Omar, great post. I love how you also played this game and learned from it. You mention, “While playing the game, once I received a badge, I took a moment to read the description of each one and understand how it works in mainstream media.” This is exactly the point of this game. The game was teaching you something throughout and it made that badge a learning opportunity and incentive to learn more. When I played, that was the first time I noticed that I was being TAUGHT something. This is where adding these tools to education can lead to a huge boost in motivation and investment from learners. I am glad you enjoyed the game and your comments truly make me want to create these types of activities for my own learners. It has been wonderful working with you and learning from your insight.
Comment #5
Hi Omar,
Thank you for yet another well written and insightful post.
You wrote, “I often found classes that relied heavily on summative assessment to be quite difficult. I feel that as students our knowledge of the material shouldn’t all count towards one examination. By breaking up the learning into manageable blocks and taking a formative approach for assessment, I believe this is a much more efficient way in students retaining information.”
This is incredible insight. I also believe this is so important. It should not be about one exam, but the journey to get there and the knowledge gained throughout. When we formatively assess, we can see the learners where they are at and help them get to where they need to be. Because all learners are different and are at different stages in their learning, “conferences” and “check ins” allow instructors to guide individuals in their unique needs to their unique destinations.
I do still believe in a summative assessment in areas. However, that assessment can be engaging and exciting to the learners if it is created together and will inspire them to produce something meaningful. Therefore, I always try to make a final assessment a multimedia museum of learning. By that I mean, learners can demonstrate their learning in a way that best suits them and their needs, in a museum night where others can come to learn from them as experts. It is much like what we are doing for this course. We have learned the basics of the programs and tools, and now we can display our learning by creating something that is meaningful to us in hopes to educate others.
Thanks again for your thinking. I love reading your weekly posts and always gain something from them.
Comment #4
Hi Omar,
Yet another well laid out and thoughtful post on your part. I too have been a victim of long winded videos that have bored me beyond belief, thus impeding my ability to retain and engage in any learning.
You mention how, “if longer videos were cut into segments, this would be much more favourable for learners to take information in chunks and retain the needed information, then move on to the next.” I completely agree. Isn’t it great that video editing now allows us as educators, or potential educators (as we are all sharers of information), to chunk out the important information and make an already made video better? I know I have some resources that I have created that I will return to, chunk out and improve and I could not be more excited about it. Video editing has come a long way and I am sure has a long way to go. Therefore, we need to stay up to date with what exists so that we can continue creating, chunking, theming and amplifying what we produce.
Thank you again for all your insight.
Comment #3
https://sarahyvetteblogedci337.opened.ca/
Sarah,
Thank you again for an insightful post regarding storytelling in education. I forgot about the microphones being a tech aid within the classroom as they are now simply part of my teaching world and daily use. That being said, you are so right in the fact that this tool fosters learning as it exemplifies the words I speak. Not only does it help the learners who may be hard of hearing, but it may help other learners at certain times too. I know from experience that my littles often remind me to turn on the mic!
You say, “children are able to comprehend the information better through digital storytelling, [and] it also creates a sense of meaningful and active listening. ” I absolutely agree with this. They are able to better comprehend the information given to them in a storytelling way because it is more meaningful and allows them to make connections to the intended learning. I also think that storytelling helps learners get interested, engaged, involved and inspired. I think it was Lynch that said, “when research has a story, it has impact.” (Lynch, 2017). Therefore, storytelling has more impact because it evokes those emotions and engagement.
Finally, I love how you speak to using storytelling as assessment. I love doing this with my learners. Using programs such as screencast, or creating digital storytelling lessons such as these in this link: https://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/lessons/digital-storytelling, helps our learners share their understanding in a way that is authentic and engaging to them, as well as in a way that they are able. For example, they can use images when they do not have words, they can use thought bubbles and limited text when their vocabulary has not yet expanded. Another great storytelling app is ComicLife3. I use this with my learners as a way for them to show me all about them, or their DNA (Dreams, Needs and Abilities). SD62 offers this program free.
Thank you so much for your post. I am looking forward to reading your next.
Lynch, M. (2017, November 7). How Digital Storytelling Can Amplify Your Students’ Voices. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
Comment #2
Sarah,
Thank you for your post regarding multimedia and its effectiveness and ineffectiveness in the classroom. You mention, how “nowadays Smartboards are a basic, and there are enough Chromebooks for a minimum of a third of the school. Kids are taught coding starting in kindergarten. When I was an education assistant it was eye opening to see how technology has been interpreted into schools.” I agree how there is more technology entering into the school system and that schools and teachers are absolutely placing more value on tech. Tech, media and online learning is a part of our world and what our learners will be entering into in a few years. Therefore, it is imperative to include these learning systems in the classroom. Not only to prepare them for their futures, but to engage them.
However, that being said, not all schools look like this. In the school I teach at, we are struggling to receive a Smartboard and chrome books are just beginning to show their faces. Budget cuts and the accessibility to internet has us lagging in the realm of technology. It makes me wonder if our learners are losing our because they don’t have the same access to these tools as others.
You speak to this when you mention how, AR “allows students to access the material anywhere with a stable internet connection.” This unfortunately demonstrates how many people are not getting access to these practices and reminds me of my teaching in Africa. When I taught there, there was no internet or technology for that matter in the classrooms. No access to a computer and still only the use of flip phones. Again, the costs and limited resources are inaccessible to certain areas and demographics. These lack of resources are not setting the people who live and learn there up for their futures as well as more accessible places are.
I have never actually used goggles and been in an augmented reality before and I would love the opportunity. I am sure I would also feel sick, but perhaps with time we would adjust like anything?
Finally, I LOVE your idea when you say, “in an AR setting they can almost create a real-life Magic School Bus scenario. The students can be walking with the dinosaurs, or travel to other planets. In a sense this is more hands on than looking at a slide or a black and white photocopied picture on a paper.” This is the point of AR. It lets us connect with our learning and feel part of it. It brings us into our learning through experiencing it in a way we may not have been able to. Imagine that! I would love the chance to wander through space if I had the chance. That is not to say that I would one day want to actually explore space. But until that time, I think AR would satisfy some of my curiosity and spark so much more wonder and joy!
Thanks again for your post Sarah.
Comment #1
Omar,
Thank you for such a thoughtful post. I appreciate how you laid out your experiences and then spoke to how Dual Coding Theory could have helped thereafter. You mention, “there’s no need for additional explanation, proofs, weird symbols, colours/symbols that do not match. This will only serve to distract the learner at retaining the most important points.” I absolutely could not agree more. I teach Kindergarten and the more things I place on the screen, the less the learners retain since their attention is then everywhere, rather than where it ought to be. After analyzing your powerpoint, I wonder if I have placed too many videos in my powerpoint thus “muddying” the actual concepts which I hope to get across. That being said, although it could be an overload, it is also the modality principal of how people learn better from oral and image rather than text and image. It is difficult as I have non-readers and everything must be orally explained and visually demonstrated. What do you think about this? I would love your feedback on my Prezi and regarding this question. Thank you again for such an insightful post. It definitely sparked more wonder and curiosity in me.