Harvesting Cooperation

Recommendations for using "Harvesting Cooperation" as the Discussion Case during the 1997 Instructional Design Case Team Event: In the case study "Harvesting Cooperation," an instructional designer, Julie Tatano, conducts the instructional design process within the context of an institution of higher learning characterized by politics and conflicting agendas. The narrative ends as Julie is asked to create a design for instruction using the information she has collected during her needs assessment. Click on one of the following to jump to descriptions of: The Instructional Design Response Working with the Case Materials On-line Working with the Case Materials Off-line Suggestions for Discussing the Case Discussion Questions The Instructional Design Response Participating teams are expected to propose an instructional design based on the team's own analysis of the case materials. Responses should also include a rationale for design choices that indicate an understanding of: The key issues present in the case The perspectives of the key players in the case, along with any other relevant stakeholders Theory, Research, and Practice related to Instructional Design Possible courses of action, with the recommended course of action well supported Potential outcomes of the design recommended. Click here to return to the top of this page Working with the Case Materials On-line Have students review the case materials at least once on-line, including all of the ancillaries. Important information about the context of the case as well as the background and attitudes of certain characters may be found in some of this material. Although there are no audio or video ancillaries to access, there is visual material which could provide some non-verbal overtones students may find helpful in their discussions and analysis. An on-line reading of all the case materials also provides a good advance organizer for understanding the flow and scope of the narration. Because the structure and sequence of events is clearer to users when they access the case on-line, an on-line run through may aid greatly in organizing any print-outs for later discussion. The content to be addressed by the team's proposed instructional designs may be unfamiliar to most students. While teams can certainly make use of resources from anywhere, a list of URLs has been provided in the ancillary entitled "Bookmarks." Clicking on any of these bookmarks will take users to a site on the Web where content materials may be found which might be useful for designing instruction. Because users accessing the URLs listed in the "Bookmarks" file will actually be leaving the case Web site, it is helpful to add the case site to the "Bookmarks" (Netscape) or "Favorites" (Internet Explorer) file of the Web browser. Users can also use their Web browser's "Back" button to return to the case once they have left it. Click here to return to the top of this page Working with the Case Materials Off-line Most people find it useful to print out the case for closer reading. While it is necessary to print out many of the ancillaries and links separately, all of the e-mail messages are bundled into one file that is labeled "E-mail" and located in the Archives. A printout of this file makes it unnecessary to download and print each e- mail message individually. Click here to return to the top of this page Suggestions for Discussing the Case We have suggested that students employ the Issues/Perspectives/Knowledge/ Action/Consequences model to analyze the case and design instruction. You may find it helpful to use this model in discussing the case as well. This approach, which provides a process for enhancing problem solving skills and reflection, can be used flexibly. While you may wish to begin by identifying the issues, it might be equally as helpful to derive the issues from a discussion of the differing perspectives of the leading players in the case. We believe that it is important that students are able to defend the choices they make in developing design projects. Therefore, we strongly suggest that students pay particular attention to considering the professional knowledge they can bring to bear upon the issues and perspectives evident in the case as they begin think about design: What knowledge relevant to the case can students identify from their training in Instructional Design, from their understanding of current theory and research, from personal experience as professionals in other areas, from the opinions of experts in pertinent areas? What more do students believe they need to know that is relevant? Where can other sources of professional knowledge be found? Click here to return to the top of this page Discussion Questions Discussion questions should reflect the focus and purposes you have for using this case with students. A useful technique for the development of discussion questions is to devise questions from your own reading of the case that reflect the case analysis model: Issues/ Perspectives/ Professional Knowledge/ Action/ Consequences. We've provided a general set of questions below for in-depth discussion. Should you develop Discussion Questions which you find are particularly useful in stimulating student thinking, please share your questions. Send the questions to us (kinzie@virginia.edu) and we will make them available to others. General Questions for Discussion As the students consider the perspectives, key issues, potential solutions, and outcomes of the case, we have found the following questions helpful in guiding the analysis of the case study. To enhance the relevance of this case, we recommend adapting these questions to reference resources and prior instructional design experiences your students were exposed to prior to this activity 1. When Harvesting Cooperation ends, Julie is expected to present a design proposal. Should Julie proceed with a design for the project? Why or why not? 2. List strategies that Julie might use to effectively deal with the different perceptions among stakeholders regarding the project’s purpose and function. 3. Stewart is Julie’s boss, yet he seems unaware of how her professional knowledge and expertise can be used in his facility. As an instructional designer, how would you demonstrate to Stewart they ways in which your role is crucial? 4. Do the interests of Billie Redmond and Jorge Recinos conflict in any way? What potential problems might result? 5. Review the Needs Analysis Summary Points. Is there additional information that Julie needs to secure? What kinds of instruments or methods might Julie develop to get the kind of information she needs? 6. Are the goals that Julie presents in her Table of Needs "fuzzy"? Is this a problem? If so, how might they be clarified and strengthened? 7. Joe, and to some extent, Sam, appear resistant to change and innovation in spite of Joe’s reference to innovation diffusion processes in agriculture. How might you resolve this apparent contradiction? 8. How would Julie proceed through a media selection process? What are the advantages and disadvantages to using various media that Julie should consider? 9. Discuss the pros and cons of various learning theories as they relate to Julie’s project goals and needs. For example, should activities be developed that make use of processes of information acquisition and recall or processes of active knowledge construction? 10. What unique conditions should Julie consider when designing for distant or distributed learners such as those associated with FAYAP? 11. How does the organizational context either impede of promote the use of a formal instructional design model? 12. Discuss the nature of the relationship between content experts and the instructional designer. What can the instructional designer do to make sure the relationship is an effective one? 13. Sam and Joe seem unaware of the special needs of the learner population. Does this present any ethical issues for Julie as the instructional designer? Is it Julie’s responsibility to educate Sam and Joe regarding the cultural dynamics of the project? 14. Julie considers the "just-in-time" model that Stewart promotes to be a "gimmick"? Do you agree? why or why not? Return to the ID Case Book Click here to return to the top of this page