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Subject:Re: 7 plus or minus 2 From:Pat Gantt <pagantt -at- POSTOFFICE -dot- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET> Date:Mon, 28 Jul 1997 19:49:24 -0500
[chunks]
> The documentation's purpose and form, the information's complexity and
> depth, and the audience's knowledge and experience are all far more
> important than Miller's 7+/-2 research in deciding how long a list
> should be.
It seems, perhaps, some remapping is needed.
Exactly! Audience, audience, audience! Wonderful post.
These chunks generally are associative in nature. Most easily
remembered chunks relating to one's direct experience or categorizing
ex.
apples
peaches
pears
I keep my bullets to no more than 5. Split into
small, associative steps.
For cites see the list on fonts. Campbell. and Mager
6 pack. If you haven't bought Mager do so. My dream
is to meet him one day. Lest you say that Mager is not
a technical writer but an academic check his work.
He *is* technical writing at its best.
Robert Mager is a long-standing and well-respected member of the
educational technology community. He has written many books
as well as workshop courses and instructional films.
He has an engaging writing style and his books are relatively
easy to read.
In 1962 Mager published Preparing Instructional Objectives. This book
helped popularize the use of performance objectives by educators and
others. He
described useful objectives as having three characteristics (Mager
1984): 1) Performance. An objective always says what a learner is
expected to
be able to do; the objective sometimes describes the product or the
result of the
doing. 2) Conditions. An objective always describes the important
conditions
(if any) under which the performance is to occur. 3) Criterion. Wherever
possible, an objective describes the criterion of acceptable
performance by describing how well the learner must perform in order to
be considered acceptable.
Mager held that an important part of writing good objectives was to use
"doing words." These are words which describe a performance (e.g.,
identify)
which can be observed and measured. Words to avoid are those which
describe
abstract states of being (e.g., know) which are difficult to observe or
measure.
Mager's model is still a basic part of many approaches to writing
objectives.
Some other titles by Mager:
Measuring Instruction Results
Analyzing Performance Problems
Goal Analysis
Developing an Attitude Toward Learning
Making Instruction Work
REFERENCES
Heinich, R., Molenda, M., & Russell, J. D. 1993. Instructional Media and
the New Technologies of Instruction. New York: Macmillan. <-remember
this one?
Mager, R. F. 1984. Preparing Instructional Objectives. Belmont, CA:
Lake.
Saettler, P. 1990. The Evolution of American Educational Technology.
Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Skinner, B. F. 1954. The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching.
Harvard Educational Review, 24(232), 86-97. <- remember this one?
Incoming influences:
Crowder, Norman, Michael E. Armbruster
Norman Crowder developed the branching programming technique which
Mager has made considerable use of in his work.
Outgoing influences:
Behavioral objectives movement, Richard F. Xaver
Although behavioral objectives can be traced all the way back to
the Greeks,
the movement in the 1960s was largely initiated by Mager's book
Preparing
Instructional Objectives (Saettler 1990).
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best Regards,
Pat Gantt, M.S. HRD
Personal email ~ pagantt -at- worldnet -dot- att -dot- net
The University of Tennessee Alum
Technical and Vocational Studies Guide
~ The Mining Company ~
Biz Mail ~ votech -dot- guide -at- miningco -dot- com http://votech.miningco.com
[humor = (intelligence + personality)]
GO VOLS! Don't ask Peyton who!
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