Guiding Questions
What is a Procedure and how does it relate to Facts, Concepts, and Principles?
What is the difference between a heuristic and an algorithm?
How can you use the idea of chaining to teach Principles?
How do you identify instances of the Principle learning domain?
How do job aids and Procedures relate?
Why are examples important when teaching Procedures?
What is the role of Principles when teaching Procedures?
What strategies are appropriate for presenting content in the Procedure learning domain?
How do you create practice sequences for the Procedure learning domain?
In this chapter, you will learn about teaching Procedures, a series of steps, performed in order under specific conditions. Underlying each Procedure is a set of rationales and principles. Procedures are primarily concerned with preparing the learners to "do things" and to take action.
A Procedure is a series of steps intended to achieve a specific outcome. Procedures can be algorithmic or heuristic in nature. An algorithmic Procedure is one that, when followed, will always produce the same result. A heuristic, on the other hand, is similar to an algorithm except that it can be applied in a number of ways; consider it more a "rule of thumb." A heuristic is more of a suggestion, while and algorithm is well defined and has a specific and finite set of steps to follow.
An example of an algorithm is a computer program. The computer has to follow a software program exactly; there is no opportunity for modifying the instructions. If there is a flaw in the algorithm, the computer program will fail to function. Practicing medicine is an example of a heuristic-based activity; if a patient has a headache, a physician might prescribe an aspirin; however, there are no guarantees that the medicine will work. The aspirin is likely to help, but will not always help. The physician could also have tried ibuprofen or deep-breathing exercises.
Procedures can be placed on a continuum between pure algorithmic and pure heuristic. When you analyze a Procedure, you must determine in which category it belongs because the choice you make will lead to different instructional interventions. For example, suppose your objective is to teach someone to make chocolate chip cookies. If you classified the Procedure as an algorithm, you would want to stress the importance of following the recipe exactly; you would ensure that the learners were very strict in their measurements and that they were careful not to skip any steps. If you classified the Procedure as a heuristic, you would want them to have a better understanding of the underlying Principles that guide the task. For example, you might want them to know that baking soda can act as a leavener (it gives off carbon dioxide when mixed with an acid, and this causes the food to expand). Armed with this knowledge, the learners would be better prepared to decide, if they realized that they do not have baking soda, whether to continue with the rest of the recipe. An algorithm is more useful in a specific case, while a heuristic is more helpful in new, un-encountered situations.
Most Procedures you will encounter in educational settings are, at least to some degree, heuristic ones. This is fortunate because what heuristics lose in certainty they gain in generalizability, and because the world we encounter is one in which change is common, we have a better chance of dealing with the world with heuristics. The downside is that heuristics require the learners to know more and think more, which makes your job as an instructional designer more involved.
Some Procedures are serial, where each step follows the previous one in a consecutive series. Serial Procedures do not require the learner to make decisions, nor do they require data from the environment to function; other Procedures branch, meaning that the learner is required to make decisions at certain points. For example, the Procedure for opening a door is dependent on its current state (locked or unlocked). If the door is unlocked, then learners merely have to twist the doorknob. If learners encounter a locked door, they must select an appropriate key, unlock the door, and only then may they twist the doorknob to open it.
Documenting a Procedure is unique among the learning domains in that its source is observable; you as a designer can see actions taking place (or can hear an account of them if they are primarily cognitively covert in nature). The other learning domains are the result of logical inferences made outside the engagement of any particular task. Teaching Procedures begins with a specific type of task analysis called behavioral analysis or information processing analysis.
The first thing to focus on when teaching a Procedure is the accuracy and completeness of your description of the Procedure. You must document a procedure from a source. This documentation is done while completing a task analysis (see Chapter 2 on Planning for more details on task analysis). Generally, you analyze a procedural task by observing and interviewing a set of expert performers.
You must then use the information taken from experts and create a series of steps that not only describe the performance but also provide appropriate context for a novice.
A typical procedural analysis is illustrated in Table 11.1.
Jonassen, Tessmer, and Hannum (1999) suggest creating a grid (Table 11.2) to organize the procedural analysis.
