ONLINE ASSIGNMENT

Submitted To,

Submitted By,

Mrs. Sheeja R

Devi Krishna R

Assistant professor

Commerce
Candidate code : 190 14 305 002
Peet Memorial Training College,
Mavelikara

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES OF

INSTRUCTION

Complexity of the business world warrants imparting a wide

variety of learning experience to the students. The traditional approaches of
instruction for commerce education are inadequate for providing the learner
centered and appropriate learning experiences. I n this situation the innovative
modern approaches of instructional strategies play a prominent role in providing
effective learning experiences to the learners regarding commerce, trade and
industry. Innovative approaches are followed mainly for the transaction of the
curricular material in a controlled learning environment.

TYPES OF INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES AND

APPROACHES

There are different types of innovative approaches and strategies,

which a commerce teacher can adopt for transacting the commerce curriculum
at higher secondary level. The major among these are as follows :
Problem Based Learning (PBL)
Teaching of Thinking skills
Self study approach
Contract learning
Experiential learning
Modular approach
Meaningful verbal learning
Collaborative and co-operative learning
Graphic organizer

PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

(PBL)
Problem based learning is a student centered pedagogy in
which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an
open ended problem. It is an innovative strategy, by which the learning
materials are presented through problematic situations and the learners are
motivated and helped to solve these and thus acquire and internalise related
knowledge. The PBL encourages dealing with meaningful problematic
situations, which promote curiosity and the spirit of inquiry among learners.
This learning strategy stresses the point that meaningful problem situations
can serve as a catalyst for promoting the spirit of investigation which in turn
will result in inquiry training. While thinking from the point of view of the
teacher, PBL can be achieved by adopting the technique names such as
project based teaching, authentic learning and anchored instruction. The
teachers role in PBL is to pose problems to ask reflective questions and
guided discovery learning. The purpose of PBL is to help the students master
the subject matter through problem solving.

Characteristics of problem based learning

The following are the major characteristics of PBL;

i.

The problems do not test skills but they assist in the development of
the skills themselves.

ii.

PBL is not exclusively meant for the solution of the specific problem
being solved but it help to gain additional information through problem
solving.

iii.

The students are responsible to solve the problem and the teacher
acts as the facilitator, motivator and guide.

iv.

The teacher may present different approaches to solve the problem

being investigated, but each student is permitted to adopt the
strategy that best fits in with his competencies and way of thinking.

v.

Authenticate and performance based assessment at the end of

instruction is compulsory in PBL.

Stages of problem based learning

There are three distinct phases in a PBL;
Stage I. Encountering and defining the problem
As far as a commerce student is concerned confronting problems of
various natures is very significant. In order to train inquiry resulting in
problem solving, the teacher should encourage each student to define and
explore the problem by way of references, experts opinion, discussions,
searching on the internet etc. At this stage the learner may be prompted to
ask themselves basic questions such as;
What do I already know about the problem ?
What should I know to effectively address this problem ?
From which sources can I gather the additional data and information for
reaching the solution?
At this stage a very focused problem statement is needed. For example, in
commerce class, the Loss of market share of a particular product can be
considered as a problem. Teacher can guide the students to study the
situation and hypothesise reasons leading to the problem. Also, they may be
encouraged to suggest feasible solutions.
Stage II. Assessing, evaluating and utilising information
After defining the problem exactly, and exploring the conditions and
reasons leading to the problem, they start hypothesising solutions. But this
might require vast data more than those already available. For this the
teacher has to help them to get access to maximum information through
print media, electronic media, discussion with experts etc. Now a day
internet can be used as a very effective tool for gathering maximum
information regarding the problem. But the students must carefully appraise
the worth of the sources as well as the data gathered from these sources
especially those collected through the internet.

Stage III. Synthesise and performance

In this stage, students construct a solution to the problem. The analysis of
various aspects related to the data will help them to arrive at a solution to
the problem. This can be precisely stated by synthesising all the findings
that emerged from the exploration using the available data as well as the
data gathered. This solution can be presented in the printed form or
electronic presentation.

DATA
GATHERING

PROBLEM

DEFINING

SOLUTION

CONTRACT LEARNING
Our traditional methods of teaching allow students to be passive
at the time of instruction. The instructor presents the learning material and
the pupils hear what they say. To be active, students must participate in the
process of learning and become more independent and responsible for their
own learning. They must develop the skills of inquiry. The use of learning
contracts allows students to structure their own learning and to take up the
role of active participants in the process of learning.
Webster (1991) defines contract as, an agreement between one or
more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified. Webster
(1991) also defines learning as, knowledge acquired by systematic study in
any field of scholarly application. By combining these two definitions we
can define contract learning as an agreement between a student and an
educational institution or a faculty member to fruitfully associate in a
process leading to acquisition of knowledge. This should involve systematic
instruction either in the classroom or independently. A learning contract
specifies what is to be learned, how it is to be learned and how learning will
be evaluated.
Learning contracts are useful tools that encourage students to
become active participants in the learning process. Learning contracts can
be beneficial in many ways. They provide a way to deal with the wide
differences among the members of a group of learners, increase student
motivation for learning, facilitate the development of mutual respect
between the educator and participants, provide for more individualised
mode of instruction, and foster the skills for self directed learning.

