Author: 许昌

The Economics of Healthcare: Crash Course Economics #29

This video introduces many basic points and questions about the Economics of North American Health Care: Health Care System, Uninsured, Cost, Quantity Price, and Quality…

This video explains the basic information in an easy-to-understand way (animations, pictures) for my students, especially those who do not have any basic knowledge of economics. Of course, I hope my viewers will take some notes, after all, for novices, these specialized concepts are quickly forgotten.

To cope with such common learning pressures, I want to design a simple game to interact with students: in small groups, make a quick poster to explain the healthcare economic system in their respective countries, and how they work? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What do you think are the problems that need to be improved?

A group discussion is then arranged to provide each group member with the opportunity to present their poster work. During the discussion, members can share their ideas, design choices, and intentions. Other members can ask questions, offer suggestions and express opinions.

Finally, feedback from mentors or instructors: Submit group members’ poster work to instructors or mentors and ask them for feedback and input. These professionals can provide more in-depth insight and advice from a professional perspective to help group members further improve their posters.

Through these feedback mechanisms, group members can learn from each other, share and improve their design skills, thus improving their poster work.

Based on my first Post, I believe that behaviorism is the most effective approach. Then direct instruction and behaviorism are the best partners, just as UVIC promotes small class sizes and adequate student participation. I designed the learning approach and framework as follows:

1. Set clear learning objectives: Ensure that learning objectives are specific, quantifiable, and observable. Clearly define the skills, knowledge, or behaviors that learners need to master.

2. Break down the learning process: Break down the learning process into small, actionable steps or tasks. This helps learners gradually acquire complex concepts or skills and provides clear guidance.

3. Provide demonstration and imitation: Demonstration of the required skill or behavior is shown for learners to observe and imitate. Demonstrations can be presented through demonstrations, videos, images, etc.

4. Provide immediate feedback: Give learners timely and accurate feedback. Feedback can be affirmative reinforcement or constructive guidance that helps learners adjust and improve their behavior.

5. Repetition: Consolidate what is learned through repeated practice. Gradually increase the difficulty and complexity of tasks to improve learners’ skills and abilities.

6. Assessing Learning Outcomes: Learners’ outcomes are regularly assessed to ensure that learning objectives are being met. Assessments can be in the form of tests, exams, project assignments, etc.

In summary, the direct instruction approach to learning based on behaviorism focuses on shaping learners’ behavior through stimulation and feedback. This approach emphasizes clear goal setting, decomposition of the learning process, modeling and imitation, immediate feedback, reinforcement, a conducive learning environment, repeated practice, assessment, and adjustment. Through these steps, learners can gradually acquire the required knowledge and skills and achieve the desired learning goals.

Although behaviorism possesses numerous disadvantages in the teaching process, such as ignoring intrinsic motivation, ignoring individual differences, and limiting students’ autonomy. However, it is undeniable that this set of theories has a subversive efficiency in a short time. Most students, after knowing the basic framework of a set of theories, still lack the corresponding proficiency, resulting in unsatisfactory final results, especially for some assignments or tasks that require hands-on work. For example, I am currently taking a music course where students need to master the basic music theory of the piano in a short time, but there is a “distance” between the theory and the practical operation. For a good player, what is needed more is finger memory or muscle memory, because the time for the brain to think can lead to misplaced beats.

Therefore, I believe that behaviorism is the most indispensable of these three theories. Any lack of proficiency in learning or lack of memory is not valid. As an instructional designer, I would place more emphasis on behaviorism as well as constructivism to make idiosyncratic materials for as many different students as possible. The reason is that these two theories are realistic and pragmatic, and I care a lot about how proficient the student is in applying the knowledge, or if the student can’t apply it well, then that means he hasn’t learned it. And for Cognitivism, it’s nebulous. Because everyone knows that learning is a good thing, but more people fail because of laziness and other shortcomings. It is not the perception of learning that they need to overcome, but themselves.