Table 11.2 demonstrates the task of performing the Heimlich maneuver, which is useful in rescuing someone from choking (wikiHow, 2007).
The result of a procedural task analysis is a step-by-step guide. You will present this guide to the learners in various formats in instructional presentations and practice sequences. You must adjust and augment the steps to account for the learners' prior knowledge and to provide them with learning domain information that will assist them in generalizing the procedure.
Table 11.1. Procedural Analysis.
Steps | Rationale |
|---|---|
1. Identify entrye criterion objective of entrye task. | What are entrye goals? What needs to be done? What needs to be accomplished? |
2.Choose task expert(s). | Experts are entrye primary source of knowledge from conducting a procedural analysis. Designers must be careful because often experts are too fluent in entrye Procedure, meaning entryat entryey may skip steps or may not even be aware of the steps involved, even though they can perform entryem. They may have internalized the Procedure to such a degree that they no longer have verbal access to it. |
A grid is important because it provides an easy framework to organize knowledge. It reminds you of important question to ask. When documenting a Procedure, it helpful to work with several experts because often they will have idiosyncratic methods of accomplishing the task. It also should be noted that experts are not without misconceptions. | |
3A. If the task is overt, then observe the experts. | Any task that requires a performance can be observed. Often it is helpful to record the event with a video camera so the event can be analyzed in detail. |
3B. If the task is covert, then interview the experts | Many Procedures involve only cognitive operations or a combination of overt and cover behaviors. To ensure that you understand what an expert is doing and to understand their rationale for doing, so you must ask them to report what they are doing at each stage. |
4. Review documentation with experts. | It is often helpful, to review the expert's performance on video to gain the expert's commentary. Once a draft of the Procedure is created, have your experts review it for clarity and for comprehensiveness. |
5. Edit documentation with learners in mind. | At this point, you may need to chunk the steps into logical units that reduce the learners' cognitive load. This may also help the learners recall the steps if they are organized in a logical and meaningful manner. |
6. Produce a flow chart. | Many learners find flow charts useful because they provide a graphical display that demonstrates the relationships of different steps all at once. The symbols used in a flow chart can remind the learners of the actions that need to be taken. |
Table 11.2. Organized Procedural Analysis.
Operation | Result | Decision | If | Else | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Initiate procedure. | Begin. | Determine whether a person is a choking victim. | If victim has his or her hands around throat and panicked look on his or her face. | Assist with less invasive means. | Only use this procedure is it is clear that no air is getting to the lungs. If the person is choking he or she will not be able to verbally consent to the procedure. |
2. | Get the victim into a standing position. | Victim is standing. | ||||
3. | Get behind the victim. | You are behind the victim. | Stand with your legs separated, your right leg slightly between the victim's, your left leg slightly behind you, to form a "tripod" in the event that he or she faints or becomes unconscious. | |||
4. | Position your hands. | Your hands are in the proper position. | Reach around the victim from behind and make a fist near, but just above his or her navel with your left hand, and wrap your right hand around this fist, firmly against the victim's abdomen. | |||
5. | Thrust. | Food is dislodged. | Should the learner repeat the procedure? | If food is dislodged, stop. | Else continue thrusts. | In a lifting motion, pull up with both hands sharply into the solar plexus (above the navel, but just below the midsection of the ribs), as if you are trying to jerk the person off his or her feet from this position. |
You can teach Procedures with two primary methods, directly or by discovery. Using the discovery method, you would ask the learners to create a Procedure while watching a performance. With this strategy, the learners take on many of the roles as the designer; they observe, analyze, and question to build documentation of the Procedure. This can be an effective method, but it can be time-consuming.
Another discovery strategy would be for the learners to practice applying the procedure by making decisions in a simulation. For example, you could provide the learners with a staged problem scenario. Figure 11.1 shows a screen that presents a problem to the learners and asks them to make a decision.
This screen would then change to inform the learners of the results of their decisions and provide them some feedback on whether they made correct choices. Figure 11.2 demonstrates this response.
