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Assessment and Analysis of the Results

of the Implementation of three Instructional Strategies
WFED 495C-2 Visit 6, Assignment 12
Jeffrey A. Meck

The instructional strategies that were used in my three lessons were a Simulation, a
Brainstorming meeting and a Problem Solving situation. I chose the strategies because they fit
into my Computer Service Technology class curriculum. My students are mostly male, 10th, 11th
and 12th grade students from a rural area in the middle of Pennsylvania. The educational
environment is a Career and Technical school with a student population that generally learns
better visually during hands-on situations. I have a great group of students, who sometimes get
rambunctious but responded well to the delivery of the interesting content. All of the students
behaved within the desired guidelines.
First Lesson: Meeting to explain the Simulation Learning Strategy.
The first lesson was a meeting to explain the learning strategy we chose as if we were going to
teach in the near future. The goals were to describe the purpose of the lesson, the design of the
simulation, and get their input on how it could be improved. The students must also to fill out a
feedback form with their suggestions, comments and concerns.
In the meeting I explained how the Simulation learning strategy works while describing the
future Troubleshooting lesson. I intend to teach a simulated Trouble Shooting call so writing up
the meticulous instructions was not difficult. The students were interested and receptive to the
idea, but some of the students were skeptical about their ability to perform well in the simulation.
I had to assure them that they would get the knowledge they needed to solve the future problems.
The description I gave them said, the students would be put into a real-world simulation as
technicians in the role of a support person at a real job site. We would be using our computer lab
and networking equipment displaying networking problems they would have to solve. The
methods and decision-making process theyd use will be the same as those required in real life

situations. I also told them that we would be assessing your behavior, skill levels and
employment related knowledge in the scenario.
In this lesson, about the Simulated Trouble Shooting exercise, the students were assessed on their
listening skills, and their comments on how it could be improved, and whether they sought help
when they needed it. They were also assessed on the legibility and thoughtfulness of their
feedback form with their suggestions. The students responded with more enthusiasm than I
thought they would, but several were still skeptical about their trouble shooting abilities.
I have used simulated trouble shooting in this class before, but not in such a formalized manor.
After setting up the design of this meeting about the simulated trouble shooting lesson, I realized
that the lesson could include much more of a learning opportunity than the previous simple
lesson I taught.
Second Lesson: Brainstorming IT Occupations meeting
The Brainstorming meeting to identify IT Occupations was the second lesson I taught in the new
WFED 496C-2 Strategies in Learning series. The objective of the lesson was to have the students
experience a brainstorming session in which they develop a group report of the Occupations in
Computers and Networking. The meeting was improved by the fact that the students had
occupational information about jobs in the IT field that they previously researched from another
assignment. This preparation of gathering data to share, in addition to a lesson explaining how to
run a Brainstorming meeting, helped make their efforts at brainstorming successful.
The obvious goal of the lesson was to gather the best information from the students previous
research on occupations and produce a master document from their selections. The hidden but
actually primary goal was to help the students learn how to share knowledge in a group setting,
as well as to practice listening in order to receive and organize information from others students.

Each of the students shared three occupations in the IT field and told the others the one they were
interested in. Everyone shared something and listened to the others as they shared. I hoped all the
students would share a comment or have questions for the speakers and become comfortable
with each other in their class. While everyone had a comment, it was not as much of a round
table discussion as I had envisioned. All in All, I feel the Brainstorming IT Occupations lesson
was not only a success, but will be added to my curriculum in the future.
Problem Solving situation lesson
The Problem Solving situation lesson had the students engage in problem solving in order to
repair a computer or a malfunctioning device. The goal was to have the students work together to
complete the necessary problem solving steps without explicit guidance from the instructor. The
students had a previous lesson in the steps of problem solving. They also had lessons in each of
the skills required to fix the problems they found. But, this was the first time they needed to
combine the problem solving steps with the specific skills that were needed.
The AM class I taught this in had more team members and because of this had more ideas about
what fixes to attempt or tests to run to get more information necessary to determine the problem.
They moved smoothly through the steps of problem solving and into applying the fixes required
to solve the problem.
The PM class appeared to be unsure of how to proceed when the answer to the problem was not
immediately obvious. They had fewer members on each team in the PM class and needed a
helpful prompt from time to time. Both teams had access to help from upperclassmen, in the
form of Tier 2 support technicians, but the PM class did not avail themselves of the support
system. Notwithstanding these setbacks, the PM class found and fixed every problem in the time
allowed.

There was a student feedback assessment form and an instructors observational rubric which
contained questions to help me evaluate their absorption of the content and get their comments at
the end of the lesson. Both AM and PM classes expressed a concern they hadnt mastered either
problem solving, or the networking repairs needed to solve the problems. They indicated that
they thought the lesson was given too early in the school year, before they were ready for it.
While I agree that this was true, the PSU course which initiated this lesson dictated that it be
completed at this time. I responded to the students comments and concerns by telling them that
there would always be new devices and methods introduced that they didnt have experience
with. Additionally, I mentioned that the problem solving method still has a solution for this
situation in step one; Gathering Information.
I will incorporate these instructional strategies into my regular lessons and find ways to use these
teaching methods into my program of study. The strong points of the delivery of these strategies
were that they challenged the students to try new things, like speaking in groups, learning from
other students and taking the initiative. The weak points in my delivery centered upon the
students that were unsure of themselves, or hesitant to take the risks involved in trying something
new. The action plan I have to improve this negative is to identify those students in need of more
group experiences and expose them to these skills earlier.
My impression of these new teaching methods and instructional strategies is that they have a
place in my class and in the right situation will provide a great deal of help for some students. I
will use these strategies, methods, and activities in the future.