Fundamentals of Instructional Technology - Essay on Education

Pedagogy is only considered effective when the learner is in a position to understand and apply the knowledge learnt if class. That is, a tutor is tasked with the duty of not only passing knowledge but also ensuring its effectiveness by making sure that the learner can apply the information learnt in class effectively. To accomplish such an objective, a teacher has to know their audience, the topic they want to lecture about, what they expect of the audience at the end of every lesson, and how to plan their time effectively. That is why lesson planning is one of the most crucial elements of teaching that every professor needs to use to ensure better results. For that reason, this article provides an example lesson plan that identifies the topic, objectives of the lesson, learning outcomes, information about target audience, and the intended procedure among other relevant information pertaining the intended lesson.

Topic and Students

The topic under study is Introduction to Microeconomics and it is meant for a first year class in the university. This is a lesson under the broad course of Microeconomics. As the topic suggests, the class introduces the concepts of Microeconomics and gives the students a picture of what the course would look like. As such, it is more of a summative lesson since the professor would want their learners to acquire some basic information about the course before they can actually embark on serious studies of Microeconomics. In addition, it is the first lesson the class is having; therefore, it does not contain much content. It is more of a familiarization class.

Lesson Plan

INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS

Objectives of the Lesson

Essentially, this is just an introductory lesson that familiarizes students to Microeconomics; therefore, it touches on virtually all the concepts that would be covered throughout the course. However, it does not dig deep into the information since the students would then spend the entire semester looking at each of the introduced concepts keenly. For that reason, the main objectives of introducing the course are as follows:

To explain to students the definition and scope of Microeconomics.

To make students aware of some of the basic terms used in Microeconomics.

To sensitize the students on the essence of studying Microeconomics.

To introduce various basic mathematical equations used in Microeconomics.

To show students how they can interpret various word problems to come up with different equations that can be used to solve economic problems.

Learning Outcomes

As stated in the introduction, a lesson would be useless without impacting the thinking of the learner. Though this is an introductory lesson, the learner must be able to feel and demonstrate understanding of all the concepts learnt during the lesson. Hence, the class should have achieved the following learning outcomes at the end of the lesson:

Students should be able to define Microeconomics and distinguish it from economics.

Students should also be in a position to explain different terms used in microeconomics, such as total cost, profit, total revenue, opportunity cost, scarcity, demand, and supply, among other terminologies.

Students should be in a position to use equations such as Profit = Total Revenue Total Cost

Students should apply some mathematical concepts learnt in primary and secondary schools such as y = ax + c to express some microeconomic problems graphically

Students should ask and respond to questions relating to the application of various terms in Microeconomics.

Duration

Noteworthy, the time allocation for the lesson is 60 minutes. Therefore, the lecturer would have to fix their presentation within fifty minutes. Then, they would use another ten minutes to check for learning outcomes as stated in the previous section. To ensure strict adherence to time, the professor would have to divide the lesson into various portions and each segment would be assigned a proportionate time. For instance, they would allocate strictly 7 minutes for the introduction of the lesson.

Background of Students

On the background information, the students have various traits that could either ease or jeopardize learning. They are twenty-four in number: fourteen males and ten females. All of them own smartphones and they have basic knowledge of computer; they can search for information in the internet. That is, the presence of the six internet enabled computers would surely ease access of information to all students. Further, they all scored the grade A in Mathematics in high school; thus, they have good knowledge of mathematical concepts, which would be very essential throughout the lesson. In addition, twenty-three out of the twenty-four took tool Business Studies in their High School level. That is, the twenty-three have some primary knowledge of business concepts that also apply to microeconomics. What is more, a majority of the students have access to news facilities; hence, they might have watched business news and heard the newscasters mention such terms as profit and loss. Those traits would ease learning significantly. On the other hand, one of them is physically paralyzed, so they may not be very active in class depending on their sitting position and their self-esteem. However, that does not mean that they cannot feel involved in a normal classroom; otherwise, they would not have passed their A levels.

