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Allen, B. S., & Otto, R. G. (1996). Media as lived
environments: the ecological psychology of educational
technology. In David H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of
research for educational communications and technology
(pp. 199-225). New York: Macmillan. (ISBN
0-02-864663-0).
Medialiv.sit
(144K Stuffit)
Excerpts
This chapter explores the metaphor of
media as lived environments. A medium can be considered an
environment to the extent that it supports both the
perception of opportunities for acting and some means for
acting. This ecological perspective can help us understand
how media users exercise their powers of perception,
mobility, and agency within the constraints imposed by
particular media technologies and within the conventions
established by various media cultures.
The chapter explores paradigms for
linking the work of ecological psychologists with the
concerns of researchers, designers, and developers who are
responsible for understanding and improving the
person-environment fit. It examines ways in which ecological
psychology might inform the design of products and systems
that are efficient in the sense that they promote wise use
of human cognitive resources and humane in the sense that
they enable authentic modes of being.
Allen, B. S., Chiero, R. T., &
Hoffman, R. P. (1995). Mapping more authentic multimedia
learning environments. In Brent G. Wilson
(Ed.), Constructivist
learning environments: Case studies in instructional design
(
pp. 179-190).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Educational Technology Publications. (ISBN
0-87778-290-3).
Authen.sit (80K Stuffit)
Excerpts
One of the more important problems facing
the multimedia industry is how to adapt past ideas about
systematic development of educational products to new
technologies of design and production. Consider the
remarkably robust and powerful "desktop" editing systems
that are dramatically increasing the ease with which
videographers can gather and manipulate moving images. Fast,
flexible, low-cost, quality video challenges several
assumptions that are embedded in traditional instructional
development models about the need to pre-define subject
matter and about the utility of elaborate specifications of
message detail (flowcharts, scripts, storyboards).
The complexity and cost of early, more
cumbersome, multimedia technology encouraged prudent
designers and developers to adopt postures that were in some
respects defensive; the hope was that pre-specifying content
as early as possible would make it easier and less expensive
to identify and correct design flaws. However, such
"top-down" design models can drive authenticity out of media
products by omitting representations of "undocumented" or
implicit knowledge and by eliminating information that might
support multiple interpretations (Allen, 1992). Among the
potential benefits of the technical revolutions in video and
multimedia is that they may enable designers to work closer
to the phenomena of interest and to make greater use of
strategies such as rapid prototyping and user-centered
design (Shneiderman, 1992; Tognazzini, 1992; Mack; 1992) by
permitting a controlled melding of subject-matter analysis,
documentation, and design.
This case study summarizes our efforts to
test in the crucible of quasi-commercial product development
a "bottom-up" model for developing multimedia software. To
accomplish this, we deliberately sought opportunities to
design instruction in the context of fluid, unstructured
events that contained informal educational opportunities
related to language and culture. The resulting product, a
multimedia visit to a "Chicano" party, was successful by
several standards: it was produced at low cost (less than
$30,000); has been favorably reviewed by faculty and
students (Cuevas, 1993); won a Cindy Award from the
Association of Visual Communicators; and is headed for
commercial publication.
Allen, B. S., & Hoffman, R. P.
(1993). Varied support for constructive activity in
hypermedia-based learning environments. In T. M. Duffy, D.
H. Jonasssen, & J. Lowyck (Eds.), Designing environments for constructive
learning: NATO Advanced Studies Institute, Series F:
Computer and Systems Sciences, Vol. 105, pp. 261-290. Heidelberg, FRG:
Springer-Verlag. (ISBN 3-540-56452-7)
Varlev.sit (64K Stuffit)
Excerpts
Since much future
learning will basically consist of interaction with large
computer data bases containing a wide variety of mediated
representations, a major challenge for constructivist
designers will be to provide learners of varied ability and
interests with means of support that are sufficient for
achieving their learning goals but which do not impose
unnecessary restrictions or constraints. Both hypermedia
technology and the zeitgeist of its advocate community favor
open, informational approaches that eschew explicit
statement of learning outcomes or prescription of
instructional strategies.
