As some research by Trivette suggests, guided design may not be an effective system for foreign language courses. Upon consideration, I can see how guided design may not be a completely relevant system. Interaction and dialogue is encouraged while studying a language, but I think it involves more verbal practice and repetition of prepared content rather than problem solving. As the foreign language student progresses and is more able to form original, complete thoughts with a sufficient vocabulary, perhaps guided design can be weaved in to encourage the student to express themselves in various ways. For the instruction of the Chinese language, a possible guided design exercise could be presenting students with the scenario of visiting a Chinese home and asking the students to exchange greetings and display proper cultural etiquette.
Traditionally, group work in guided design probably took place in face to face classes. However programs such as Skype and Elluminate, which allow voice and video chat on the internet, provide improved opportunities for guided design in online learning. There is flexibility for group work to be done synchronously or asynchronously. Information is shared easily through email, blogs, and Google Docs to name just a few.
While group work is emphasized and reinforced in guided design, I think students must possess or acquire the necessary communication skills in order to thrive in a learning community. Online programs often inform students of netiquette which is particularly useful for the new online learner. The engineering program in Cascada's article sets a good example by incorporating The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People into its lessons to help students develop professional traits. I believe close observations and prompt feedback contribute to the success of groups. Suggestions can be made as needed on how to work productively in a group and special attention should be paid to students who are struggling. Introductory courses especially should be concerned with content as well as how students learn and apply the content.
References:
Casada, M. E., & DeShazer, J. A. (1995). Teaching professionalism, design, and communications to Engineering freshmen. In Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division (pp. 1381-1385). Anaheim, CA.
Trivette, C. M. (2005). Effectiveness of guided design learning strategy on the acquisition of adult problem-solving skills. Bridges 3(1).
I thought that the foreign language considerations for this method was interesting. Perhaps fluid communication is a pre-requisite skill to making the most of this instructional method. After all, for non-native speakers of any language, it is like trying to solve two-layers of problems at once! I remember that when I was taking a French Immersion course, I had to use as much of my creative and analytical mental energy in order to figure ways to convey the most mundane of conversation matters - never mind trying to solve a critical life or death survival scenario :)
ReplyDeleteGinny -
ReplyDeleteI love that you identify that part of this design process is paying attention to helping students learn the collaboration process. The online collaboration process in and of itself is different than a f2f process. These are all skills that transfer directly to the workplace. But so often students are thrown into group projects with little to no thought about how to help them through this.
Also I had to laugh reading both yours and Hyun-Duck's comments about the foreign language consideration. I agree that it could be a great tool for this once the student has a base. Hyun-Duck said that she had to use her "creative and analytical mental energy" in her French Immersion course. It reminded me of the summer I went and lived in Mexico. I could speak great classroom Spanish that went promptly out of my head the moment I had to actually problem solve and speak at the same time. Of course I have never been the best at multi-tasking so the problem might be my own!!!!!
Ginny,
ReplyDeleteThe story about the 9th grade physics class helps to show how important Guided Design is in education. The car didn't work best on the first try, but after the second try it was faster. Sometimes we learn best by what doesn't work. Then we figure out a way to make it work. That's what Guided Design is all about, in my opinion.
Hyun-Duck, I agree with your thought that the student should develop basic conversation skills, grammar, and vocabulary before engaging in more critical thinking. I've noticed that language books are more likely to present tangible terms like things in your home than abstract ideas such as feelings and mood. It does feel like jumping multiple hurdles to think creatively in a foreign language because we are probably more inclined to think first in our native tongue and then translating the thought.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the more difficult lessons for my Chinese language students to understand. I encourage them to conceptualize ideas in the language instead of try to translate it from what they know in English. Why is "meet" and "meat" pronounced the same but have completely different meanings? This kind of question comes up in Chinese as well. Each language has its own origin and evolution and you can't always explain why. I guess my point, if I can convince students to internalize the language, then guided design may yield more desirable results.
Ginny, good thinking about your prior course experiences and which subject areas this model might be suitable for. As you noted, the self-instruction component of the model would provide the opportunity for basic skill building, before branching off onto a group project piece.
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