Download Behaviorist proposal

Developing Skills to Create a Web Page:
A Behaviorist Study Proposal on an LDT Student
Submitted by Heidi Chang, Ami Mehta, and Jee Park
July 27, 2000
Ed 333A
Prof. Greeno
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I.
Learning Problem
I, Heidi Chang, am a new student in the LDT program, who is interested in learning
about how technology can be designed for improving learning. I am on leave from
my teaching position at an all girls’ private school so that I can devote my full
attention to my studies and to improving my technical skills. Technology is an
important part of my life for communicating with friends, family and colleagues over
e-mail, preparing lesson plans, letters, reports, presentations using MS Office,
researching information, purchasing items on the web, and creating newsletters for
organizations. I used technology on a regular basis in my classroom for student
assignments, developing grading and assessment tools, and communicating with
my students. My ease with using technology stems from my early introduction to
video games and use of a home computer, use of computers in school, and taking
classes with professors who integrated technology into their courses.
I have working knowledge of the computer and the Internet and feel comfortable
trouble shooting my own problems. Though I have difficulties in creating mental
models for technical terms related to my computer’s hardware and would have
trouble networking computers, I know that I could learn those ideas with some
guidance.
Currently, I am having trouble creating my personal web page using Dreamweaver.
Although there are many different web page development software programs
available, I chose Dreamweaver because I have seen the possibilities of the
software. Some of my classmates are already familiar with the software and I have
observed their processes in using the software as well as the pages and sites they
have produced. It seems to be the best choice for my purposes.
My learning problem is that I have minimal experience in using web design software
and no experience in creating one on my own. For two of my classes this summer,
I need to present my work in the form of a web report. Over the course of the
year, I will be putting together a portfolio for work done this year. I am concerned
about learning this skill, because I need it to participate in the virtual community of
LDT, as well as the greater group that use the web to communicate. I attended the
workshops offered by the educational computing support staff, but those are only
one two hour-long sessions, which only offer minimum assistance. I am having
difficulties understanding how to:
1. use Dreamweaver’s functions to design what I want, including links to my Email and to other sites,
2. post my web page to my web space,
3. edit my web page, and
4. determine a design structure and organization for my site.
One other factor that has exacerbated my learning problem is my in-room
connection. While it is possible for me to access Dreamweaver and to learn how to
set up my web page using computers in clusters, I like the convenience of working
in my room. After registering for my in-room connection, I spent nearly three
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weeks problem-solving with my Residential Computer Consultant about my lack of
connection. This unresolved problem made me feel disadvantaged and this was
mentally difficulty to overcome. Now that it has been resolved, I feel prepared and
mentally ready to learn how to design and create a working web page.
II.
Design
From a behaviorist perspective, we will examine Heidi's learning problems in light of
the software program, Dreamweaver, she is trying to learn. We will to identify
ways in which the "skill" of creating a web site can be viewed through learning
hierarchies.
Gagne suggests that learning hierarchies "identify a set of intellectual skills that are
ordered in a manner indicating substantial amounts of positive transfer from those
skills of lower positions to connected ones of higher positions". As stated in the
learning problem, Heidi is fairly proficient with the computer, knows how to browse
the Internet, and is familiar with other forms of technology to build presentations.
How can we use her current mental model to create a step by step learning process
to teach her Dreamweaver? What are the lowest level rules and the higher-order
rules that will ensure her mastery of web site creation? What is her learning style
and how does the Dreamweaver tutorial address various learning styles? We will
examine three types of learning proposed by Gagne, 1) Concept Learning, 2) Rulesbased Learning, and 3) Problem Solving. Let's take another look at the learning
problems and organize them into skills or concepts.
1.
Design
Creation
Concept
2.
Posting to
the web
site
Skill
3.
Editing
Skill
4.
Designing
Site
Structures
Concept
Based on Heidi's learning problem, she needs to learn an equal number of concepts
and skills. We will now examine the Dreamweaver Tutorial. There are sixteen
sections in the tutorial that teaches skills and concepts about the software.