The other general method available is the direct approach, which requires you to present the Procedure to the learners. The direct approach, in general, takes less time than the discovery strategy. A quality direct instructional sequence can be very effective, although it may not provide as in-depth an experience as a discovery strategy.
Mastering a Procedure involves being able to (1) select the appropriate Procedure for a particular circumstance, (2) state the steps involved, (3) apply the Procedure, and (4) confirm that the task was accomplished. You should explicitly address each of these skills, in both presentation and practice, for the learners to achieve mastery. Too often, the learners learn to state the steps and the designer assumes that they have mastered the entire Procedure.
The first goal is to prepare the learners to match Procedures with circumstances. For example, a learner faced with the task of opening a bottle of wine must recognize that the situation calls for an uncorking Procedure. Learners must be able to choose this Procedure from other similar, but inappropriate, Procedures such as opening a bottle of soda or opening a milk carton. Further, there are multiple types of wine corks (traditional cork and plastic twist) that require different Procedures, so the task has to be discriminated another step. Each of these tasks is an example of opening a container of liquid. However, the steps involved are quite different.
Once the learner selects the appropriate procedure, the learner must be able to state the steps required to transform the situation. In general, opening a bottle of wine requires (1) holding the bottle in a fixed, upright position, (2) removing the bottle wrapping, (3) inserting the corkscrew, and (4) pulling down the corkscrew's leveraging arms. Without knowledge of these steps (which may involve further details and decision points), the learner will be unable to continue.
Unfortunately, it is not sufficient for learners to be able to recall the steps of a Procedure. They must be able to apply those steps to tasks. More often than not, there is a wide difference between knowing how to do something and actually being able to do it. This is a major problem with training instructional experiences; too often designers do not ask the learners to perform tasks. For example, will uncorking a bottle of wine will require the learners to judge what it means to "hold" the bottle? If they choose to hold it carefully like an egg, they won't be able to establish a firm foundation; if they grip it like a vice, they may break the bottle. Experience in applying the Procedure provides a learner with valuable feedback that fills in the blanks left by a verbal description.
The process of learning Procedures can greatly benefit from practice sequences and simulations developed in Flash. While any simulation is limited, they often can provide an experience that generates some of the feedback that direct experience would provide. Ideally, you want the learners doing things instead of merely answering questions about things.
Finally, the learners will have to make judgments as to whether the Procedure selected was able to fulfill the task. For example, a cork that was only partially removed has the potential to contribute to a spill if the wine comes rushing out as the cork's grip slips. Learners need to be able to determine whether the task was accomplished and, if not, what occurred to prevent successful completion.
In addition to these performances, the learners must be able to apply the Procedure to a number of separate un-encountered situations. Successfully resolving an un-encountered situation through the application of a Procedure is necessary to provide evidence that a learner has mastered the Procedure instead of merely memorizing the steps. Mastery involves comprehending, understanding, and applying Procedures, and the only way to judge whether learners have acquired these abilities is to have them address un-encountered problems.
Judging mastery of a Procedure requires you ask the learners to demonstrate that they can not only describe the steps involved in the Procedure but can apply those steps to un-encountered situations. Just as when teaching concepts, you want the learners to demonstrate the implementation of the Procedure in a manner that is not dependent on memorization. You must ask the learners to perform in an un-encountered situation to ensure that they have mastered the procedure and not merely memorized it.
Procedure presentations are taught using three types of strategies: (1) attention management, (2) cognitive load management, and (3) structural management that align with sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory.
Perhaps the most important factor in focusing the learners' attention is to be as clear as possible. Learners can easily be confused by an explanation that is not clearly communicated. It is important that explanations be to the point and easily understood. It is also important that any text used be formatted in such a way as to increase legibility. For example, narrow columns are easier to read than wide columns because it is easier for the eye to pick up the next line when the distance it needs to travel across the screen is reduced. It is also easier to read some fonts and point sizes on the screen. You should experiment to determine what works best to improve the clarity of your presentations.
