Category: edci337-blog

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Assignment 4 – Mental Wellness

Welcome to our Learning Object!

This learning object is meant to be accessed freely by learners or with the help of a facilitator. You will find all our original content within our Wellness Website which includes; 

  • Infographics x 2
  • Prezi
  • Powerpoint (Learning Objectives)
  • Canva Tutorial
  • Polleverywhere Tutorial
  • PollEverywhere Poll
  • Screencastify Facilitator Guide
  • Padlet Experience
  • Interactive Google Doc
  • H5P Assessment
  • Canva Self-Assessment  

Discussion

In the making of our Wellness website, we have implemented many learning theories and multimedia learning principles in order to effectively reach our learners, move the intended information to their long term memory storage and guide them to meet the intended learning outcomes. Below, we will discuss the many theories and principles we used, as well and how and why we implemented them. 

We have designed and structured this website wearing the lens’ of Cognitive and Constructivist theorists. We have done this by taking a learner-centred approach, which encourages learners to build their own, contextualized understandings of the material. We encourage discovery through self-reflective, collaborative activities such as our Padlet. We provide a variety of available resources, so that learners can interpret the information that works best for their own context, and scaffold new understanding that is meaningful for them. We have presented an integrated set of material designed to encompass one usable body of knowledge and have sourced data- and science-driven materials as researched by experts in their fields. Finally, we acknowledge that learner success depends on learners’ capacity, motivation, beliefs, and effort. Therefore, we included self-reflection activities after our learning resources in hopes that our learners will make a connection with the context and have them potentially alter their beliefs, spur motivation and effort; thereby expanding their capacity.We hope that through the above, we will change learners’ metal models of what mental wellness means to them.

We first considered the Dual Coding and Cognitive Load Theories. A learner’s short term memory is limited and can be overloaded, causing information to be forgotten (Bates, 2019). Therefore, we chose to design our learning experience in a fashion that reduces load on working memory. Therefore, we chunked our website into sections and steps. We offer a variety of channels to obtain and retain information and we have ensured that learners have the time to explore the website and tinker with the information as they feel fit. This way, learners can assimilate that information at their own pace. We combined visual and verbal channels to allow our learners to better process more information.

Image 1. Video on the website that includes visual and verbal information which illustrates Dual-coding theory. 

Next, we considered the Prior knowledge principle and the Pre-Training principle. “People learn better from a multimedia message when they know the names and characteristics of the main concepts” (Bates, 2019). Therefore, we chose to create an interactive padlet, which  allows us to draw on learners’ prior knowledge so that they can connect their experience to our presentation, give hints into what we will be diving into and provide a space where they can add information which they have learned from the website so that they, we, and  others can refer back to it.

Image 2. Padlet home screen which draws on prior knowledge and acts as a reference to learning.

We added several videos which explain Mental Wellness which will help learners connect to this subject matter. We created learning objectives that will give learners a purposeful ‘hook’ into the material. Finally, we included a screencastify tutorial video, a canva tutorial and a section where the instructor walks the learner how to engage with the website, so that the learner can see what is expected of them and be given a sense of how to use the intended materials BEFORE the learning takes place.

Image 3. Recorded video showing instructors how to navigate and engage with the website.

Not only did the aforementioned screencastify aid in pretraining and prior knowledge, but it adhered to the Multimedia & Modality Principles which can help our learners learn better since there are spoken words and imagery rather than words alone (Bates, 2019). We adhere to these principles by providing a written lesson plan and a screencast of how the lesson can be taught. This allows the learner, or potential facilitator, to better see/understand what is expected of them due to several visual, audio and video representations. 

All of the learning on the website is presented in multiple modes. We have both an infographic which explains how an active lifestyle can help mental wellness and a video. 

Image 4. Partial Infographic
Image 5. Video as another representation of how exercise benefits mental wellness. 

Multiple modes expose learners to the intended information in several ways so that, through repetition and re-representation, they take that learning into their long term memory storage. Within all of the videos and screencastify videos, we ensured to follow the Redundancy Principle. Since, learners learn better when there is only animation and narration (Bates, 2019), we chose to ensure that there were limited written words where we would be speaking. Therefore, in the screencasts, we did as much as we could to limit the amount of written text which came along with oral explanation. That being said, we allowed for transcription for those who are hearing-impaired. 

