternatives for virtually every type of task, including video recording and editing. Step-by-step tutorials are online and free. Consider three reasons for including a multimedia-production assignment to your list of learning activities (Ledonne, 2014):

Media production engages a variety of skills and learning styles. Learners who struggle to find the right words may excel at assembling images to illustrate their points.
Media production can deepen learner engagement in their topic. "Yes, you wrote a great paper. But what would it look like? What would it sound like?
Media productions are highly shareable long after grades are assigned. Not only are they more engaging to create than written assignments, but also to interesting to review.

Organizing

Structuring information so that it is more easily comprehended and accessed in memory. This can be done in small groups or individually, then compared and contrasted with other learners.

Grouping similar information together (creating categories). See #Word sort below for an example.
Developing graphic organizers (visualizing information). See #Graphic organizers above
Outlining content during a lecture of while reading. Research tell us that writing by hand encodes to memory much more effectively than typing.

Perceptual skills training

"It is possible to fast-forward a person's gut instinct both in physical fields, like flying an airplane, and more academic ones, like deciphering advanced chemical notation" (Carey, 2015). Accomplished by presenting multiple stimuli and asking the learner to identify the stimuli possessing certain patterns, or interpreting what the patterns mean. Patterns can involve sensory discrimination and also patterns of information. Examples include diagnosing diseases from symptoms, recognizing patterns of light and sound, including regression, sequencing, and labeling inherent in all classification systems.

Training for perceptual skill has so far come in the form of video game-like sessions in which learners must make split-second decisions based on what they see onscreen. An example:

8. You have two seconds to determine what the airplane is doing.

Reading an Airliner Instrument Panel "Reading the dials on an instrument panel are easy enough to read on their own, one at a time; reading them all at once is another skill entirely. It's more about reflexes and gut feeling, than reasoning. (Carey, 2015)" In a video-game like lesson, the student is presented the full panel with differing settings of each instrument and must decide quickly what the dials are saying. Below the panel are seven possibilities, such as "straight climb," "descending turn, and "level turn." A chime follows a correct answer while a burp and the correct answer follows errors. Fast paced and immediate feedback are the hallmarks. After one hour of training, novices could read the panel as accurately and quickly as pilots with an average of 1,000 flying hours.

Similar results are accomplished in the medical realm, including reading electrocardiograms, identifying rashes, and interpreting tissue samples. Another example:

Gallbladder Removal The preferred gallbladder removal procedure is to make a tiny incision in the skin and thread a laparoscope with a tiny camera into the cavity, then to guide the scope using camera images. These images are easy to misinterpret and injuries can result from mininterpretation. A University of Virginia experiment showed half the students short videos from real surgeries and required them to quickly decide which stage of surgery was pictured. The practice session lasted 30 minutes. The other half studied the videos as they wished, rewinding if they wanted. On the final exam testing their knowledge of the procedure, the perceptual learning group outperformed their peers four times over.

In computer science, the term 'pattern recognition' is often used synonymously with machine learning. Pattern recognition is an important element of Connectivism learning theory and expertise.

Peer interaction

Student-to-student interaction can - and should - serve both social and learning purposes. Research suggests that peer interaction is most effective when scaffolding is included to guide interactions (Merriënboer & Kirschner, 2007). Scaffolding can take the form of worked problems, structured questions, evaluation rubrics and more. Here we review a number of peer interactions, their purpose and best use, according to Merrill (2013).

Peer teaching mimics or duplicates instructor lectures, most often in the form of disseminating information. This form of learner interaction is the least effective form of interaction, just as it is with instructors. It may be an effective learning tool for the student presenter who compiles and conveys the information, but not for her audience. It is also time consuming for the course, especially when more valuable methods are available.

Peer sharing involves learners sharing prior relevant experiences with other learners. "Having students share relevant experience with one another early in the instruction is an appropriate way to provide this activation experience" (gaining attention and motivating students). Sharing activates previous knowledge while listening provides new vicarious experiences.

Peer discussion involves learners in a deliberation of concepts, meaning, and problem solving. Providing cases, scenarios, or worked examples, along with a set of constructed questions that require relevant processing helps learners construct appropriate mental models, learn to think critically, summarize, and arrive at conclusions.

Peer collaboration ask students to work together in small groups to solve problems. Here students apply what they have learned by solving appropriate problems, along with the necessary component skills, associated with the topic. Collaboration in problem solving is perhaps the most effective form of peer interaction.

