Category: Assignment 1 – Blog Posts

In the Bad News interactive game, I ended up with a score of 7,527 followers. I thought the game was a little confusing at first. Once I got the point of the game and what it was trying to accomplish, I found the process quite entertaining. If I were to improve the game in any way it would be to give a short explanation of what the intent of the game is because I didn’t exactly understand that I was aiming to grow my following right away. As for the multiple media learning principles that it followed, I believe the game used the spatial contiguity principle well. The space in between the texts and visuals on the screen were beside each other which grouped all the relevant information together. This made it easier for me to follow along to and process all the information. The game did not follow the signaling principle as it wasn’t extremely clear what to pay attention to on-screen. There was a lot going on with lots of changing information.

For my sketchnote assignment, I tried to group together the key elements of the article we were sketching. Doing so followed the coherence principle as I left out the distracting and irrelevant information from the article that did not need to be included. Sketchnoting is definitely a helpful thing to do in school as it forces you to summarize and visualize what you are reading. Physically putting information down on paper will activate your brain and speed up the learning process.

In EDCI 337 we constantly follow short demonstrations followed by class discussions. We also work on group projects and do peer reviews for our blog feedback assignments. These are all examples of active learning methods.

For my video I wanted to make sure to follow David Phillips 6 dos and don’ts on PowerPoint presentations. I also followed a few of the multimedia learning principles to ensure my presentation was clear and easily understood.

• For my presentation I made sure not to put too much text on each slide. I also made sure not to read directly off the slides. I did not want to overpower my presentation by adding a lot of text accompanied by a long narration. This followed the Redundancy Principle.
• I also put up a pictures of Simone Biles with short key point text on the side and followed along with narration. This followed the Multimedia & Modality Principles.
• I then made sure to make the title of each slide the main prominent point of my discussion so that listeners knew what I was going to be talking about. This followed the Signalling Principle.
• I used Ariel font for my text as David Phillips states it is the easiest font to read and follow along to.

For this week’s activity, we were asked to create a twine story.  Twine storytelling embodies a few of the multimedia learning principles that we have learnt in class. The first one I can relate to my interactive story is the Segmenting Principle which states that we learn best when information is presented in segments rather than one continuous stream. This is evident in my story as each part of the story is separated into small text. It is not a long paragraph style of writing. Another multimedia learning principle that I can relate to this storytelling activity is the Personalization Principle. This principle states that we learn best with an informal style of explanation rather than strictly formal. This is evident in my story as I made the writing style personal and easy to follow along to.

A twine story is a great method of education as it keeps readers engaged in the development of the story. Paying attention is important in all aspects of learning. Being able to follow along and get to the final conclusion of a story is beneficial to all learners. Providing education through stories can improve curiosity, imagination, and communication. Reading to someone can increase their willingness to express themselves and communicate their thoughts and feelings. You can use a Twine story for instructional purposes by assigning a story and asking follow-up questions to spark general conversation.

For this blog post, I decided to create a poster through Canva. A few of the multimedia learning principles can directly apply to the way I made and edited my poster.  The first being the Coherence Principle. I followed this principle by not adding extra details to the poster. The date and time were made very clear which made it less distracting and straightforward. As the Coherence Principle embodies, humans learn best when distracting materials are not included. The next principle which can relate to the making of my poster would be the Signaling Principle, which essentially means that we learn best when shown exactly what to pay attention to. This is evident in the poster making as I kept the information very clear so that you know exactly what to look at and how to take in the information.  The Spatial Contiguity Principle is also applicable to my poster as I kept the important information close together so that it’s easily read and understood by the viewer. All and all the creation of this poster was fun and easy to understand. I’m happy I now know of the website Canva and if I ever need a place to create a poster I know where to go.

