Unit Five: Instructional Scaffolding
Author: Carmita Sanchez-Fong
Go to: ETAP 623 Spring 2012
Go to portfolio page: A Pathfinder as a Coordination and Teaching Tool
Go to the mini-course: The Pathfinder Building Blocks
Target Objective
Learners will identify resources in the pathfinder that will serve as instructional scaffolding in the construction of new knowledge.
Unit Objectives
- Generate scaffolding to support the curricular conversation
- Adopt instructional technology as scaffolding for authentic learning
- Identify resources that will serve as instructional scaffolding
Let's Get Started
Read "Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges." By Brent D. Ruben.
Watch "Touchscreen" 2nd Place finisher at the National Poetry Slam. How do people learn? Who taught Marshall Soulful Jones poetry? Watch him perform 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAx845QaOck>
How do we support the development of brilliance? Remember Mark Halberstad thank you video to Sal at the Kahn Academy? It was back in unit three. Check it out if you missed it.
It is all about how people learn and the supports they need to take that next powerful step.
Make a list of the timely occasions when instructional support will bring about brilliance in your learners. Who are your learners? When do you provide the support? What type of media do you use? What activities should be a must in the pathfinder if they are to serve as instructional scaffold?
Build Your Research
- Read about Instructional Scaffolding to Improve Learning in the online TA Connections Newsletter from the Northern Illinois University Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at:
- Read "Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson.
- <http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/natlc/pdf/fall1987.pdf>
- The seven principles provided are based on research done in several institutions of higher education. You are taken through each with examples.
- Visit: The TLT Group. "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever"
- <http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html>
- Once you have read the "Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" the site offers great insights into its implementation.
Reflect
Think about what resources you would like to find in a pathfinder for course coordination that will assist your students in becoming independent learners and authors of knew knowledge.
References and Resources
Chickering, Arthur and Gamson, Zelda. "Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." The Evergreen
- State College. Olympia, Washington. Washington Center News. 1987. Web. 4 May 2012.
"Instructional Scaffolding to Improve Learning." Northern Illinois University. TA Connections Newsletter. Fall 2008. Web. 12
- Apr. 2012.
Jones, Marshall Soulful. "Touchscreen". National Poetry Slam. Team Nuyorican 2011. Video. Web. 12 Jan. 2012.
Ruben, Brent D."Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges." Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education
- Series. Chapter One. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
"Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever." The TLT Group. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
Go to Unit One: Building a Pathfinder
Go to Unit Two: Course Coordination and Educational Quality
Go to Unit Three: Formal Curriculum vs. Enacted Curriculum
Go to Unit Four: Quality, Quantity, and Relatedness in the curriculum