With developers in
ever-accelerating pursuit of "user-friendly" hypermedia
interfaces, there is a risk that in attempting to make
navigation "seamless" or "effortless," the meaning that
accompanies shifts of "place" in "hyperspace" will be lost.
When buttons become bland, generic designators, one has to
ask, "Why use a spatial metaphor for organization of
knowledge in the first place?" If movement between
information blocks is merely a matter of utility rather than
meaning--of dividing up information so that it will fit on
screens--then navigation gets reduced to a series of blind
and uninformed leaps.
Allen, B. S., Kompella, J., &
Hoffman, R. P. (1993). Computer-baseed curriculum mapping..
In Simonson, M. R., (Ed.), Proceedings of Selected Research Paper
Presentations at the 1993 Annual Convention of the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
Allen, B. S. (1994, April). A multiplicity of media:
Changing paradigms for working and learning in multimedia
environments. Educational Technology, 34(4), 33-34.
(ERIC No. EJ481851).
Mulmedia.sit
(32K Stuffit)
Excerpts
Do you use phrases such as "multimedia
environment," and "computer-based learning environment" in
place of older nomenclature such "computer-assisted
instruction," and "audio-visual learning?" Most developers
and consumers now seem to favor the "environment" label. But
why? Superficially, computer interfaces have changed only
slightly in the last decade: we still sit in front of a
glass panel coated with phosphors bombarded by electrons.
For all the talk about virtual reality, most of us still
type responses at a keyboard.
Is the notion of computer "environments"
merely a strategy for marketing multimedia peripherals or is
it a clue that we need to expand our thinking about mediated
learning? It's probably a clue: that we need to attend to
old audiovisual ideas that lurk in our thinking and that we
need to reexamine in particular our notion that multimedia
can be designed as a flow of "messages" to be conveyed by a
multiplicity of audiovisual "channels."
Allen, B. S. (1992). Constructive
criticisms. In T. M. Duffy, D. Jonnasen (Eds.),
Constructivism and the
technology of instruction: A conversation. Hilsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
(ISBN 0-8058-1272-5).
Constru.sit (48K Stuffit)
Excerpts
My purpose in this chapter is to broadly
examine the ideas in this book against the general
background of change that has overtaken instructional
development during the last decade. After a year of
reflection, I have come to the conclusion that I was
basically a constructivist in my earlier experience as an
educator and that I am returning from a long trip through
what I shall refer to in this essay as "classical
instructional design."
I don't regret my journey through
classical methods and theories. Much of what I have learned
along the way will still be useful. We are in transition;
the conversations in this book are just the beginning of an
inquiry. It will take a long time to test the assumptions
and proposals laid out in these pages and many years to
develop robust methods. I still have doubts, but it is good
to be home.
SemNet®
Knowledge Mapping Software
Faletti, J. (designer &
implementer), Fisher, K.M., Patterson, H.A., Lipson, J.I.,
Allen, B.S., Logan, J.D., & Thorton, R.M. (designers).
SemNet ® (Version 1.1, Macintosh computer
application). San Diego: SemNet Research Group.
SemNet Related
Downloads
Applications of SemNet®
Collaborative Thinking. SemNet supports
collaborative endeavors such as curriculum development by
teams of professionals or building a community of learners
among students. Collaboration leads to conversation which,
in conjunction with the skeletal frameworks of ideas that
serve as manipulable reference objects for discussion,
results in clarification of understanding and
consensus-building.
Diagnosing and Developing Cognitive
Skills. SemNet can help individuals develop systematic
thinking skills for organizing and comprehending denotative
factual knowledge. Instructors can diagnose many student
learning problems by examining nets they have
constructed.
Learning Tool. Students use SemNet to
support their own personal knowledge construction. It
provides scaffolding, guides organizing and thinking
strategies, and serves as an external extension of short
term memory.
Personal Organizer. Individuals use
SemNet to construct their family trees, keep track of their
committees, and analyze topics of interest to them such as
the structure of the organization in which they work.
Qualitative Research Tool. Interest in
SemNet as an educational tool grows steadily (see
bibliography). SemNet is also useful as a qualitative
research tool. See, for example: Weitzman, Eban A. &
Miles, Matthew B. (1995). Computer Programs for Qualitative
Data Analysis: A Software Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications. ISBN 0-8039-5537-5.