Procedures ultimately need to be conducted in context. For example, choking might occur in public at a restaurant or in a private residence. The restaurant might have hundreds of patrons, waiters, and other distractions. Learners need to be able to apply the Heimlich maneuver Procedure in any of these environments. To assist the learners in focusing on a victim who is choking, you must bring attention to the Figure (victim) and subdue the Ground (the rest of the restaurant). A video could be used that uses sounds that are only relevant to the task at hand. Or a camera could focus narrowly on just a few tables instead of the restaurant as a whole. These devices can help focus the learners' attention.
Instruction of a Procedure is likely to require many screens, particularly if the Procedure is long or complicated. As much as possible, the interface on each successive screen should be laid out in a similar manner to assist the learners in navigating the application. If the interface changes from screen to screen, the learners will have their attention diffused as the attempt to reorient themselves to each change. Navigation buttons, content boxes, and headings should all be placed on each screen in exactly the same positions.
Procedures are particularly amenable to demonstrations. Procedures are unique among the learning domains because they describe phenomena over time. Procedures consist of a series of steps that occur one after the other (not necessarily linearly). To draw the learners' attention a demonstration is often helpful. Some Procedures require an extended period to be implemented, while others are completed in a time frame that cannot be observed. A planned demonstration can condense time or expand it assist the learners in focusing on the steps. Technologies such as video and animation are particularly useful for this purpose. For example, a real-life choking emergency unfolds in a matter of seconds—too fast for learners to attend to all the relevant details. By slowing time, a Procedure for assisting the victim can be demonstrated at a pace that is comprehensible to a novice.
How many of these sub-objectives and skills are examined is dependent on how widely you want the learners to apply the Procedure. For example, if your objective is simply to have the learners be able to assist someone at a restaurant in an idealized situation, they may be able to do so if they have memorized the steps. However, most cases are not ideal, and a number of factors may require learners to slightly alter the Procedure. For example, if the victim is taller or larger than the average person, the maneuver will have to be altered slightly. The more knowledgeable the learners are about the principles underlying the maneuver, the easier it will be for them to modify it and reach the intended goal (saving the victim). Likewise, if a doctor and has been told that a patient in the emergency room has just been rescued from choking by someone using the Heimlich maneuver, he or she would want to know, in detail, all of the associated details around the technique. This background knowledge might encourage them to check for damage to the esophagus and sternum, for example.
Once you have documented a Procedure in a format such as Table 11.2, you can reorganize that material into a flow chart. A flow chart conveys procedural steps, graphically, which can be easier to follow than information in table form. Flow charts also highlight important decision points, which remind the learners when they have to evaluate the situation and act. A typical flow chart is demonstrated in Figure 11.3.
In a flow chart, each segment of information is a node. Links connect the nodes together. To demonstrate a step in Flash, you can change the color of the nodes to focus the learners' attention, or you can display only one node at a time. This ability to manipulate the presentation of nodes can reduce the number of elements that learners must remember as they connect the individual steps to the larger task.
Additionally, it can be helpful to the learners to present a flow chart in split screen mode. For example, you can place the flow chart on one side of the screen while placing the corresponding task on the other side, as in Figure 11.4.
Each learning domain has its own unique set of requirements for mastery. Alerting the learners to an objective's learning domain can help them orient themselves to the learning task. In any procedure, you need to teach the learners what the steps are, as well as their rationale. Knowing the rationale is what leads to generalizing the Procedure. The steps themselves belong in the Fact domain; the learners has to memorize them, while the rationale usually consists of combinations of Concepts and Principles. Identifying the relevant Concepts and Principles and encouraging the learners to comprehend their relationship is a key instructional task.
For example, in the Heimlich maneuver Procedure in Table 11.1, it may benefit the learners to know the following facts: anatomy, the concepts: consent, gas, mass acceleration, and the Principles: oxygen deprivation, air pressure, cavity pressure, force, and muscle contraction. All of these elements contribute to a full knowledge and understanding of the Procedure. It should be apparent that, even in this simple example, a Procedure might involve a large, perhaps overwhelming number of potentially useful sub-objectives.
