The purpose of this project is twofold: first, to demonstrate the instructional design legitimacy of the LEAP model by showing its adherence to learning principles presented in Unit 81522. Second, this project will outline a module designed using LEAP and the 81522 materials.

Those paragraphs, from the introduction to a new Dearborn textbook called The Real World Entrepreneur Field Guide, express the seed of an idea: the LEAP instructional design principle. To be frank, LEAP was originally conceived in classic cart-before-the-horse fashion: that is, I had written the first draft manuscript of the book to include a number of recurring features, and based the text on some fundamental assumptions about how information could best be presented and processed, but I had not sat down and performed a formal instructional design analysis from square one. So in creating the LEAP principle I was, in effect, working backward in an exercise designed to justify something that was already accomplished.

A more charitable view, of course, is that LEAP is the result of a careful analysis of a structured learning experience: a description of an existing instructional model in more conscious academic terms, based on a heightened awareness of formal instructional design arising out of my participation in Unit 81522. And, to be fair to myself, once LEAP had been identified as the underlying reality of what I was up to in the book, the revised and final draft manuscripts were created with its demands fully in mind. Further, the original concept of the book itself was to create as un-booklike a book as possible, using the Internet as the structural and experiential model.

Two questions arise, however, from this discussion: Can a legitimate instructional design theory be created essentially as a byproduct of what amounts to an ex post facto marketing exercise? And, if so, can an instructional design theory created to organize a print product into a more useful learning tool be transferred with equal effectiveness to any other learning media?

Not surprisingly, I think the answer to both questions is "yes." In this project, I will demonstrate that the LEAP principle, while of somewhat murky and questionable scholarly origin, nonetheless has fully flowered into a coherent and unique (albeit derivative) instructional design methodology with applications across instructional media. To demonstrate this rather self-confident assertion, I will first show how LEAP fits logically within the tradition of instructional design theories, and how it grows from more classic conceptions. Then, I will apply LEAP to a simulated module of computer-based training, to see how it could work in practical terms in the world of distance learning.

The result, in the long run, from this exercise will be twofold (and thoroughly self-serving as well). First, I will have more fully developed the LEAP concept, and grounded it in an instructional design tradition. This, in turn, will legitimize the proprietary LEAP instructional design model, making it a valuable asset of Dearborn Financial Publishing. Second, I will establish an overall instructional design template for Dearborn products, following the LEAP model, which will ensure a standard of qualitative design coherence across our electronic and print products.

2. LEAP IN THE CONTEXT OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN THEORY

Before looking at how an effective distance learning instructional module could be developed using the LEAP principle, it would probably be wise to demonstrate how LEAP is grounded in traditional instructional design theory and practice.

Distance Learning In General

Som Naidu offers this straightforward definition of distance education:

Distance education refers to various forms of educational activity in which learners are physically apart from the teacher or the teaching institution for much of the teaching and learning process.

This clear definition also states the special challenge of distance educators: how to deliver instructionally effective learning experiences to students who are geographically scattered. Some (traditionalist instructors and state education regulators, for instance) perceive this challenge as an inherent weakness in distance education generally. The author has had several interestingly warm discussions with classroom fanaticists and wary government bureaucrats on this subject. The gist of these exchanges typically boils down to two fundamental issues: interactivity and security.

In the eyes of traditionalists (i.e., those to whom distance education is tantamount to little more than a glorified matchbook-cover correspondence school con job), the particular glory of classroom-based delivery is the dual interactions between instructor and students, and among students themselves.

"Show me," they say belligerently, "how a computer program can be as effective as a good spontaneous classroom debate." While this paper is not really the forum in which to delve into the issues of comparative effectiveness of instructional delivery methodologies, it should nonetheless be pointed out that a well-designed distance learning course, regardless of the medium employed, will be as interactive with students as possible in the context of the medium. That is, it is unreasonable for critics to demand that distance education delivery media exhibit, as a baseline standard, the characteristics that define the very best of classroom instruction. Not only does this requirement make the erroneous presumption that all classroom instruction is of a creative, intensely high-quality interactive character, it unfairly requires that two very different instructional delivery media behave exactly alike: a demand akin to not just comparing apples and oranges, but to requiring that apples be oranges.