Peer critique asks students to assess other students' work against established standards, especially rubrics, and providing constructive feedback. Constructive feedback requires that learners not only point our positive and negative instances, but also recommendations for improvement. Learning can be enhanced when individuals or groups review their feedback, and revise their work before submitting for grading. Peer critique best duplicates instructor grading when individual work is reviewed by 3-5 others, consistently demonstrating .80 or more correlation. Anonymous works and reviews help mitigate student concerns over privacy and standing in judgment of fellow students. See the Feedback article under Teaching Online.

Performance aids

Learners gain experience using and applying performance aids (job aids) introduced during content presentation. Performance aids can also serve as an intermediary step toward independent performance. See Content.

Portfolio

E-portfolios offer a framework within which students can personalize their learning experiences (student ownership of the e-portfolio and its contents leads to greater responsibility for learning); develop multimedia capabilities to support student-created media; and create representations of their learning experiences for different audiences. Moreover, unlike other assessment tools, e-portfolios enable students to represent their own learning as well as their interpretations of what Kathleen Yancey calls the multiple curricula within higher education: the delivered curriculum, which is defined by the faculty and described in the syllabus; the experienced curriculum, which is represented by what is actually practiced by the student in the classroom; and the lived curriculum, which is based on the individual student's cumulative learning to date. At least potentially, e-portfolios provide insight into the curriculum as students have both lived and experienced it (Chen & Light, 2010).

A 2014 survey of 400 employers (Hart Research, 2015) revealed that 80% viewed portfolios to be useful for judging applicant accomplishments, as opposed to 45% who viewed transcripts as useful.

9. Deliberate practice prevents plateauing.

Practice: Deliberate practice

Repeated performance focused on improving performance rather than achieving automaticity (Ericsson & Towne, 2010). Practice for improvement, deliberate practice involves counteracting automaticity by developing increasingly complex mental representations in order to attain higher levels of control over performance. The focus is on monitoring performance to identify and eliminate shortcomings and identify specific changes to increase overall performance. We see deliberate practice in race drivers, sports players, and anyone learning speed-reading. Without continued deliberate practice, performance automates and plateaus, foregoing further development.

Practice: Fluency building

Repeated performance that is aimed at behavioral fluency, the combination of accuracy plus speed of performance that characterizes defined competence (Binder, 1999). It is the ability to think, speak, or act correctly and without hesitation. Practice for automaticity can be seen in everyday activities such as driving or reading, and in business settings like customer service or light manufacturing, where the goal is to reach a level that is suitable, stable and second-nature. The focus here is on speed of execution and reduction of effort. Contrast this form of practice with deliberate practice.

Overlearning, practicing beyond the point of mastery, is inherent to fluency building. Watanabe et al. (2017) demonstrates that an extra 100% practice time beyond mastery (e.g., 30 minutes to mastery, 30 minutes of extra practice) results in significantly stronger performances in the long run. They also found that practicing two skills in quick succession causes interference, with the second task interfering with memory of the first task for regular learners, and the first task interfering with memory of the second task for overlearners. This interference was eliminated by adding 3.5 hours between the two learning tasks. The physical basis for this is that the brain has achieved maximum plasticity, thus ability to learn, after mastery and returns to a baseline state only after a period of time, 3.5 hours in this case as measured by balances between the neurotransmitters GABA (inhibitory) and glutamate (excitatory).

Fluency in physical tasks like medicine, sports, playing musical instruments, and complex manufacturing skills, involve motor, or muscle, memory, a form of implicit memory. Research (Schweightofer et al., 2011) has shown that learning different motor skills at the same time is more effective for long-term retention than learning them sequentially. Sequential learning is faster but forgotten easier whereas learning multiple skills simultaneously, by continually switching from learning one task to another, is slower but retained longer in long-term memory. Another piece of research (Howard et al., 2015) tells us that task learning should not be chunked too finely, as specific motor memories are affected by both antecedent and subsequent (lead-in and follow-through) actions. Tennis, golf, and batting swings, for example, are better learned by following through after the ball has been hit (in addition to other benefits). This research also suggests that learning is enhanced by varying the antecedent and subsequent actions as a means of learning flexible responding.

In a similar vein, practice involving subtle changes in routine (increased sensorimotor variability), such as varying time intervals or changing the pressure required to trigger an action, increase the rate of learning by as much as 100% (Wymbs et al., 2016). "Modifications need to be slight from practice session to session, with individuals having to constantly adjust their performance despite not being aware of the subtle modifications." Interestingly, the route to this improved learning rate is the process of memory recall and reconsolidation in which each new (modified) session adds to previous learning and resulting in a greater repertoire of responses.

