Compare and Contrast Essay

Instructional Strategies Concept, Paper 1
Helen L. Broussard
Dr. Calvin Moore
Instructional Design & Development
July 21, 2013

Instructional Strategies Concept, Paper 1 1

The Challenges Faced by the Instructional Designer

Denny Clifford is an experienced instructional design consultant who has created a wide variety of instructional materials using multimedia. His current client, Dr. Cynthia Oakes, is a science professor who is a strong advocate of the constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Dr. Oakes has been awarded a large grant to create, for middle school science teachers, professional development materials that are based upon an innovative curriculum that she has developed and has hired Mr. Clifford to assist in creating materials and a delivery system for the materials that would allow them to share their experiences with each other and provide a way for Dr. Oakes to share her experiences as well without having to give in-service training workshops.

Denny and Dr. Oakes have met several times to discuss the project, but Denny still is not sure how to deliver what Dr. Oakes wants. How do you create instructional materials without knowing what the content? Denny's approach to design (obtaining learner profiles, identifying objectives, developing assessment instruments) does not seem to mesh with Dr. Oakes’ ideas. Communication seems to be the major issue between Cynthia and Denny which, could be the fact that Denny was not asking the right questions to Dr. Oakes. If Denny had been asking the right questions, the information would have provided available sources (video tapes, proposal information, teacher number and others). Furthermore, Denny found it difficult to design a delivery system and to communicate with Cynthia is because of his unfamiliarity with school settings.
Instructional Strategies Concept, Paper 1 2

The Three Instructional Strategies Appropriate to the Denny Clifford Case

First, Denny should contact and interview the educators to get more information on their instructional needs. To fully understand the constructivist approach, Mr. Clifford could review the educator observation tapes by observing the implementation of effective strategies that are already being used. Another resource, the grant proposal, could provide a wealth of information that would provide some direction for Denny. Though Dr. Oakes did not intimate specific objectives, Denny may be able to attain that information through reading the proposal. A justification in the grant proposal would give him insight into Cynthia’s approach to teaching. Mr. Clifford may also be able to glean important information about the learning techniques from Dr. Oakes and another educator’s writings on teaching science in the constructivist approach. Armed with this knowledge, Denny should be able to use the above resources to create a well-rounded set of

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