Principles of contract learning

The major principles of contract learning are given below;

1. The learner has choice in selecting all alternatives for meeting

learning objectives.
2. Personal involvement in learning is stressed through individualised
and independent learning activities.
3. Differential learning styles of students are considered in providing
alternative to learning materials and learning styles.
4. Competition with ones on self is stressed more than competition with
others.
5. The learner feels a sense of freedom from the threat of failure.
6. The learning task falls within the learners range of potential.
7. There are opportunities
experiences.

for

novel

and

stimulating

learning

Advantages
The major advantages of contract learning are;
1) It promotes more ego involvement on the part of the learner in the
learning process. It turns them on to learning.
2) It helps them to make use of a much wider variety of resources for
learning such as peers, other people in the institution and the
community, field experiences, etc.
3) It sharpens learners skills of self directed learning, which in turn will
enhance their ability to learn from their experience and their
environment for the rest of their lives.
4) It increases the accountability of the programme by providing more
functional and validated evidence of the learning outcomes.
5) It provides a more functional way of structuring learning a process
structure in the place of the traditional content-transmission structure.
6) It replaces the conventional teacher imposed discipline with self
discipline in learning situations.

7) It provides a way for the learner to obtain continuous feedback of their

progress towards realisation of the learning goals.

Limitations
1) In certain situations where the content is totally new to learners, a
more guided learning approach would probably be better, at least
during the initial stages.
2) Learning contracts can also cause problems for instructors who have a
more authoritarian personality as well as for those learners who
would like to be continuously guided by an expert.
3) Learning contracts appear to work best in agencies or institutions that
support the idea of increasing learners competence for self directed
learning.

Contract learning and commerce education

Contract learning can be very profitably applied in commerce
education. Here, the learners should plan and implement a contract learning
programme with the help of the teacher. Teacher should analyse the learner
capabilities and make appropriate suggestions to review the plan. A plan for
the implementation of the contract learning is given below;

I.

Diagnose the learning needs of the learner

A learning need is the gap between where a learner is now and where
he wants to be in regard to a particular set of competencies. The learner
may already aware of certain learning needs as a result of his personal
appraisal. The teacher should either consult with the students to identify the
learning needs or the learner himself can select and specify his needs.
II.

Specify the learning objectives

After identifying the learning needs the learner has to specify the
learning objectives, may be with the guidance of the teacher or some
knowledgeable persons.
III.

Specify learning resources and strategies

After listing the objectives, the learner has to describe how he

proposes to go about accomplishing each objective. This should be the result
of a thorough analysis of the curriculum requirements.

IV.

Specify target dates for completion

After selecting the strategies fix a time schedule institutionally set

or on any other basis.
V.

Specify the evaluation programme

Here the learner should describe the evaluation programme,

which he would like to undergo. Teacher should act as a consultant in
selecting a suitable evaluation programme.
VI.

Review of the contract with consultants

After you have completed the first draft of the contract, the
learner will find it useful to get it reviewed by two or three friends,
supervisors, or other resource persons and gather their suggestions.
VII.

Carry out the contract

The learner now simply does what the contract calls for. What keep
in mind that while working on it the learner may find that in notions about
what he wants to learn and how he would like to learn are changing.
VIII.

Evaluation of the learning

As the learner has worked out some of the tasks or has completed
his contract he would like to get some assurance that he is progressing on
correct tracks or has achieved the goal. An effective evaluation programme
can be implemented for this.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
A graphic organizer ( also known as knowledge map, concept
map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance organizer or concept
diagram ) is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express
knowledge, concepts, thoughts, or ideas, and relationship between them.
The main purpose of a graphic organizer is to provide a visual
aid to facilitate learning and instruction. The graphic organizer may take
many forms;

1. Relational organizer
a) Story board
b) Fishbone chart ( Ishikawa diagram)
c) Cause and effect web chart
2. Category/classification organizers
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Sequence organizers
Chain ladder cycle
Compare contrast organizers
Dashboard
Venn diagram

3. Concept development organizers

a)
b)
c)
d)

Story web
Word web
Circle web
Flow chart

4. Options and control device organizers

a) Mechanical control panel

b) Graphical user interface

Advantages
Using graphic organizers improves student performance in the following
areas;

Retention
Students remember information better and can better recall it when
it is represented and learned both visually and verbally.
Reading comprehension
The use of graphic organizers helps in improving the reading
comprehension of students.
Student achievement
Students with and without learning disabilities improve
achievement across content areas and grades level.
Thinking and learning skills ; critical thinking
When students develop and use a graphic organizer their higher
order thinking and critical thinking skills are enhanced.

All these innovative approaches can be adopted in teaching

commerce content to students. But as the content of commerce subjects
are comparatively new to most students, a more directed approach is
advisable.