The document discusses how the rise of the internet and digital technologies has changed how people consume and process information. It has led to more scanning and browsing of information rather than deep, linear reading. As a result, instructional design needs to change from linear presentations to designs that support power browsing, such as pulling out key ideas, using multimedia, and creating exploratory learning environments through techniques like anchored instruction and contrasting cases. This will help knowledge integration and meet students where their reading habits are now.

1. Instructional design: the impact of web use design for the power-browser. Reva McEachern Online Learning & Web Specialist School of Public Affairs & Administration | Rutgers, Newark [email_address]

2. a new way of thinking... “ I ’ m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I ’ m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I ’ d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That ’ s rarely the case anymore… Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, [and] begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I ’ m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

3. a new form of “ reading ” “ It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “ reading ” are emerging as users “ power browse… ” - Nicholas Carr, “ Is Google Making Us Stupid? ”

4. section 1: technology & media sociologist Da sociologist Daniel Bell call our “ intellectual technologies ” — the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

5. operating like a “ Google ” The process of adapting to new intellectual technologies --> changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. We used to say “ like clockwork. ” Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating “ like computers. ”

6. the Net effect When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net ’ s image. It injects the medium ’ s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

7. enter: the power-browser scan for key points search for reinforcement discover related topics ignore “ useless ” information and integrate “ use ” knowledge Now, instead of deep reading, we ...

8. section 1 summary intellectual technologies shape how we think Media responds to users new habits operating like a Google means scanning information; lack of deep reading “ net effect ” = scattered attention & diffused concentration

9. Section 2: Implications for eLearning Most elearning courses are focused on a linear presentation of information. Linear = book-like = no interaction. Real learning doesn ’ t happen when you give the learners information...it happens when they use it... what eLearning offers to education is the ability to interact with content.

10. how to adapt? a case study As consumption habits change, traditional media adapts. Television; text crawls and pop-up ads Print media; shorter articles; capsule summaries, info-snippets. The New York Times decided to dedicate the 2nd and 3rd pages of every edition to article abstracts. Director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “ shortcuts ” would give harried readers a quick “ taste ” of the day ’ s news, sparring them the “ less efficient ” method of actually turning the pages and READING the articles.

11. the take away: design for power browsing Pull main ideas and critical points into focus Guide students to towards the learning goal Use multimedia to enhance the message

12. text one way...

13. text a better way.

14. how to use imagery. When using imagery to enhance lecture or eLearning, it is important to select the right image. The right image is one that enhances the learning content by making it more salient and memorable. Take this example, it is clear that a lesson that uses this image has to do with recycling.

15. adding audio Podcasts can be used to enhance the learning of a lecture; user control Use of narrative can engage the listener and make a personal connection Sound effects can make critical ideas more memorable

16. section 2 summary do not bury key information use audio to enhance lecture; user-control use layouts & images to convey meaning & relationships; avoid distractions use patterns & repetition to organize content

17. section 3: theory & methodology anchored instruction; goal based scenarios; exploration contrasting cases & metacognition knowledge integration

18. Anchored instruction An apprenticeship-style approach to knowledge integration... anchors the learning in the context of goal-based scenarios where problems are presented and then the learner must apply what they have learned to arrive at the correct solution (Bransford, 1990).

19. Challenge-based instruction Challenge or Goal-based instruction often puts the challenge first; anchored instruction may not spell-out the challenge or objective for the learner Flash-based environments OR real activities & reporting

20. Contrasting Cases Using contrasting cases involves putting two things together that when combined in context highlights the invisible differences among the two. It makes invisible context more salient and memorable

21. Metacognition Contrasting cases spawns metacognitive reflection. Not only can contrasting cases be used to make visible context among subjects, it can be used to make visible differentiated approaches among students.

22. Knowledge integration understanding how other students think can help me reassess my own strategies reflection helps students “ generate well-differentiated knowledge about a domain, ” (Schwartz, D. & Bransford, J. D., 1998) and leads to an optimal time for telling for teachers.

23. linear vs exploratory

24. section 3 summary create exploratory learning environments using anchored instruction use contrasting cases; enhance metacognition create “ use ” value for knowledge integration with goal-based scenarios

25. references Bransford, J.D., Sherwood, R. D., Hasselbring, T. S., Kinzer, C.K., & Williams, S. M. (1990). Anchored Instruction: Why we need it and how technology can help. In D. Nix & R. Spiro (Eds.), Cognition, education, and multi-media: Exploring ideas in high technology (pp. 115- 141). Hillsdale, NJ: Larence Erlbabum Associates. Carr, Nicholas. “ Is Google Making Us Stupid? ” www.theatlantic.com . Accessed November 7, 2010. Linn, M. (2006). The knowledge integration perspective on learning. In R. K. Sawyer (Eds). The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press, Chapt. 15, 243-265. Lin, Xd, Shaenfield, D. & Edler, A. (in preparation, 2010) Using contrasting cases to support students ’ self-assessment. Schwartz, D. & Bransford, J. D. (1998). A time for telling. Cognition and Instruction, 16(4), 475-522.