Teaching and Instructional Design

Teaching and Instructional Design Background

Updated 08 September 2024

I have extensive professional experience in the areas of teaching and instructional design and development. I hold a valid Level VII Teaching Certificate with the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and I have been employed in the education sector since 2001. I am currently a sitting member of the Executive of the International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn). I have served as the Leader, Online Learning with the Fraser Health Authority in Surrey, BC, Canada, as an Instructional Development Consultant with the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Burnaby, BC, and as an Adjunct Professor of Educational Technology with the Centre for Distance Education at Athabasca University (AU), Diploma in Educational Technology program at Cape Breton University, the Curriculum and Instructional Design program with Continuing Education at Mount Royal University (MRU), the Extended Education department at the University of Manitoba, and the Master of Education program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). Prior to that, I worked as an Instructional Developer with the Advanced Learning Technologies Center at College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) in Doha, Qatar. In that capacity, I worked with subject matter experts from throughout the college to design and develop blended learning strategies and materials using CNA-Q’s Desire2Learn (D2L) learning management system. I have also served on a number of college committees, including the SEED Funding Adjudication Committee, and the Mobile Learning Subcommittee of the CNA-Q Strategic Planning Committee. Prior to my appointment with the Advanced Learning Technologies Center, I served as an instructor with the School of Information Technology at CNA-Q (September 2005 – October 2013). During my time with College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, I have served as the International Computer Driver’s License (ICDL) Center Coordinator, a position which enabled me to provide professional development training on educational information and communications technologies (ICTs) to over 200 CNA-Q faculty and staff. I have also frequently been involved with providing contract training professional development for Qatari teachers in partnership with The Supreme Education Council of Education for Information and Communications Technology, State of Qatar (ictQATAR). I personally designed and delivered a professional development train-the-trainer course on Interactive Whiteboard pedagogy for teachers and administrators from Qatari K12 schools. I have also been involved in program development for ictQATAR’s Digital Inclusion for Women project, including the development and delivery of that program’s train-the-trainer workshop course. I have also worked as an English Language Arts and Technology teacher, and a Learning Resources Coordinator, in the K12 sector in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

My current teaching interests focus on the theoretical and practical foundations of effective integration of technology into teaching and learning practice, including:

Issues, trends, and barriers to educational technology integration
Leadership and educational technology
Learning theories and educational technology
Instructional design models and frameworks for educational technology integration
Promotion of lifelong learning
Educational technology and accessibility issues
Mobile technology integration in teaching and learning

Courses

Personal Teaching, Learning, and Instructional Design Motto

"Ubique." Everything, everywhere, everyone. To use the right tools and approaches to create engaging learning experiences for everyone, and to remove barriers to learners' fullest engagement and success.

The Latin "ubique" means "everywhere" (Wikipedia, 2023). As the motto of the Canadian Forces Field Engineers, with whom I served as a reservist in the 1990s, it jokingly meant "all over the place" but, more accurately, was used in the sense of "we go everywhere, and do everything that everyone needs done." As I reflect on my teaching philosophy (see my Teaching Philosophy Statement below), it occurs to me that I still live by this motto as an educator and instructional designer. The logo for Power Learning Solutions reflects this. It symbolizes "activating" technology to spread the richest possible learning opportunities to everyone, everywhere around the globe. My practice and my research has focused on crafting seamless learning experiences for every learner, following the best practices of concepts such as Universal Design for Learning and the learning theories and Digital Accessibility guidelines central to removing barriers to engagement and success for all learners.

Crest of the Canadian Military Engineers (HiClipart, n.d.)

Teaching Philosophy and Themes

In preparation of this Teaching Philosophy Statement, I reflected upon how closely intertwined my teaching philosophy is with my research focuses. Like my research agenda, my teaching philosophy focuses on themes related to improving access to teaching and learning opportunities for all stakeholders. As an educational technology researcher and practitioner, I have grounded my both my teaching and research practice on three themes of seamless use of technology in education:

The facilitation of collaborative learning interactions.
Increasing teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy with the use of educational technologies.
Reduce barriers to learning opportunities (using assistive technologies and the adoption of Digital Accessibility standards).

