Ed, Ted and Flip

I am sure that many of us are playing with the idea to combine existing video's with our classroom bound training events. YouTube for instance is a rich source of video with potential for education use. Big question always was, how to blend it in with the other components. I believe that the concept of FLIPS as explained below can be useful.

Few weeks ago I posted a note on the Khan Academy and the idea of "flipping" the classroom. The Khan Academy provides a few thousand simple instructional videos for free. These videos all explain a basic concept, for instance relating to mathematics, chemistry or physics. Khans idea behind "flipping the classroom" is to have the students get acquainted with the concept individually and at their own pace by watching the video, and thereby save time in the classroom which can be used for more individual attention.
Now this idea of "flipping" is rapidly evolving and made more accessible for educators worldwide. TED, known for its videos on "ideas worth spreading" has recently initiated Ted.ed. At the site you'll find a catalogue with videos on a variety of topics. Right now I have seen that there are 117 educational videos, but I am sure this number will grow rapidly. I have seen a few and they are really great,  clearly the result of the good collaboration of gifted educators and animators. Some of the videos are even really funny, like this one:

After having watched a video you can do an interactive quiz to check the learning and you'll get some questions and challenges for further reflection. And that's only the start!
You can use the video's from TED.ed to create your own lesson by adding a context  and/or changing the content. When ready you upload your "FLIP" and send the unique URL to your students. TED.ed allows you to follow the progress and see the scores on the quiz.
A second very useful feature is that apparently (not tried it myself yet) you can use any youtube video and create your own FLIP and share it with your students.
If you want to take the tour at TED.ed, follow this link

Get practical with 4C-ID

In an earlier blogpost I gave a quick overview of the four component instructional design (4C-ID) method. Today I'll review its practical implementation as described in the book "Ten steps to Complex learning" by Paul Kirschner and Jeroen van Merrienboer.

The various components of the 4C-ID model are depicted below. Essential to the model is the whole-task-approach. From the beginning learners are working on a complete and meaningful task, albeit in a simple and very much supported form. The basic unit shown here is one task class comprising several tasks (of equivalent complexity, and maximal diversity) to be performed by the learner. These tasks are put in order of decreasing scaffolding, e.g. the learners get less and less support to complete the task. Abstract schema- based information of a complete task class are covered by the Supportive Information (SI). The Supportive Information belongs to one complete task-class and is usually provided before starting at the tasks and available throughout the task class. Whereas SI relates to mental models and cognitive strategies, Procedural Information is basically about rule-based information. It specifies how to perform routine aspects of tasks. Procedural Information can be provided for each task in the form of Just in Time info (think of job-aids). Some recurrent parts of tasks may however require a high degree of automaticity. This can be achieved by introducing some part-task practice. These sessions can be inserted between the tasks.

scheme, representing the components belonging to one task-class

Before I continue introducing the ten steps to produce these 4 components, I would like to place 4C-ID and the ten steps in the context of Instructional Systems Design (ISD). There are several ISD models which divide the process of generating instructional material in several phases. One of the best known ISD models is ADDIE, this acronym is derived from: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation. The ten steps model which van Merrienboer and Kirschner propose, focuses on the first two phases of ADDIE, namely Analysis and Design.

4C-ID is therefore not an alternative to ADDIE, instead it is fully compatible with ADDIE and other ISDs. 4C-ID provides a blueprint for designing training material which is especially suitable for training complex skills. The typical duration of such training programs ranges from several weeks to several years.

The figure below depicts the relation between the 4 components of 4C-ID and the ten steps needed to produce the 4 components.

relation between the four components and the ten steps

Designing task classes
The learning tasks form the backbone of the training curriculum
Step 1: Design Learning Tasks
It is recommended to start with specifying the most simple learning task still representing the complex skill the learner has to be able to perform. Normally you will need several learning tasks to cover all the knowledge, skills and attitudes which are to be transferred, and therefore you create further learning tasks
Step 2: Sequence Task Classes
The various learning tasks are grouped according different levels of difficulty in so called task classes. The task classes are put in order of increasing complexity. The last and therefore most difficult task class marks the exit level of the curriculum.
Step 3: Set Performance Objectives
You can link the desired performance objectives of the trainees to the training process making use of the central role of the tasks. It can be done by defining standards to which each task has to be performed, in order to progress either to the next task class, or to exit the program.