We moved from the  redundancy principle into The Signaling (or Cueing) Principle. “People learn better when cues are added that highlight the key information and its organization” (Bates, 2019). Therefore, we used a fade function in both our Prezi and PowerPoint which allowed for information to enter the screen when we spoke to it and ensured that only one piece of information was given at one time.

Image 5. Screen before fade in.


Image 6: Screen after fade in.

We demonstrate signaling again in our blogging. We highlighted the important information within the blog so that learners could easily pick out the important information. For example, blue text highlighted the links within the website and CAPITALIZED or bolded gave awareness to other important information.

Image 7. Important information is bolded.

We then came to the Spatial Contiguity Principle. Throughout all of our infographics, presentations and website we aimed to keep photos/images within close proximity to the text which relates to it. This way, the learners can make sense of the text by seeing the video/ images that relate to it in real time. 

Image 8. Photo matches the descriptor of the website blog.

We then moved to the Segmenting Principle, which specifies that learners should be empowered to view content at their own pace (Bates, 2019).For instance, the Prezi can be viewed in sequence, but the movement through the different phases is user-controlled. The videos presented in the Prezi are from YouTube and have the expected functions enabling repetition, skipping backward and forward, and presentation speed. Further, the Prezi’s individual elements can be freely navigated at the end. The website itself is also presented right-to-left, top-to-bottom, and is intended to be worked through in sequence. However, we have created it as separate pages in order to delineate the sections of the lesson for the learner, and to allow easy reference to any individual part of the site. The pages are self-contained and have their own value. We hope that learners see this and feel it useful to be able to easily navigate to any one of them when it suits them.

Image 9. Ordered blog posts presented on the wellness website.

Moving forward, we followed some of the characteristics of Instructional Design Models, created by Branch and Merrill, which are described as follows. Our website and lessons are learner-centred. We draw upon learners’ prior knowledge and experience by asking them to continually self-reflect as they work through the material and connect it to their own context. We make the learning outcomes, as well as the mental wellness goals, explicit in a powerpoint presentation, so that learners can engage constructively with the goal-oriented process. We provide tutorials to empower learners to enhance understanding of the intended outcomes and have them reflect their new understandings back in creative tools, thus encouraging real-world performance. We provide a rubric to help guide them to success. Our outcomes are actionable and measurable since each has a unique, discrete product. The learning resources were all vetted for being science-based and empirical. We chose informational videos only when they were data-driven. Finally, we worked together as a team to build our resources. Therefore, learners will benefit simply because of the different knowledge, understanding, and perspectives that each of our members brought to the table. 

Finally we took Flow Theory into consideration. “Flow’ is created when a learner engages their skills with a task they are invested in. Csikszentmihalyi suggests that the best way to do this is to find something that a learner enjoys doing and connect it to learning outcomes (Richards, 2021). We aimed to create flow through the use of informational presentations and material, and through self-reflection activities, to connect their context to the learning, we then present options for selecting a program of physical activity in as open-ended a way as possible. 

Image 10. Providing incentives, excitement, purpose and potential “Flow” through choice, puropseful activities and experience. 

We make suggestions but also give guidelines for independently finding a program. We encourage thinking about whether the learner would like to do the program individually or as part of a partnership. We hope that, with purpose gained from reliable data and self-reflection, the learner will engage with their chosen exercise program with reduced need for determination and resilience, thus potentially achieving ‘flow’ and joy in the journey.

Citation:

Bates, T. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age – Models for media selection. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/9-1-models-for-media-selection/

Bates, T. (2020). Choosing Media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W79hGvukTs

Kampen, M. (2020). Everything You Need to Know about Scaffolding in Education. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/scaffolding-in-education/

Mizrahi, J. (n.d.). Cengage. The Importance of Self-Reflection in Learning. https://todayslearner.cengage.com/the-importance-of-self-reflection-in-learning/

Paradigms of Education (2019). Paradigms – Cognitive constructivism. https://www.paradigmsofeducation.com/cognitive-constructivism/

Richards, Luke. “Multimedia Design for Learning.” EDCI 337: Interactive and Multimedia Learning, June 2021, edtechuvic.ca/edci337/2021/05/29/topic-4-multimedia-design-for-learning/.