Why Do I Teach?

Early in my teaching career I noticed that while many of my colleagues recognized the inherent value of appropriate use of technology, they experienced barriers to their professional practice resulting from a perceived lack of support and personal confidence. I have two decades of experience using technology to provide seamless teaching and learning experiences, and to promote access, engagement, and collaboration. My research (Hambrock, et al., 2020; 2022; Power, 2018b, 2018c, in press; Power and Kay, 2023; Power, Kay & Craig, 2023) has shown the power of understanding sound pedagogy in increasing teachers’ confidence with technology and, as illustrated by the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), their willingness to be innovative with technology in their teaching. I teach to share my knowledge and experience, to continue learning alongside new colleagues, and to promote these themes for the benefit of all teachers and students.

The CBU Strategic Plan 2019-2024 stresses that “Cape Breton University is committed to high-quality, accessible education; innovative research; and a vibrant, multicultural future for the Island” (Cape Breton University, 2019, p. 2). The connections between this, my teaching philosophy and reasons for teaching, and my current research agenda, are illustrated in Figure T1

Figure T1
Relationship between teaching themes

While the links between my three teaching and research themes and the CBU strategic themes of High-Quality, Accessible Education and Innovative Research may be fairly evident, the connection with the theme of promoting a Multicultural Future may be less so. However, innovative teaching and learning practices, the facilitation of collaboration, and addressing learning barriers and teacher confidence do have impacts in this area. I strive to reduce barriers for all educators and students, including with their ability to promote cultural diversity in their practice. I also aim to promote teaching and learning practices that reduce the potential barriers to both access and success resulting from differences in the cultural backgrounds and perspectives of students.

What Do I Teach?

I teach undergraduate and graduate-level courses focused on the selection and use of appropriate digital tools, matching digital technologies with pedagogical needs, and instructional design for technology-enhanced, blended, and online learning. Most of the courses that I teach for Cape Breton University and other institutions are delivered as online courses. EDUC4108: Leveraging Technology for Learning, a course in CBU’s Bachelor of Education program, is traditionally taught as an in-person course. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I delivered that course as an online course with both synchronous and asynchronous learning activities during the Spring 2020 term. I delivered subsequent sections of that course on campus during the Fall 2021, Fall 2022, and Fall 2023 terms, as well as an on-campus section of EDUC4133: Teaching English as a Second Language in an Additive Model.

I teach my students to view technology as a means to overcoming barriers to effective learning, promoting collaboration, and opening new pedagogical possibilities. My courses focus on Problem-Based Learning, where participants use their own contexts to understand the rationale for pedagogical and instructional design decisions, and to make sound, well-informed decisions for themselves. See Appendix T1 for a list of courses that I have taught at the K12, undergraduate, and graduate level in recent years, and Appendix T10 for examples of problem-based learning activities that I have integrated into my teaching to contextualize learning for my students, and help promote their evidence-supported professional practice.

Graduate Student Supervision
In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, I am also actively engaged with graduate student supervision. I frequently serve as an external / second reader for capstone and thesis paper submissions for students completing the Master of Education in Educational Technology program offered jointly through Cape Breton University and Memorial University of Newfoundland. In addition, over in recent years I have served as an external review, committee member, and supervisor for graduate-level students from Athabasca University, Ontario Tech University, and Royal Roads University. I am currently serving as a committee member for two doctoral candidates in the Doctor of Education program at Ontario Tech University.

How Do I Teach?

My personal approach to teaching can be summarized along three primary strands: leadership, learning design, and accessibility. I believe that we should be leaders in our classrooms (whether those classrooms are physical, virtual, or blended). We should not be dictators of the learning process. Rather, we should lead as fellow learners ourselves. We should lead by example, demonstrating our love of learning. And we should follow the principles of Leader-Member Exchange theory (LMX) when interacting with our students. We are leaders of a learning team, and we should show our students that we value them as participatory team members. LMX tells us that our team members are more likely to identify as part of a larger community – and to contribute over and above minimal required standards – if we value them as members of our trusted inner circles (Power, 2013b). Our team members (students) are also more likely to collaborate with each other – increased “co-worker exchange” – if they feel a strong LMX connection with their team leaders. The following unsolicited quote shows the impact that my efforts to exemplify this approach has had on my students.