Designing Supportive Information
These steps are about schema-based information. It relates to skills you apply in different ways every time. It is comparable to what in the olden days was called "theory"
Step 4: Design Supportive Information
The trainees need Supportive Information to help them with the nonrecurrent aspects of the learning tasks. It usually provides mental models as well as cognitive strategies for problem solving in the learning domain of the tasks.
Step 5: Analyze Cognitive Strategies
In this step you have to analyze the cognitive strategies that proficient workers use to do their work. Talk to experts, observe what they are doing to find out what their strategic approaches are to problem solving.
Step 6: Analyze Mental Models
Here you analyze how experts in the field see things. Think of causal models, conceptual models and structural models. In fact it is about schemes giving insight into underlying structures.

I have always found the order of the above steps remarkable. When you start to design from scratch you would have to use the results of steps 5 and 6, as input for step 4. Maybe it is easier to see steps 5 and 6 as possible sub-routines of step 4.

Designing Just-in-Time info
JIT it is all about rule-based informations, skills you apply the same way each time, often it takes the form of quick reference guides or job aids. I would like to make the same remark as above for steps 7 to 9. When you start designing from scratch, you will have to use the output from the analyzes of steps 8 and 9 as input for the design in step 7.
Step 7 Design Procedural Information
For recurrent aspects of the tasks, the procedural information exactly describes how to perform the task. It is normally provided at the moment the learners have to perform the tasks, and it is not repeated from one task to the next throughout all the tasks.
Step 8 Analyze Cognitive Rules
Cognitive Rules tell you how to perform recurrent parts of a task in a correct way. Here you have to find out the "if-then" rules underlying the routine behavior of an experienced worker in the field.
Step 9 Analyze Prerequisite Knowledge
This step defines what knowledge the learner should have in order to understand the cognitive rules of step 8. It's easy to overestimate the amount of knowledge a novice in the field has. Interviewing only experts doesn't help here.

Designing Part-task Practice
Step 10: Design Part-task Practice
This also  relates to recurrent aspects of the tasks. Some of those recurrent aspects may require high accuracy, high speed, or automaticity to be of any use to the professional practitioner. If this is the case the outcome of step 8 can be used to design practice material. Achieving a great deal of automaticity in a subroutine frees up cognitive resources and thereby help the rest of the learning process, but in fact, it is not always necessary to perform step 10.


References and recommended further reading:
I hope that my very brief summary  intrigued you a bit, I can recommend the same sources as in my previous blog on 4C-ID but also some further reading (which I by the way also consulted when wiriting this post): First and foremost, you can download an article on the ten steps written by Kirschner and van Merrienboer. Further I really enjoyed reading parts of a blog by Dave Ferguson. He created a really great series in which he digested and "translated" the "ten steps" book. Finally, if you are not afraid of the somewhat dense and academic prose of the original (as Dave puts it), you can order the "ten steps" book at its own website

Do you wanna be splendid? Blend it!

For many years e-learning was a buzz-word linked to many promises but also to many failures. This year I visited some conferences and attended several workshops and lectures related to blended learning and e-learning. It was remarkable to discover how many of my fellow participants were either in an early stage of implementing e-learning in their organization or were unhappy about earlier attempts to implement computer aided learning and struggling to find better ways. Many of the solutions proposed were linked to embedding in the organization. I will try to cover them in a future post.
Now I want to dedicate this posting to a hugely successful example of implementation of simple e-learning tools and of blending it with other forms of learning.
Salman Khan was a young brilliant guy working for a hedge fund, who made some very simple video clips for his cousins to help them understand mathematics. According to Salman himself they preferred a video over seeing him in real life. Reasons mentioned: a video is always there when you need it and a video never gets bored explaining the same thing twice, or three times......
Strangely, Khan was not upset but rather felt encouraged to make many more videos. The videos became available via youtube and the rest is as they say, history. Within a few years Khans simple videos attracted a crowd of more than one million people. The Khan academy features now in 2012 over 3000 videos and the number is rapidly increasing.
This is the known story and a success on its own. However Salman Khan's ambition is now to really improve the quality of learning and realises that merely adding a few thousand videos to youtube and organising them in a catalogue will not do that job. His proposal is to "flip the class". Instead of using teachers time to explain basic rules and define tasks and projects as homework, he proposes to give the basic explanations and lectures as video and save teachers time for setting up projects. In addition he makes databases with quizzes and questions available to students and teachers. Teachers can easily monitor the progress of the students and dedicate time to the people who need it most. In my personal opinion it is this mix of simple videos, elaborate quizzing and monitoring techniques and good-old fashioned teachers attention which will prove blended learning to become splendid learning.
For more info on Khan and his academy follow this link On the top of the page there is a section referring to many inspiring speeches and interviews.