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1.
Getting
Started
2.
Dreamweaver
Tutorial
3.
Dreamweaver
Basics
4.
Links and
Navigation
5.
Site
Management
6.
Formatting
Text
7.
Inserting
Images
8.
Creating
Tables
9.
Using Layers
10.
Using Frames
11.
Inserting
Media
12.
Using
Bahaviors
13.
Editing
HTML
14.
Templates &
Libraries
15.
Creating
Forms
16.
Customizing
Dreamweaver
Appendix
Keyboard
Shortcuts
Each section builds on the prior knowledge of the previous. There are many
prerequisites to learning this process that are never clearly stated in the tutorial.
For example, knowledge of HTML and understanding new terms such as links,
frames, layers, and behaviors. The Dreamweaver tutorial does, however, cater to
different levels of learners by dividing the learners up into three groups:
1. HTML and web design novices,
2. experienced web designers who are new to Dreamweaver, and
3. experienced web designers who are familiar with Dreamweaver
Applying Gagne’s Learning Styles
Concept Learning in Dreamweaver
Gagne describes concept learning as "learning to classify stimulus situations in
terms of abstracted properties like color, shape, position, number, and other." In
the case of Dreamweaver, using the software, design, and creating structures are
all concepts that require rationalization in terms of one another. These concepts
represent new terms and ways of thinking about technology.
Rule Learning in Dreamweaver
Another way to analyze the learning problem is by rules defined by Gagne as "the
acquisition of the ‘idea’ contained in such propositions as 'gases when heated'." A
rule is a chain of two or more concepts. The entire program requires the learner to
understand the relationship between each concept in the hierarchy. The learning
process is linear and requires the mastery of the first topic before moving onto the
next. Designing a web page(s) requires an understanding of the organization of
skills and concepts in relation to one another.
Problem Solving in Dreamweaver
Finally, becoming an expert at web design requires a great deal of problem solving.
Gagne explains that this form of learning is equivalent to "thinking out” a new rule
that combines previously learned rules. Concept and rule learning work very well
when the learning process is linear or straightforward. Problem solving or better
known as troubleshooting in Dreamweaver when the technology is responding in an
unfamiliar way. It is such situations that require the learner to draw on his/her
previous knowledge of technology solutions to identify and resolve the problem.
Learning Dreamweaver requires a clear understanding of skills, concepts, ideas,
and relationships between the same. Positive transfer can only occur when the
learner has mastered each step and then moved onto the next. The learner is also
required to use prior knowledge with technology to better understand how to
troubleshoot.
III.
Evidence of Learning
In order to solve Heidi’s problem of using the Internet as a means of
communicating her ideas, she must acquire a number of skills. She must learn how
to:
1. use Dreamweaver’s functions in order to create her pages,
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2. post my web page to my web space
3. edit her web pages, and
4. design the structure and organization for her the site.
The evidence to show that she has learned these skills can be broken down into
sets of smaller skills. For example, Heidi can demonstrate that she has learned
Dreamweaver’s functions by first being able to set up a site. Although
Dreamweaver allows for individual pages to be created, the underlying theory
behind the software is to encourage a mental model of the entire site as a series of
pages linked together. If Heidi begins the process of building her site by first
defining her site instead of simply creating one page after another, she will have
shown that she has acquired the mental model of a web site’s structure and
organization.
Although there are several elements that can be included on a web page, such as
graphics and animation, we will focus on two common ones: links to another web
page and an e-mail link. On any page of the site, Heidi can include links to other
pages either within her own site, an internal page, or to another page on the Web,
an external page. Linking to internal and external pages can be accomplished by
the same function of the software. However, the internal page link is named
differently than the external one. Whereas the external page requires a more
descriptive and particular address which begins with “http:///www…html”, the
internal page only needs the name she has given to the page as located in her site.
Simply put, it does not need the “http://www” that the external page requires. If
Heidi can effectively choose the correct naming protocol, she will have
demonstrated that she understands the difference between external and internal
pages, when to use the appropriate naming convention, and how to link to them.
