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Core Multimedia Skills – Assignment 3

A lot of the multimedia tools used in this class have been fairly new to me. This is either the first time I have used them, or some of them I have only used once or twice before. With this in mind, when it came time to select a multimedia skill to update and re-work, PowerPoint/Google Slides was an obvious choice for me as I have a lot to choose from, use them often, and I can see the room for improvement in my old catalog of work.
I selected the slides below to re-work. It is a short presentation I made for EDCI 302 about my inquiry topic of open-ended play to support oral language development in the young elementary classroom.

302-Assignment-3-InquiryDownload

The issues with my original presentation can be boiled down to the following main points:

Colour

The first thing that can probably be noted from this PowerPoint is that I LOVE colour… to a fault. Reading through point #2 from the 6 Dos and Don’ts article, I was able to see that my colours were too haphazard and overpowering.
As suggested, I toned them down, still selecting “bright, playful colors” (Miller, 2019) as my topic is positive, but sticking to only two colours to create a consistent scheme.

Before / After
Busyness

In a couple slides, I was able to identify some writing that did not need to be there. The slide theme itself featured many design elements and shapes that were not relevant to the presentation, so in an attempt to simplify, I parted with those too.
In removing both of these, I was able to pare down what was on the slides, reducing the extraneous cognitive load, leaving room for the audience to absorb more important information. In general, I tried to keep the slides simple and to the point, without appearing too boring.
In keeping with the idea of clarifying and making the slides easier to read, I addressed signaling by highlighting certain words when it felt necessary.

Before / After
Font

Although not serifed, my original presentation featured a unique custom font for the titles and headings that added to the busyness and made it slightly more difficult to read.

To remedy this, I selected Open Sans; a simple, readable, sans serif font, and used it consistently throughout the entire presentation, again, following the advice of Amanda Miller (2019).

Before / After
Photos

As an additional point, I realized there were no photos to show the concepts rather than just talk about or share them with words, so I added that in as well. I think it not only ties the presentation together a bit better, but helps get the audience into the idea of open-ended play.

Before / After

All of my original slides tended to break the idea of the coherence principle. There was a lot of unnecessary, unrelated noise that distracted from the presentation. One by one, I worked to eliminate these distractions from my presentation, addressing the problem elements, and put the slides back together.
I wish I could say that being equipped with all of the fabulous information from this class made this seamless and straight forward for me, but old habits die hard. It was really difficult to push myself away from creating what I was used to. I had to focus my thinking at every step of the re-work to make sure that I was actually addressing and fixing the issues, not simply changing them into another issue.

With the new changes made, here is the updated slide deck:

337-Assignment-3-Multimedia-UpdateDownload

Finally, I tested out the new slides with my original presentation to try out the flow and effectiveness of the new visuals with the information being presented:

Due to the time constraints of Screencastify, I had to speed through a couple slides
References

Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. (2011, July 4). In Wikipedia.  http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Cognitive_Theory_of_Multimedia_Learning

Li, K. (2018, November 24). How you should actually be using powerpoint. Hackernoon. https://hackernoon.com/powerpoint-doesnt-suck-you-do-8ea0ae5b09a9

Miller, A. (2019, June 13). 6 dos and don’ts for next-level slides, from a TED presentation expert. TED. https://ideas.ted.com/6-dos-and-donts-for-next-level-slides-from-a-ted-presentation-expert/

Shaw, A. (2016, July 14). Cognitive load theory: Structuring learning materials for maximum retention. Wiley Education Services. https://ctl.wiley.com/cognitive-load-theory-structuring-learning-materials-for-maximum-retention/

Multimedia Design for Learning

During summer, and casually throughout the year, I am lucky enough to have the amazing job working at a children’s art studio. With planned lessons and activities, but ultimately the freedom to create what they dream up with the given materials, I have very often witnessed the state of flow during these classes. What starts out as a excited, buzzing room of 6-10 year-olds, turns into a concentrated, almost silent space where imaginations and skills are on task to create.

After reading more about flow, I’ve been able to identify why this happens so regularly in this setting. First, and most obvious, is that this is an extracurricular kind of activity that the learners already have an interest in. This certainly helps them get into the flow more easily. Offering them more complex art materials to play and experiment with increases the difficulty of the project, but keeping the lesson and examples achievable helps find the sweet spot where learners are able to push themselves, and still achieve their creative goals. As shown in the diagram below, offering a challenge and catering to the right amount of skill can help find and maintain that state of flow within the activity.

Photo by Chris Perez
Screencast

I’ve done screencast recordings through Zoom, but this was my first time creating one with Screencastify. It was simple to install and use, and I loved not having the little video of myself in the corner (like Zoom does), as I often find it distracting while I record.