learning complex tasks with 4C-ID

Education traditionally focuses on acquiring skills and knowledge on isolated  subjects. As a result, the learners find it difficult to integrate and apply the knowledge, skills and behaviours when they start in the job.

In contrast, Four Component Instructional Design (4C-ID) is used to design training that centers around complete and meaningful tasks relating to the daily life of a professional. It focuses on developing complex skills and professional competencies. The method was pioneered by Prof. van Merrienboer and colleagues from the Open University and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. It is now widely applied to develop curricula in schools for higher education as well as in companies.

The core of this model is a "whole task approach". Students are from the beginning working on complete and meaningful tasks which are comparable to what they could encounter in their professional life. These learning tasks are grouped on basis of equivalent complexity in so called task-classes. Within a task-class the level of difficulty or complexity stays the same. For the first tasks in a class-task the learner will get a lot of support from the teacher or from the material in order to complete the task. For instance it can be a so called Worked out Problem in which the learner studies a problem togehter with a model solution, the input from the student could be limited in arguing why the solution is a good one, or other simple questions. Within a task class the level of support is decreasing going from one learning task to the next. Tasks at the end of a task class have only very little or no support and the students will have to solve a case on their own. The principle of decreased support or decreased scaffolding is shown in the figure below where the solid green box indicates the support.

The complexity of the tasks is increasing when going from one task-class to the next. This is demonstrated in the figure below. Please note that not every task class does not necessarily have the same amount of tasks related to it.

The training material relating to this whole task approach consists of 4 components, hence the name of the methodology. The four components are: 1) learning tasks as discussed above 2) supportive information 3) part-task practice 4) procedural  (Just In Time) information.

ad 1) Learning tasks within a task-class should have as much variation as possible. Further as indicated above they should give an authentic task experience, be organised in task classes according to complexity. Within task-classes the tasks are ordered on basis of decreased scaffolding.

ad 2) Supportive information can be considered as "theory", it belongs to all the tasks of one task class, is always available to the students and consists of mental models, cognitive strategies and cognitive feedback. In practice it takes the form of manuals, power point hand outs, text books etc.

ad 3) Part Task Practice is mixed between the learning tasks to train routine skills. Often the purpose is to increase fluency or speed in a routine aspect of the work.

ad 4) Just in Time information is information relating to recurrent aspects of the tasks. This info is required to perform the tasks. Often it takes the form of job-aids or other forms of information display. The idea is to only provide it until the learner has acquired sufficient expertise to perform without.

The figure below demonstrates the interrelationships between the different components within one task class.

In my professional life I am very satisfied with the results of the 4C-ID method and its use in curriculum design. In case you're interested, I used the following sources and I can recommend them for further reading.
Books (Dutch):
A.M.B. Janssen-Noordman, J.J.G. van Merrienboer,
Innovatief onderwijs ontwerpen, 2002, Wolters Noordhoff,
ISBN90-01-43246-8

B.Hoogveld, A.M.B. Janssen-Noordman, J.J.G. van Merrienboer,
Innovatief onderwijs in de praktijk, 2011, Noordhoff
ISBN 978-90-01-78931-2

For Non-Dutch readers: on the web you can find many English language articles on the topic by searching in Google on "4C ID", such as:
Blueprints for complex learning: the 4C/ID model