Prior Knowledge of Students on the Topic

From the background information, it is only obvious that a majority of the class have at least some knowledge of Microeconomics. Having studied Business Studies in High School, they at least covered such concepts as scarcity, production, profit, and opportunity cost, among others. Moreover, even the one who did not take Business Studies during their earlier stages of life must have interacted with the new terms that the lesson would be exploring. In addition, their performance in Mathematics shows that they know how to handle Mathematical problems; thus, they can easily understand and interpret economic problems expressed mathematically. In other words, the professor has to note that they would be teaching a class of people who have some basic knowledge of the concepts that the lesson would be focusing on.

Equipment and Facilities

This is an introduction to the course; therefore, the professor would not need to provide the students with a wide range of materials that would help them to conceptualize the study that they would be taking. Luckily, the technology in the class would enable the students to access virtually all the reference materials electronically. Hence, the professor would only need to provide the following:

A URL to one case study that would enable the students to understand the various concepts of Microeconomics

Course outline that would guide the entire lesson

A list of all the vocabularies, their respective symbols, and definitions as used in Microeconomics

Writing materials that the students would use to take short notes and handle some tasks

White board and a felt pen to enable the professor to give mathematical examples

A test question that assesses the students understanding of the lesson

Procedure

Opening of the lesson

Here, students settle in class five minutes before the lesson; they sit in groups of four per computer. The professor then walks in after all the twenty-four are settled. This being the first lesson, the lecturer introduces themselves and informs their students of the title of the course.

Introduction of the lesson

Having informed the students of the course title, the professor introduces the topic under study, Introduction to Microeconomics. Thereafter, the professor asks the students what they understand by the terms economics and microeconomics. The students are expected to give their responses to the questions and the professor gives working definitions of the two terms. In a bid to ensure that the learners understand the concept, the professor would have to define economics and then introduce micro- to imply a smaller section of economy. This should take a maximum of 7 minutes.

Reading the case study

Having grasped some concepts about the course, the professor would refer the students to the link so that they can read the case study. The case study is seven paragraphs long; thus, the professor would read the first one then a representative from each of the six groups would read the other six. Thereafter, the professor would ask their students to identify how the concepts as defined in microeconomics manifest themselves in the case study. This process should go for ten minutes.

Course outline and vocabularies

The professor gives each of the students a copy of the course outline. That outline defines the objectives of the course since it only serves to introduce the various concepts. Further, the professor introduces certain key vocabularies that they intend to use throughout the lesson. They then issue the students with the list for further reference in case they forget any. That process goes for 8 minutes since no serious content is covered herein.

Main content

The presentation goes for fifteen minutes. At this stage, the professor asks the students to relate the various subtopics as in the course outline to the case study they just read. In addition, the lecturer provides clarification for concepts where necessary. Further, the professor introduces certain simple equations, by writing them on board, to show the students that their knowledge of mathematics would be very essential throughout the course. Finally, the professor refers their students to sample worked out equations as stored in their computers so that they can see that indeed the course requires them to understand the concepts.

Assessment

To check for understanding, the professor issues word question that involves terms, an equation, a real life example, and little interpretation. Ideally, the question should be a real life case to enable the students to identify how essential microeconomics could be in solving certain problems. Terms, equations, and interpretation would only assess the students understanding of the new information learnt throughout the past 40 minutes. The professor then allows the students to solve the problem within four minutes and samples a few of the responses including that of the paralyzed student. In so doing, the professor would know the most appropriate pace to use throughout the course and any special attention if needed by any of the 24 learners. This step should last for a maximum of ten minutes.

Question and answer time

The class would use the last ten minutes to ask and answer questions. Here, the professor would invite their students to ask for clarifications where they do not understand. In addition, he would challenge the students to respond to questions asked by class mates and only add flesh to their responses. Here again, the professor has to take note of facial expression and the students urge to answer questions. Under ideal learning conditions, students should be very comfortable while responding to fellow learners questions. What is more, a majority of the students should be willing to respond to their classmates questions.

In totality, above is an example of a very detailed lesson plan. It describes the various activities in pedagogy, which include familiarizing the learner with the concept, rendition of the main lesson, and appraisal of the students understanding. It also shows how the professor would use all the available resources to ensure a favorable outcome of the lesson; for instance, computers would be used as sources of information, writing materials would be used to aid memory since students often learn new concepts by doing. Further, it identifies for a fact that the...