Focus on the Learner

But that’s not really the point here. Here, rather, the point is that any teaching and learning process, regardless of the medium of instruction employed to deliver the information, must be focussed primarily on the learner. Far from Clark’s assertion that "media will never influence learning," media dictates the tools available to the provider, and thus the effectiveness of the delivery of the information. And "effectiveness" can only be measured by the extent to which learners retain and understand it. Naidu, for instance, observes that the "quality of teaching and learning process in [distance education] is dependent on the quality of the study materials. In contemporary distance education, those materials embrace an arsenal of traditional print and audio products, computer software, Internet delivery, hyperlinks, streaming audio and video, real-time chat, bulletin boards and a host of other technological bells and whistles. The selection of which of those bells and whistles will most effectively (and efficiently) convey the information to the learner is the principal challenge to the instructional designer.

Naidu expands his definition of distance education by defining distance learners as "isolated or semi-isolated students" whose learning experience is "limited by their study materials, their study space, mailbox and/or their telephone." He describes the downside of the distance learning experience as disenfranchisement, frustration, procrastination, isolation and lack of resources, feedback and support. Naidu sees the upside as enhanced learner control "over their learning and the choice to manage it in a manner that best suits them." An effective instructional design, that takes into account the learner’s needs, challenges and potential for control as well as the limitations and possibilities created by the medium selected can compensate for the risks and exploit the positive elements of distance education. This paper assumes that LEAP is such a general design principle.

LEAP is also similar to the "spiral" learning structure proposed by the constructivist theory stated by Bruner. Constructivism perceives learning "as an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge [in which] the instructor should try and encourage students to discover principles by themselves." A constructivist curriculum "should be organized in a spiral manner so that the student continually builds upon what they have already learned."

The multilevel structure of a LEAP design also recalls the Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle. Although presented as a four-quadrant circle, the Kolb Model is really more of a spiral beginning with experience, followed by reflection, conceptualizations and experimentation, which necessarily yields new experiences to begin the cycle again. LEAP is also aligned with Mezirow’s theory of Perspective Transformation, which focuses on the role of reflection and application as keys to adult learning processes. It also supports Freire’s theory of conscientization, in which "adult learning is the process of becoming aware of one’s assumptions, beliefs and values, of transforming those assumptions into a new perspective or level of consciousness [which transformation] ‘proceeds to action, which in turn provides the basis for new perception, new reflection.’"

LEAP is also related to Carroll’s Minimalism, which stresses the importance of meaningful learning experiences and active learning activities. Rogers’ Experiential Learning is also relevant to LEAP, with its emphasis on experiential learning over cognitive academic knowledge-acquisition.

To the extent that LEAP is dynamic—it encourages learners to acquire, synthesize, order and apply new knowledge toward the end of producing something of value or usefulness—it follows the Novex model of, in Taylor’s words,

effecting the shift from novice to expert by creating a series of learning activities that will enable novices to construct and thereby replicate key elements of the organisation and content of the knowledge base of the expert in their own cognitive structure.

In fact, in its educational products (whether prelicensing, continuing education, professional development or small-business oriented), Dearborn’s underlying goal should be to move the learner from the "novice" category closer to "expert" status, whether that expertise involves having amassed a sufficient body of knowledge to pass a licensure examination or being a better securities broker. The progression from fundamental elements to more complex relational concepts which are, in turn applied to real-life fact-based scenarios and then to the construction of some application is clearly the type of building-block approach that mimics, in a short time span, the expert’s growth in understanding from simplest ideas to more complex concepts and ultimate applications.

In Taylor’s terms,

The recommended sequence of learning activities might well concentrate on the generation of relational knowledge prior to the generation of strategic knowledge and the subsequent activation of actual cognitive skill performance.

