Overall Instructor Rating: Satisfactory

Ratings explanation:

• Exemplary - A model answer in almost every way (this is given out very rarely).
• Satisfactory - Very well done; you've met the expectations of the assignment. There are some minor problems, so read my feedback well.
• Marginal Pass - You pass, but there are lots of issues to consider. Read my feedback very carefully and be sure you understand the points/issues I raise.
• Not satisfactory, redo and resubmit - The assignment was not completed appropriately. I am concerned that you do not understand the process well enough yet. To get credit for the assignment, you need to redo it, most probably on another topic. Read and consider my feedback very carefully before redoing.

Instructor's Overall Feedback:

Very well done. You seem to understand the process very well. I almost gave you a rating of "exemplary" -- I just have a few questions/issues for you to consider. But again, you really seem to understand how to analyze a unit's terminal objective and determine its component lessons.

Thanks for constructing the visual -- I focused most of my attention on that.

1. Restate one of the unit (enabling) objectives or goals you identified in your course ICM, or change topics and write a new unit objective.

Click here to view your IDA on course design.

This objective will become the terminal objective for your unit. Compare the use of the terms "terminal" and "enabling" here to the last IDA, when you were creating a course-level ICM. These terms are relative to the ICM on which you are working. An enabling objective in your course ICM becomes the terminal objective in a unit ICM. Then, an enabling objective in your unit ICM becomes your terminal objective in a lesson ICM.

(Note: I interchange goal and objectives here because you may realize after further analysis that your objective identified in your course ICM was not clear or appropriate, which means that it is really a goal. After completing this IDA, you may need to rewrite your terminal objective for this unit.)

Be sure to include in your objective the learned capability verb that corresponds to one of Gagne's learning domains: Problem-solving (generate); Rule-using (demonstrate); concept (classify, identify); verbal information (state, recite, summarize); attitudinal (choose); psychomotor (execute).

Your final response:

Title: Using article databases and government databases Objective: Learners will be able to design and conduct (generate, demonstrate) searches for relevant literature in three subscription article databases, and one government database, evaluate (identify, classify) the results, and save (psychomotor) them to a citation manager.

The instructor's feedback to this step:

Wow, that's a mouthful! This is really excellent, but, just so you know, it is more common in instructional design to write out separate objectives for different learning outcomes.

2. Identify the intellectual skill objectives for the lessons in the unit.

Based on the instructional goal(s) and learning outcomes, conduct an subordinate skills analysis as described by Dick, Carey, and Carey in chapter 4. You are now beginning to breakdown what the learner needs to know in order to achieve the instructional goal. Each objective you generate can roughly be considered a lesson objective (as we will discuss in class, some lessons may have more than one objective; but there is no sense risking confusion on this point now.)

Identify the 3-5 most critical parts of the unit (referred to as "lessons"). These should generally be limited to intellectual skills learning outcomes such as problem solving and relational rules. For some cases, there may be a need for an attitude learning outcome. (Note: the number of lessons will depend on your instructional problem and design. Add or eliminate lessons as you deem necessary). Write the lesson/enabling objectives below.

Example Title: Describing the learning context Obj: Learners will describe physical, social, and organizational characteristics of learning context.

Your final response:

Title: Translating the topic into a search strategy Objective: Learners will list (state) the genus species and common names of the agricultural pest, and design (generate) a search strategy to include those names, and other relevant aspects concerning the species.

The instructor's feedback to this step:

All of your lesson objectives are very well written, but again with the caveat that it is more typical to write separate objectives for each individual learning outcome.

B. Lesson 2

Your final response:

Title: Searching in databases Objective: Learners will select (identify) three subscription article databases and one government databases from a supplied list, and run their searches (demonstrate) in each database, using the correct Boolean operators and appropriate truncation symbols.

The instructor's feedback to this step:

No specific feedback given on this step.

C. Lesson 3

Your final response:

Title: Selecting relevant citations Objective: Learners will mark (identify) relevant citations from the results returned by each database.

The instructor's feedback to step 4:

No specific feedback given on this step.

D. Lesson 4

Your final response:

Title: Transfering the selected search results to a citation manager Objective: Learners will identify which option is available for marked records, and either save (psychomotor) them to a file for importing, or download (psychomotor) them directly, into a citation manager.

The instructor's feedback to this step:

No specific feedback given on this step.

3. Identify supporting objectives from the verbal information and attitudinal domains.

Identify these objectives using verbs such as "state, list, or summarize" for verbal information objectives and "choose" for attitudinal objectives. (If you have more than 2, just list those that best represent these other objectives. Be sure to include these objectives on your visual ICM to indicate which intellectual skills they support.)

Your final response:

VI1: State the appropriate occasions for the use of Boolean operators in a search strategy. VI2: Identify conditions in which to use truncation symbols. VI3: Identify truncation symbol for a database.

A: Learners will be able to choose to locate and cite relevant research literature to support and advance their assignments.

The instructor's feedback to this step:

Hmm, it looks to me that VI1, 2, and 3 are really concept learning outcomes. VI2 and 3 actually use the verb "Identify" which denote concept learning and VI1 seems better written when the word "identify" is substituted for the word "state".

4. Identify entry behaviors (also known as prerequisite skills).

Entry behaviors are those skills and knowledge that you expect your students to have as they begin this unit. That is, you do not intend to teach these. Although you will undoubtedly have many objectives denoting entry behaviors, just list one example below (but be sure to include all entry behaviors on your instructional curriculum map).

Your final response:

P1: Demonstrate how to select, copy, paste and save text to a new file. P2: Demonstrate knowledge of the lifecycle of selected agricultural pest species.

The instructor's feedback to this step:

Good! But avoid vague phrases such as "demonstrate knowledge".

5. Draw an Instructional Curriculum Map (ICM) for the Unit

An ICM visually represents the optimal sequence of these objectives. (Just think of it as a flowchart.) Draw the ICM in "top-down" fashion with the terminal objective (i.e. unit objective) at the top. Instructional events are designed top-down, though learners will ultimately experience the instruction bottom-up. If there is room in your ICM, include the full objectives, otherwise, just include the title. Entry behaviors should be drawn at the very bottom with a dotted line separating these from the other objectives just above. Click here for an example (generated with Inspiration).

The instructor's feedback to this step:

Outstanding! This is a wonderful visual representation of your unit. Thanks for taking the time to make this available online.

Your conditional loop is interesting, though I wonder if this is an example of an instructional stragegy "leaking in". It looks to me that this sort of decision would come as part of a lesson, rather than a decision *between* lessons. Just something to think about at this point.