Chapter 5 Focus Question: Technologies and Media
Julie Barbadillo
EMC 598
Arizona State University
Summer 1998

Introduction

Background

In Chapter 5 "Technologies and Media" of Moore and Kearsley's Distance Education: A Systems View (1996, p. 97), the authors identify four main steps for media selection:

  1. Identify the media attributes required by the instructional objectives or learning activities.
  2. Identify the student characteristics which suggest or preclude certain media.
  3. Identify characteristics of the learning environment which favor or preclude certain media.
  4. Identify economic or organizational factors which may affect the feasibility of certain media.
These steps are in keeping with Moore and Kearsley's assertion in Chapter 4 that "what makes any course good or poor is a consequence of how well it is designed, delivered, and conducted, not whether the students are face-to-face or at a distance" (p. 65). The steps outlined above all proscribe careful evaluation of pedagogical concerns essential to any curriculum: instructional objectives, student characteristics, learning environment, and organizational factors.

Scope

The Jasper Experiment, conducted by the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV) under the leadership of John Bransford, appears to have utilized the first three of Moore and Kearsley's four steps for media selection. The fourth step is dependent on individualized organizational factors specific to the educational institution and, therefore, cannot be evaluated in this paper. My Internet research includes reports from Jasper's designers, Erlbaum the educational media sales company that distributes Jasper, and several academic papers published on the World Wide Web (W3). Although I was unable to test the product without purchasing it, my research leads me to conclude that the Adventures of Jasper Woodbury--a multimedia videodisc series to improve both basic and higher-order mathematics learning in grades 5 and up (Erlbaum, 1998)--has incorporated flexibility in tailoring the media to instruction objectives, has targeted a range of student characteristics (basic to higher-order math students in grades 5 and up), and has utilized principles of anchored instruction and generative learning in their product. This paper will describe the Jasper Project, explain why it is a unique approach to learning, give an overview of the products developed, and discuss how the materials help learners construct their own knowledge.

 

The Jasper Project: Approach to Learning, Product Overview, and Instructional Design Principles
 

The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury is a problem-solving series of twelve multimedia videodiscs. Each contains a "discrete adventure and challenge . . . [in the form of] a short (approximately 20 minute) video story in which Jasper and his friends confront a problem to be solved" (Erlbaum, 1998). The problem-solving approach to learning is grounded in cognitive research and has been at the forefront of instructional methodologies for several decades. And computer-mediated communication technologies are well suited to achieving the objectives of cognitive-based learning. Jasper utilizes a cognitive learning principle known as anchored instruction, in which the video materials serve as "anchors" (macro-contexts) for all subsequent learning and instruction (Lincoln, 1998). The anchored instruction paradigm is based upon a general model of problem-solving (Bransford & Stein, 1993, as cited in Lincoln, 1998).

The theoretical framework of anchored instruction assumes that:

Using these concepts of anchored instruction, the Jasper series can be used in a variety of ways and can be accommodated into several instructional scenarios.

The Jasper series is distinguished from earlier applications of anchored instruction in elementary reading, language arts, and mathematical skills. The CTGV notes these distinctions:

The design of these anchors was quite different from the design of videos that were typically used in education . . . our goal was to create interesting, realistic contexts that encouraged the active construction of knowledge by learners. Our anchors were stories rather than lectures and were designed to be explored by students and teachers. (CTGV, 1993, as cited in Lincoln, 1998) The interactive videodiscs in the Jasper series allow students, guided by teachers, to embark on "adventures in which mathematical concepts are used to solve problems" (Lincoln, 1998).

Collaborative learning, also a cognitive-based model, is also utilized in the Jasper series. After viewing the multimedia Jasper video story,

students then work collaboratively in small groups, re-exploring the video in order to define subproblems and find the information needed to solve them. Finally, students present their solutions to fellow classmates and discuss the effectiveness of different approaches. They may also choose to extend the challenge by revisiting the adventures from new points of view. (Erlbaum, 1998)

Also important to the Jasper method of learning is the ability of students to "re-explore video in order to find the relevant data and 'just-in-time' embedded teaching" (Vanderbilt, 1998).

The Jasper series includes twelve episodes, priced individually, and a teacher training videodisc and sample videotape:

(Erlbaum, 1998)
 
Conclusions

 The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury problem-solving series has paved the way for the development of new technologies that, like Jasper, seek to incorporate instructional theory in interactive, multimedia materials for educational use.

 

References
Online

Lincoln, A. C. (1998). Anchored instruction (John Bransford and the CTGV). http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/educ/tip/13.htm.

Moore, M. G. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Osman-Jouchoux, R. (1998). Keywords: anchored instruction, generative learning. http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~pakonema/rionda.html.

Vanderbilt. (1998). Jasper in more detail. http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/projects/funded/Jasper/theory/theory.html