Roger Bruning will describe an online system, ThinkAboutIt (TAI) that gives learners opportunities to make and justify decisions about content, compare these decisions to those of others, and access experts’ judgments. TAI has been used in a variety of contexts, including judging quality of children’s writing samples (elementary‐level literacy education students), value of differing testing and measurement strategies (teachers), utility of NOAA and other weather products for farming decisions (farmers), and effectiveness of medical case presentations (medical students). The presentation and discussion will focus on TAI’s general design features, their ties to cognitive and motivational theory, and how these features can be incorporated in online and classroom instruction

Bruning, Roger

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln DBER Speaker Series Discipline-Based Education Research Group 1-31-2013 ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner-learner and learner‐expert interactions Roger Bruning University of Nebraska-Lincoln, rbruning1@unl.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dberspeakers Bruning, Roger, "ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner-learner and learner‐expert interactions" (2013). DBER Speaker Series. 30. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dberspeakers/30 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Discipline-Based Education Research Group at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in DBER Speaker Series by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Abstract for DBER Group Discussion on 2013‐01‐31   Presenter, Department(s): Roger Bruning Professor Department of Educational Psychology  Title: ThinkAboutIt: A framework for online instruction, learner‐learner, and learner‐expert interactions Abstract: Roger Bruning will describe an online system, ThinkAboutIt (TAI) that gives learners opportunities to make and justify decisions about content, compare these decisions to those of others, and access experts’ judgments. TAI has been used in a variety of contexts, including judging quality of children’s writing samples (elementary‐level literacy education students), value of differing testing and measurement strategies (teachers), utility of NOAA and other weather products for farming decisions (farmers), and effectiveness of medical case presentations (medical students). The presentation and discussion will focus on TAI’s general design features, their ties to cognitive and motivational theory, and how these features can be incorporated in online and classroom instruction.   ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner‐learner and learner‐expert interactionsRoger BruningCenter for Instructional InnovationDepartment of Educational PsychologyThinkAboutIt (TAI) is a web‐based framework for:• Judging complex content • Making and justifying multiple judgments• Providing coaching as needed• Receiving expert and peer feedbackSome Focal Problems in our Work with TAI• Decisions about testing (teachers) • Judging writing quality (pre‐service teachers)• Utility of weather/climate data (farmers)• Quality of case presentations (physicians, medical students)Learning Dimensions Available in TAI• Making decisions• Providing rationales for decisions• Practicing on multiple “cases”• Real problems  • Feedback– Expert– Peers• Coaching • Choice TAI Sequence (Student Writing) The Evolution of Psychology Theory• Behaviorism– Key concepts: Association, repetition, reward• Cognitive Psychology– Key concepts: Meaning, prior knowledge, active learning, constructed knowledge • Social Cognition– Key Concepts: Social origins of learning, modeling and imitation, situated learning  Some questions to ask ourselvesAre we giving our students…• …real problems to make judgments about?• …criteria for warranting their judgments?• …opportunities to warrant their choices?• …chances for peer interaction?– See their peers’ choices?– See criteria peers are using to make their choices• …”rich” expert feedback?• …enough repetitions to insure learning?• …meaningful choices about their learning? Thank you! • Questions or comments?ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner-learner and learner-expert interactions Presentation to the DBER Group, January 31, 2013 Roger Bruning Center for Instructional Innovation, UNL  Presentation Summary ThinkAboutIt (TAI) gives learners opportunities to make and justify decisions about content, compare their decisions to others, and access experts’ judgments. TAI has been used in a variety of contexts, including making decisions about quality of children’s writing (preservice teachers), value of differing assessment approaches (teachers), utility of NOAA and other weather products for farming decisions (farmers), and effectiveness of medical case presentations (physicians, medical students). The focus of this presentation/discussion was on TAI’s general design features, their origins in learning theory, and how these features might be incorporated in online and classroom instruction.  Some questions about our own instruction: Have we provided students with… • real problems to make judgments about? • criteria for making their judgments? • opportunities to warrant their judgments? • chances to interact with peers? – Seeing their peers’ choices? – Seeing criteria their peers use to make their choices? • ”rich” expert feedback, including criteria utilized? • enough repetitions to insure learning? • meaningful choices about their learning?   Selected references PytlikZillig, L. M., Hu, Q., Hubbard, K. G., Lynne, G. D., & Bruning, R. (2010). Improving farmers' perception and use of climate predictions in farming decisions: A transition model. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 49, 1333-1340. Pytlik Zillig, L., Horn, C., Bruning, R., Bell, S., Liu, X., Siwatu, K., Bodvarsson, Kim, D., & Carlson, D. (2011). Face-to-face vs. computer-mediated discussion of teaching cases: Impacts on preservice teachers’ engagement, critical analyses, and self-efficacy. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26, 302-312. Dempsey, M., PytlikZillig, L., & Bruning, R. (2009). Helping preservice teachers learn to assess writing: Practice and feedback in a web-based environment. Assessing Writing, 14(1), 38-61. Igo, L. B., Bruning, R., & McCrudden, M. T. (2005). Exploring differences in students’ copy-and-paste decision making and processing: A mixed methods study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 103-116. Bruning, R., Siwatu, K., Liu, X., PytlikZillig, L, Horn, C., Sic, S., & Carlson, D. (2008). Introducing teaching cases with face-to-face and computer-mediated discussion: Two multi-classroom quasi-experiments. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(2), 299-326. 