Procedures can be long and complex. The number of constituent steps can quickly overload learners' cognitive capacity. The easiest method of assisting the learners in managing and maximizing their cognitive capacity is to break the Procedure down into smaller sets of steps. If there are more than seven steps, you should consider consolidating them or selecting only a few to teach at any one time.
To shorten the path through a Procedure, you can replace a series of steps with a single step stated in general terms. For example, in the flow chart in Figure 11.3, the third node states, "Get the victim on his or her feet." This step assumes that the learner has either mastered the sub-components of this step or that those steps are obvious for the average user. However, it may be the case that you teach this step to mastery later. Standing someone up may not be a trivial task; the victim may resist, may be too large to move, or may be unable to provide assistance. If you are going to consolidate a series of steps, be sure that the learners have another opportunity to master a step's sub-components.
It is even more helpful if you can organize these steps into categories that relate to Principles. For example, the Procedure for the Heimlich maneuver is a subset of a larger Procedure for delivering first aid. The larger first aid Procedure may be as described below.
Step 1: If there appears to be an emergency, call 911.
Step 2: Remain calm.
Step 3: Make sure you and the injured person are not in danger.
Step 4: Assess situation.
Step 5a: IF: emergency pertains to one of the following options, begin implementing appropriate response.
Unconsciousness
Bleeding
Burns
Broken bones
Choking
Shock
Step 5b: ELSE: Observe injured person's condition until emergency personnel are available to assist.
In this manner, you can teach each smaller set of Procedures separately and then integrate them into a more comprehensive Procedure. This method makes the Procedure more manageable and encourages mastery.
Side note: Software such as Adobe Captivate can be of great assistance when teaching procedures. Adobe describes Captivate as having the ability to "create powerful and engaging simulations, scenario-based training, and robust quizzes without programming knowledge or multimedia skills." However, it is most powerful when you use it to document a Procedure produced on the screen. If your Procedures involve demonstrating how to use software or similar activities, I encourage you to explore using Captivate or similar tools such as Camtasia.
One the most effective methods for teaching Procedures is to identify an optimal path through the Procedure for each learner. If you present an overly detailed Procedure to a learner who has already mastered many of the steps, he or she may become bored, which will interfere with the ability to assimilate the material. In the same way, if the steps are not sufficiently detailed, the learner may become lost and not have a context for integrating the material.
One method for identifying the ideal starting path through a Procedure is to begin with a simplest path and see how each learner performs. If a learner cannot perform the Procedure successfully, he or she should be presented with a more detailed path. This requires that a number of separate presentations be created documenting the Procedure. As a designer, you will have to make a cost/benefit decision as to how many paths to construct (which take time and resources to conduct) and compare those costs with the benefits of the instruction (how many learners there are and how important mastering the objectives is).
Another useful method for assisting the learners in mastering a Procedure is to provide them with an analogy. An analogy draws a comparison between two different subjects to demonstrate a similarity. For example, one might suggest that a glove relates to a hand in a way similar to the way that a sock relates to a foot; there are differences between these two objects, yet, the similarities should help the learners consolidate their understanding and connect it with the cognitive structure. Having the learners work with the analogy may further assist their comprehension. For example, in the above analogy, they may suggest that, while there are similarities between a sock and glove, a stronger similarity might be between a sock and a mitten.
In the case of Procedures, an analogy can be more difficult to make because we are not talking about a single thing but a set of steps. For example, Richland, Holyoak, and Stigler (2004) presented this decontextualized math problem: "It is divided by negative 60, so we multiply by negative 60 on both sides." They then created an analogy outside of math for comparison. The analogy states, "It's like balancing a scale. Matter doesn't disappear, so to keep it balanced, whatever we do to undo one side we have to do to the other" (p. 44).
As mentioned before, learning Procedures is not merely about recognizing their constituent steps. It is also necessary that the learners understand the rationale and principles involved. A rationale is an explanation for performing a task; it is the logical basis of a Procedure. Without such an explanation, the learners will have difficulty placing it in their cognitive structures; without a rationale a Procedure is arbitrary and has more in common with trying to remember a random number sequence than it has with comprehending it so that it can be applied to a wide variety or un-encountered situations.