Perceptual learning (e.g., audio, visual discrimination) often requires extensive practice within a day for performance to improve across days. This suggests that the requisite practice for durable perceptual learning is integrated throughout each day. Little et al., (2017) found that practice at these skills require longer periods of practice (massed training) without breaks than other types of skills. "When learning a new perceptual skill, you can waste a lot of time and effort, to little benefit, if you take even a 30-minute break before you have practiced enough." Their experiment, utilizing auditory discrimination tasks, showed that the most effective learning took place for those who practiced for 40 minutes straight. It also showed that subjects did not retain what they learned in a 40-minute practice session if that session was interrupted in the middle by a 30-minute break.

Digital feedback, in the form of audio and video recordings, has been shown to increase the speed of learning and the confidence of learners performing physical and interpersonal tasks, such a patient interactions and procedures (Strand et al., 2017).

Practice: Multitasking

Fluency building specifically aimed at increasing the speed and smoothness at which the individual moves between tasks. Although research has demonstrated that multitasking is inefficient and error-prone, other research shows promise in developing skill at multi-tasking. Refer to the Multitasking brain in the Physical basis of learning article for the factors that affect multitasking abilities.

Training for Multitasking

Researchers are coming to believe that multitasking can be improved through training. Dux, et. al. (2009) showed that repeated behavioral sessions over a period of weeks reduced reaction times by as much as ninety percent without a loss of accuracy. They found that the gain in efficiency comes from a decreased reliance on brain regions responsible for cognitive control and attention. In other words, as task proficiency increased, the executive control centers of the strategic network reduced their oversight function, allowing a more intuitive performance – in the same fashion as we see with expertise, in an earlier section.

Ie, et. al. (2012) used a technique called “state mindfulness induction,” a form of cognitive flexibility training, to promote tolerance of ambiguity, and a heuristic thinking style (as opposed to an algorithmic style). The 20-minute induction training had no significant impact, but the researchers did find a significant correlation between trait mindfulness (a dispositional tendency) and multitasking performance. They suggest that additional research into cognitive flexibility training will prove fruitful.

More recently, Bier et al. (2014) have found that the type of training significantly impacts attentional control capacities in older adults. Forty-eight seniors were randomly assigned to one of three training regimens:

Single training involved practicing a single task
Fixed training asked participants to practice two tasks simultaneously, devoting equal attention to each (50:50)
Variable training asked participants to vary the attention devoted to the two tasks, 20:80 to 50:50 to 80:20

Only the variable group was later able to vary their attention between tasks, while the fixed group could not. Thus, training for multitasking using a variable schedule had the desired impact.

Practice: Retrieval

A study method in which students write down what they remember about what they have just read. Students who use this method score significantly higher on later tests than those who study repeatedly or create concept maps (Belluck, 2011).

Practice: Tests

Ungraded tests and quizzes constructed similarly to actual tests in which students receive immediate feedback and scoring. Generally, students are allowed to take practice tests as often as they choose. Evidence suggests that practicing with unpredictable (random) items results in significantly higher scores than ordered items(Basak & O'Connel, 2016). Randomness within categories provides the same benefit.

Presentation

Presenting the results of an assignment to the entire class or small group. Presentations typically add visual and multimedia support to an audio narrative. Online, presentations can be conducted live via Skype, Collaborate or other synchronous tool, or as a recorded event published to a website for viewing by others. According to Merrill (2013), "having peers present information is perhaps the least effective form of peer interaction, much as having a teacher dispense information is perhaps the most ineffective form of teaching." See also Teaching, below.

Production

Require that students create a product for the assignment perhaps in the medium of their choice (written paper, slideshow, multimedia, or video). Provide rubrics to help them accomplish what you want.

Publication

Ask students to write or produce artifacts as if they intended to submit them to a publisher, agent, or other business. Submitting or editing articles in Wikipedia is an increasingly popular task.

Real-world tasks

Assignments and practices that duplicate tasks carried out by workers in the particular profession or line of work. Real-world tasks make learning personally relevant.