Richards, Luke. “How We Learn, Key Learning Theories” EDCI 337: Interactive and Multimedia Learning, June 2021 https://edtechuvic.ca/edci337/2021/05/15/2-topic-how-we-learn-key-learning-theories/.

Kurt, S. “Instructional Design Models and Theories,” in Educational Technology, December 9, 2015. Retrieved from https://educationaltechnology.net/instructional-design-models-and-theories/ Dr. Serhat Kurt, Instructional Design Models and Theories. February 17, 2021.

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The Great Debate of Tech in Education

I wanted to frame this final blog post as a reflection on my participation in the game “Badnews” and how I believe it was an exemplar of how information can be learned through a multimodal and joyful experience.

“Badnews” asks the user to make choices on what fake news to create, as well as to gain as many followers and merit as possible. While reflecting on the game, I realized that creating fake news gave me a purpose for the activity. I noticed that being able to make choices in what news I wanted to share or how I wanted to share it gave me autonomy and choice and that the goal of gaining followers and merit gave me incentive. You bet your bottom I was going to make the best fake news out there because stakes were low if I “failed” and because I was fully engaged and in a a learning experience that I was excited about. I realized quickly that, this is what learning ought to look and feel like.

Now, as you can see above, I don’t think I got the best score possible. However, I do know I retained the intended information. “Badnews” demonstrates how learning can be fun and can be set up in a way that we do not even know we are learning. It is a true example of how learning can be experienced in a play based way and still get the intended information through, perhaps, even better than other ways.

While playing the game, part of me did want someone to read me the writing or interact with me, rather than me having to read it all. I also noticed it was mostly all text and it would be difficult for readers who are not quite at that level.

That being said, if it were done in partners, one person could have read aloud to inform the rest. I also thought about sketchnoting after this week’s learning. I could not help but think about how more effective my learning would have been from Badnews if I had done a sketchnote about “How to make the Best Fake news” alongside the game. To be able to classify and define the six aspects of fake news; Impersonation, Emotion, Polarization, Conspiracy, Discredit, and Trolling through imagery and text in a way that suited me would have enhanced my understanding. Much like I have done in the sketchnote below.

After experiencing this game and participating in all the hands on activities we were given in this course, as well as reflecting on my own practice, I am beginning to see what I can do to give my learners learners the best chance possible to retain and understand the intended information. If I provide a fun, purposeful, multimodal and interactive way for learners to interact with and create with , they will engage in a sort of flow with learning and sit in a place where they don’t even realize what is happening. This is what I want for all learners.

Citation


Won, Jayne. Made from Imgflip Meme Generator. https://imgflip.com/i/5e70f7

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Differentiated Assessment FOR Learners & Learning

” Somewhere down the line, learning became not fun.”

Game Based Learning

When I heard this quote in the “Game Based Learning” video I sunk deep into my chair. Do learners entering my room feel this way about learning? This made me reflect on what I do for learning and how I make it engaging and effective.

In our space, I have created “Exploration Bins” where we explore numbers and letters in a game-like or play fashion.

These bins are very low stakes and they can be differentiated as the learners need. They also allow me to move around the classroom and monitor learning and offer guidance if needed. They also allow me to have an interpretive role where I can ask , “what can I learn about the student’s thinking by attending carefully to what she just said?” (Black & Wiliam, 2014) This way I am formatively assessing where my learners are at so that I can build more learning resources to guide them to where they need to go.

In this bin, each learner will pick a colour and a partner and choose one sheet. Their job is to roll the die, build that amount of blocks and place it on the corresponding digit. Once a player places their blocks on the digit no one else can go there. The goal of the game is to have the most amount of spots filled on the sheet once you no longer have any cubes.

