Chapter 13 Review

Does Practice Make Perfect

Summary

“Practice makes perfect”, is a cliché that everyone has heard, but is it really true? In Chapter 13 of e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning, by Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer, the authors discuss whether practice makes perfect. The authors explain five principles to correctly address this statement and they are; Principle 1: Add sufficient practice interactions to e-learning to achieve the objective, Principle 2: Mirror the job, Principle 3: Provide effective feedback, Principle 4: Distribute and mix practice among learning events, and Principle 5: Apply multimedia principles. Clark and Mayer (2016) point out that practice alone does not achieve perfection, but practice with effective feedback does.

Having students practice problems and indicate their comprehension of material, repeatedly, is a must according to Clark and Mayer (2016). In Math, when learning multiple concepts, it is best to present examples of all concepts and then assign students practice problems that mix the concepts up, instead of grouping all practice problems with individual concepts together. The authors recommend this practice, which they refer to as mixed practice. Clark and Mayer (2016) define grouping problems with the same concepts together as block practice.

Clark and Mayer (2016) believe that effective feedback is vital. They recommended using different types of feedback. All feedback should allow for improvement over time. Feedback should provide explanations to students who answered questions incorrectly. Clark and Mayer (2016) warn educators to stay away from praise feedback, such as “Well Done!”. The authors feel that this type of feedback draws attention away from the task and puts it on the ego. The authors also encourage self-monitoring that is related to the task and assigning peer feedback.

Reflection

            Providing feedback is very important. As educators in order for our students to improve we have to explain what they did incorrectly and how to correct the problem. The problem could actual be a math problem that they had to solve or an undesired behavior. I agree with the authors that feedback should be effective. I know that I perform better on an assignment when I have been given feedback on what I have done wrong on the previous assignment. It bothers me when I do not get a perfect score on an assignment and there is no feedback. The average student would like to know why they missed the mark. Showing how to solve a problem correctly or mirroring the steps needed to take to achieve a desired goal are important when providing feedback.

 I do disagree with the authors when they say to stay away from praise feedback. I think boosting a student’s confidence is helpful. If the student believes they can they will try their best to achieve and pass. If they are not told “Good Job!” or “Well Done!” and only hear feedback when they need to be corrected, then their confidence level may decrease. Educators should try and build students’ confidence and at times that may require praise feedback. In online learning most feedback will not be given face to face. Whatever platform is used to provide feedback; educators must be mindful of misinterpretation of tone. If an email starts out with “Great Job”, I believe that feedback that is given is better accepted.  

            In my opinion practice does make perfect. Sometimes there will be no or little feedback. Some concepts are not like riding a bike. A person may need to go practice concepts over and over again until they grasp the information or skill. It is important that while students are practicing they receive feedback so that over time they become better and more accurate. Overall, I can agree that practice does make perfect with effective feedback.

References

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2016). e-Learning and the science of instruction: Proven

guidelines for consumers and designers fo multimedia learning. (4^th ed.). Hooben, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.