Page 192 - Making Instruction Work

chap 15 3/11/97 5:08 PM Page 178

178 making instruction work

Example #3, continued:

If the answer to any of these questions is “No,” then some-
thing is missing and needs to be added. Usually, this will con-
sist of a “Note to Course Manager”in the self-evaluation mate-
rial or in the Course Manager Manual. Sometimes it will mean
drafting a list of supplies that need to be collected. When stu-
dents will have to be scheduled for time on equipment or for
use of a room, it may mean drafting a sign-up sheet or inform-
ing instructors on how the scheduling should be done and
how it should be used. And unless you prepare and provide the
answers to the above questions, you should expect that your
module will be laid aside rather than used as you intend.
You see, you are now dealing with a target population dif-
ferent from the one for which your module was created. You
are dealing with the audience of instructors, rather than of stu-
dents. You are now trying to package your module in such a
way that the instructor population will know how to imple-
ment the instruction you created for your student population.
Quite a different matter from “packaging” a module that will
teach an objective. It’s the difference between creating a high-
ly flexible computer and creating the instructions that will
allow someone to use it. It’s the difference between creating a
gourmet dinner and creating the recipe that will enable others
to re-create that same gourmet dinner. It’s the difference
between creating a fantastic jazz solo and writing the sheet
music that will cause others to play it the same way you do.
So to make your module usable by others, it will need to be
accompanied by whatever directions/instructions that will
allow others to follow the same implementation steps that you
do. And those instructions and directions will need to be just
as specific as you can make them. If you are writing instruc-
tions for a role-play, for example, rather than simply suggest
that the instructor “Give the participants a little pep talk to get