Webliography
Chapter 11 of the Mayor and Clark (20 "Does practice make perfect?"
Summary
Chapter 11 of the Mayor and Clark (20 "Does practice make perfect?" goes beyond managing cognitive load and it discusses how educators can physician transition gradually from just giving students examples of assignments to giving them full assignments to practice. Practice in e-learning helps optimize learning from online practice. The chapter echoes the expression that "practice makes perfect," explaining that the more a person studies/practices something, the more he or she will know about it. The authors used the term "regurgitated" to describe some types of learning/practice. The chapter explains the value of repetition and feedback. The chapter also explains the value of repetition and feedback.
The authors also listed four (4) factors that can help make the most of practice: (1) Practice that focuses on specific skill gaps; (2) Explanatory corrective feedback; (3) Practice in distraction free environments and (4) Practice that builds skills that will transfer from learning environments to work environments. Distributed practice yields better long-term retention. Finally the authors concluded that practice does not necessarily lead to perfect, but that deliberate practice with effective feedback does.
Critique
I agree that practice does help students retain information. Repetition in something helps students in managing cognitive load. Studies have been done that reveal positive results. Teaching and learning should be for the long term, distributed practice can help that occur. The authors list the value of feedback, but, then mention how research has not determined how much feedback is appropriate or when it is appropriate to give feedback. This has been debated. I think positive feedback is good, but too much could hinder a student's growth.
Reference:
Mayer, R. E.; Clark, R. C. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction. 2nd ed. San Francisco: CA. Pfeiffer.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree that students need to practice skills, to receive corrective feedback, to work in a distraction free environment, and to apply skills leading to transfer of learning. However, I am confused. I read Lizzie's (Elizabeth's post first. I agreed with her statements about students not requiring excess practice. Both of your posts are forcing me to ponder the amount of practice needed and the amount of practice that would be considered over-learning.
I have discussions with parents often concerning the amount of practice needed. My suggestions to them include basing the amount of practice on the student success. For example, in math, a student may understand the concept and can prove that by completing 5 problems with 100% accuracy. Completing 20 problems may not enhance the learning. However, another student may complete those same 5 problems with 40% accuracy. Then, I would suggest some reteaching and allow them to complete more problems.
Another factor is whether or not the practice is relevant to work scenarios. Middle school students do not usually have jobs. Nevertheless, we can incorporate real-life scenarios that will engage them in the content.
Our ISD project requires learners (teachers) to complete tasks which are work related. Some of them may need to complete the tasks more than one time to become comfortable. I know that it takes me a few attempts before some skills become second nature. As a follow up to our workshop, the Instructor could work with those who struggled to provide support as they implement the Flipped Class Model in their instruction.
As I continue as an online instructor, I will keep in mind the need for adequate practice without overlearning, both in my synchronous sessions and in conferencing with families about asynchronous work.
Thanks for your post!
I agree that repetition can be a very useful tool in acquisition of information that is new to students. Making the transition from short term to long term memory takes repetition of material and distributive practice is large piece of that transition. Feedback that is quick and concise can yield effective results for all learning styles. Repetition is good for knowledge building so that the knowledge can be taken to a higher level of thinking such as application and synthesis.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the emphasis that has been placed on practice and repetition in this assignment.There are still many teachers who believe that the idea of repetition is obsolete, and that it simply causes students to memorize, and then regurgitate, unnecessary information (I've been involved in such debates). As has been stated over and over in all of these posts, practice is necessary for learning. Repetition serves as reinforcement to acquisition of new knowledge. I agree with Chris that the more a person practices, the better he/she will become at that particular skill or concept. And as Kim has stated about practicing, it should be relevant to learning. In this case, practice becomes a lot more effective.
ReplyDeleteSeraphine
Thank you for your thoughts! As educators, it is important to (try to) understand where our students are in their knowledge of the subject that we are teaching them. Practice, I think, is good for everyone. But, to be great educators, we need to take our students to another stage of learning. That is, our students do not need to continue learning/practicing the same thing(s) all year [if they already know the material] rather, we need to begin to have them begin practicing some new information.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter you reviewed enforced the importance of applying new knowledge through well designed practice. As Clark and Mayer indicated, the presence of relevant feedback is a key component to such exercises without which, it can be futile. In the corporate environment, associates are given access to dumb systems populated with fabricated information. After completing assignments, the results of their transactions are reviewed by trainers who provide feedback pertaining to the accuracy and efficiency of the work. As learners progress through training, they are introduced to live transactions and are assigned mentors, who check for accuracy, and continue to offer feedback which assists the trainee in developing the skills necessary to become an asset to the workflow. Although this example is not representative of curriculum training, it supports the value of practice with appropriate feedback in developing skills based competencies in learners.
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