Learning Scenario: Behaviorism & Instructional Design for Cultural Artefacts
Behaviorism emphasizes observable behavior, stimulus and response, and positive and negative reinforcement in the learning scenario. AP Art History poses an ideal topic for this approach with verifiable learning transmission.
Advanced Placement® (AP), are college-level standardized subjects offered by the College Board that enable high schoolers in the U.S. to get college credit and accelerate their learning. Because they are standardized, there is an organized body of knowledge whose acquisition is measurable. Pre-established learning outcomes are established to the learner at the beginning of the module. The designer would seek to reinforce them as goals to reach by the end of the module. Along the way, quizzes and confirm a path of acquisition toward reaching the goal.
In this scenario, the instructional designer would be creating an online learning module for AP Art History. The topic would be West African masks and the masquerade tradition amongst the Baule people in Côte d'Ivoire. What's great about this scenario is the learner acting as observer in acquiring knowledge about visual cultures.
Mask artefacts in photos would be paired with a video or slideshow of a secular masquerade, the cultural performance around the mask wearing ritual. A voice over and transcript would reinforce the information through repetition.
The stimulus would be a quiz with multiple choice and true or false questions could reinforce facts while prompting learner response. An interactive pairing of terminology with definition could verify learner's comprehension and provide an engaging format for response. A green circle with "Congratulations! You are ready to progress to the next level topic" could work as positive reinforcement for correct answers applying some gamefication prompt. For incorrect answers, a red X (positive punishment) with "Incorrect. Please go back and review the material" could be a form of negative punishment, which is preventing progress towards leveling up. A progress meter would provide feedback to the student for where they are in content acquisition and a point system would provide some measurable reinforcement of what has been learned.