Metacognition and motivation

I tried my hands on the Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker allows you to add custom transitions/effects/titles. It is   easy to add effects , by clicking on to the Visual Effects tab,  and selecting on an effect to apply. Titles and captions can be added easily. Users can add desired text and a font, color, or size. Movie Maker enables addition of music and the transition effects automatically so that movie looks professional.

I also reflected on the term metacognition. The simplest definition of Metacognition is "thinking about thinking." It is awareness and knowledge of the cognitive activity. Learners with higher intrinsic motivation and metacognition show improved learning as compared to poorly motivated learners. Clark compares metacognitive activity with hands, those have flexibility to accommodate the kind of thing they are using. Similarly, the metacognitive activities must be tailored so that they can accommodate the needs of the learners.

Journal 8

I’m liking this browsing, reading, creating and experimenting with different tools. There are so many authoring tools available for the teachers who wish to bring a difference in their teaching methodologies. The best part is that for many of the tools a teacher can start authoring almost immediately with one or another Web editor. It is also straightforward to convert existing material into interactive format. This gives teachers an advantage to fully concentrate on the course content, and resulting good course product, rather than first learning technology and then using it. Students learn and retain information for a longer time if blended with interactive quizzes and assessment tools that make the lessons engaging. Other activities include video-based tutorials, games; podcast, slide presentations and other web-based tools attract students and help them transfer the knowledge to real life situations.

I was browsing some tools on the internet and realized that digital natives really need to be taught the way the kind of the world they are born in. Marc Prensky describes modern children as Digital Natives because they have grown up with the technology as compared to the teachers those have adapted to it, the Digital immigrants. Thus, instructors can increase reliance on technology and combine it with the way our brains process information to dramatically enhance student learning through multimedia instruction. Multimedia can certainly improve perception, attention, selection, organization and integration of information (Sweller, 2003). I’m working on my e-portfolio as well. I still have to work a lot and most importantly-I’ve to add the plug-ins.

Reference-
Sweller, J. (2005) Implications of cognitive load theory for multimedia learning. in R. E. Mayer (Ed.). The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Game Making

This week has been very interesting. Clark brings some important points regarding the culture of transfer in the workplace. She emphasis that the training should be such that at the end participants are in a position to apply knowledge and skills learnt in real life situations. Chapter 13 further suggests selecting the instructional methods to promote deeper learning (p.342). There may be several reasons behind failure of training and the main reason can be ‘poor learning strategies and monitoring failure.’

I tried to make a game using Gamemaker.com which is free platform to develop free games. It enables users to create basic games from scratch or user can write codes to create one. I started with a game but found that it is a long process and I need to practice before I could create a good game. I tried using Classtoolnet.com to create a basic game and realised the dustbin game was the best fit for my topic. Classtoolnet offers limited options and there are few colors to choose from. But it is a very good free tool which gives teachers and students an option to create their own games, even if, they don’t know coding. Teachers do not have to rely on expensive games or game making software. They can make their own small games using this tool. The only drawback is the color scheme which may not be fit for visually challenged students.

Journal 6

I always wanted to use Prezi for making presentations but never got a chance to use it. This week’s assignment gave me this option. I felt most engaged while creating this prezi presentation. It is a great tool for presenting presentation in liner  or non-linear fashion. It definitely offers more options compared to the powerpoint in terms of templates, colors, object orientation and sharing. Users can add as many frames on the Prezi canvas and keep adding text, graphics and other multimedia to these frames. The objects in the frames can be ungrouped and objects can be presented individually.  I liked the features which allows users to rotate, scale or move objects. The voice over feature is great too. I just added some music.

After reading the DB posts on implicit and explicit instructional styles, I didn’t find myself very comfortable with the idea of using only implicit instructional methods. I think that if explicit instructions are provide prior to the start of teaching, it is helpful for learners and they make sense of what to  do. Also, simple tasks are best learned through explicit instructions.  

E-portfolio

I’m hand-coding my e-portfolio in HTML. It is a little time consuming. Writing and re-writing codes and then refreshing the page, is what I usually do. But, I like it.  I’m not sure of the design of my e-portfolio. It is divided into 4 sections. The home page looked OK but when it came to the web-graphic it was a problem because the graphic was bigger. I researched found an alternative.

But for the Discussion board responses, I’m looking for a solution so that it doesn’t look         clumsy. I’ll make the links which work as show and hide. The user can click on the buttons to read or hide the DB topics.

Another issue is the browser compatibility. All browsers do not display the same results. I’m working on this issue as well. I’ll be revising and redoing the pages as per the suggestions I receive from my classmates. I think my portfolio will be evolving till the course ends. I plan to finish my e-portfolio by March 12, 2013.

Basics of Instructional design

I really appreciate the instructional material and the instructors of this program who presented everything in a decent way. I think I’ll be ready to create my own course in few months.

The collaborative learning is a key to human learning. So the interaction that takes place on Discussion board plays an important role. The ideas those may never come my mind are discussed here.