The other feature that she may want to include on her page is a link that allows the
person viewing the page to send her email. Although she may achieve this by
writing HTML code, we will assume that she is unfamiliar with programming with
HTML. Dreamweaver is primarily menu-driven, icon-based software. In one of the
menus, it is possible to insert an e-mail link. A new window appears, prompting
her to insert a text message to prompt the user to send an email and to input her
email address. If she does this correctly, the text message she inserted will appear
underlined on the screen. If she is able to locate this option in the correct menu
and fill out the window correctly in order to create the underlined text message, she
will have demonstrated that she has learned how to create an e-mail link.
Heidi wants and is required to communicate her ideas on the Web and must learn
how to post her site in her web space. Assuming that she knows the address of her
web space, http://www.stanford.edu/~heidic, she must learn how to “FTP” her web
pages to this site. “FTP” is an acronym for “File Transfer Protocol”. If Heidi knows
the acronym, this in and of itself may indicate that she understands the process of
posting her pages. Although Dreamweaver has it’s own FTP function, we will
assume that Heidi wants to learn how to FTP any HTML files, not only the ones that
she has created in Dreamweaver. Hence, we will examine the process of learning
how to FTP using a general FTP program.
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In order to FTP, a number of steps must be done. First, she must login to the
Stanford network. We will assume that she knows how to do this, since she was
required to do so during orientation. Once she has logged in, she must then call up
the FTP software program. The program creates a window with several prompts
including a space to input a command to access her space as well as a space to
insert her username. The command to access her space is “transfer.stanford.edu”.
The command is logical and easy to remember. Once she has done input the
necessary information, she needs to locate the files that she wants to transfer as
well as choose the folder in her web space that she wants to put them in. We will
assume that she knows how to locate the files she created using Dreamweaver,
since she has prior knowledge and experience with computers and technology. The
folder to which she will transfer her pages is named appropriately, “WWW”. Hence,
if Heidi can correctly identify the true name for the acronym FTP and send the web
page files to the WWW folder in her web space, she will have shown that she has
learned how to post her pages on the web.
Heidi recognizes the possibility that her web site may have to be updated at some
point. Thus, she wants to learn how to edit her pages. We will assume that Heidi
knows that she can recall her web page files in Dreamweaver, as she would be able
to do with a document in a word processing program. Therefore, the true problem
may be her understanding or lack thereof of the dynamic nature of the web space
and that she has the ability to reload and rearrange her files in her web space.
Heidi may make the analogy of the hard drive of her computer to her space on the
web. The files on her hard drive can be arranged and updated to her liking.
Similarly, she can do the same with her web space. If she can articulate her
understanding of the analogy and explain it to someone else, it may show that she
understands the editing possibilities of her space. Furthermore, the editing and
updating of her web site will test her understanding of FTP, since she will need to
perform this skill in order to revise her site. If she is able to edit her site
successfully, it will reinforce the belief that she understands how to post her pages
on the Web.
As Heidi becomes more proficient and comfortable with building web sites, she may
focus on the look and feel of the sites. Designing the structure of her pages as well
as her entire site can be learned by creating a checklist of desirable features. There
is a plentitude of information about how humans interact with computers, appealing
colors and features, and other aspects of the design. Heidi could research and
synthesize the information in order to create a checklist. Once her checklist is
created, she can simply employ as many of the elements on the list as she can or
wants to her pages. The process of designing and structuring her pages has been
minimized to simply including the items of a list. This process can also be applied
to designing the structure of her entire site. Heidi browses the Web daily and has
navigated through a multitude of sites. From her experience of viewing other sites,
she has a sense of the structures employed in sites that facilitate browsing and
allow her to find the information she needs. She can create a checklist of common
features of such sites as well as physically map the organization of sites that she
could use to model her site. She can use both the list and the structural map in
order to organize and structure her own site.
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The Web is a powerful forum for communication, but as outlined in this proposal,
there are many concepts and skills that must be learned in order to create a web
site, let alone an effective one.
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