Instructional Media and Technologies for Learning: Process Technologies (c)1997



SUBJECT:    Assignment #1, Response Paper #10
COURSE:     MCTE 625 - Survey of Courseware
Textbook:   Instructional Media and
            Technologies for Learning
            Heinich, Molenda, Russell, Smaldino (1996)
Chapter 11: Process Technologies
Professor:  Dr. George Fornshell
Student:    Leanne C. Boyd
Usercode:   boydl ( boydl@scis.acast.nova.edu )
Due date:   November 30, 1997

            Response to Chapter 11, Process Technologies

I.   Process Technologies: DON’T Re-Think the System!

     "Process Technologies," the topic of this chapter, 
introduces the reader to almost the synthesis of what we 
have been exploring in this course. When *hard 
technologies* (products such as computers) and *soft 
technologies* (which are processes or methods of thinking 
about problems), are combined and used as _technoloGIES_ 
(many or all of them), the learning experience becomes a 
PROCESS rather than a participation in isolated bits of 
learning.
     This is a very systematic and scientific approach to 
learning, where effective templates for learning are 
utilized again and again, without the need for re-thinking 
the system. Process technologies have the added element of 
having been thoroughly researched and showing demonstrable 
tracks of success in the learning environment.
     This chapter speaks of many forms of process 
technologies. Programmed instruction (initially developed 
by B.F. Skinner) and programmed tutoring appear to be the 
closest to what we have defined as CAI, or computer-aided 
instruction. With the introduction to personalized systems 
of instruction, learning centers, and the various modes of 
cooperative learning, it is my opinion that the genre of 
process technologies begins to more closely approach what 
we have defined as "Mindtools." These settings begin to 
excite deeper levels of student interest and provide 
motivational features that not only aid in higher learning, 
but also break up the traditional classroom’s potential 
boredom by replacing it with a more personalized and 
interactive surrounding. Learning becomes more vivid and 
interpersonal feedback, more prevalent.
     In my studies of Mindtools, the most exciting 
direction has been relating my prior knowledge of the 
Internet and electronic technologies to the creation of 
interactive, educational content -- for that is the arena 
of my career. We have had several examples of one area of 
process technology that I find the most thrilling for my 
professional life: simulation and discovery learning. In my 
opinion, these are the height of what new technology has to 
offer to any learner.
     Within a safe environment, learners may explore, 
create, and set up situations that are, at their limits, 
potentially harmful in the real world. The question of 
"What If?" may be taken to the ultimate boundary. Both in 
simulation and in discovery learning, the student is 
immersed in real-life surroundings and is allowed to 
grapple problems in near-reality measures. I know of no 
other methods where minute, detailed explorations can take 
place without danger to the participant. This is becoming 
an essential criterion for taking subjects learned and 
applying them to real life careers. I agree with the 
authors that, although this method takes longer than 
traditional lecture methods, the "payoff" is a much higher 
and longer-lasting comprehension of the subject. Knowledge 
achieved in this setting is more likely to be retained as 
the learner goes from the student learning place to the 
worker’s environment.
     One excellent example of the value of the process 
technology of simulation is found repeatedly in documents 
concerning something as ordinary --but potentially fatal -- 
as driving a car. Dan Kegan, operator of the Traffic Safety 
Information Village (online auto safety website), says that 
simulators have the advantage of measuring things that 
could never be measured before, like whether a driver is 
following the safest possible route around a corner. He 
also stated that this form of simulation learning opens up 
new possibilities for training. (Tanner, 1997). The most 
important element of this example is that the learner, 
placed in a personalized setting and utilizing a well-
researched, scientifically-created computer interface, is 
allowed to literally go where no one has gone before! As 
students create scenarios within this Mindtool, both 
learners and teachers will benefit in the stretches of 
imagination and with the new training possibilities that 
are created.


