Module+2-Melissa

MODULE 2


 * For the course selected in Module 1 examine this course to see if you can identify each of the instructional strategies – information-about, part-of, kind-of, how-to, and what-happens. Did these instructional strategies include the prescribed instructional events?**

This course has a lot of information-about strategies, providing information to the viewers about what coral reefs are, their ecology, and their importance and decline. At the end of each section, there are embedded questions, allowing viewers to assess their understanding of the section just read. The kind-of strategy can be seen in the Ecology section, where the unique behaviors of the animals within a coral reef system, the food chain and native and non-native species are described.


 * If some of the prescribed instructional events are missing see if you can design some of these missing instructional events. If some of the instructional strategies are not included in this course see if you can prescribe the inclusion of the missing instructional strategies.**

As mentioned above, besides the information-about strategy, there are ways to incorporate the other strategies into this course. Also the embedded questions at the end of each section could be improved to be a more effective course.

Part-of: There is no demonstration of the part-of instructional strategy in this course. Further information could be provided about coral reef importance, decline and conservation worldwide. A world map could be provided with dots of where coral reefs exist. When clicking on a dot, information could be provided about the ecology from the shoreline to the fringe of the coral reef, the animals that inhabit that coral reef and the unique characteristics of the animals to adapt to the region.

Kind-of: In the Ecology section of this course, there are references to this instructional strategy. There are classes of behaviors, levels within the food chain, and native and non-native species described. For each of these classes, more discriminating properties could be described. For example, when describing the native and non-native species, further properties that defines a native or a non-native species could be provided. More examples and non-examples, and why they are such would be beneficial. An example of an embedded question at the end of this section could describe an animal species and the viewer would need to determine if this is an example of a native species or a non-native species. Another embedded question could ask the viewer to provide an example of a native species and what properties define them as a native species.

How-to: There is no demonstration of this instructional strategy mentioned in this course because no procedural instructions were meant to be part of this course.

What-happens: No demonstration of this strategy can be seen in this module. A suggestion of incorporating this strategy into this course would be to show simulations demonstrating the effects of human behavior on coral reef systems in the Importance and Decline of Coral Reef section. One simulation could illustrate what happens when humans over fish an area. The simulation would describe fishermen fishing off the coast of Oahu for ahi. The question would be what are the effects to the ahi population if each fishermen caught x-amount of fish in a season, with the x-amount be filled in by the viewer. Depending upon what the x-amount is, the simulation can show either the ahi population decreasing or increasing over the course of a few years. The parameters of the simulation would include the number of ahi caught, the reproductive cycle of ahi and the number of years it takes for ahi to grow to meet the legal length. Another simulation could include what would happen if more non-native species were introduced into an ecosystem.