Final Group Narrative

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Instructional Strategies and Learning Theories Creating an environment where students are encouraged to actively participate in the educational process and take a dynamic and energetic role in their education should be a priority for every teacher. In contrast to basic lectures where students may feel bored and disengaged from class, using computers can be a useful method to increase student participation and academic performance. One can argue that new and innovative methods are needed to capture and hold the attention of a technologically advance student population that some researchers call Millenials. Johnson(2008) suggests that Millenials(born after 1990) embrace technology as no other generation has, and use technology to develop and sustain their network of friends for 24 hour access . . .They are accustomed to immediacy and multitasking. Understanding the dynamics of this new generation, we developed an interactive web module to teach a lesson in Business Ethics. Our module includes digital videos, blogs, and several of Gagne’s Learning Theory principles. We used interactive media such as blogs and digital videos to enhance and reinforce our instruction. This type of instruction will maximize the benefits of dual coding learning theory. Andrews, R., Paivio, A., Sadoski, M.(2002) suggests that the dual coding theory indicated that the ways in which students make use of their aural and visual abilities differs from one

2 person to the next. Gagne’s Theory, like Bloom’s taxonomy, suggests that learning hierarchies provide a base for instruction sequencing. We applied several of Gagne’s learning principles to our lesson: 1. Gaining Attention(reception)-Understanding that capturing the full attention of students is a critical step in introducing new learning material, we used multimedia that includes a digital video and podcast to capture the students’ attention and get them motivated to learn. 2. Inform Learners of the Objectives(expectancy)—At the beginning of the lesson, on the instruction page, a list of the learning objectives are clearly listed. 3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning(retrieval)—To stimulate recall we would have students answer question about previous ethical experiences. 4. Presenting Stimulus(selective perception) Students are presented with a short video, a short case study/scenarios, and podcast to deliver content. To appeal to different learning styles, we used a variety of media—including text, graphics, audio narration, and video. 5. Providing Learning Guidance (semantic encoding)-- Guidance strategies used are case studies discussion, analogies, question and answer, and examples of ethics that are relative to students’ lives. During this stage we would provide immediate feedback to clarify any misunderstandings to accomplish our instructional goals.

3 6. Assessing Performance(retrieval)— Upon completing instructional modules, students will take an interactive multiple choice quiz to ascertain the level of mastery of the business ethics lesson. Utilizing videos was a way to capture the attention of the students. The video provided various scenarios that brought attention to ethics and laws, ethics and behavior, ethics in the workplace, ethics and technology and ethics in working relationship. This provided an opportunity for everyone to have first hand information about issues that may arise and to consider their reaction to the situation. According to Stewart, “scenario planning was most effective when carried out at face-to-face meetings with the expert, using a whiteboard to sketch out locations, objects, people, reports, tests and tasks” (Stewart, 2007). Developing an interactive web module about ethics will help mold and shape our students to become a productive parts of society. Technology and ethics are vital to these technologically advance students. They may provide information over the internet that could be harmful. Employers today are viewing individual’s MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking web pages as a resource in the hiring process. Some citizens have even put incriminating evidence online. It is important that students realize the choices he/she makes may cause them to be convicted of a criminal offense. When educators implement technology into their lesson plans it helps show their creativity. For many educators, it is a challenging task to promote positive ethical behavior. Providing students with real life situations helps

4 students identify more with the topic. “Authentic learning as a learning design takes many forms and has been shown to have many benefits for learners, especially for those students in online units and courses” (Herrington, Reeves, and Oliver, 2006, p. 235). Therefore, it is crucial that educators provide some time of relationship between ethics and student’s lives. This is one reason why our group used case scenarios. Our case scenarios allow students to think about ethical situations they may encounter and reflect on what their reaction might be within the circumstances. Ethics are extremely important for students to learn. In today’s society often times students have difficulties making constructive decisions throughout their lives. Even many companies like Enron/Arthur threaten the futures of entire organizations due to unethical behavior. Therefore, our team believed focusing our lesson on business ethics would be beneficial to our students. We presented videos, scenarios, questions, podcasts, and quizzes to help make our website more interactive and fun for our students. Our goal was to insure that all types of learners have an opportunity to learn from this lesson. We also wanted to gain and retain student’s attention during the lesson. We hope that our online, interactive lesson will have an effect on student’s ethical behavior.

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Andrews, R., Paivio, A., Sadoksi, M. (2002). Imagery and text--A dual coding theory of reading and writing / Response. British Journal of Educational Psychology,1 72, 147. Retrieved November 3, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com Cullen, R., Auria, C., The Relationship Between Ethnic Prejudice and Student Teaching Behavior.(2006) Retrieved on November 17, 2008 from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/ Haladyna, T. M., & Downing, S. M. (1993). How many options is enough for a multiple-choice test item? Educational and Psychological Measurement, 5, 999-1010. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com Herrington, I., Reeves, T. C., & Oliver, R. (2006). Authentic Tasks Online: A synergy among learner, task, and technology. 27, 2, 233-247. Retrieved on December 3, 2008 from http://proquest.umi.com Johnson, B. (2008, February). Responding to Generational Differences in Business Education: Challenges and Opportunities. Business Education Forum, 62(3), 24-27. Kruse, K.(n.d.) Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction: An Introduction. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art3_3.htm Stewart, T. M. (2007). Tools and techniques for scenario-based e-learning for New Zealand tertiary students: Prototype to adoption. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/stewart-t.pdf Wurster, S. (1998). Robert M. Gagne's Impact on Instructional Design Theory and Practice of the Future. Tech Trends, 43(2), 13. Retrieved November 3, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com