II.  A Critical Crossroads:
     Disturbing Statistics and Getting Up to Speed -- FAST!

     At this point, it is important to review reasons why 
training and educational modes are at a critical 
crossroads, and why new methods must be implemented to meet 
the challenges of a changed economy and world. The 
introduction of statistics is inevitable. Interestingly, 
the very mode of process technologies is also the 
underlying technology for researching, learning and 
interpreting the statistics "by which we live." Truly, the 
Internet provides, in my opinion, an exact (if 
overwhelming) duplicate of simulation or discovery 
learning. The learner is immersed in the solution of a 
problem and the methods are exact to the realities of 
problem-solving in the workplace.
     It is disturbing to me to have found that more than 
40% of high school seniors lack a basic understanding of 
science. These statistics were recently put forth by the 
National Assessment Governing Board in a report on the 
nation’s schools. Only three percent of students, in all 
grades tested, performed at what was considered an advanced 
level. (Kim, 1997). This bit of data, in an age where 
science and information are the very foundation of economic 
advancement and status, is highly disquieting. With all the 
tools necessary for successful competition surrounding each 
of our students in America, where do we look to find 
answers for why they are not being implemented? I believe 
that this is one major downfall of "Education," as we know 
it. Most of these new learning modes are widely available. 
Moreover, process technologies are being impelled into many 
work environments. Our traditional schools simply have not 
"logged on" and they are not utilizing new media 
techniques. This is a huge detriment to our nation’s 
students.
     Many companies offer online learning that fall into 
the categories of simulation or discovery learning. In 
fact, one company’s services are to provide the actual 
simulation or discovery learning applications (as well as 
other training modes) for other businesses to utilize.
Charles L. Fred, President of International Learning 
Systems, Inc. of Golden, Colorado, said this of the jolt 
made by the "knowledge economy" on quickly-growing 
companies: "The velocity of business is brutal and for the 
unprepared, can be deadly. Today’s work force must consume 
new knowledge and apply it faster than the competition. 
Period." (Fred, 1997). I would like to repeat: PERIOD. 
Within the global economic structure, participants are now 
beyond just recognizing the lack in traditional methods of 
imparting knowledge -- they have begun to implement strong 
substitutes. The sooner that our schools begin to adopt 
methods for learning -- in simulated environments with 
freedoms for discovering new knowledge or augmenting 
existing knowledge -- the more quickly we will stand, 
prepared for the approaching years.
     It should be noted that a perfect model or step-by-
step system for creating successful process technologies 
does not exist. In reality, the very natures of the 
businesses that have stepped into this global race have 
resisted the tendency of having a fixed method for 
learning. "Fixed methods" are rather extensive in 
educational circles. New giants in the workplace 
continuously search for *better* methods of gaining 
knowledge. Approaches must be fast! Learners within the 
work environment NEVER are totally satisfied with any 
current approach, but always remain open to new advances.
     International Learning Systems’ approach is that 
"technology has enabled many ideas to be tested and the 
previously ‘alternative’ forms of instruction and delivery 
are becoming the standard." (Fred, 1997). Working on 
delivery of advanced learning systems such as simulations 
and discovery learning modes, ILS is on the cutting edge of 
implementing this critical shift in perspective. They are 
creating training content that allows getting workers up to 
speed -- FAST! This notion then actuates management to 
consider employees as individuals and as discriminating 
consumers of a complex product, "learning". The main thrust 
of these new learning modes -- these process technologies-- 
is a new level in simplicity, creativity, and flexibility. 
ILS states that "[l]earning must occur when and where it is 
needed. The barriers of time and space are broken down by 
leveraging technology as a delivery system for learning." 
(Fred, 1997).
     I interpret this to mean that, in a simulation-like 
setting of real-time economic happenings, the "new worker" 
is immersed in studying and putting into effect that which 
is needed NOW. In the education arena, we are faced with 
mighty challenges to prepare students for these changes.
     I see that it should become an easy choice for 
teachers or trainers to adopt the effective use of 
simulators, or discovery learning modes such as role-plays. 
These place the learner into the immediate setting with 
site-specific details. The student learns not just facts or 
figures, but also any manual dexterity skills that are 
inherent to the subject. Placing the learner in unfamiliar 
situations, but with the tools created within an effective 
application which was scientifically and specifically 
constructed, the excellence of this particular process 
technology will meet immediate needs as well as long-range 
goals of learning. These applications, therefore, have the 
unprecedented capacity for personalization of the learning 
process, as never before. Categorical role playing 
applications, for instance, can be created to enhance exact 
job roles within the company. As applied to the students of 
our country, applications such as these will allow learners 
to approach distinct career objectives and become very 
involved in their own education.


III. The Demand for Information Technology:
     So, Do You Have Any Experience, Kid?

     U.S. employers are now facing really rough 
international competition for Information Technology 
workers. The demand to fill IT jobs continues to 
outdistance the supply, according to the U.S. Office of 
Technology Policy. They recently supplied data that shows 
that American universities currently graduate only 24,000 
computer and information science students per year. More 
than 95,000 new engineers, computer scientists, engineers, 
programmers and systems analysts will be required each year 
until at least 2005. This takes into account only the 
numbers for the U.S. and not for more global concerns. 
(Pietrucha, 1997). 
     My questions concern not only the eventual numbers of 
graduating technologists, but also the level of efficiency 
that each one shows when actually launched into the 
workplace. This includes such topics as the usual 
"applicable skills" and "prior experience" that have become 
the battle cries of current employers. They are immovable 
when it comes to absolute sets of skills, prior to hiring. 
WHERE, I ask, are recent graduates/new workers going to 
achieve this level of proficiency? The answer, for me, lies 
in the offerings of simulation training and its subsets. 
These applications will offer a form of "internship" that 
will provide much-required prior experience in many -- or 
even ANY -- career fields. It is my opinion that this 
"process technology" holds one of the very few choices we 
have -- for not only bringing our nation’s students up to 
par in statistics, but also in the ability of those 
students to quickly achieve stride within the workplace. 
This as an effective way of opening the road for current 
students to continue being major participants in worldwide 
economical happenings. Anything less than implementing 
these training modes will place our students -- our almost-
immediate workforce -- in an undeniably lesser position.