Study Notes / Professional Notes. SemNet
allows individuals to organize their ideas in an
interconnected framework and to share them with their
students or peers, at a level of specificity not attainable
in linear written or spoken language. It could be marketed
as a form of Study Notes.
Teaching Tool. Instructors use SemNet to
prepare their lectures, as a lecturing tool, and to provide
students with detailed study notes.
Text Companion. A semantic network
corresponding to a textbook can serve as a useful learning
aid. A masking feature makes SemNet a valuable study tool
that prompts integration of ideas. Ease of searching makes
SemNet a useful reference tool &endash; you can look up an
idea even when you can't remember its name, if you just know
something to which it may be connected.
History of SemNet Research Group & SemNet (R)
Software
The SemNet Research Group (SRG) was
formed at the University of California - Davis (UCD) in
1983. The SRG consisted of two Co-Directors: Kathleen M.
Fisher (then on the faculty in the Division of Biological
Sciences at UCD and in the School of Education and Graduate
Group in Mathematics & Science Education at UC -
Berkeley, and now at SDSU); and Joseph Faletti, who had
completed nine years of graduate study in computer and
cognitive science at UCB and had just joined the faculty at
UCD (Joe is now at SDSU and UCSD). Other members of the
design team included Joe Lipson , physicist and
internationally renown science educator (who was initially
with WICAT or the Worldwide Institute for Computer-Aided
Instruction in Utah and was subsequently with CSU-Chico);
Hugh Patterson, professor of anatomy (initially with the UCD
School of Medicine and now at UCSF Medical School); Robert
Thornton, botanist, UCD; and Carl Spring, educational
psychologist, UCD. The members of the SRG were drawn
together by their common interests in using cognitive
science and computer technology to improve science learning.
Jack Logan (Music, SDSU) and Brockenbrough Allen
(Educational Technology, SDSU) joined the SRG in 1989,
strengthening the SRG in multimedia design skills. Roger
Christianson (Biology, Southern Oregon State College) and
James Wandersee (Biology Education, Louisiana State
University) have become affiliated with SRG in recent years.
Software design began in 1983. The Group
began with a study strategy favored by Thornton: putting all
key ideas in a domain into a hat, pulling out any two at
once, and describing the relation between them. It shifted
easily from there to semantic network theory, which models
the way in which the human mind stores denotative factual
information in long term. The goal was to bring the power of
well-established cognitive theory to the aid of students
engaged in learning the semantically complex domain of
biology. Since it was being designed to help students master
complex content areas, the application had to be fast,
intuitive, and easy to use; a significant learning curve for
the software would be an intolerable added burden for the
student. Each design decision was guided by two concerns: Is
this the best thing for the student? Is this consistent with
cognitive theory and learning theory?
Software development began in 1986 on one
of the first MacPlus computers. SemNet was introduced into
the classroom in 1987 and about sixty faculty located around
the world were invited to beta test the software. Also in
1987, SemNet received third prize in Apple's 'Wheels of the
Mind' national software contest. Many new features were
added to the SemNet application on the basis of needs
identified by users in classrooms ranging from elementary
school to graduate school, in corporations such as Bank of
America, and in governmental entities such as the European
Common Market. The SRG began marketing the software in 1989.
In 1995, the marketing effort was terminated and the
software is now being disseminated via the World Wide Web
(http://apple.sdsu.edu/People/SemNet.html).
What the Research Shows. Although
initially designed to support biology learning, SemNet
proved to be a general purpose application suitable for
organizing knowledge about many different domains. Nets have
been constructed in such languages as Japanese, Spanish,
French, and German as well as English. Research has shown
that: students enjoy using SemNet; SemNet helps students
shift from rote to meaningful learning; after using SemNet,
students become more discriminating learners in their other
courses, focusing on main ideas and the links between ideas;
students using SemNet often acquire deeper understanding of
ideas than others; group construction of nets increases
student dialog, negotiation and understanding while
decreasing the instructor's grading burden;
instructor-generated nets provide valuable study tools in
large lecture courses; reviewing nets allows instructors to
identify & easily remediate a variety of learning
problems; and SemNet can be a valuable qualitative research
tool.
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