Reflection

The process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective. According to Johnson et al. (1998), "Students do not learn from experiences that they do not reflect on." Reflection is central to understanding the experiential learning process (Boyd & Fales, 1983). Guided group reflection is also very effective, generally termed group processing. See also Journaling. Boerboom et al. (2011) describe four levels of reflection, revised here to apply generally:

Descriptive writing: Not reflective, but merely reporting events with no attempt to analyze.
Descriptive reflection: Providing reasons (based on personal judgment) for events or actions, but only in a reportive and superficial way.
Dialogic reflection: Demonstrating a form of discourse, mulling over reasons for events or actions. Also exploring alternative methods of action.
Critical reflection: Taking account of the (socio-political) context in which the events took place and decisions were made.
Rehearsal - Practically speaking, rehearsal is similar to memorization, although rehearsal most often involves multiple skills applied at the same time. Rehearsal assists the encoding and retrieval of information that is not easily structured or elaborated.
Reciting a poem or story
Rehearsing a play

Resource list

Creating original resource lists, centered on a particular topic, for use and critique by other course students and other interested individuals. Provides excellent practice for correctly formatting sources, and provides a valuable resource outside the course.

Role play

Creating incomplete scenarios involving characters with relevant characteristics, and asking students to perform these roles, interacting with others as they continue developing the scenario to an abbreviated end. Role playing can be used to deepen the analysis of a work of fiction, to illustrate case studies and scenarios, and to learn more intimately about different historical periods. By directly immersing themselves in a situation, the performers come to appreciate the complex experiences of the characters they are portraying. This is a very hands-on form of pedagogy quite unlike listening to a teacher give information or watching a documentary, both of which situate learners in a passive condition (Bender, 2005).

Self-assessment

Assessing one's own work against a set of standards, generally expressed as a rubric. A form of metacognition, self-assessment should always be focused on improvement rather than grading. It fosters deeper understanding of expectations, independence, objectivity, learning strategies and a host of other benefits (RMIT University, 2008).

Self-test

The same as practice tests, except that students create their own questions to be answered. Especially effective as a collaborative activity in which groups pool their questions and discuss the results.

Social media

Few people have failed to notice the growing presence of social media in our lives (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Redit, Pinterest, etc.). While there are a multitude of formulations, the essence of social media is that content is authored, critiqued, and reconfigured (produsage, the production and reusage of knowledge) by a mass of users (Selwyn, 2012). Its communication model is many-to-many as opposed to the one-to-many of publishing and broadcast media. Social media users go online to share and rate, mash-up and remix, friend and trend. It is an increasingly important context in which individuals live their everyday lives. Selwyn and others ask if using this new media in education is essential to connect or reconnect with students to reach students where they are.

Using social media within educational experiences can take different forms.

Allow students to use texting or Twitter to carry out discussions, bringing classroom issues into the larger scope of the learners' everyday activities rather than being reserved for isolated learning sessions.

Ask students to search social media outlets for specific issues and identify common themes, opinions, biases, trends, etc. While not scientifically valid samples, social media users do provide a large sample set from which to "dive for data."

Allow students to complete portions of or full assignments through the use of media outlets such as YouTube, Pearltrees, Foursquare, Tumbler, Skype, MySpace, Flickr, etc. You may have to settle on a few options to make it manageable. We've said it before: if writing skills are not a central issue, there is no law that says homework must be text only.

Appropriate caution is due because research tells us that most users of social media fail to apply creativity in its use, leading to a "low-bandwidth exchange" of information and knowledge. As with other learning activities, the use of social media must be planned, orchestrated, and coached.

A 2014 survey of U.S. adults (Duggan et. al., 2015) revealed that use of social media continues to grow:

Facebook: 71% use the platform (unchanged from 2013) Notable: 56% of online older adults
Pinterest: 28% (up from 21%) Notable: 42% of online women and 13% of online men
LinkedIn: 28% (up from 22%) Notable: 50% of online college graduates
Instagram: 26% (up from 17%) Notable: 50% of online 18-29 year-olds; 49% of all users visit the site daily
Twitter: 23% (up from 18%)

Team-based learning

An approach to applying concepts, based on self-managing learning teams. Used extensively in medical education, the approach can be applied to a wide variety of subjects. The basic implementation (Parmelee & Michaelsen, 2010):

Course members are organized into permanent groups for the entire course. Online, teams are assigned their own discussion areas and chat rooms.

Team readiness

Students are assigned study materials.

They individually complete a short (typically 20 questions for a 2 week module) multiple-choice test over the content and concepts from the study materials.

Students together complete the same test as a group, coming to consensus on each question.

Once the team test is completed, students receive immediate feedback. All members receive the group score.

Groups can then submit evidence-based appeals if they feel they can make valid arguments for their answers.

Responding to appeals can be accomplished in two ways: The instructor can respond with a short audio or video lecture clarifying and explaining the correct answer, or discussion can take place between groups about why the selected correct answers are the best, with the instructor as moderator.