“Thank-you for being so supportive and understanding… You have been one of the most interesting profs I have the pleasure to learn with. You do Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk where i[t] concerns your philosophy and beliefs in adult education. You have applied almost every learning and teaching principle taught in my past 9 Master courses… I Wish I were 10 years younger for doing a PhD under your guidance” (M.Ed. student, Athabasca University).

My philosophy on learning design can be summed up in the work that I have done with the Collaborative Situated Active Mobile (CSAM) learning design framework (Power, 2013a, 2015; Power, Cristol & Gimbert, 2014). I believe in providing learners with the right tools, and enabling them to determine their own learning needs and what tools would be most effective in their individual contexts. CSAM reflects this philosophy, as the framework itself is not focused on any specific technology. Rather, it is focused on the contexts in which learners use technologies to facilitate collaboration, immersion in personally meaningful learning contexts, and engagement in active learning processes. While CSAM helps to focus on effective instructional design, it also helps to shift learning design towards more learner-centric, heutogogical approaches.

The CSAM Framework

I believe that we should strive to make learning as accessible as possible. That does not mean making the learning process less challenging. It means making it easier to access learning opportunities and resources. The aspect of situated learning espoused by CSAM is one factor in increasing accessibility, because students are more likely to feel a personal connection to a learning experience if it is contextualized and personally relevant (Power, 2013a, 2015; Power et al., 2014). Another factor is leveraging appropriate technologies to mediate the learning experience. The right mix of technologies can permit participation by potential learners who might otherwise be excluded due to the limitations of time, geography, disability, or language barriers. Our decisions about technology integration should be grounded both in the needs of our target students, and in the actual enhancement of students’ abilities to meet specified learning objectives. Of course, with the integration of technologies comes responsibilities for the teacher to make sure some potential learners are not inadvertently excluded. That means that we, as teachers, should constantly strive to ensure our learning materials meet accessibility standards such as those specified by the W3 Consortium (W3C, 2024).

Power (2020b) was published to provide support to educator colleagues at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides a detailed illustration of some of the steps that I take, and skills that I strive to impart to my Education students, as I prepare to teach my own courses. Power (2021) illustrates a tool that I have developed, which I teach my students to use in their instructional design practice to make informed technology integration decisions. Power et al. (2020), Power et al. (2022) and Power et al. (2023) are examples of how I have both contextualized the learning process, and engaged my graduate students from CBU in the process of creating high-quality peer-reviewed resources to help their teaching colleagues with the effective integration of technology in teaching and learning practice. Appendix T10 provides further examples of problem-based learning activities that I regularly use to contextualize technology integration and instructional design concepts and skills for undergraduate and graduate Education students. The following unsolicited student feedback illustrates the impact that these contextualized approaches have had:

“I really enjoyed this course… but mostly I have learned so much that is actually useful in my career! I really appreciate learning all the different technology tools that are available to us instructors, but I really liked how we were able to actually demonstrate how to use these tools through the assignment work… I can now use these skills and incorporate a lot more technology into my future courses at [xxxx College]! Thanks so much for a great semester!” (M.Ed. student, Athabasca University).

Power (2018a, 2020a) demonstrate how I leverage technology to provide my students with formative feedback for problem-based learning activities, and demonstrate how they can similarly leverage technology in their own professional practice. This approach has not gone unnoticed by my students, as illustrated by the following unsolicited feedback:

"I just wanted to send along a little note thanking you for the detailed and unique feedback... I have never received something of this nature before in terms of video feedback... I sometimes find myself thinking about that transactional distance which we have studied in this course. Your approach to this assignment was certainly welcomed. As a teacher, I strive to be timely with my students in terms of getting back to them... with the hopes that students will notice and see the benefits. Having a professor model this same approach is again a very nice touch" (M.Ed. student, Cape Breton University).

