"Do you know whether the apple actually fell on Newton's head, while enlightening him on the law of gravity?"
What if I were to be just glaring at this question without committing my answer to it? Poor you! You keep lookin' at me, expecting me to answer, so you could tell me more. You look at my lips. They're glued tight. No way you could open 'em up, even with some smart tools! What do you do?
Many a time, mind you, this happens, 'cos, I don't want to be wrong. I don't want you to catch me wrong.
You give me a text book on Isaac Newton. I'll tell you whether the apple fell on his head or not. You see, I know the answer. I just need to confirm.
That's the wonderful thing about text books. They have all the info... only thing, I need to flip back to wherever I could find the answers. So, the questions play a dangerous role here. They could mislead me into thinking I know the answers, when in fact, I may not.
That's one of the key differences between a printed book and its electronic version. Instructional Designers would do well to appreciate the Edge e-learning has over insructor-led training on this score - getting to have the learners commit on what they know and not what they could refer. And, make good use of that Edge!
What, of course, needs a special mention is this. The underlying intelligence in smartly eliciting the learner's commitment in answering the question! Possible?
Yep! By identifying another key advantage of e-learning! The learners are ALONE, when they're confronting the question. They're not gonna hear stifled chuckles, ridiculing their ignorance. So, they don't care a heck. They have the licence to kill!
But, the commitment factor, on its part, is very much intact. Psychologically, when I commit my answer and subsequently realize it was wrong, I automatically seek the right answer (especially when I don't have anyone else around).
The only thing that's important is, I need to have absolute fun in going wrong and in being told I'm wrong. That's where instructional 'designing' makes its entry. It's all upto the IDs to make their content presentation as exciting and interesting as possible. Then, the simple mathematical formula comes alive...
Learning is on, when commitment is on!
(Nirmal Ranganathan, Instructional Designer, C2 Workshop)
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