Literature Review
Introduction
Developing an online learning system is a difficult
task. There are pedagogical
considerations you must make with the content as well as the medium. For my Advanced Design Seminar project, I am
looking to create a series of asynchronous lessons that will help high school
students design a set for a theatrical production. My goal in this project is to allow students
to grow as designers and critical thinkers and walk away with an example of a
design that they develop which shows that they have learned.
The works collected below pertain to the content that I will
cover, the medium, instructional design and the learning theories that will be
the basis of my design. These sources give insight into considerations that I
will make as I work my way from the earliest stages of development to the
uploading of instructional materials for use.
Content
The way I wanted to begin my journey in research and
development is by doing reading in the subject of interpreting a script. As a recent immigrant to theater production,
I needed to brush up in the subject matter.
With my fine art background, I understand the basic concepts of design
and composition but wanted to ensure that my approach was appropriate for the
stage. That led me to an article I found
in the in the Spring 2014 issue of Theater Design and Technology magazine. The article, written by Eric Appleton, seemed
to come in the same direction that I was coming in. As another professional that lacked the
formal training in technical theater, Appleton researched classical
perspectives on design and discussed key principles in getting meaning from a
script and applying those ideas to a set.
He quotes a book titled Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for
Reading plays by saying, “understanding the structure of a play will lead to
good story telling” (Appleton, 2014). I
find this statement very important as it gives a beginning to developing a
set. Of course you need to get concepts
as to time, place and mood of a script, but Appleton goes further by saying
that scripts should be read more like works of literature and that while
designers can interpret/add their own spin on concepts, that they should stay
true to the design as intended by the playwright. It is with that perspective that I would like
to keep my course focused on a traditional interpretation of set design as it
may be the clearest way for students to understand these concepts.
Learning Environment
As far as a learning environment to house my content, it
seems that e-Learning environments are advantageous for many reasons. In a reading about the use of simulation in
medicine, I found it fascinating how useful these constructs are in a real
world application. Through the use of simulations,
medical students feel that they are more prepared for situations and patients feel
less like they are being “practiced on, [as] clinical medicine is focusing more
on safety and quality than on bedside teaching and education”(Okuda et al.,
2009). Not only have the simulations led
to improvements in education, but the feelings of preparedness are also
increased. Moving into the realm of high
school, unsure students may feel less likely to participate if they are not
informed and creating a simulated environment may help to ease those feelings
of apprehension.
Virtual environments are effective in controlling the
feelings that students have toward classmates and situations they may encounter
in training environments. In an article
that discusses the integration of a business school in France, the author
states that before the use of the technology, French students did not work
together with culturally different classmates nor co mingle (Witte, 2014). This type of behavior is not productive,
especially for those in business and the use of the virtual learning
environment made it so that the students did not have the same predispositions
to their classmates in the virtual world that they had in the real world. In an article by Liz Falconer, research showed
how virtual environments make it so that learning situations can be created and
practical and ethical issues do not stand in the way of necessary learning
(Falconer, 2013). These things are
important to keep in mind when teaching about theater productions because the
entire process is collaborative and learning environments can lessen inhibition
and open students up to communicating more freely as well as coming into
situations that are otherwise difficult to create in real life.
Audience Consideration
In terms of the audience consideration, I was curious about
the current make up of the students that are going to be instructed, being that
the majority of them female. My concerns
were put to rest when I read an article about gender efficiency in online
learning. In it, the author says that
the cognitive abilities and the way information is retrieved in female students
is more advantageous than their male counterparts (Pohnl and Bogner, 2012).
Instructional Method
What also must be kept in consideration is the instructional
method that is used. Being that I would
say that design work goal oriented, I am excited a Rapid Prototyping Model, a
variation of the ADDIE model. In the
classis ADDIE model, students move through the steps of Analysis, Design,
Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (Boulet, 2009). In the original model, “they offer clear
guidance, emphasize…logic of design [and rely on two assumptions of the quality
of information and the assumption that there is expertise in leadership]”
(Boulet, 2009). Where I see the rapid
prototyping model succeed is that it stresses the importance of making a
working model and the evaluation and learning loop that would occur in the
testing of that model and making revisions.
Other positive traits of the model that will parlay into this theater
education is the amount of formative feedback that is likely to occur and the
communication skills that it encourages (Boulet, 2009).
Learning Theory
As far as a learning theory, I believe that a constructivist
approach is very appropriate in this field.
Being that the students are essentially coming to the table with little
to no formal training in this area, making content relatable to concepts that
they already understand is of definite value.
The “reflectivity, the process whereby a student becomes aware of how
their own thinking processes work” (Singh and Rajput, 2013) is useful in that
the metacognitive progression would help students become better designers.
Conclusively, I aim to utilize all of the principles and
concepts that are presented here in a way that is useful to my high school
student demographic. Making all of these concepts work should be a little
easier given the technology which will be used.
Boulet, Guy. (2009). Rapid Prototyping: an efficient way to collaboratively design and develop e-learning content.
Falconer, L. (2013). Situated Learning in Virtual
Simulations: Researching the Authentic Dimension in Virtual Worlds.Journal
of Interactive Learning Research,24(3), 285-300.
Luo, Y., Pan,
R. (., Choi, J. H., Mellish, L., & Strobel, J. (2011). Why Choose Online
Learning: Relationship of Existing Factors and Chronobiology. Journal of
Educational Computing Research, 45(4), 379-397.
Okuda, Y.,
Bryson, E. O., DeMaria, S., Jacobson, L., Quinones, J., Shen, B., et al.
(2009). The Utility Of Simulation In Medical Education: What Is The Evidence?.
Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine: A Journal of Translational and Personalized
Medicine, 76(4), 330-343.
Pöhnl, S., & Bogner, F. X.
(2012). Learning with Computer-Based Multimedia: Gender Effects on Efficiency.Journal
of Educational Computing Research, 47(4), 387-407.
Rosen, Y., & Salomon, G. (2007).
The Differential Learning Achievements of Construtivist Technology intesive
learning environments as compared with traditional ones: A meta analysis. Journal
of Educational Computing Reserach,36(1), 1-14.
Singh, D., & Rajput, P. (2013). Constructivism: A
Practical Guide For Training Colleges Teachers. International Journal Of
Educational Research & Technology, 4(4), 15-17.
Witte, A. (2014). Serious Games: A seminar Map for International Business Schools. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 77(1), 31-49.
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