Application exercises

The task or problem is presented by the instructor via text, audio, and/or video, along with any worksheets to aid the process.

Decision options can be presented, or remain open-ended.

Team discussion and arrival at a team decision using their discussion boards or chat rooms.

The groups report their decisions; results are tabulated and reported back to all.

Discussion takes place between teams in a dedicated discussion board or chat room.

Teams can challenge each other's decisions, defend their own thinking and examine other teams' as well as their own decision making process. The discussion often focuses on the thinking behind the decisions rather than the correctness of a given choice.

The instructor provides closure by reminding students of the salient points, general rules that may have emerged, points of view that were not considered, and any questions that may remain outstanding. This step is essential for reinforcing what has been learned.

Decision artifacts such as completed worksheets can be submitted for grading.

For more information about the team-based learning method, see the website: Team Based Learning

Web quest

An inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. Students are typically provided a set of questions or issues to research, which they record and report on. Quests are most valuable when combined with analysis and evaluation associated with information literacy. They can be conducted individually or in teams.

Wiki

A website which allows its users to add, modify, or delete its content via a web browser. Most LMS's provide a wiki application for enrolled students. It is especially useful for group projects in which members collaboratively build content. Wikis are also ideal for others to review and comment on the original work, creating a knowledge-building dialog among learners, although wikis can also be shared with the public.

Word sort (Vocabulary)

Word Sort is a strategy that helps students learn and better remember new vocabulary. Students work in small groups, with each group given an envelope containing key terms on separate slips of paper. Students are instructed to discuss what they think the words mean and then organize them into different categories based on what they think the relationships among the words might be. The strategy was developed for use in science courses, where terms have more precise meanings and fit more readily into categories. Students do this initial sort before reading about the terms or hearing them defined and discussed in lecture. After exposure to the words in the text or lecture, students get back into their groups and re-sort the words, comparing their new arrangements with the ones they first constructed. If students work with the terms and their relationships before being given their definitions and relationships, they are forced to draw on their prior knowledge and experience.

A lot of iterations of the basic strategy can be used. For example, individual students can be given the collection of terms and told to define and relate them after having done the reading as a homework assignment. Before turning their work in for some modest number of points, students might share with other students in a small group what they’ve done. Or the instructor might use a particularly good categorization in a final review of the material or position that chunk of content with what’s to be learned next.

Writing

A basic form of communication to others and the self, writing makes explicit and organizes the flow of thought coursing through our minds. As a form of expression, writing has a purpose. While there are many reasons for writing, the most common forms of academic writing include (Wasko, 2012):

Narrative writing (story telling) - narratives usually progress chronologically, and must have a clear beginning, middle and end.
Descriptive writing (painting a picture with words) - the goal is to create an accurate mental image within the reader of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and other sensations experienced within a scene.
Expository writing - writing that explains or informs, perhaps the most common form of writing in the academic setting.
Persuasive writing - seeks to convince the reader of a particular position or opinion. In many ways it's the most difficult to do well because it requires knowledge of the subject, strong convictions, logical thinking, and technical skill.

Arlene Barry (2012) of the University of Kansas has shown that student trips to museums (art, historical, natural, presidential) can be an effective tool for learners normally disengaged in reading and writing. It can also apply to subjects as varied as math, science, social sciences, foreign languages and, of course, English. "It was often very difficult to get those students to be interested at all in reading and writing. I found as I started using artworks with kids who were frozen in reading and writing, it was a way to get them motivated and taking part in exercises like describing the picture, what the people in it are feeling, if they would like to go to that place and so many other things" (in Krings, 2014). The association of art and literacy is a way for instructors to break away from over-reliance on textbooks. "We're going to have more and more students struggling with the text. There's not only one way to learn. We as educators need to use multimodal experiences to reach all students in a more holistic way."

From Nate Kreuter (2013):

"Writing is an act that refuses to be efficient. This is the strength of writing, not its liability. We make new connections and learn what we want to say, even make new discoveries, in the act of writing itself. I am wary of universals, but 30 years of research into the cognitive act of writing shows that we discover new information when we write. This holds true in every discipline, from the humanities to the hard sciences. The "inefficiency" of writing is that these acts of cognitive discovery that occur during the act of writing can make the act itself halting and non-linear. Unlike many of our professional tasks, it can be maddeningly impossible to predict the time we need to complete a particular writing task. Some days the discoveries and words roll out, and on other days they must be wrenched forth."