\u3ci\u3eThinkAboutIt\u3c/i\u3e: A framework for learner-learner and learner‐expert interactions

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DBER Speaker Series Discipline-Based Education Research Group 
1-31-2013 
ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner-learner and learner‐expert 
interactions 
Roger Bruning 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, rbruning1@unl.edu 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dberspeakers 
Bruning, Roger, "ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner-learner and learner‐expert interactions" (2013). 
DBER Speaker Series. 30. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dberspeakers/30 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Discipline-Based Education Research Group at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in DBER Speaker Series by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
Abstract for DBER Group Discussion on 2013‐01‐31 
 
 
Presenter, Department(s): 
Roger Bruning 
Professor 
Department of Educational Psychology 
 
Title: 
ThinkAboutIt: A framework for online instruction, learner‐learner, and learner‐expert interactions 
Abstract: 
Roger Bruning will describe an online system, ThinkAboutIt (TAI) that gives learners 
opportunities to make and justify decisions about content, compare these decisions to those of others, 
and access experts’ judgments. TAI has been used in a variety of contexts, including judging quality of 
children’s writing samples (elementary‐level literacy education students), value of differing testing and 
measurement strategies (teachers), utility of NOAA and other weather products for farming decisions 
(farmers), and effectiveness of medical case presentations (medical students). The presentation and 
discussion will focus on TAI’s general design features, their ties to cognitive and motivational theory, and 
how these features can be incorporated in online and classroom instruction.  
 
ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner‐
learner and learner‐expert interactions
Roger Bruning
Center for Instructional Innovation
Department of Educational Psychology
ThinkAboutIt (TAI) is a web‐based 
framework for:
• Judging complex content 
• Making and justifying multiple judgments
• Providing coaching as needed
• Receiving expert and peer feedback
Some Focal Problems 
in our Work with TAI
• Decisions about testing (teachers) 
• Judging writing quality (pre‐service 
teachers)
• Utility of weather/climate data (farmers)
• Quality of case presentations (physicians, 
medical students)
Learning Dimensions Available in TAI
• Making decisions
• Providing rationales for decisions
• Practicing on multiple “cases”
• Real problems  
• Feedback
– Expert
– Peers
• Coaching 
• Choice 




TAI Sequence (Student Writing) 
The Evolution of Psychology Theory
• Behaviorism
– Key concepts: Association, repetition, reward
• Cognitive Psychology
– Key concepts: Meaning, prior knowledge, active 
learning, constructed knowledge 
• Social Cognition
– Key Concepts: Social origins of learning, modeling 
and imitation, situated learning  
Some questions to ask ourselves
Are we giving our students…
• …real problems to make judgments about?
• …criteria for warranting their judgments?
• …opportunities to warrant their choices?
• …chances for peer interaction?
– See their peers’ choices?
– See criteria peers are using to make their choices
• …”rich” expert feedback?
• …enough repetitions to insure learning?
• …meaningful choices about their learning? 
Thank you! 
• Questions or comments?
ThinkAboutIt: A framework for learner-learner and learner-expert interactions 
Presentation to the DBER Group, January 31, 2013 
Roger Bruning 
Center for Instructional Innovation, UNL 
 
Presentation Summary 
ThinkAboutIt (TAI) gives learners opportunities to make and justify decisions about 
content, compare their decisions to others, and access experts’ judgments. TAI has been 
used in a variety of contexts, including making decisions about quality of children’s 
writing (preservice teachers), value of differing assessment approaches (teachers), utility 
of NOAA and other weather products for farming decisions (farmers), and effectiveness 
of medical case presentations (physicians, medical students). The focus of this 
presentation/discussion was on TAI’s general design features, their origins in learning 
theory, and how these features might be incorporated in online and classroom instruction. 
 
Some questions about our own instruction: Have we provided students with… 
• real problems to make judgments about? 
• criteria for making their judgments? 
• opportunities to warrant their judgments? 
• chances to interact with peers? 
– Seeing their peers’ choices? 
– Seeing criteria their peers use to make their choices? 
• ”rich” expert feedback, including criteria utilized? 
• enough repetitions to insure learning? 
• meaningful choices about their learning?  
 
Selected references 
PytlikZillig, L. M., Hu, Q., Hubbard, K. G., Lynne, G. D., & Bruning, R. (2010). 
Improving farmers' perception and use of climate predictions in farming decisions: A 
transition model. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 49, 1333-1340. 
Pytlik Zillig, L., Horn, C., Bruning, R., Bell, S., Liu, X., Siwatu, K., Bodvarsson, Kim, 
D., & Carlson, D. (2011). Face-to-face vs. computer-mediated discussion of teaching 
cases: Impacts on preservice teachers’ engagement, critical analyses, and self-
efficacy. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26, 302-312. 
Dempsey, M., PytlikZillig, L., & Bruning, R. (2009). Helping preservice teachers learn to 
assess writing: Practice and feedback in a web-based environment. Assessing Writing, 
14(1), 38-61. 
Igo, L. B., Bruning, R., & McCrudden, M. T. (2005). Exploring differences in students’ 
copy-and-paste decision making and processing: A mixed methods study. Journal of 
Educational Psychology, 97, 103-116. 
Bruning, R., Siwatu, K., Liu, X., PytlikZillig, L, Horn, C., Sic, S., & Carlson, D. (2008). 
Introducing teaching cases with face-to-face and computer-mediated discussion: Two 
multi-classroom quasi-experiments. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(2), 
299-326. 


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