Inclusive Design

At our last meeting, our learning pod was discussing the contexts that we will be including in our Interactive Learning Resource. With most of us being in the BEd program, we chose to focus on scenarios that we would likely see often in elementary classrooms. A variety of learning and cognitive disabilities were discussed, all of which we have seen in our observation classrooms or schools we’ve spent time in. We also explored scenarios that can arise when a student is ill or not present for an extended period of time.

Reading this week’s content, I was struck how much I could identify from our discussion in the Universal Design for Learning material. Like the example of the curb cuts benefiting more than the wheelchair users they were designed for, our brainstorming turned out the same results.

Photo by Emily Wade on Unsplash

For example, we discussed the potential of having a learner with dyslexia in the class. Through an interactive online platform we selected to be a part of our resource, we explored options to help a learner with dyslexia be able to utilize our resource to the fullest. This involved ideas like embedding audio recordings of the written materials on the slides for learners to use if they wish. Using videos with audio was another version of this same idea to remove the barriers they may experience. As we continued to explore offering audio in a variety of ways, a group member brought up that this may also be beneficial to an English language learner (ELL) who might be more confident working with spoken English rather than written. And, of course, audio would be hugely beneficial to a student with a visual impairment. By the end of our discussion, it was apparent that a single learning support could benefit more than just the student(s) it was put in place for.

In this case above, we focused heavily on providing multiple means of representation.

By providing learners content through an alternate venue due to necessity for some, all students are able to benefit from these tools.

…there is not one means of representation that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for representation is essential.

CAST, 2018
References

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU. (2017, July 25). Universal design for learning (part 4): Representation strategies [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TVKGvnGPoA

Augmented Reality – Community Contributions

Blog Post 2 – Augmented Reality & Infographics

Hi Jason,

I completely agree with you, that AR in the classroom seemed idealistic due to accessibility issues. Seeing that it can be achieved with the tools that in many schools, like the shared tablets you mentioned, was a hopeful realization that these kinds of in-class experiences can be available to all.
I do really appreciate you bringing the point up in your blog and in our pod meeting of teacher know-how and prep, though. You say that your “pessimist mind” was weighing the usefulness of AR tech in the classroom in comparison to the effort that goes into planning it, and that our pod meeting shifted this for you – I’m so glad we chatted about this aspect of it, because our group’s discussion had the opposite, but still positive, effect on me. My “optimist, but often not realistic” mind kept trying to come up with ways to incorporate more neat AR experiences into lessons, while completely downplaying the teacher prep side of things. This point was a useful reminder to not over-do it, for our and our students sake!

Learning Design – Community Contributions

Cooperative Learning

Hey Jason,

Thanks for taking the time to find such a great podcast and highlighting key points from it! I gave it a listen and really gained a lot from what Jennifer Gonzalez presented.
I thought it was interesting, and incredibly helpful, that you chose to focus your blog post more on difficulties and potential unwanted outcomes of this style of learning. We often hear about the benefits of it, but it’s so important to consider all sides of what we’d be diving into as future educators. Along with this, I always appreciate learning guidelines that can help make teaching successful, as you’ve offered with Gillies five components. Cooperative learning has always struck me as being a straightforward but effective approach, but I can see now that there is more to it if we really want to make the most out of it!

Cooperative Learning

Hi Hang,

Thanks for your post about cooperative learning! You mention a few times about the idea of student responsibility – being responsible for their own contributions to the group, for their their own learning, as well as their groupmates contributions and learning. This seems like an effective way to boost student motivation and get students actively engaging in their learning.

As I was reading your post, I did pause as I hit these two ideas:
“Students are separated into a small group, each group contains three to four members… each group should contain high achievers and low achievers”
My question that rises from this is: Does this mean cooperative learning always needs to be fully organized, with groups being specifically selected by the teacher to meet these guidelines? I agree that these may be the best parameters to ensure the maximum cooperation and learning, but will learning still happen with more/less students in a group, or if students were to select their own groups?

It sounds like this type of learning could fit great in your blueprint. I’m so looking forward to seeing your final learning resource!



Open Pedagogy

Overview of characteristics

Open Pedagogy, also known as Open Educational Practice (OEP), has yet to be boiled down to one concise definition. Breaking it down to its simplest parts:

“Open” is in reference to Open Educational Resources (OER), which are educational materials with an open license and/or in the public domain. (UNESCO, n.d.).
“Pedagogy” is the way in which content is taught (Murphy, 1996).
Piecing those together, we can deduce that open pedagogy is educators using OERs to assist in the learning process.  Many scholars identified the goal in this style of pedagogy to be that these OER resources can be used to foster active and involved learning (Schuwer, 2017).