Here, learners who are just beginning to recognize digits will be happy with this. But as an extension to those who are further along in their number sense, they can grab two dice and add them together to find where to put their blocks. I realized, that I do gamify in my classroom and that these bins truly keep them engaged and entertained.

That being said, I learned from this weeks learning materials that I have NOT flipped my classroom, but I now have ideas how I will. I love the idea of sending home the learning resources through videos, readings or tasks to respond to via something like Padlet or Polleverywhere. This way, I can have my learners prepped about what is happening in the class and have exciting and interactive tasks for them to DO in class. Not only that, but I can have a basic understanding of what they know coming into a lesson. If I know what they know or do not know, I can start there and move forward. Rather than potentially reteaching something they know and boring them to tears.

I have been following a teacher on Instagram called Trevor Mackenzie, aka @tntmackenzie, and he has just written a book on Student ownership of Assessment. If you have a chance to check him out, he is a great resource, and so are his books. Below is a sketchnote that I use as a reminder for myself.

Citation

Game Based Learning. (2021, May) University of Toronto. https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/c.php?g=448614&p=3507705

Black, P., & Wiliam , D. (2014). Assessment and the Design of Educational Materials. https://www.educationaldesigner.org/ed/volume2/issue7/article23/.

Mackenzie, Trevor. (2021). Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/tntmackenzie/?hl=en

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Video Editing using SAMR & SECTIONS

This weeks topic really struck home with my teaching pedagogy and they way I organize lessons and assessments for my learners. Not only I have always believed that it is imperative that our learners use technology and media as a way to learn new tech and to absorb information, but I have always believed that it is just as, if not more, important to use them as a way to collaborate with and inform others, as well as to create in a way that is authentic to them.

The SAMR and SECTIONS models enhance my pedagogy by giving me

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-1024x846.png

a quick acronym to abide by so that I can ensure my learners are engaged, enthusiastic and able to transform their learning into new meaningful creations that have the potential to help and inform others. As Dr. Ruben Puentedura puts it, by abiding by the “modification” and the “redefining” sections of the SAMR model, learners are “taking ownership of their education, building excitement and ownership around it and finding joy in it” (Puentedura, 2021). Not only are learners able to find joy and excitement, but so are teachers. I know that the more I work with a certain tech or media and become a “master” of it, the more I want to use it in my lessons or to teach others how to use it for their own purposes. Becomig saavy with it also shows me how I could possibly use it in multiple instances. Puentedura mentions how it is vital for every educator to “continual[ly] reexamine [thier] practice to make the best possible use of technology” (Puentedura, 2021) and I think that using the SAMR model helps us do just that.

This brings me to the SECTIONS model. SECTIONS addresses the “real life” make up of potential learners, teaching spaces and accessibility to wifi/ tools, which can be daunting. If a teacher has difficulty getting their hands on a tool, wifi or support to help them learn about that tool, they will likely give up out of frustration and not implement it. The same goes for the learner who is being asked to use the same tool. Therefore, educators need to pick a tool which is accessible to them and to their learners. They need to lay out thoughtful objectives and steps to get themselves and their learners to the expected destination. As Bates mentions, educators must be, “clear about desired learning outcomes and what kind of skill [they] are going to develop and how can the technology can support the development of those skills” (Bates, 2021). If not, educators and learners will be left using tech and tools as substitution with no greater purpose intended, rather than as a way to redefine and represent understanding in a meaningful and deliberate way. We want out learners to get something out of their use of technology and media rather than have them leaving our lessons like the man in the giphy below. 

https://giphy.com/clips/parksandrec-parks-and-recreation-rec-peacock-tv-LVebActgtZQwHYYtqf

Finally, I want to address media and editing, as well as SAMR and SECTIONS in assessment. I believe that the more tools a learner has to demonstrate their understanding or knowledge, the better off they are. More tools allow a learner to present information in a way that best suits their abilities and in a way that is motivating because it targets their interests. Assessment then does not feel like work. This course is an example of this in reverse. EDCI 337 is meant to teach us about technologies and tools that we can, and will, use in our future. We need to learn the tools, but we are allowed to create whatever we want using the provided tool. This allowance, gives me the opportunity to create for me and drives my want to create, thus my will to learn. Imagine what learners could create if they had the tools to create in multiple languages so that they could show their learning in a way that is truly authentic, interesting, meaningful and joyful to them.

