Sharing at Institute of Adult Learning, Singapore, Instructional Design Special Interest Group on 28 Jan 2013

1. Sharing at
Institute of Adult Learning, Singapore
Adult Education Network
Special Interest Group
(Instructional Design)
Whole Task Approach to Holistic Learning
of Vocational Competences
Tang Buay Choo
buaytang@gmail.com

2. Outline
• Recap: Concept of competence
• Holistic Education vs Holistic Learning of Competence
• Why Holistic Learning of competence?
• Whole Task Approach to Holistic Learning of
Competence
• Components of a Whole Task
• Holistic Design for complex competence-based learning
– an introduction

3. Recap:
Instructional Design for Competence-based learning
Key purpose
To facilitate learner acquisition of competence
Activity: What is a competence?
• Think… On your own think about
– What is the definition of competence?
– What are the elements of competence?
• Write… Write your views on a piece of paper
• Show… Upon signal from the facilitate, show your views to your
group members
• Discuss and negotiate… Within your group, discuss and come to a
consensus on the definition and elements of a competence
• Share… Present your group’s view on a flipchart. You can use any
format, text, pictures, diagrams….
Strategy: Show Down

4. Nature of competence
Professional Action
Competence vs Competence
Methodological
Knowledge competence
Technical Social
competence competence
Attitude Skills
Personal
competence
Ability to perform workplace task vs Ability to perform task at the
workplace

5. Nature of competence –
Important considerations for competence-based instructional design
1. Workplace context frames task
-> Learning should be authentic Professional Action Competence
2. Workplace standards
determines “Ability”
-> Assessment should be authentic Methodological
competence
3. T M S P are applied holistically
in an integrated manner to
perform the task at workplace
-> Learning and Assessment should Technical Social
be holistic/integrated. competence competence
4. Integrated application of several
Competence Elements is required
-> Appropriate sequence of learning &
scaffolds needed to promote systematic
Personal
acquisition and integration competence
- > Learning materials should support
development of mental model for integrated
application Ability to perform task at the workplace

6. Holistic Learning and Holistic Education
• In your view, is there a difference between Holistic
Learning & Holistic Education?
• If yes, what are the differences?

7. Why Holistic Learning of Competence?
• Read the story “Every Curriculum Tells A Story” by
Roger Schank
http://www.socraticarts.com/docs/SCCwhitepaper.pdf
Activity: What is wrong with the curriculum?
• There are 3 problems with this curriculum:
– Fragmentation – learners unable to integrate the different pieces of content
into coherent and meaningful wholes;
– Compartmentalization – learners unable to integrate the different elements
of the target competences, namely Knowledge, Skills, and attitudes (or T M
S P); and
– Low transfer of learning - Learners unable to apply their learning to
perform at the workplace or to new problems/situations
(van Merriënboer, 2006)
• In your groups, discuss and cite examples from the story to illustrate
each of the problem.
– How should the curriculum be designed to avoid these problems?

8. Why Holistic Learning of Competence?
Theoretical Basis
Brain-based perspective
• Proposes that learning is about grasping of a
• Gestalt theory structural whole
• Situated Learning • A "Gestalt" is an integrated whole system of
integrated parts, and the whole is greater than
• Adult Learning the sum of its parts.
• Proposes 5 gestalt factors. Each factor is a
condition that helps one perceive situations as
a whole or totality.
• Factor of Similarity proposes that like parts tend
to be grouped together in cognition. Hence,
learning is facilitated if similar or related ideas
are linked together as a whole and contrasted
with opposing or complementary sets of ideas.

9. Why Holistic Learning of Competence?
Theoretical Basis
How learning takes place perspective
• A group of learning theories that posits that
• Gestalt theory learning should be situated within authentic
activity, context, and culture.
• Situated Learning
• First proposed by Lave and Wenger as a model
• Adult Learning of learning in a community of practice
• Example of subsequent theories include
• Cognitive Apprenticeship (Brown, Collins &
Duguid) – emphasises importance of
situating learning in authentic real world
tasks
• Anchored Instruction (Cognition &
Technology Group at Vanderbilt)- proposes
that learning should be situated or anchored
in real life problem situations or tasks.

10. Why Holistic Learning of Competence?
Theoretical Basis
How adults learn perspective
• Transformative Learning
• Gestalt theory • Process of using a prior interpretation to
construe a new or revised interpretation of
• Situated Learning the meaning of one’s experience in order
to guide future action" (Mezirow, 1996:
• Adult Learning 162).
• Suggest that learning for adults begins with
a real life “disorienting dilemma”
• Context-based Learning (recent theories in
adult learning)
• learning is a social, constructed
phenomenon
• Same concept as Situated Learning

11. Why Holistic Learning of Competence?
Practical Considerations
• Task Complexity
– Performing a sub-skill in isolation is different from performing it in the
context of the real world task
– Automaticity of a sub-skill achieved through isolated practice is often not
transferable to the context of performing within the real world task.
• Complexity and variability of the real world context
– Need to learn and apply the knowledge and skills to varied set of, and/or
complex, real-world contexts and settings
Demands of Learning Transfer
Increasing need for holistic learning
Highly Simple Highly Complex
Procedural-based Principled-based
- Very near transfer - Very far transfer

12. Whole Task Approach
• Focus on the overall goal to be attained throughout the
entire process.
• A work place task ( or whole task) that is assignable and
has meaningful work outcomes are used to frame
learning
• The workplace task is learned as a whole instead of
discretely as a set of individual sub-skills, where each
part of the learning is taught in relations to the whole
task.

13. Whole Task Approach
Some models and frameworks
• Cognitive Apprenticeship (Collins, Brown & Newman, 1989),
• Constructive Learning Environments (Jonassen, 1999),
• Goal-Based Scenarios (Schank, Berman, & MacPerson, 1999)
• 4C/ID-model (van Merriënboer, J. J. G, 1997)
• Pebble-in-the-Pond (Merrill, 2000)
• Read the reading materials at http://www.delicious.com/buay/SIG
• In your group, discuss and create a graphic representation to depict
your understanding of your group’s assigned model.
• What is used to situate the whole task?
• What constitute the “content” to be learn?
• What are the instructional design process/elements/components?
• You may want to use an online graphic representation tools, e.g.
• Mindmesiter - http://www.mindmeister.com/
• Prezi - http://www.prezi.com/

14. Thank you