Month: June 2021

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Re-working an Original – Assignment #3

In this post, I will discuss how I returned to a Prezi that I had made about bears and how I implemented changes by taking the multimedia learning principles and learning theories into consideration. I will explain how the updates which I made have increased the effectiveness of knowledge transfer to my potential learners. I have written this blog, as well as have added an explanation within the presentation of how I have improved upon my original. 

I first began by addressing the Cognitive Load Theory and the Signalling Principal. Cognitive Load Theory discusses how, “if you overload working memory before there is time for encoding and long term storage in mental models, things will be forgotten” (Meyer, 2020) and the Signalling Principle discusses how, “people learn better when cues are added that highlight the key information and its organization” (Meyer, 2020). Therefore, when analyzing my original presentation, I noticed that I had potentially overwhelmed my learners by adding all the themes on the screen at once.

Bears with all themes present creating possible cognitive overload.

In hopes to minimize cognitive overload, I decided that I would signal attention to each theme one at a time through the use of a “fading” function within the platform. There would then be only one “theme,” (or white highlighting dot) on the screen at a time, thus lessening the cognitive load and guiding the learners eyes to exactly what I am speaking to. 

Next, I chose to address the Redundancy Principle which states that, “people learn better when information is presented in more than one format” (Meyer, 2020) and the Modality Principle which explains that, “people learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics and printed text” (Meyer, 2020). I had originally written text in each of the white theme bubbles.

Bears with words and oral description. This would spit attention and potentially over-load learners’ “cognitive cup.”

However, after my analysis and application of the modality principle, I realized that, since I would be speaking to my learners and saying the themes aloud, having the written words would be redundant. Therefore, it would be more effective to their learning if I had only an image on the theme to amplify the words I spoke. I also took into consideration the Split-Attention Principle and wanted to ensure my learners did not have to split their attention between the writing and the words.

Images rather than words so that learners do not have to split their attention by reading at the same times as listening.

Finally, I chose to address the Self-explanation Principle which explains how,  “people learn better when they are encouraged to generate self-explanations during learning” (Meyer, 2020). After my analysis, I noticed that I never set up a place for a discussion or a chance for parter talk. I decided that after we watch the video regarding bear facts, I would ask the learners to turn to a partner and discuss one thing they learned. I will also stop and give an opportunity after the types of bears. Perhaps the learners can discuss a type of bear that stood out to them and then question which bears they think would reside in Canada and why. This will help them generate self-explanations and potentially help take the learning into their long term memory to be retained. 

Overall, I believe the changes based on principles and theories have enhanced my Prezi immensely. I believe I have cut out extraneous information, used dual-channels, ensured that split- attention is less likely to occur and I have given space for the learners to engage with and discuss the information as much as possible in hopes to bind it to their long term memory storage. I believe I have managed the intrinsic load by using the segmenting principle, I have optimized the germane load by taking the image, voice, personalization and multimedia principles into consideration and that I have minimized the extraneous load by considering the coherence, signalling, redundancy and spatial contiguity principles were taken into consideration.

Below is a video demonstrating the changes which I made to this Prezi while taking the Multimedia Principles and Learning Theories into consideration.

https://prezi.com/v/qpjptb5by7gy/

Citation:

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

McGraw Hill PreK-12. (2019, January 19). Learning Science 101: Cognitive Load Theory[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpA6RdE0aYo

Wisc-Online. (2017, October 13). The Signaling Principle. [Video]. Youtube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENGjwO-kKpc

IITBombay. (2019, August 19). LeD 4.3B: Modality Principle and Redundancy Principle. [Video]. Youtube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNK21Li1b2Q

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Multimedia Design For Learning

There is no better feeling than “getting lost” in something you deeply care about. Whether it be a running race you are competing in, an art project you have been working on for months, a Mother’s day gift you excitedly finish for your mom, or a loose part creation you are making to demonstrate your understanding, you can “become lost” in something that you deeply care about and are intrinsically motivated to finish. This is “flow,” and is ultimately what every teacher wants their learners to experience in their learning. 

I have been lucky enough to witness “flow” in my classroom. It is a magical experience. The room hums with creativity and engagement and everyone is focussed on their desired task because they want to be doing it. Flow was extremely present in a magic/mythical inquiry which we dove into in our Kindergarten/Grade One space. Learners chose what they were interested in: Fairies, Knights, Princesses, Unicorns and Dragons and were grouped accordingly. They then set off to learn everything they could about their choice using books, asking experts and consulting media such as youtube. Once they investigated, we began designing and planning to create a museum where we could share our learning and teach about these magnificent things. We used Instagram and Pinterest to generate ideas for artifacts that we could make for each group for our museum night where our “grown ups” would be present. 

The fairies chose to make fairy houses and fairy dust.  

The dragons made dragon eyes, paper chain dragons and a collaborative dragon den.  

The Princesses made crowns, necklaces, wands and painted a huge paper castle which a friend brought in.  

The knights made shields, catapults and swords.  

Finally the unicorns made toilet paper unicorns, puppet unicorns, wove yarn on a unicorn horn and made a collaborative backdrop that we could hang their paper roll unicorns from.  

Below is a youtube link to our museum night presentation. I have never seen learners so proud, engaged and excited to share their learning as I did in this inquiry. You will see and hear this at the end of the video.

Note: Somehow my camera went into slow motion so feel free to move the bar ahead where it is slow.

As Flow Theory suggests, in order to create flow, a teacher must ensure that,  “a task is intrinsically motivating, that they have set clear goals and a sense of progress with their learners, provided clear and immediate feedback, have the challenge match perceived skills, allow for agency or control over task, as well as instigate an intense focus on the present moment” (Henshone, 2019). I feel as though I had implemented all the principles of flow theory into my teachings here in hopes to motivate and engage my learners. Not only did I use Flow Theory, but I unknowingly used the modality principle to enhance learning as well. I used images to guide my oral teaching and videos to offer connections to the words I spoke. We read stories which aided the learners to retain the information by making connections and by inspiring them to get involved and to create. 

Meyer mentions how, “if you add graphics you can greatly improve peoples performance on problem solving transfer tests” (Meyer, 2020). When reflecting on this inquiry, I now believe that, by adding the visuals that I did to this learning, my learners were able to store the intended information deep in their memories. I know this because when it was time to share their knowledge with their “grown ups” on our museum night, they recalled and shared the information almost effortlessly. Knowing and better understanding the multimedia principles, dual Coding and flow theory, as well as experiencing these in my field of work, will better allow me to design my teachings so that concepts can be better received for my learners. The intent is to create flow and ease of storage of information for our leaners. Therefore, I intend to do this in the future using the understanding I now have of multimedia design for learning. 

First attempt on Screencasting:

Here is my second go! I moved my picture, I closed the tool box, and changed my wording. I noticed I said, “parent” and I prefer saying, “grown-up” as some children are looked after by their grandparents, aunts, foster parents, etc…

Citation:

Henshon S.E. (2019) Reflections on the Flow of Life: An Interview With Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Roeper Review, 41:3, 153-155, DOI: 10.1080/02783193.2019.1622487

Mayer, R., & Fiorella, L. (2014). Principles for Reducing Extraneous Processing in Multimedia Learning: Coherence, Signaling, Redundancy, Spatial Contiguity, and Temporal Contiguity Principles. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 279-315). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.015