Goal Oriented Learning Environments

About the Book

E-learning encompasses many things to many people. Elliot Massie, a leading e-learning guru, states that "Online learning is not about taking a course and putting it on desktop. It encompasses "Combination of learning services and technology to provide high value integrated learning anytime and anyplace".

GOLEª aims to create a virtual learning simulator that is capable of customizing the pedagogy to the learners learning style. To properly design learn by doing scenarios, the learning environment must balance the learning objectives with authenticity. The key is to build a realistic environment which is complex enough to promote expectation failure and robust enough to support the learner at that point. Two of the major learning objectives for a goal oriented learning environment are the application of facts and building specific skills.

The purpose of this research was to design, develop, implement and assess a Goal Oriented Learning Environment (GOLE) into the Civil and Environmental Engineering curriculum at Lehigh University. Also to design, develop, implement, and assess Internet-based instructional systems into the CEE curriculum. To achieve these objectives, a GOLE was implemented into two courses that were used as case studies in this research. These case studies describe the instructional design method utilized and the assessment involved to evaluate the courses. The instructional design method utilized nine steps: Discuss, Determine, Decide, Design, Develop, Implement, Assessment, Evaluation and Evolve. The designing of GOLE focused on: content, delivery platform, character development and story line.

In order to assess and evaluate the GOLE, a series of five evaluations were created in order perform the analysis: skill matrix, course, performance, website evaluations and the DISC profile. The data was then analyzed to determine what parts of the course were effective.

About the Author

Dr. Horace Moo-Young joined Lehigh University in 1996 in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering after completing a year of service as an assistant professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. In the area of teaching, Horace has excelled both as an instructor and as an innovative leader in engineering education. In 1997, Horace received the Anderson Consulting Faculty Fellowship for Excellence in Education Programs (ACFFEEP). As a result of this award, Horace has developed the learning theory called Goal Oriented Learning Environments (GOLES), which implements the goal-based scenario into the university environment. Goal oriented learning environments allows participants to perform tasks they will encounter on the job in a risk-free environement. To implement his pedagogical strategies, Horace relies heavily on information technology to deliver his courses to the students. As a result of the ACFFEEP, he has implemented goal oriented learning environments into six courses at Lehigh University. In 1999, Horace received the Lehigh University Junior Faculty Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Horace came to Lehigh University with a strong background in the re-utilization of industrial by-products in environmental engineering applications. Horace has created the Barrier Technology research group at Lehigh University to solve environmental problems utilizing innovative barrier materials for containment. Horace's research tackles environmental problems such as flood mitigation, acid mine drainage, groundwater contamination, contaminated marine sediment, recycling industrial co-product materials, and landfills. In addition, Horace specializes in non-destructive testing of the environment. Horace has conducted innovative research which investigates the utilization of medical imaging such as computer aided tomography to visualize and understand the fundamental mechanisms of subsurface environmental contamination.

His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Federal Highway Administration, Pennsylvania Infrastructure and Technology Alliance, Pennyslvania Department of Transportation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, General Electric, Linkback Foundation, Pennyslvania Ben Franklin Technology Partnership, and Battelle. In addition, Horace has published sixty articles in referred journals, peer-reviewed books and conference proceedings, and magazines. He has conducted over fifty invited lectures and conference presentations around the world including Japan, Finland, Germany and Brazil.

Horace is also the faculty representative on teh S.T.A.R Academics Academic Advisory Board. The S.T.A.R. Academics are weekend (Saturday) mentoring and tutoring and hands-on experimental learning program that promotes academic achievement in SMET for at risk K-12 students. Lehigh University graduate and undergraduate students provide one-on-one mentoring to K-12 students. The S.T.A.R. Academics are partnerships between local area school districts, local industry, and Lehigh University.