Summary

Chapter 23- Structured Design for Attitudinal Instruction

Thomas F. Kamradt & Elizabeth J. Kamradt

            This article talks about helping a learner change his/her attitude.  It would be helpful during times when the learner is willing to reconsider his/her current attitude.  There are three components of attitude:  affective, cognitive, and behavioral.  During this shift, the learner would change all three components the same amount in the same direction.  First the presenter would activate the current attitude by presenting a situation that would cause the behavioral attitude to show.  Then the presenter would shift the attitude slightly towards the target attitude causing dissonance.  The next step would be for the presenter to diagnose how the situation made the learner feel.  This would activate the affective component.  Activate the cognitive component by seeing what the learner was thinking.  And activate the behavioral component by asking why the learner did what he/she did.  The third step for the presenter in changing the learner’s attitude is to figure out which component was most of the attitudinal problem.  If it’s an affective problem, the presenter should use operant conditioning techniques.  If it’s a cognitive problem, use persuasion.  If it’s a behavioral problem, use demonstrations and practice.  The last step is to create a plan to shift the learner’s education based on a personal basis.  The whole strategy is very personalized and recognizes the different attitudinal needs. 

In my article it seemed helpful to know what attitudinal component you are working with.  I feel the biggest component in my 3rd grade class is behavioral.  Although the students vary in cognitive and affection levels, the behavioral seems to be the biggest motivator in my classroom.  When students have the correct behavior, the rest seems to fall into place.  When a student is constantly distracted by his or others' behavior, the academics seem to fall.  I will choose to focus my project a lot on the behavioral issue by creating activities that keep the students engaged and focused.  Thus, creating a lack of loss of focus, which in turn creates behavioral issues in the classroom.

Instructional design is taking the learning process and translating it into plans to deliver instructional material to learners.

The target audience is the salespeople of businesses or corporations trying to sell a service.  The audience would be learning how to sell a product.

The learning goals are to create successful salespeople through the use of interactive problem solving.  Also, to train a salesperson to understand why a certain answer may not attract a sale and why other answers may increase financial results.

The types of learning this simulation is trying to convey are concept, rule, domain-specific problem solving, cognitive strategy, problem-solving, declarative knowledge, and attitude.

Some strengths of this simulation were that the speaker wasn’t just reading what was on the slide.  The speaker was elaborating on what the type said, therefore demonstrating good presentation skills.  I liked how the talker changed and moved to the other side of the screen for variety.

Some weaknesses are that there are never really any directions as to what to do or what criteria to choose your answers based upon.  There were no bugs but I did pause the simulation at one point and had to restart it to get the speaker speaking again. 

In order to evaluate this simulation I would look at the seller’s percent of sales after seeing it.  I would also use the percent score at the end of the simulation as a teaching tool.  If the seller received the target, how could he/she better his sale?  If the seller was off target, what could the seller do differently to increase his/her percent?