Category: edci337-blog

I enjoyed this week’s topic of exploring more practical guidelines for designing effective multimedia learning material. When watching the video, I noticed Dr. Ray Pastore did not follow the following principles of multimedia learning:

Modality principle: People learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics and printed text.

Embodiment Principle: People do not necessarily learn better when the speaker’s image is on the screen.

Redundancy principle: People learn better when the same information is not presented in more than one format.

I believe an expert may not be able to follow all the principles when creating a multimedia learning object because, as Dr. Pastore mentions in his video, every learning situation is unique, so there are always exceptions.

I could definitely see myself using H5P in my practice. I love how it makes it simple to create interactive content that will make learning more engaging for students. I would likely use the H5P tool when sharing videos with my students to test their comprehension. In the past, I have used Edpuzzle, which is a website that allows students to watch educational videos. The videos pause throughout, and the students have to answer comprehension questions, similar to the features offered by the H5P tool.

The H5P tool could also be used to create presentations with multiple choice questions or fill in the blanks. These features will help students maintain their focus because they will be looking for the answers throughout the presentation, thus encouraging active listening. Further, teachers can create learning games using the H5P tool. Games reinforce the content being taught, as well as create a positive classroom atmosphere. Click here to play an interactive game on the H5P website that tells you what berry you are.

I found it helpful when Dr. Ray Pastore compared the act of overloading students’ working memory to an overflowing glass of water. I was able to relate to this because I have had experiences in school where I felt my working memory was being overloaded. For example, when teachers would spend an entire class lecturing and then move onto a new topic right away, my memory would feel overloaded. This is why I believe it is important to consistently reinforce the concepts that I am teaching to my students so that the learning will be stored in their long-term memory. When the students are involved in the learning process and they are exposed to concepts more than once, they will develop a deeper understanding of the material.

Reference

Pastore, Ray. [Ray Pastore, Ph.D.]. (2018, August 16). What is Multimedia Learning? What is Multimedia? [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=368&v=g-sknUVq1mk&feature=emb_title

1 thing I hope to get out of this class:

Throughout this class, I am hoping to learn a number of practical strategies for multimedia and interactive learning that I can use in my future classroom.

An interactive/multimedia learning experience I have had that positively impacted me

When I was in grade 10 leadership, my teacher often used videos to aid his teaching, and they were always very powerful. He would first explain a concept to us, such as if you want to start a movement, the first person or group of people will be the most important to build momentum for the movement. He compared this to a matchstick being lit by a flame that eventually creates a fire. While he spoke, he had a video of a small flame turning into a fire on the projector behind him. This visual made his message far more impactful. After this, he showed us another video of a real-life example. A man was at an outdoor concert, and he stood up and started dancing with great enthusiasm. He was the only person dancing, and at first, everyone stared at him like he was crazy. However, after several minutes, one other person stood up and joined him. Soon after, a small group of girls came and joined in, and before long, almost the entire crowd stood up to join the dancing man. Our teacher explained that it was actually the first man who joined the dancing man (the “flame”) who was integral in making the whole crowd join in. It has been 8 years since I took this class, but this lesson (along with many others) remains clear in my memory because of my teacher’s use of interactive and multimedia teaching strategies.

An interactive/multimedia learning experience that did not involve digital technology that had a positive impact on me

The first article called “The Hidden Importance of Teaching with Stories” reminded me of my professor, Cindy Brown, for ED-D 408 Promoting Prosocial Behaviour. She always taught us using stories from her past teaching experiences. Throughout my time in the BEd program, I undoubtedly learned the most from this course. I believe I learned so much from Cindy because she told her stories enthusiastically, and her passion for teaching was very clear. The stories always ended with her learning a valuable lesson, which was relevant to us as new teachers, and her animated personality made the stories memorable. She made me see the value in telling stories as an effective method for teaching. Many of our other courses were lecture-based, and the professors would speak of pedagogical theories, reference textbooks, read off of PowerPoint slides, etc. We typically found these courses to be dry and the content was unmemorable. Cindy managed to teach important content through her stories, which I believe is what made them so impactful for me.

References

Juliani, A. (n.d.). The Hidden Importance of Teaching With Stories. Retrieved from http://ajjuliani.com/hidden-importance-teaching-stories/

The SHARE Team. (2018, April 6). Interactive Teaching Styles Used In The Classroom. Retrieved from https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/5-interactive-teaching-styles-2/

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Introduction to Multimedia Learning. In The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp. 1-16). New York: Cambridge University Press.