For more information on OERs, check out this quick video that explains them in further detail (SMU Libraries, 2019)

To define its characteristics in more detail, Bronwyn Hegarty (2015) offers eight attributes that make OEP successful. 

(Hegarty, 2015)

Participatory Technology
The media selected and how the content is shared is key in ensuring participation. Example: blogs, forums, social media.

People, Openness, Trust
A positive, open, and trusting environment must be established in order for learners to feel safe engaging online with the content. Negative experiences through Open Resources can be detrimental to the learner(s) personally, as well as lower their openness to the technology used.

Innovation and Creativity
Technologies should be used not because they are new, but because they are meaningful to the content being taught.

Sharing Ideas and Resources
Being active in and understanding the technology as a teacher will help you aid, connect, engage, and get the most out of the OEPs being shared with students.

Connected Community
Selecting social online communities that are meaningful will help boost participation.

Learner-Generated
Allowing learners to take the lead, problem solve, and work together to produce content.

Reflective Practice
Teachers and learners working alongside one another with the OERs allows for reflection from both parties. Peer feedback (similar to our community contributions) also facilitates reflection in the content learners are engaging with.

Peer Review
The nature of using open resources and peers being socially connected leads to learners being able to regularly review their peers’ work. This helps build the normalcy and comfort around having one’s own work on display to be critiqued. 

How This Approach Aligns With Our Blueprint & If it Has a Place in Our Interactive Learning Design
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Our pod’s blueprint topic, a grade 3 math unit about perimeter, could be a candidate to employ this type of pedagogy. While we have not specifically laid out the details of it, during the planning stages we had discussed the idea of incorporating online resources into the lessons and activities. We also rely heavily on group discussions and problem solving which, after looking more into Hegarty’s (2015) attributes, could help further elevate these areas that are already present through the use of OERs.
The biggest hesitation I have is thinking of how to implement OEP successfully in a younger elementary age group. In the end, I think it will boil down to us weighing the online capabilities of the learners with the OERs and online tools we are able to find, ultimately determining whether we think OEP is a beneficial approach to take.

References

Bronwyn, H. (2015). Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources. Educational Technology, 55(4), 3–13. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Ed_Tech_Hegarty_2015_article_attributes_of_open_pedagogy.pdf

Murphy, P. (1996). Defining Pedagogy. In Equity in the classroom (1st ed.). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203209714-8/defining-pedagogy-patricia-murphy

Schuwer, R. (2017). April open perspective: What is open pedagogy?. Year of open https://opentextbc.ca/oerdiscipline/wp-content/uploads/sites/213/2017/11/What_is_Open_Pedagogy.pdf

SMU Libraries. (2019, February 18). Understanding OER [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YZZlEjQotY

OpenEd. BC Campus. (n.d.). https://open.bccampus.ca/what-is-open-education/what-is-open-pedagogy/

Open educational resources (OER). UNESCO. (2019). https://en.unesco.org/themes/building-knowledge-societies/oer

Infographics and Augmented Reality

boys using blue and black virtual reality headset
Photo by Stem.T4L on Unsplash
Augmented Reality

This week’s readings were very exciting for me – the idea of augmented reality is not something I’d ever explored and I had a blast learning about it, diving into the examples shared, and thinking about how I could potentially use these as a future teacher.

While I came into this topic wide-eyed and eager to learn, I was not naĂŻve the reality that being able to use these types of tools in a classroom may be a challenge. It was for this reason that I was struck by the simplicity of Google’s AR capabilities.

Google Lens

Personally, I have used Google Lens a few times to identify plants in my garden, but it never struck me that this was a form of AR! Similar to how I’ve used it in the past, I can imagine this being a great tool to use with students to explore, identify, and gather information about things around them (local plants, insects, etc.), perhaps in the form of a guided inquiry.

Augmented Reality by Google

What really stuck me, though, was Google’s ability to show your google search in a 3D way. In the Android video below, you can see the ability to manipulate and view searched items in detail and at all angles. Even more impressive, it has the ability to place these objects, to scale, in your environment. To be able to make a bison, for example, stand in your classroom to show learners the scale in an environment they’re able to reference is an incredible, almost tangible way to share a part of a lesson like that.

After exploring Google’s AR, it became clear that these types of tools can help meet some of the Principles of Learning.

Effect: Presenting information in a new, exciting way through AR can help create a positive, memorable experience for learners.