IV.  Breaking Down the Category Even Further:
     Simulation Learning and Gender

     A topic that has been part of my personal, 
professional and academic life for over 25 years has been 
that of gender issues in the educational and career 
settings. An interesting statistic found online was that 
women make up 51% of the population, 46% of the general 
work force, but only 22% of the engineers and scientists. 
This information, given by the National Science Foundation, 
also showed that fewer women pursue lucrative computer 
science degrees. (Fields, 1997). If these numbers could be 
made different, with the percentage of women in computer 
science positions being much higher, it is my proposal that 
the immediate transitions needed in methods of learning 
might be quite a different picture. In fact, the use of 
simulators and simulation games -- especially COOPERATIVE 
simulation games -- might be much more prevalent, both at 
the student and the corporate levels.
     Our text gives the example of psychological findings 
that cooperative simulation games help children develop 
acceptance, challenges for the body, strong positive self-
concepts, and success...in atmospheres that do NOT rely on 
the element of competition. They learn to depend on 
cooperation for that success. 
     Interestingly, much of the same line of thought is 
being found at even the college level. A good example is 
the very common belief among freshman students that 
introductory science courses are simply "weedouts," 
designed to dissuade those students who are deemed "not 
fit" from studying science. Just the thought of a weeding-
out process demoralizes and prevents many interested 
students from pursuing a college science degree! Some 
studies indicate that this is almost a type of "natural 
selection process," initiated by college departments. Many 
intelligent and strongly motivated students who leave the 
sciences are discouraged by the COMPETITIVE sphere, where 
many classes are truly designed to situate students in a 
hard, competitive framework.
     The truth is, students often react more resolutely to 
a setting of COOPERATIVE LEARNING. A vital part of this 
same study found that over one-third of college students 
who changed from a science, math or engineering major, 
indicated that a very primary reason for leaving was that 
the "competitive culture" had undermined their confidence. 
(NECUSE, 1996). The unspoken portion of these studies is 
often the fact that the one-third more attuned to 
COOPERATIVE learning and less willing to participate in the 
"competition culture" -- are the women students.
     What easy-to-affect and quickly-becoming-common tool 
could be used to turn this tide around? In piecing together 
the topics of our text readings and very current examples 
found in education and the workplace, I developed a growing 
conviction that much of the new mode of training was going 
to be in the genre of simulation and discovery learning. 
The very ideas we are studying are becoming the standards 
for learning in the *very present NOW.* One source defines 
cooperative learning as "an approach...which uses small 
groups of students working together to solve problems, 
complete a task or accomplish a common goal...[to] provide 
a forum in which students ask questions, discuss ideas, 
make mistakes, learn to listen to others' ideas, offer 
constructive criticism, and summarize their discoveries..." 
(NECUSE, 1996).
     Our readings suggest that the computer has opened up 
wide possibilities for very elaborate and detailed use of 
simulation games for instruction. The authors state that 
some development companies have made very specific and 
challenging simulation games that ultimately require 
learners to make use of synchronous and cooperative means 
to achieve successful, problem-solving ends. Online 
research shows that this method has been widely implemented 
-- much more so than in the 1996 writing of our book.
     Perhaps this will seem oversimplified to some, but 
perhaps the answer to the gender issues (as well as many 
others) is but a matter of shattering societal 
preconceptions and providing more exposure to technology! 
Instead of looking at the breakdown of student ratios, or 
gender issues, or even the slipping status of American 
learners in the global schoolroom, perhaps we need to 
examine the delivery systems for these categories. We are 
not only dealing with shortages and shortcomings in those 
who are yet to graduate...we are also looking at the 
shortages and shortcomings of the teaching community. We 
MUST MAKE MORE EXPOSURE AVAILABLE to those teaching the 
current and upcoming groups of learners. Teachers must be 
able to first prepare themselves in order to teach 
technology to a classroom of students whose future 
capabilities lie in their mastery of new media. It is only 
then that they can teach the next generation of female -- 
or ANY sector -- of scientists, engineers and computer 
specialists. (Fields, 1997). I don’t believe this can be 
done by creating learning applications ONLY for boys, or 
ONLY for girls. That will solely serve to perpetuate 
current gender stereotypes (Brown, "Girl Games unite...," 
1997), and will only hinder the use of games and discovery 
learning applications in the learning arena.
     What definitions should be looked for when attempting 
to define a simulation game that will include, entice and 
even encourage females of any age into the realm of 
science? Recent research shows that girls want a setting 
that provides...multiple options [and] discovery. (Brown, 
"Girl Games unite...," 1997). Ideally, the learning will 
take place in a simulated situation that is non-
stereotypical. One "girl-oriented" computer-game design 
company, Purple Moon (at http://www.purple-moon.com/ ) 
found some results that were amazingly like the findings at 
the college level. Their research showed that girls were 
bored with boys’ games. They didn’t like being stuck behind 
the obstacles and they weren’t interested in beating the 
highest score. This sounds to me like girls eschew most of 
the elements of "culture competition." What they DID value 
was establishing a very complex hierarchy, where 
competition was more covert, and cooperation was more 
valued. In fact, girls responded greatly to a situation 
where cooperation could be used as a tool to gain higher 
status.
     Of course, future use of simulation-type games created 
by Purple Moon will tell a more complete story. Initial 
review indicates to me that they have an excellent start 
for providing discovery learning tools and reasons for 
girls to use a computer! Purple Moon’s objectives include 
making the games "more like play and less like 
entertainment" -- and we must keep in mind the 
behaviorists’ adage that play IS a child’s work! In Purple 
Moon’s first two games, girls will experience a variety of 
predicaments, make choices, and observe the consequences of 
their decisions. The setting will be that of a "quest," 
with the participant learning to work cooperatively in 
helping another player. (Carroll, 1997).
     The Purple Moon simulations will neatly avoid one of 
the biggest complaints that girls have about boys’ games... 
Girls think that it’s stupid to have to *die and start 
over!* (Fields, 1997).