The inclusion of traditional testing devices with rationales meets the Novex expectation that "self-evaluation as a cognitive strategy should enhance students’ mega-cognitive skills, which in turn should facilitate learning."

PRELIMINARY ELEMENTS

It is a fundamental principle of adult education that adult learners have a particular need to understand why things are being taught, why they have a need to know information, and to have a sense of direction and ownership of the information being conveyed. Thus, in order for any instructional design to be effective, regardless of the educational medium involved, the student must want to learn. But making students want to learn is difficult enough in a face-to-face classroom context. Certainly there is some degree of self-selection in favor of a desire to learn when students seek out a particular educational experience, but it may be tainted by other factors such as legal or professional (or academic) requirements.

This recognition of the need to motivate learners, to make them want to learn, is supported by Novex (in the sense of re-creating in the novice the expert’s inherent and largely emotional (affective) interest in the subject matter). It is also in line with Hull’s Drive Reduction Theory, which states as a first principle that "drive is essential in order for responses to occur (i.e., the student must want to learn)."

To generate a desire to learn on the part of students, LEAP relies on an initial Statement of Purpose, which explicitly states for the student the real-world reason underlying the need to learn the material. The Statement is not to be confused with Learning Objectives (also included in a typical LEAP-based design) which define what is to be learned. The Statement, rather, clarifies for the student why learning should take place. Typically, this will be a self-serving motivation close to the student’s actual purposes: in the case of licensing courses, for instance, comprehension could be linked to not going to jail for malfeasance. In professional development, the Statement might be directed more toward such issues as increasing profitability by adopting a particular accounting method or understanding an income tax issue; enhanced effectiveness of planned marketing efforts; or the efficiencies involved in hiring and training an assistant. In any case, the Statement addresses real-world, bread-and-butter reasons for learning. By appealing to the student’s self-interest, even the most esoteric and academic of subjects can be made compelling, or at least of sufficient desirability to be retained for a while.

The second pre-course element in a LEAP-oriented design is the Learning Objectives section. Learning Objectives are clear, succinct statement of concrete and definable goals to be achieved by completing the unit of learning. Objectives are "advance organizers" in the language of Ausubel’s Subsumption Theory. "These organizers are introduced in advance of learning itself, and are also presented at a higher level of abstraction, generally, and inclusiveness." Objectives are also supported by Merrill’s Component Display Theory, in which "a complete lesson would consist of objectives followed by some combination of rules, examples, recall, practice, feedback, helps and mnemonics appropriate to the subject matter and learning task."

LEAP ELEMENTS: LEARN

The first segment of a LEAP-centered module, following the preliminary objectives and purpose statement, is dedicated to mastery of the most fundamental blocks of information necessary to understand the module’s topic. This information would include basic definitions of key concepts and terms, for instance, or identification of basic mechanical or physiological systems. The Learn element is the foundation on which the student proceeds to build more complex understanding in order to "hardwire" the information, or to make it his or her own.

Each "nugget" of information is stated verbally, supported with a graphic element when possible (to appeal to visual learners) or other audiovisual technologies as appropriate to conveying the subject matter. The statement is reinforced with a series of objective questions designed to test comprehension. Each question tests understanding of the principle in one of a variety of formats (true/false, multiple-choice, fill-in, and matching). Following Skinner and others, further, each question will provide the student with immediate substantive feedback in the form of both a reward for a correct answer (by way of an encouraging, supportive message rather than a piece of cheese) and reinforcing the answer by use of a clear rationale—an explanatory restatement of the answer. Incorrect answers would also be explained (though no electric shocks would be administered), and would result in an additional question-feedback loop until a correct answer is obtained. In an electronic course suitable for distance learning, if the student demonstrates mastery of the topic, he or she proceeds to the next concept. If not, the student is looped back to the original statement, or branched to more detailed explanations (depending on the economics of the course design).