Poster design (1)

https://earth.google.com/web/search/University+of+Victoria,+Finnerty+Road,+Victoria,+BC/@48.46392294,-123.31189924,56.31765706a,1000d,30y,0h,0t,0r/data=CigiJgokCTy4VDSn4DRAETq4VDSn4DTAGY0nTbuBbmNAIQeXJD-0dVnAMicKJQojCiExTmNoX2s0cVRNazFaTnFvWVNadkJJRHItbjZLeWdObDI 

My H5P video from last week’s blog definitely embodies the SAMR model for technology integreation. As this video was creating solely through technology and different online tools, it goes beyond a simple classroom exercise. Instead of writing an essay for class, we were given the task to create a demonstration video that was posted on our blogs for the public to view. This is a clear use of the Modification step in the SAMR model as it can be publicly viewed through technology, not just in a lecture. As we are living in a world where technology is the new normal making an H5P video for class seems normal when really doing so was inconceivable at one point in time. This shows that my video from last week can be seen using the Redefinition step in the SAMR model. Videos like the ones we made are also able to be modified and redesigned for personal preference.

The SECTIONS framework can also apply to the H5P video we were assigned to create. This video was created in a short amount of time which shows the Ease of Use section is applicable. As we are given a week to complete most blog posts having a simple explanation and example when creating online media projects makes the process run smoothly. We had the necessary support to follow throw with the expectations of the assignment. Through the rapid development of online technology the making of my H5P video was free which embodies the Cost-efficient step in the SECTIONS framework. As there has been an increasing need for online media tools, technology programs have decreased in cost making the process simpler.

As for the multimedia principles, the Modality Principle is evident in my H5P video from last week. I used visuals and spoken word to explain my demonstration rather than only printed words. I also used the Signaling Principle in my video as I visually showed what to focus on with my computer cursor which kept the attention of the viewers.

Photo by henry perks on Unsplash

Planning a lesson before it begins is an important step in any learning environment. Creating a well-structured plan will allow a teacher to understand the content and follow through with the lesson delivery. Therefore, since they provide the steps to be followed throughout the course, lesson plans serve as a reference for teachers. Some key reasons why lesson plans are imperative to learning are that they help organize classes while providing resources and tools. Having a constructed plan also allows you to make changes in an orderly way as documents allow for an easy swap or replacement of content. Setting up a theme, a defined goal and a set methodology will establish a great foundation for learning pathways. This document is a crucial document as it will allow you to review your entire content and deliver your lesson smoothly.

A few of the multimedia principles definitely apply to videos with embedded multiple-choice questions. The first would be the signaling principle which is described in the lecture slides on google docs. This principle states that people learn better when given visual highlighted information. Another principle that applies would be the feedback principle. The feedback principle implies that people engage more in learning when receiving feedback. This would be evident in an embedded multiple-choice question as it provides you with the correct answer instantly.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Dr. Ray Pastore uses a visual PowerPoint presentation accompanied by a video of his face and voice. This gives you a lecture like presentation along with definition based slides to take notes on. His video does not follow the redundancy principle that he explained as he is presenting the information both on the slides and verbally. He is also showing a small video of himself which can be distracting. Spoken words and images are better for learning rather than printed words and pictures alone but as he mentioned repeating information can affect learning outcomes. An expert should avoid using all the principles because it is easy to overflow one’s cognitive load. Using too many principles would be too chaotic to firmly understand the content. A simple less detailed presentation is easier to follow along with and you must focus on these details to correctly deliver the learning outcomes that you desire.

The Redundancy Principle would apply to a PowerPoint presentation. As the information is presented in both written and verbal format. Presenting the same information two times can hurt learning but it also a favored principle as it is not solely reliant on text.

An example of a multimedia learning principle that I have followed would be the spatial contiguity principle. When creating presentations in school I have made sure to closely relate images and text definitions to each other. By keeping all related text and graphics close together it makes it easier to understand. A principle that I have broken in the past would have to be the coherence principle. This principle states that using irrelevant information and confusing pictures can decrease learning outcomes. In many PowerPoint presentations I can find myself trying to fluff up my slides to look well researched, but, by doing so it can overflow one’s cognitive load and distract the learners with irrelevant information. A simple text and video are much more effective.

Edited screencast video