Chapter 12 Instructional Materials

1. Chapter 12Instructional Materials

2. Instructional MaterialsPrint and Nonprint Media • Definition: the tangible substances and real objects used to help communicate information necessary for learning • Purposes: to help the nurse educator deliver a message creatively and clearly

3. General Principles of Effectiveness Media should: • Change behavior by influencing a gain in cognitive, affective, and/or psychomotor skills • Enhance learning—no one tool is better than another • Complement the instructional methods

4. General Principles (cont’d) Media should (cont’d): • Match available financial resources • Be appropriate for physical environment • Complement learners’ sensory abilities, developmental stage, and educational level • Impart accurate, current, valid and appropriate messages • Add diversity and information to learning

5. Choosing Instructional Materials Major Variables to Consider • Characteristics of the Learner • Physical abilities • Perceptual abilities • Literacy • Motivational level • Developmental stage • Learning style

6. Major Variables to Consider (cont’d) • Characteristics of the Media • Print • Nonprint • Characteristics of the Task • Learning domain • Complexity of behavior

7. Three Major Components of Instructional Materials • Delivery System • Definition: both the physical form and the hardware used to present materials • Examples of physical form and hardware • Slides with projector • Videotapes with VCRs • Computer software with computer

8. Components (cont’d) • Content • Definition: actual information imparted to the learner • Selection criteria • Accuracy • Appropriateness for skill determination • Readability

9. Components (cont’d) • Presentation • Definition: the form most important for selecting/developing instructional materials • Concrete to abstract continuum • Realia • Illusionary representations • Symbolic representations

10. Types of Instructional Materials Written Materials • Advantages • Available to learner in absence of teacher • Widely acceptable, familiar • Readily available, relatively cheap • Convenient form • Learner controls rate of reading • Content easily altered to target specific audiences

11. Written Materials (cont’d) • Disadvantages • Most abstract form of reality • Immediate feedback limited • Proper reading level essential for full usefulness • Less useful with low literate learners or visually or cognitively impaired learners • Inappropriate for illiterate learners

12. Written Materials—Commercially Prepared • Factors to be considered • Who produced the item? Was there any input by healthcare professionals? • Can the item be previewed? • The price must be consistent with its educational value.

13. Written Materials—Instructor ComposedGuidelines for Effective Writing • Fit your own institution’s policies, procedures and equipment. • Build in answers to those questions asked most frequently by your patients. • Highlight points considered especially important by your healthcare team. • Reinforce specific oral instructions and clarify difficult concepts.

14. Guidelines for Effective Writing (cont’d) • Keep words and sentences short. Use conversational style. Use active voice. • Use second person “you.” • Most important information goes first. • Do not use all-capital letters. • Use advance organizers. • Emphasize key points with end review.

15. Evaluating Printed Materials Consider: • Nature of the audience • Literacy level required • Linguistic variety available • Brevity and clarity • Layout and appearance • Opportunity for repetition • Concreteness and familiarity

16. Demonstration Materials Displays • Advantages • Fast way to attract attention, make a point • Flexible • Portable • Reusable • Stimulate interest or ideas in observer • Can change or influence attitudes • Purchasable and/or can be made

17. Demonstration MaterialsDisplays (cont’d) • Disadvantages • Take up a lot of space • Time-consuming to prepare—often reused, outdated • May be overused • Unsuitable for large audiences

18. Demonstration MaterialsPosters as Popular Display Tools Consider: • Color • White space • Graphics • KISS principle • Titles/Script • Balance of content

19. Demonstration Materials Models • Advantages • Useful when real object is too small, too large, too expensive, unavailable, or too complex • Allows safe, hands-on practice • More active involvement by the learner with immediate feedback available • Readily available

20. Demonstration MaterialsModels (cont’d) • Disadvantages • May not be suitable for learner with poor abstraction abilities or for visually impaired • Some models fragile, expensive, bulky, or difficult to transport • Cannot be observed or manipulated by more than a few learners at a time

21. Demonstration MaterialsThree Specific Types of Models • Replicas • Examples: anatomical models, resuscitation dolls • Analogues • Examples: dialysis machines, computer models • Symbols • Examples: words, cartoons, formulas, signs

22. Audiovisual Materials • Factors in selection • Technical feasibility • Economic feasibility • Social/political acceptability • Instructor familiarity

23. Audiovisual Materials (cont’d) • Projected Learning Resources • Movies and filmstrips • Power Points • Overhead transparencies

24. Projected Learning Resources • Advantages • Most effectively used with groups • Especially beneficial with hearing-impaired, low-literate learners • Excellent media for use in teaching psychomotor skills

25. Projected Learning Resources (cont’d) • Disadvantages • Lack of flexibility due to static content of some forms • Some forms may be expensive • Requires darkened room for some forms • Requires special equipment for use

26. Audio Learning Resources • Audiotapes, Radio, CD • Advantages • Widely available • May be especially beneficial to visually-impaired, low literate learners • May be listened to repeatedly • Most forms practical, cheap, small, portable

27. Audio Learning Resources (cont’d) • Disadvantages • Relies only on sense of hearing • Some forms may be expensive • Lack of opportunity for interaction between instructor and learner

28. Video Learning Resources • Purchased or self-made tapes • Advantages • Widely used educational tool • Inexpensive; uses visual, auditory senses • Flexible for use with different audiences • Powerful tool for role-modeling and demonstration • Effective for teaching psychomotor skills

29. Video Learning Resources (cont’d) • Disadvantages • Quality of videotapes can deteriorate over time • Some commercial products may be expensive • Some purchased materials may be too long or inappropriate for audience

30. Telecommunications Learning Resources Telephones, Televisions • Advantages • Relatively inexpensive, widely available • Disadvantages • Complicated to set up interactive capability • Expensive to broadcast via satellite

31. Computer Learning Resources • Advantages • Interactive potential: quick feedback, retention • Potential database is enormous • Can individualize to suit different types of learners, different pace of learning • Time efficient

32. Computer Learning Resources(cont’d) • Disadvantages • Primary learning efficacy: cognitive domain less useful for attitude/behavior change or psychomotor skill development • Software and hardware expensive • Must be purchased • Limited use for most older adults, low literate learners, those with physical limitations

33. Evaluation Criteria forSelecting Materials • Considerations • Learner characteristics • Task(s) to be achieved • Media available • Evaluation Checklist • Content • Instructional design • Technical production • Packaging

34. State of the Evidence • Performance is improved and learner satisfaction increased with visual reinforcement. • Distance learning is an increasingly viable option for learners.

35. Summary Instructional materials should be used to support learning by complementing and supplementing your teaching, not by substituting for it.