My attempts at editing.

Citation

Parks and Recreation. “I got nothing out of that experience at all.” Giphy. https://giphy.com/explore/useless

What is the Purpose of School? (2020) Demystifying SAMR with Dr. Ruben Puentedura. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9h9ePoXqS8

Duckworth, Sylvia. (2015, April 2). New #sketchnote The SAMR Model @karlyb @ICTEvangelist @ShakeUpLearning #elemchat @TheTechRabbi #ipaded #ipadedchat http://t.co/1lJAqEE6my [Tweet]. @sylviaduckworth. https://twitter.com/sylviaduckworth/status/583778319235031041

Sarah. (2015, October 4). The SECTIONS Model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwmo2NLBbkU&t=62s

Bates, T. (2020). Choosing Media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W79hGvukTs

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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

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Creating Multimedia

Here are two designs I have made for my classroom. The first will be a poster I place on our front entrance, as well as on my professional website, as a reminder. The second will be the brochure I send home with my learners on the first day of school or hopefully in their “Welcome to Kindergarten” Kits.

Meet the Teacher Poster
Welcome to kindergarten

As a Kindergarten teacher, it is vital to show the intended learning in multiple ways. From my experience, most young learners cannot read written text and have both limited attention spans and long term memory. They are incredibly hands on and must be moving at most times. Therefore, images, video, interactions, play, tactile applications and oral storytelling is key to their engagement with, retention of and readiness for learning.

This is where the multimedia, signalling, spacial and temporal contiguity , coherence and self-explanation principles truly strengthen the learners understanding. When we add images to words, when we add cues to highlight important information, when we present words and pictures close together in time and space, when we exclude extraneous material, and when we encourage learners to create and generate self explanations, we provide our diverse learners access to a multitude of modes in which they can process and generate the intended information (McCue, 2021). Thus, the learner can digest, manipulate and recreate the information in a way that best suits them. An example of this would be to use Canva posters to connect to the Kindergarten curriculum. One of the curricular competencies speaks to knowing who you are and where you come from. To telling your own stories of your family and life. Therefore, learners could create an “About Me” poster which can express who they are through images and text, much as Omar did in his Blog. This would deepen the connection to to the creator’s self as well as gives others the chance to learn about them from their poster.

Not only are posters and brochures an effective way to provide information for learners and to have them connect to and demonstrate their understanding, so is the use of AR (augmented reality). Imagine how wonder and curiosity would be ignited if you got to hold the sun in the palm of your hands. If you got to look at it from all angles and truly feel as if it were right there. How engaged would you be if you knew you could experience something you may never have been able to do without AR? Imagine the excitement and readiness to learn you would have if you knew you would be surrounded by the gorillas you were learning about? AR in classrooms offers experiences that learners may never be able to encounter in their “real lives” and it provides tangible experience and connection to what they are learning. When added to the pre-existing styles of learning, it would only serve to enhance the motivation, retention and understanding of concepts. It would facilitate learners being at the centre of their learning and promote a larger sense of wonder.

All that said, I can recognize the budget and accessibility truths of the school system, as well as the importance to remain connected to our true realities. AR is expensive, will need certain maintenance and is continually changing. Therefore, when taking AR into considerations in elementary schools, it becomes difficult to weigh AR against a music curriculum. (The below article speaks to how the budget is needing to shift and they may have to remove the music curriculum to account for Indigenous Education. There are always very difficult decisions being made on where the budget is best allocated).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/victoria-school-district-budget-proposal-1.6032086

Budget aside, accessibility also poses a problem. I currently work at a rural school with limited access to internet. Therefore, running these programs is not always possible. Or it might be, but only if you are right beside the third window from the front of the classroom. Furthermore, there is always the fear of losing ourselves in AR and no longer being connected to the “real” which lives, breathes and grows beside us. If we go too far to AR, will our learners only want and appreciate that facet? Will we no longer travel and experience things in life because we can simply “experience it” from the palm of our hands? Will our children be sitting right next to their counterparts and not even engage in meaningful conversation/ play/ connection?