V.   Conclusion: Following the Axioms of the Mindtool

     As I studied these examples in the light of 
definitions for simulation games, COOPERATIVE simulation 
games, and discovery learning applications, I became 
convinced that this new genre of learning tool is 
masterfully coming into the spotlight. The main reason is-- 
beyond any sub-reason of gender-appropriateness or high-
tech usability -- that it follows every axiom of the 
MINDTOOL.
     This genre challenges participants to work together. 
It causes a person to think deeply about solving a mystery. 
It is a largely effective way to achieve a higher order of 
thinking. First hand, the learner is immersed in a backdrop 
that mirrors the rapidly changing world in which we live.


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REFERENCES

     Brown, Janelle. (1997).
     _____GameGirlz turns industry on to female gamers. In: 
     Wired News, Wired Ventures Inc. November 11, 1997. 
     [Online]. Available: http://www.wired.com/news/news/ 
     culture/story/8434.html
     _____Girl Games unite, sans guns: Today it's a 
     difficult task. In: Wired News, Wired Ventures Inc. 
     November 3, 1997. [Online]. Available: http://www. 
     wired.com/news/news/wiredview/story/8129.html

     Carroll, Jon. (1997). Under a Purple Moon. San 
Francisco Chronicle: June 9, 1997; p. D8. [Also Online]. 
Available: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/chronicle/ 
article.cgi?file=DD62703.DTL&directory=/chronicle/archive/ 
1997/06/09

     Fields, Monique. (1997). Creating drive for technology 
among girls: Conference strives to foster interest in 
sciences, computers. In: The San Francisco Chronicle, The 
Chronicle Publishing Company. July 1, 1997, p. A13. [Also 
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chronicle/archive/1997/07/01

     Fred, Charles L., President, International Learning 
Systems, Inc. (ILS). (1997). The RACE to proficiency. 
Website modified: August 18, 1997. ILS, Inc.: Golden, CO. 
[Online]. Available: http://www.ilsinc.com/article.htm

      Kim, Eun-Kyung. (1997). Report card: High schoolers 
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     New England Consortium for Undergraduate Science 
Education (NECUSE). (1996). Achieving gender equity in 
science classrooms: A guide for faculty. Published by: 
Office of the Dean, Brown University. [Online]. Available: 
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Dean_of_the_College/ 
homepginfo/equity/Equity_handbook.html
     _____NECUSE: Amherst College, Bates College, Bowdoin 
     College, Brown University, Colby College, College of 
     the Holy Cross, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, 
     Middlebury College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith 
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     Pietrucha, Bill. (1997). IT worker shortage is 
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