The strategy I feel would best compliment my instruction is
an overview. According to Morrison, an overview introduces the learner to the
“central themes” (p. 179) of the instruction. He gives four approaches to
designing an overview. I believe that for the Excel lesson that describing how
the instruction can help the learner would give the learner the greatest help
in introducing the lesson.
The pretest strategy could work as well for this lesson
because it “heightens the student’s awareness of the content by giving cues to
the key points” (p. 177). However, Morrison goes onto say, “Pretests work best
when the instructional time is relatively short, allowing the learner to remain
focused on the question” (P. 177). Since my instruction is relatively long, the
questions may vanish in the learners brain and no longer help them to focus.
Objectives, too, are meant for instruction that is
relatively short. As my lesson is greater than 2,500 words, according to
Morrison, this is not an advisable choice. If I had chosen objectives, I would
not only place them in the introduction but I would also scatter them
throughout the lesson as a reminder. Each objective would be placed within the
appropriate context to help refresh the learner’s awareness of them.
In Table 8-1 in Morrison’s book, it lists the task attribute
for advanced organizer as “factual information” (p. 177). Because my
instruction is a “how to” procedure, the advanced organizer would not be a good
choice for a preinstructional strategy.
Morrison, G.,
Ross, S., Kalman, H., & Kemp, J. (2011). Designing effective instruction.
(6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.