Page 283 - Making Instruction Work
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chap 21  3/11/97 5:18 PM  Page 269




                                    course improvement                     269

                    • Make your feedback comments task-diagnostic, and
                       gently correct your students when they make self-
                       diagnostic comments.

                 5. Adopt more streamlined procedures. Go back to your
                    course procedures and see where you can modify them
                    to more closely approximate the ideal instructional char-
                    acteristics found in Chapter 18.

                 6. Improve the instruction itself. Polish the presentations,
                    hone the examples, and clarify the demonstrations. It
                    may come as a surprise that this item is on the bottom of
                    the priority list. But think about it a moment.What good
                    is it to improve the elegance of the instruction itself if
                    that instruction serves no useful purpose, or if everyone
                    is convinced that it is of little or no value to them, or if
                    students can already perform as desired? How much will
                    it add to the effectiveness or efficiency of a racing car to
                    paint it when the tires are flat and the engine is dead?
                    Sure, it’s important to improve the elegance of the
                    instruction itself; smooth instruction helps motivation
                    as well as ease of learning. But until the above items are
                    attended to, improved elegance isn’t likely to net you
                    much gain in instructional success.
                 So work to make the course responsive to a real need before
              working to improve the elegance of the course materials. Work
              to provide students with a real reason to learn before working
              to improve the quality of your slides. Remember the Wacky
              Watchmaker who worked hard to reduce the number of parts
              needed for a wristwatch. When asked whether it worked, he
              replied, “Certainly not. But it doesn’t work—efficiently.”
                 And keep in mind that Rome wasn’t burned in a day. Make
              your changes one at a time. And then reward yourself each
              time you do so.
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