IAN HOOTON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ getty images

There is a fear that “reality” may be lost. However, I believe that no AR can truly mimic the authenticity of physically being somewhere, smelling or touching something. Therefore, as long as AR is balanced with “reality,” using AR in classrooms and in education, will help learners thrive. Balanced AR use will provide new experiences and opportunities which leaners may otherwise never been able to have, excite and enhance engagement and retention, and have our learners using technologies and acquiring skills which they will use in their futures.

Citation:

Dickson, Courtney (2021). CBC News. “Fallout from Victoria school district’s budget proposal raises concerns about reconciliation.” Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/victoria-school-district-budget-proposal-1.6032086

McCue, R. (2021, February 20). Introduction to Infographics with Canva & Related Multimedia Learning Principles [MP4]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1k3deWbw2c

Augmented Reality. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved May 26, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality

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How we Learn

In education, our goal is to try and offer as much information to our learners as possible and to help them retain that information in order to use it in their futures. However, as mentioned by Richards Meyer in The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learner, “if [we] overload the working memory before there is time for encoding and long term storage in mental models, things will be forgotten.” (Mayer, 2021). Therefore, it is imperative that we begin to analyze how people think and learn so that we can design presentations that will give our learners the greatest chance to acquire the intended information. If we begin using aids such as images and videos and The Principles of Multimedia Learning, we will enhance our chances to facilitate the long term storage of information. 

By addressing the Dual Coding Theory while designing powerpoint presentations, or any presentation for that matter, we can “manage intrinsic load, optimize germane load, and minimize extraneous load to ensure maximum storage in long-term memory” (Mayer, 2021). That means that we can bring focus to essential material by scaffolding the information and by deleting all the needless distractions. We can use only simple visuals, graphics, text and narration that support learning goals. We can ensure there are images to support words or text in hopes to connect to our learners and give the information meaning, at the same time as being aware of needless images or text which could distract them from the intended outcomes. Finally, we can highlight and guide their focus by using arrows, highlighting and fading functions within programs.

I have taken part in plenty of “death by PowerPoint presentations” (Philliips, 2014) and have become completely overwhelmed by  the amount of information that is put on one page. I have seen how bullet points are followed by sentences and how twirly texts and images that have no tie to the actual information are being used in hopes to gain or keep my attention. These additions, in fact, had me guessing at what I was supposed to know and made my brain hurt, which either led me to guessing where to look, or shutting down my efforts completely. I also noticed how I would slump into my chair and become completely uninterested and unmotivated to learn. These sessions were missing engagement with the materials and with other people. A brainstorming activity, partner chat, personal story or video to deliver another avenue would have greatly increased my attention, retention and motivation to learn about the subject matter, since I would be participating in it. I would have felt part of my learning which would be much more effective at grabbing and holding my attention than a twirly text. Using brainstorming, partner chat or multimodal avenues would have allowed me to share my thinking, learn new understandings/misconceptions by attaching the new information to my prior knowledge and it would have allowed for me to connect to and with the material in more modalities than that of speaker and text. For these reasons and more, I will be taking The Dual Coding Theory and its principles into consideration every time that I design a learning object for my learners.

Prezi: Bears

Here is an explanation of how my Prezi about bears will be used. You must click the link below the image.

https://prezi.com/v/qhq8qlh88_du/

Here is the Prezi that you can explore at your own convenience.

https://prezi.com/view/mp2Qj7IjtZ7WOAW8pMoJ/

Here is the inquiry booklet that we use along with this presentation.

Bear-Inquiry-bookletDownload

Citation

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

Ashley Kaster. (2019). Dual Coding Principle. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wixEGpznyG8

Phillips, David JP. (2014). How to avoid death by PowerPoint [Mp4]. TED Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo

Meme by Shyamanta Baruah. (2021). 5 PowerPoint Alternatives to Avoid Death By PowerPoint. https://shyamanta.me/5-powerpoint-alternatives-to-avoid-death-by-powerpoint/