This is similar to the assertions made by Naidu and Bernard, in discussing the importance of proximity of inserted questions to relevant text, that "these studies found that questions placed closer to the targeted text were more beneficial than those grouped together at the end of a section." Naidu and Bernard cite a study that suggested that "distance learners often avoid inserted questions whenever possible."

LEAP ELEMENTS: EXPLORE

Once the fundamental components of a module’s topic have been mastered, students are ready to proceed to the next level of comprehension: combining the fundamentals into more complex relationships. In the model proposed below, for instance, a student initially masters the concept and terminology and parties of agency law. In the Explore component, the student would proceed to agency relationships among the parties: universal agency, general agency, special agency, designated agency, single agency, subagency, buyer agency – being exposed to the variety of possible legal relationships and different responsibilities. Again, these concepts are tested in a traditionally objective manner, utilizing looping and branching as appropriate.

From an ID theory perspective, this aspect of LEAP is analogous to the Algo-Heuristic Theory as expressed by Landa, who proposes a "snowball" method that "applies to teaching a system of cognitive operations by teaching the first operation, then the second which is practiced on the first, and so on. By starting with basic building-block concepts, and then showing how they interrelate with more complex systems and relationships, LEAP emphasizes both interconnections and relevant applications.

 

LEAP ELEMENTS: APPLY

The last two segments of the LEAP design are more nontraditional than the first two, which rely on a basic design principle derived from question-and-response mastery learning. The Application segment of LEAP moves learners along the spectrum from "novice" toward "expertise" by asking them not just to intellectually understand key concepts and relationships, but to demonstrate their application to real-life situations. In the case of our model, for instance, the Apply segment asks students to identify the need for and type of agency relationship in a series of case studies. In a less text-based electronic course, students could be asked, for instance, to manipulate components on a screen to virtually build a device, or to answer simulated help-line calls in a prescribed manner. In our model here, however, relying on low-end technologies for both economic and user-reality reasons, the application will necessarily be more text-based, with students responding to a case study through a series of selected answers. Regardless of the low level of interactivity, however, even this application element satisfies this segment of LEAP because learners are compelled to move beyond the purely intellectual, and recognize relationships and requirements in complex situations.

The Apply element of LEAP grows from such ID theory as Wertheimer’s Gestalt, which calls for the "grouping" of characteristics, the use of gaps and incongruities as learning stimuli, and encouraging learners "to discover the underlying nature of a topic or problem…The essence of successful problem solving behavior [is] being able to see the overall structure of the problem." By calling on learners to apply learned content to lifelike scenarios, learners are forced to

LEAP ELEMENTS: PRODUCE

The final element in the LEAP model requires that students not simply have an intellectual grasp of concepts, or be able to recognize the concept in action, but that they assume "ownership" of the concept by creating some tangible product of their work. The ownership element not only provides an additional level of reinforcement to encourage retention of learned information, it tracks the Novex model of moving learners from novice to expert status. In a business development course, using learned design principles to create a business card or promotional flier could satisfy the Produce element. In a job-skills training environments, Produce could mean students create templates for a task or convenient job-aids. As little as filling in a form or as much as building a birdhouse could conceivably satisfy produce. The Produce element is designed to bring the student fully into expertise in the module: to actually do, to the extent possible within the limitations of time and technology, the thing being taught.

In the model used here, students are asked to complete a standard agency disclosure form for each of the scenarios covered in the Application segment. This is a standard form that real estate licensees are called on to fill out every day. This exercise reinforces and builds on all previous learning in the module: students must recall the basic agency relationships, their application to specific facts, and act as a "real life" broker in preparing the disclosure form for a prospective client. This final act further reinforces the Statement of Purpose at the beginning of the module: by filling in the disclosure form, the licensee is avoiding a potential lawsuit.