For example, the algebra procedure introduced above is a single instance of the Property of Equality, which relates concepts such as addition, multiplication, and division to concepts such as constants and variables. Another example, the principle behind the Heimlich maneuver, is that air pressure increases as the available space in the lungs decreases, exerting pressure on any object lodged. Similarly, the principle behind CPR is that blood circulates from the muscular compression of the heart's chambers.
A procedure may be appropriate for some circumstances, and it may be inappropriate for others. Encouraging the learners to become skilled at determining how widely they can apply a particular Procedure is important. Likewise, assisting the learners in determining which situations the Procedure is not appropriate for is important. One of the best methods for developing this skill within learners is to present them with a series of examples.
Choose examples based on their divergence from the prototypical situation. For example, the Heimlich maneuver could be demonstrated on an average-sized adult, and then the demonstration could be repeated on a plus-sized adult, and finally on a child. A wide range of examples will allow learners to understand which elements of the Procedure are universal (applicable to any situation), such as confirming that a victim is choking, and which elements are situational (the exact hand position varies depending on the size of the victim). Examples also demonstrate what elements a learner might modify to be appropriate for different situations. For example, the force of a thrust applied to a child might initially be less powerful than that used on an adult, or one might adjust one's grip when assisting a larger person to gain proper leverage.
It also might be useful to have examples of the Procedure in different environmental contexts. For example, a prototypical demonstration of someone needing assistance for choking may take place in a restaurant; however, the learners may have to apply the Procedure at a work site or on an airplane, where the mental connection to an airway obstruction may not be as strong.
It is equally important to share with the learners non-examples. Non-examples are situations in which learners may commonly misapply the Procedure. These situations seem similar and it looks like a particular Procedure could be successfully applied; however, on closer inspection, another Procedure is more appropriate. For example, if you were confronted with a choking infant, it would be inappropriate to apply the Heimlich maneuver without modification. In this situation, there is another Procedure one should use, designed specifically for infants. By exposing the learners to this type of non-example, possible misconceptions are addressed directly.
The sequences in Table 11.3 are examples of how practice might be developed for the procedural domain to strategically remove support for the learners.
The important ideas in this chapter include:
This chapter explains Procedures and how they relate to Facts, Concepts, and Principles.
Two main kinds of Procedures are discussed here: algorithmic and heuristic.
The features of each Procedure, along with the different learning outcomes associated with each approach, are also highlighted.
Presentation strategies and practice sequences are discussed.
Table 11.3. Practice Sequences
Intermediate | Exit | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Attention management: Modality | Task 1A. Concrete and Familiar: In which of the following scenarios would it be appropriate to apply the Heimlich maneuver? A. Video demonstration A. B. Video demonstration B | Task 1A. Concrete and Familiar: In which of the following scenarios would it be appropriate to apply the Heimlich maneuver? A. Your dinner companion is coughing and says, "I think I am choking" B. The person at the table next to yours has suddenly turned red and has a panicked look on her face, she is clutching her throat. | Task 1C. Abstract: A person who is choking requires assistance with the Heimlich maneuver. A sign that the person is not choking is: A. He can still breathe. B. He turns red. |
Cognitive load management: Scope | The first step to applying the Heimlich maneuver is to determine whether the victim is choking; the next step is to___, and the third step is to position your hands properly. | The Heimlich maneuver has four components. The second component is . . . | Describe the components of the Heimlich maneuver. |
Cognitive load management: Learner Action | Recognize: Which of the following is the correct procedure for applying the Heimlich maneuver. | Edit: Modify the procedure below so that only the essential components of the Heimlich procedure remain. | Produce: Describe the steps involved in implementing the Heimlich maneuver. |
The Heimlich maneuver was created by Henry Heimlich to assist victims of choking. Which procedure below is an illustration of the Heimlich maneuver? | The diagram below demonstrates a technique to assist victims of choking. Which component is incorrect? | What procedure should be conducted on the victim in Diagram A? |