How Do I Measure My Effectiveness?

I measure my effectiveness as a teacher through the feedback that I receive from my students. Formal feedback from student evaluations of my courses has been consistently positive. Students have expressed enthusiasm for the content, appreciation for the course organization and resources, and excitement over how I lead by example by using technology both to deliver content and provide feedback on their learning progress. I have also received enthusiastic informal feedback through both email and social media from former students, who have commented about how much their experience in my courses has helped them in their professional practice (See Appendix T5). Multiple students have reached out to me directly to thank me for preparing them to teach online, and to manage the sudden unexpected shift to teaching through technology in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Long time...firstly all I have to say is that I'm now teaching at a major GTA college. Suddenly, my classes must be converted online until the rest of the semester. While faculty members (many I think) continue to panic, I honestly feel SO PREPARED. I've got this. This is in NO SMALL PART TO YOU for helping me understand how to align pedagogical goals to online environments. In a world filled with confusion, strife, upheaval and consistent uncertainty… I want to tell you THANK YOU for preparing me well. I will now APPLY this to help my students succeed during this difficult time. THANK YOU ROB!!” (M.Ed. student, Ontario Tech University).

One student who is now completing her graduate studies recently sent me the following expression of how much my teaching approach helped her to succeed in her studies:

“I felt like an imposter in this graduate program when I started in 2019 and I was riddled with anxiety. In my first graduate course with you, I immediately felt comfortable and at ease, which is what I needed at that time. In that course, I created a WBLT and you allowed me to choose a topic that I cared deeply about: Sun Salutation. You taught me the course content, but allowed me to grow and choose a topic that I love. I remember thinking, “Wow. Rob’s kids are so lucky.” I have always felt such a fatherly presence from you - a father that cares deeply. A father that provides his children and students with the tools they need to succeed, and then allowing them to grow and explore independently, but always there if they fall or need help.

“This course is our last together, and my heart feels so full to have met you. It was never about the content you taught. It was the fact that you were always there when I needed you. I felt relief interacting with you. That’s why I had the courage to send you such a bizarre email about wanting to “bypass” the last assignment. You gave me the courage to tell you how I really felt with faith that you will always understand. That is a real teacher” (M.Ed. student, Ontario Tech University).

At the end of the Spring 2022 term, another student from CBU’s joint Master of Education in Educational Technology program with Memorial University sent me the following unsolicited feedback at the end of her course:

I just want to let you know how much I enjoyed your course. I learned so much from you and I appreciated how interactive the whole course was. It pushed me out of my comfort zone. You were readily available and answered all my inquiries to make sure I was on the right track. It makes a huge difference when the instructor actually helps students to do better. Thank you SO MUCH for all the immediate feedback and constant reassurance. It was not easy taking 2 courses and working full time, but your course was so interesting, and it has been my favourite course in the M.Ed Education Technology program.

One student endorsement in particular stands as a reflection of why I do what I do. It is an email from a former graduate student from Ontario who expressed that my support had enabled them to easily make the transition to online teaching during the pandemic:

I honestly feel SO PREPARED. I've got this. This is in NO SMALL PART TO YOU for helping me understand how to align pedagogical goals to online environments. In a world filled with confusion, strife, upheaval and consistent uncertainty… I want to tell you THANK YOU for preparing me well. I will now APPLY this to help my students succeed during this difficult time.” (personal communication, M.Ed. student)

More recently, another former student sent an email reflecting on the impact of my leadership beyond just their academic program:

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to you. Thank you for investing your time, energy, and expertise in shaping my academic growth and personal and professional development." (personal communication, M.Ed. student)

For me, I see success as a teacher when I see my students succeeding in their practice, and when I see the impact of their changing practices on their own students.