FOLLOW-UP ELEMENTS

The LEAP-based module concludes with a series of reinforcing elements, including a brief post-test (with feedback) and a restatement of the Statement of Purpose and Learning Objectives to demonstrate to the learner exactly what has been accomplished. To provide an opportunity for more "democratic" feedback, students are also provided with a brief evaluatory exercise (toggling radio buttons by each objective, to be clicked "on" if the student believes the objective has been met). This evaluation will be stored on a key disk or master file (in the case of electronic distance learning) along with the student’s other performance records to provide course developers with an idea of how successfully the instructional design is working.

The function of having students evaluate instruction as they move through the course is twofold: first, it provides designers with a steady stream of input from endusers that is immediately traceable to potential problem areas. The student feedback is also made more valuable by being solicited immediately after the learning event has occurred, rather than putting it off until the end of the course, when much of what was felt to be weak or in need of improvement may have been forgotten. The second benefit of the feedback function is to provide learners with a sense of empowerment, which should contribute to the sense of "ownership" of the information that the LEAP structure is designed to encourage.

The importance of post-questioning was stated by Bernard and Naidu, who express this element as a sort of last chance for the instructor to get to the learner. Combined with substantive instructional feedback, post-questioning becomes not just an evaluative quiz at the end of a unit, but an integral part of the instructional structure.

 

3. EXAMPLE: PROPOSED AGENCY MODULE FOR USE IN A WEB-BASED PRELICENSE COURSE

Note that this course does not currently exist. The material for this model’s content is derived from a print product, Modern Real Estate Practice, 14^th Edition, and is structured to be compatible with the capabilities of the Dearborn software engine and authoring tools.

1. Course Topic: Real Estate
2. Module: Introduction to Agency
3. Instructional Delivery Method: Distance Learning, software based
4. Target Learners: Adults enrolled in legally mandated prelicense exam real estate courses. The average student user will be 35 to 40 years old, with some college education, entering a second career. User interface must be highly accessible and user-friendly, due to the target audience’s known wariness of technology. Similarly, because these users are also known to be both highly social and goal-driven, the course’s tone should be informal, objectives should be clearly stated, and exercises clearly related to goals. If bulletin-board, newsgroup or chatroom functions were supported by the available technology (which they may be at some future time), these features would probably be appealing to these users, and the enhanced interaction with instructors and other students would most likely result in a corresponding increase in retention and comprehension.

This course utilizes the LEAP instructional design principle. The course is designed to provide maximum interactivity in a "spiral" learning environment, in which individual instructional items build on one another and are applied directly to real-world situations. The inclusion of a brief project and an evaluative exercise are intended to provide students with a sense of ownership and control. Within the course, inserted questions measure comprehension and the need for remediation, which is provided in the form of additional mastery questions, looping and branching.

This design is well suited to a distance learning context. Within the limitations imposed by content (state regulations demand that specific topics be covered in a particular order, and that a specific number of multiple-choice style questions be included) and technology (the Dearborn Engine, while an admirable technological feat for a midsized publisher of professional textbooks, permits only a limited set of "bells and whistles" in any course) this design permits the maximum possible interactivity and content ownership by the learner. It allows for venturing "outside" the course confines onto the Internet (if the course is web-delivered) and for more in-depth coverage as needed or desired. It offers a motivation for learning, clear guidelines for expected coverage, and numerous opportunities for remediation. Finally, it provides students with evaluation tools for both their own progress and the course itself.

While certainly content-heavy, the course design chunks data, avoids overcrowded screens and offers a range of diverting activities intended to avoid the boredom of a "page clicker" course.

To be blunt, prelicense real estate students are known to have short attention spans. The changing modes of instruction included in the LEAP design are well-suited to their needs. In addition, the target learners are highly motivated to comprehend and complete the course, having made a significant personal decision to enter this career area. Their immediate goal is to pass a licensing examination, and they expect their course to assist them toward that end. The distance learning context is ideally suited to this group of learners, who have ongoing professional obligations in their current jobs, as well as family and personal demands on their time and availability. Because the course is self-paced, it can be accomodated to the realities of individual students’ lives. While not shown here, it is assumed that the content will include graphic illustrations as well, to help appeal to a variety of adult learning styles (the adventurous can roam off to check out the "extra" material, the text-bound can stick to a linear experience; visual learners will be offered pictures to reinforce text, and those who learn best by doing have the opportunity to enjoy both the "Apply" and "Produce" elements.