Intensity: Creating an intense and exciting learning experience can help with student understanding and appreciation

Freedom: In the example I gave of how Google Lens might be used, this would offer students the freedom to learn while giving them options in their actions and choices while using this tool. (Principles of learning, n.d.)

Inforgaphics

In keeping with the theme of learning about bison, I’ve taken what I’ve learned in the Canva tutorials and applied it to an infographic.

References

Android. (2019, June 27). AR in search: A new way to learn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK7kPiknrBY

Creative Commons Licensed Workshop Curriculum | UVic Libraries Digital Scholarship Commons. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://oac.uvic.ca/dsc/workshops/lessonplans/

Principles of learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Principles_of_learning

Learning, Motivation, and Theory – Community Contributions

Learning, Motivation and Theory

Hi Shrey,

The story you tell in your blog about your difficulties in math class being turned on their head is so familiar. It’s not that the exact same scenario happened to me, but the way that you and your dad changed a once difficult task into being relatable and therefore more digestible, is a trick I can remember from my own high school learning, specifically in the the maths and sciences. This technique, in a sense, shifts the learning from being behaviourist to more cognitivist or constructivist, by taking the information you’re expected to know and creating connections to make sense of it. From the example you gave, and from personal experience, it’s pretty incredible the power that these kinds of connections can have in creating that “Aha!” moment!

Learning, Motivation, and Theory

Hi Breanne,

You wrote, “I think it is hard to break away from a behaviorist learning theory completely, but I believe it should only be used at appropriate times” and I could not agree more. The example you gave of the colour card system in your class was on par with the type of behavioristic approaches I remember from elementary school, and often still see in schools today. Your link between this approach and discipline is spot on and, circling back to the quote above, is the reason I agree it should be used so selectively.
While there is a place for behaviorism in teaching and learning, I like your justifications and connections to personal experiences for why you feel more drawn to the other two approaches.

How We Learn – Community Contributions

Post 1 – Experiences and Thoughts about Multimedia Presentations

Hi Chloe,
You mentioned a few different ideas in you blog post this week that stuck out to me as being both relatable and reflective (seemingly for both you and me!). Like you, I remember using PowerPoint in middle school, or even high school, and playing around with the animations, word art, graphs, etc. that could jazz up my presentation to make them more exciting. While I remember having fun trying all of these features out, I, like you, don’t have a memory of being taught any sort of strategies to make the most of these presentations. It wasn’t until my first time in university that I really became aware that there were any guidelines/suggestions surrounding this topic at all!

Your quote about having PowerPoint be a resource as opposed to being the resource really forced me to think. In terms of speaking to a presentation topic, this a a fabulous point to bring up. I am absolutely guilty of using my slides as a crutch, expecting the info and visuals on them to support me through my presentation.

As far as your blog itself goes, I loved the additional photo you added – it definitely screams “Death by PowerPoint” to me. Both visuals supported the written content, without distracting from it. I also appreciate that you referenced and included hyperlinks to the sources you used.

How We Learn

Thanks to a past class I took, I have become acutely aware of the negative effects a bad PowerPoint presentation can have on it’s audience – My peers and I were certainly subject to “death by PowerPoint” (Phillips, 2014). The kickers in these particular presentations were: too many (or disorganized) elements and words, strange choice of fonts, scattered presentations, and even slides with no title or indication of the content being presented. For me, this resulted in struggling to pay attention, difficulty absorbing and remembering the information being presented, and ultimately contributed to me not enjoying the class. Essentially, all of the truths that David Phillips joked about in his TEDx.

Even with this awareness, there are still elements mentioned in the above video and the 6 dos and don’ts article that I identified as doing myself.

Font: I’m such a sucker for a serif font. Garamond is my go-to, as I find it the most aesthetically pleasing, even though a sans-serif choice would be easier to read.

Slide busyness: While I am conscious of limiting words and charts to only what is necessary, I love an on-theme slide style. Usually pulling from SlidesGo, I gravitate towards fun themes that fit my presentation topic, which could result in graphics/colours overboard.

Storytelling: With a focus to fit in all the info, I have often failed to incorporate the more engaging part of presentations, like storytelling.

After identifying these trouble areas in my own slides, these are points that I
am conscious of in this week’s hands-on activity and will keep in mind going forward when putting together presentations.

References

Miller, A. (2019, June 13). 6 dos and don’ts for next-level slides, from a TED presentation expert. Ideas.Ted.Com – Explore Ideas Worth Spreading. https://ideas.ted.com/6-dos-and-donts-for-next-level-slides-from-a-ted-presentation-expert/

Phillips, David JP. (2014, April 14). How to avoid death by PowerPoint [Mp4]. TED Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo

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