Room for Growth

Even when my students are meeting both the hard (course and program learning outcomes) and soft (personal growth and professional practice) goals of my courses, I recognize that there is still room for improvement in how I design and deliver my courses. I continuously strive to find the best ways to engage my students with the learning content and with each other as part of a Community of Inquiry (Garrison et al., 2000). I also continuously reflect on the feedback that I receive through formal and informal channels to find places where my students may be struggling because of course design, content selection, and my interactions with them.

Examining Opportunities for Growth in my Undergraduate (B.Ed.) Courses
For the Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 offerings of the undergraduate course EDUC4108: Leveraging Technology for Learning, course feedback has indicated a desire amongst participants for higher degrees of practical exposure to educational technology tools. I have redesigned the course for delivery using a dedicated Google Classroom (n.d.) space, so that the teacher candidate participants are more immersed in the environment they are most likely to be using when they enter the K12 workforce in Nova Scotia. Each weekly module now includes live class discussions of the theoretical and practical concepts for the designated week, along with breakout activities that explore related applications commonly used in conjunction with Google Classroom in K12 contexts, and suggested applications for individual exploration outside of class time. There remains further room for growth in terms of meeting participants’ needs and expectations in this course. However, I will need to investigate how to overcome some of the bureaucratic issues that continue to prevent my ability to provide students with hands-on experience with some of the tools that they have expressed a desire to gain more exposure to. For instance, tools such as PowerSchool (2024) and TIENET (NS Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, n.d.) are proprietary resources with controlled access at the provincial Department of Education level, preventing us from gaining access to a suitable demonstration and practice-use environment.

Examining Opportunities for Growth in my Graduate Courses
One student from a graduate-level course at CBU during the Spring 2021 term discussed their perception of how "the course was structured. For starters, the course was not adapted from the 13-week version to the 8-week version, causing an unnecessary and often overwhelming amount of weekly requirements." While the course was further revised to suit a 6-week delivery model for the Spring 2022 term, I recognize that continued refinements may reduce the sense of overload for my students without compromising the goals of the course. Potential refinements for course offerings over the next few terms could include a holistic reimagining of the major course project and research paper assignments into a single multi-stage project, and a realignment of the course content delivery to support the stages of that project.

Another student from a graduate-level online course emailed me at the beginning of the Spring 2022 term to say “This is kind of embarrassing, but I still can't find it... Am I in the right spot? I linked a screenshot just in case I'm totally in the wrong spot.” This exchange reminded me that that, even when consciously incorporating instructional design best practices, it is never safe to assume that all students will have an easy time orienting themselves to an online learning environment.

Examining, Prioritizing, and Addressing Student Feedback
Power (2017) illustrates how I solicit and use constant feedback from my students to improve my practice, and their experience and success in my courses. Power (2019) is an example of the advice that I provide to all of my students to help them improve their own experiences in any online course.

Click on the link to the right to access a PDF copy of Dr Rob Power's research statement

Full Teaching Philosophy Statement with Appendices

Teaching Philosophy Statement (Dr. Rob Power)
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References

Cape Breton University (2019). Strategic plan 2019-2024. [PDF file]. https://www.cbu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Strategic-Plan-Document.pdf

Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319-340. doi:10.2307/249008

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. http://cde.athabascau.ca/coi_site/documents/Garrison_Anderson_Archer_Critical_Inquiry_model.pdf

Google for Education (n.d.). Google Classroom. https://edu.google.com/workspace-for-education/classroom/

Hambrock, H., de Villiers, F., Rusman, E., MacCullum, K., & Arrieya Arrifin, S. (2020). Seamless learning in higher education (R. Power, Editor). [eBook]. International Association for Mobile Learning. https://seamlesslearning.pressbooks.com/

Hambrock, H., de Villiers, F., Power, R., Koole, M., Ahmed, M., Ellis, W., Abd Karim, R., Kurubacak, G., El-Hussein, M., Ossiannilsson, E., Sharma, R., José Sousa, M., & Wollin, U. (2022). Seamless Learning in Higher Education 2: Comparisons from International Educators of Changes During a Global Pandemic (H. Hambrock, F. de Villiers, R. Power, and M. Koole, Eds). International Association for Mobile Learning and Power Learning Solutions. https://pressbooks.pub/seamlesslearning2/

Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (n.d.). TIENET. https://inschooldev2.ednet.ns.ca/teachers/tienet

Power, R. (2013a). Collaborative situated active mobile (CSAM) learning strategies: A new perspective on effective mobile learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 10(2). http://lthe.zu.ac.ae/index.php/lthehome/article/view/137

Power, R. (2013b). Leader-member exchange theory in higher and distance education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(4). http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1582

Power, R. (2015). A framework for promoting teacher self-efficacy with mobile reusable learning objects (Doctoral dissertation, Athabasca University). http://hdl.handle.net/10791/63

Power, R. (2017, March 2). Using mid-course surveys to improve an online course [Video]. https://youtu.be/tNhr8v5jsbM

Power, R. (2018a, March 5). A2 feedback overview. [Video]. https://youtu.be/l9XXxOlsYUk

Power, R. (2018b, May 16). Making mobile learning work for educators and students. Opening keynote address at Mobile Summit 2018, 16-17 May 2018, Scarborough, ON, Canada. http://www.powerlearningsolutions.com/making-mobile-learning-work.html

Power, R. (2018c). Supporting mobile instructional design with CSAM. In S. Yu, M. Ally, & A. Tsanikos (Eds.), Mobile and ubiquitous learning: An international handbook, pp. 193-209. Springer Nature. doi 10.1007/978-981-10-6144-8_12

Power, R. (2019, January 13). Optimizing your time with online courses. [Web log post]. Power Learning Solutions. https://www.powerlearningsolutions.com/blog/optimizing-your-time-with-online-courses

Power, R. (2020a, March 6). Using video to provide assignment feedback. [Web log post]. Power Learning Solutions. https://www.powerlearningsolutions.com/blog/using-video-to-provide-assignment-feedback

Power, R. (2020b, March 13). A rapid transition to online learning survival guide. [Web log post]. Power Learning Solutions. https://www.powerlearningsolutions.com/blog/a-rapid-transition-to-online-learning-survival-guide

Power, R. (2021, February 26). Finding the right digital tool is not enough: Addressing copyright and privacy considerations. [Web log post]. Power Learning Solutions. https://www.powerlearningsolutions.com/blog/finding-the-right-digital-tool-is-not-enough-addressing-copyright-and-privacy-considerations

Power, R. (Ed.), (2022c). Integration of Instructional Design and Technology, Vol 2. [eBook]. Power Learning Solutions. ISBN 978-1-9993825-5-1. https://idandtech.pressbooks.com/

Power, R. (Ed.) (2023). Integration of Instructional Design and Technology, Vol 3. [eBook]. Power Learning Solutions. ISBN 978-1-9993825-9-9. https://pressbooks.pub/idandtech3/

Power, R., Cristol, D., & Gimbert, B. (2014). Exploring tools to promote teacher efficacy with mLearning. In M. Kalz, Y. Bayyurt, & M. Specht (Eds.), Mobile as a mainstream - Towards future challenges in mobile learning: Communications in Computer and Information Science Volume 479, pp. 61-68. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13416-1_7

Power, R., Gallant, G., Gallant, J., Girouard, J., Hildebrandt, K, MacLeod, J., McCarthy, T., Mugford, J., Pinhorn, C., & Pitts, M. (2020). Integration of instructional design and technology to support rapid change. [eBook]. Power Learning Solutions. ISBN 978-1-9993825-3-7. https://idandrapidchange.pressbooks.com/

Power, R. & Kay, R. (2023a). Higher Education Faculty Supports for the Transition to Online Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Educational Informatics, 4(1), 49-72. https://journalofeducationalinformatics.ca/index.php/JEI/article/view/191

Power, R., Kay, R., & Craig, C. (2023). The Effects of COVID-19 on Higher-Education Teaching Practices. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education, 38(2). https://www.ijede.ca/index.php/jde/article/view/1255/1899

PowerSchool (2024). Personlized Education for Every Journey. https://www.powerschool.com/

W3C (2024). Accessibility. http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility

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