Figure 1 illustrates the basic skeletal flow of this course. Shadowed boxes indicate possible multiple screens of text and graphics; rounded boxes are question items. The Content includes basic text, glossary term hyperlinks, help functions and expanded explanations of the basic text which a learner may choose to access or not. The flow shows only two inserted questions; there may be more in any sequence before looping or remediation occurs. A correct response continues the module’s content, while an incorrect response results in further questions and a return to the original content or to the optional expanded discussion. The Quiz function covers the entire module content, with limited remediation (explanations of correct answers). It is up to the designer to decide whether the learner must necessarily achieve a certain minimum score on the Quiz prior to proceeding to the next module, or if simple completion and score analysis is adequate. The last two boxes are the learner evaluation interactives: self-assessed achievement of objectives and a brief qualitative evaluation of the learning experience.

The following are illustrative of the type of content included in this module.

The word agency hyperlinks to a detailed glossary definition, which may include graphic representations. The user may also select a "More" option that recurs at the screen bottom, and will link to more detailed discussion, "nice to know" information, and enhanced explication.

In the Apply Element, the fact pattern may be presented, depending on the technology available, in a text-only format or as an animation or video with an audio component (and a text-based redundancy). In this model, the Apply Element is text-based due to technological limitations. If financial and technological considerations permitted a different type of presentation, an animation or video would be preferable. The point of Apply is to mimic real life situations as closely as possible. Text-based presentation defines the low end of that simulation, although presentation of the facts in a story-like manner is making the best of a poor option.

Here, rationales for the questions will illustrate the fictional facts with supportive text from the content pages, and provide more detailed discussion than the rationales for the Learn or Explore segments. In effect, the rationales are additional content for this segment. Incorrect responses to more than 2 of the six questions will require the learner to review the module’s content sections.

Here, students are asked to simulate actual real estate office conditions by filling in the forms they will need to prepare as licensees. Each form page will include a "submit" button to indicate completion. Pressing "submit" will cause an inactive "Correct Form" button to activate. By pressing that, the student can compare his or her form with the correct completed form. The Produce Element is not tested. In other modules, students may produce self-promotional fliers, office policy statements, and portions of sales contracts, financing agreements and listing agreements.

Once the learner has successfully navigated the entire module, he or she will demonstrate overall mastery by completing a brief quiz. Once the quiz is completed, the student is presented with an analysis of his or her results, including detailed rationales, percentage correct, and a correlation to prospective success on the licensing examination. The student may not proceed to the next module until achieving a passing score on the quiz, which can be retaken multiple times (with questions randomized from a database).

After successfully completing the module, the student first reviews the learning objectives, and identifies each one he or she feels confident of having achieved.

If the student does not select all objectives, the following message appears:

If you do not feel confident that you have achieved all the objectives for this module, you should review the module again.

If the learner selects yes, he or she will return to the beginning of the module content. If the learner selects no, he or she will be looped back to the previous screen.

Finally, learners are presented with a brief evaluation screen:

After completing and submitting the evaluation (which will be recorded on the keydisk for later review), the student proceeds to the next module, which continues the LEAP design:

The LEAP design principle, although originated as a structure for a print-based textbook, clearly works in the design of electronic distance learning courses. LEAP is supported by fundamental distance learning instructional design theories, and a course built around the LEAP structure provides students with a multifaceted, vibrant learning environment. Even when limited by content requirements and technological considerations to essentially flat presentation based on text and simple graphics, a LEAP-based course is an inherently more challenging and active environment than the traditional question-and-answer structure of the mastery learning model previously followed by Dearborn. LEAP provides an opportunity for Dearborn to move into more interactive, instructionally sound methodologies for its distance learning products, making them both more appealing to users and more competitive as effective learning tools.