Many of the points discussed in the lectures were new and I was really surprised to read ”How people read online.” All these things added a new dimension to the way I perceived my course before. Instructional design is such an important component of any online or on-ground that it may lead students to either finish the course successfully or drop in the middle. A few basic things related to the design such as color choice, font selection, chunking information in digestible parts, questions placement, using cues, explanatory text, and many more things brought my attention to the fact that a course design is not simply putting some text together along with few presentations and videos. It is much more than that. As teachers we should redefine and redesign the teaching material such that it does not overload the working   memory of the students. The design of the course must align with the learner’s learning style.

If we want our students to pay attention to the material, it should be developed as a coherent structure, and integrated with existing knowledge. We should make sure that every media is relevant to the learning outcome and not included just for its sake. I think some interactive graphics within each section of the lesson should help learners balance intrinsic load with  germane events.

Discussion Boards work

I got answers to a few question though DB. That is why DB are so much important in online classes. Discussion forums are a fertile medium for sharing and development of the ideas. I usually learn more through DB as compared to the readings or lectures because learning is a collaborative activity. The forums which involved discussion on why e-portfolio is important offers multi-staged discussion and it encouraged a deeper level of learning and understanding. While finding answer to the this question I was pushed to extend my current bounds of knowledge and right on what I wasn't much aware of. Thus, I gained maximum understanding of the topic through reading and articulating. These kinds of questions develop experiential and reflective learning. They also enable students to articulate and re-articulate the topics those are being discussed and talked about. Discussion boards provide a platform of comparing ideas, open and transparent to all students in the class.

I liked working on the e-portfolio. I’ll have to work on re-building my resume as it hasn't be updated for a while. I’m not sure if a resume is always a part of a portfolio. I also don’t know if a career e-portfolio replaces a resume or rather it is a way to supplement it in the job market. I've tried seeking a job from last two years, so not very much aware of the current trends in the market.

Instructional Design Principles

After reading this weeks’ material I’m convinced that effective instructional design depends on sensitivity to the cognitive load which, depends on an understanding of how the human mind works.  There are many things about the presentation of the instructional design that I was not aware of. As I began reading Clark and Moreno & Mayer’s article I came to know how pictorial and verbal material is associated with cognitive structures.

I think that a presentation should be broken down into digestible ‘sub-sets’ alternating between a few seconds of narration followed by a few seconds of corresponding animation. Moreno & Mayer found in their experiment (2002) found that people with high-spatial ability have to put less effort in holding and manipulating mental images whereas low-spatial learners may not be benefited of simultaneous presentation. This may require them to devote more time in cognitive processing to hold mental images.

Moreover, segmenting helps in making meaningful subsets of the instructional material. I find when any video/power point is presented with animation continuously, with no breaks between segments; I can make sense from the first segment. But, the additional processes of organizing and integration of information presented in next becomes difficult because my mind is still processing the information presented in the previous segment. Thus, a useful practice is to use the technique that can be called weeding. Weeding reduces load and make the multimedia narration as concise and coherent as possible.

This week gave me an insight on designing my course using multimedia such that it can foster learning. 

Selecting an Educational video

The week started with a lot of excitement about the two courses I’m taking in the winter quarter. I read the article “Appropriate Use of Media in Education” on the very first day. The book Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement by Ruth C. Clark presents very insightful ideas on the theoretical framework for developing practical instructional methods. I visited her website: http://clarktraining.com/  to read more about her.  There are many informational articles on the company’s blog. 

The article “Appropriate Use of Media in Education” discusses different forms of multimedia and their appropriate use. I totally agree with the point that, “. Video can help gain and hold the attention of learners.”

A few points came to my mind. I think these points are imperative while selecting and creating a video  for a classroom or a training.

Learners interest: While creating video learner’s vested interest in the learning, those help them to acquire knowledge or develop new skills, should be kept in mind.

Selecting an educational video:The videos must be selected after watching a range of educational videos/clips, so as to find the best fit for its intended purpose. There is a plethora of videos, ranging from home-made videos to the videos made by professionals. Therefore, one needs to spend time in selecting a most suitable  one.

Dealing with ethical issues: If you find a video on youtube or dailymotion or Vimeo it does mean that it is free for downloading and anyone can use it. A number of times the videos have copyright restrictions and can not be used without permission. For a free video, you always have to provide reference of the video just like we do it for a book or an article. 

Introduction and a summary: While  creating an educational video for a classroom or training, a good practice is to take a few minutes to introduce viewers to the key points and the highlights of the video they are going to watch. Similarly, provide a brief summary of the relevant points at the end.

Length of the video: What is the ideal length of a video. The answer depends upon the viewers’ age and the interest level. Any video between 8 to 12 minutes is ideal. It is best to present long explanations in the form of short clips rather than making a long video. This would retain the attention of the viewers and provide them a better understanding of the concepts being presented.

Quality of the video: The quality of a video matters a lot. While preparing a   video, a close attention should be paid to the sound clarity, lights(if it is being recorded live),and the streaming issues.