An Interactive Multimedia Instructional Program Critique
The interactive multimedia instructional program I chose for this critique is called The Virtual Biochemistry Laboratory from the Nobel e-Museum (http://www.nobel.se). The Nobel web site is the official site of the Nobel Foundation, A private institution that was established in 1900 and based on the will of Alfred Nobel. This program is web-based, created with Flash and HTML. It uses audio extensively in its instructional design. The assumption is that you already have a strong basis in biochemistry before you begin.
The program is used in this manner: you have a ‘mission bag’ and you drag ‘missions’ from the challenge board into the bag. After you complete the mission, you put another object into the bag, which gets put back on the challenge board. The challenge board contains 12 biochemistry missions for the student to complete. It is also a machine whose parts correspond to objects retrieved from the missions. Each time a mission is complete and a part is put back on the challenge board, the machine will begin working. In order to see the machine run as it should, you have to complete all the missions.
There is, thankfully, also a map that shows where all the missions are and very clear instructions on what you have to do. In each mission/room, there will be a lecture and experimentation. As you roll over various objects, very clear instructions pop up, and you are never left wondering what to do next, as is the case in many educational games/simulations. Although, sometimes it is difficult to do what is asked.
Before we can critique the program for its instructional design, we must determine what learning theory that design is based on. This program is clearly designed on constructivist principles; learning here is what is important, not the teaching. The student is actively engaged in inquiring knowledge in a manner that simulates real life conditions and situations. The acquisition of knowledge in this program is seen as a process, and learners must accept that they are responsible for their own learning. Savery and Duffy (1995) developed eight evaluative criteria for effective instructional design based on constructivist principles. These criteria are:
- Anchoring all learning activities to a larger task or problem.
- Supporting the learner in developing ownership for the overall problem or task.
- Designing an authentic task.
- Designing the task and the learning environment to reflect the complexity of the environment the learner should be able to function in at the end of the learning.
- Giving the learner ownership of the process used to develop a solution.
- Designing the learner environment to support and challenge the learner's thinking.
- Encouraging testing ideas against alternative views and alternate contexts.
- Providing opportunity for, and supporting reflection on both the content learned and the learning process.
The Virtual Biochemistry Laboratory has a strong face validity; it is professional, attractive, clean, clear and extensive. However, the real question is whether it achieves its educational goals and is designed in a manner that meets the criteria for effective instructional design.
The first criterion: anchoring all learning activities to a larger task or problem is met completely and clearly. The task is clearly and logically laid out, and the user is aware of what his or her tasks are, tasks that are based on an overall goal and structure, that of getting the machine on the challenge board to function properly. All current and future activities while in the program are tied to this one overall goal.
The second criterion: Supporting the learner in developing ownership for the overall problem or task is perhaps not as easily assessed as the first; how does one support ownership in learning? I believe this program achieves that through its language. Throughout the quest, the lab assistant talks to the user in language that is normal and communicative. If you try to quit she tries to dissuade you; she as a real-life sarcasm in her speech. This makes the experience your own. You feel as if she is speaking directly to you, and you can’t be let off the hook so easily.
There is little that is not authentic about a laboratory simulation; the processes, the outcomes, the purpose all precisely mirror the real world context of the laboratory. The program excels in this criterion.
Giving the learner ownership of the process used to develop a solution, the fifth criterion is more problematic. The processes of playing the game are open to ownership and control by the learner, but the outcomes themselves are fixed and out of control of the learner. This is related to the forth criteria in that it is an authentic task, and in this situation, there are few alternate outcomes for biochemistry, so it would be difficult for this program to give this control to the learner. Additionally, the learner is not even in control of failure in this program. You have the option to exit, but not to fail.
Again, in criterion number six, the program could be stronger, but the nature of the content may preclude this. Designing the learner environment to support and challenge the learner's thinking is a lofty task. In this case, the student is required to think, but at a lower cognitive level in that he or she is required to access and apply previously learned information, or Bloom’s Application/level 3 (Bloom, 1956).
Science is a difficult discipline in which to test alternative ideas, and even tends to be resistive to different views and contexts. One might ask where can biochemistry experimentation take place except in a laboratory? There are practical applications of learned knowledge, and this program could have applied this to a much greater degree, but the designers chose to focus on theory rather than application.
Criterion number eight, the last criterion, providing opportunity for, and supporting reflection on both the content learned and the learning process is so highly subjective, that it would be difficult to judge this adequately. However, the program, in that it builds on a theme, does seem to meet this criterion. Since there is a great deal of repetition (the learner must keep going back to the challenge board), it seems that this allows for both reflection on content and on the learning process itself.
If I had to give The Virtual Biochemistry Laboratory a grade based on all the above criteria, I would probably give it an A-. It appears to be lacking in some critical areas, but it is one of the most extensive and well-designed educational multimedia programs I have had the pleasure to use. It is clear to me that an immense amount of resources and time were put into its production, and I think the result is one that those involved in production should be quite proud of.
References
Bloom, B. S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: David McKay.
Savery, J. R., & Duffy, T. M. (1995). Problem based learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. Educational Technology, 35, 31-38.