Category: Assignment 1 – Blog Posts

Drawing is like reading comprehension. For example, if you are drawing out a recipe, you are almost tested on whether you fully understand what you are trying to make. This process could also be helpful with school work because drawing allows you to actively expand on words and practice a new form of processing and retaining information. It could also increase your creativity and interest in the material!

The multimedia learning principles and learning theories that relate to my sketchnote on baking chocolate chip cookies include: 

• Dual Coding Theory: there is a mix of visual words and images so it can capture the reader’s attention and they can follow along better. 

• The Spatial Contiguity Principle: people learn best when images and text are close together and not on separate pages. In my sketchnote, I made sure to place important information close together and within each step. 

•  The Coherence Principle: irrelevant information can decrease learning and overwork your brain. I tried to only include simple images and text to make this recipe easy to follow and read.  

• The Signaling Principle: inserting cues to important information can help you focus on relevant elements. I circled each step to capture the reader’s attention and included pictures that demonstrated what each step was.

In this week’s blog, I will be examining a TED Talk video through the lens of multimedia learning principles and learning theories. An effective and educational presentation consists of techniques that aim to engage and grab the attention of your audience, rather than bore and overload their brains.

In this TED Talk on How animals and plants are evolving in cities by Menno Schilthuizen, the techniques that made this presentation successful include:

1. Multimedia Learning Principles

• The Personalization Principle: the speaker talked in a casual and informal voice, like he was having a friendly conversation with the audience. It didn’t sound like the speaker was going on and on which made learning more engaging and manageable.
• The Modality Principle: the speaker included slides with just 1 image to portray the topic and some slides also included short text. The rest of the information was being narrated.
• The Coherence Principle: only included simple text and images on each slide that directly related to the main topic being presented. Slides weren’t too detailed or crammed with too many images.

2. Dual Coding Theory

• Visual words and images are included so the audience can see and follow along
• When the slide is a picture, spoken words are used to enhance learning
• When words are presented, the speaker is not directly reading them off the slides

3. Cognitive Theory

• Each slide only contains 1 idea
• There is a mix of images, text and spoken words
• The speaker paused shortly after every idea

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Twine is a fun and interactive website that allows users to use storytelling as a means of teaching and learning. People are more intent and interested in learning if they are almost tricked into thinking of it like a story. Additionally, students become more personal, passionate and intrigued about material when they can relate to it.

By looking over all the principles from Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia, the principles that directly relate to my interactive Twine story are:

• The Coherence Principle: this principle conveys how irrelevant information can decrease learning and overwork your brain. In my Twine narration, I only included simple text and visuals that directly relate to the main topic being presented on each page.
• The Spatial Contiguity Principle: people learn best when images and text are close together and not on separate pages. In my Twine story, I made sure to be mindful of the placement of my material and kept it close together.
• The Segmenting Principle: people learn better when information is spaced out in learner-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit. Twine allows users to skip forward, go back, pause and play each page of my story at their own pace so information can be recalled and retained more effectively.

Click here to view my Twine story!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

According to the interactive video on Powtoon I created last week, when evaluating it using the SECTIONS model, the strengths of my video are:

• Ease of use: it is uncomplicated and reliable to navigate.
• Costs: Powtoon is free to sign up for and all of the design functions to create your slides are free.
• Networking: if additional help is needed, Powtoon has support groups that can answer any questions.
• Security and privacy: Powtoon is safe to use and you are able to adjust the privacy settings to your desired preference.
• Organizational issues: many institutions support the use of Powtoon since it makes slide show presentations more unique and interesting and incorporates multimedia principles.

The weaknesses of my video are:

• Students: since I don’t know the skill level of the students watching my video, It is hard to know who I need to cater to and what I need to talk more about.
• Teaching functions: It is a short video and doesn’t explain every design function of Powtoon.

I hope you enjoy this 360-degree virtual tour of Amazing Places to Visit on Google Earth!

Flying over Los Angeles 2017

It is important to create a multimedia lesson plan before creating multimedia content because:

• This way, you know exactly what you will be covering and the goal of your lesson.
• You stay organized and on topic.
• You are able to anticipate what resources your learns will need and when they will need it.
• If you don’t end up using every section of your lesson plan, you still have a solid foundation where you can adjust your lesson accordingly.
• You will be more prepared and focused on engaging with the class since you are not thinking about what you need to talk about next.

By looking over all the multimedia learning principles in Dr. Ray Pastore’s video, the principles that directly relate to videos with embedded multiple-choice questions are:

• Interactivity Effect: when a multiple-choice question pops up on your screen, the learner has the option to reply, pause, fast forward and play the video whenever they want so they can review and go at their own pace.
• Spatial Contiguity Principle: since the multiple-choice questions pop up on the same screen as the video, you don’t need to keep changing screens to the point where your cognitive load is overworked.

Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash

What is pleasing from a design standard today? Incorporating multimedia learning principles in education can make learning more fun, constructive, and effective. If these principles are used in the wrong way, you risk overloading your working memory. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the design of what you are learning from is not too complex to understand and remember. 

For example, a multimedia learning principle that I have consistently followed in the past is signaling. This principle involves inserting cues to important information which helps you focus on relevant elements. I like to highlight and bold essential information in my school notes so when I go back to study them, I am not overloaded with pages and pages of notes that all look the same. 

A multimedia learning principle that I have broken in the past is the coherence principle. This principle conveys how irrelevant information can decrease learning and overwork your brain. In the past, I have made the mistake of putting way too many pictures in my presentations. Though my intentions were to fill up the blank spots in the slides, this can be very distracting, too detailed, and bring attention away from the main topic being presented. By looking over all the multimedia learning principles in Dr. Ray Pastore’s video, I am now aware of how I can use these principles more effectively in the future.

Photo by madeleine ragsdale on Unsplash

With the transition to online classes in March last year, I was very nervous and questionable as I had little experience with online learning before the pandemic and I didn’t know what to fully expect. However, based on the continuing semester so far, I am optimistic and have been getting into the swing of things. I know that some days will be better than others as I am still learning how to learn effectively online. 

Therefore, it is very important to first figure out what type of learner you are so you are able to understand how you retain information to further maximize your resources. This is different for each individual, your personality, and the type of class you are enrolled in. There are many different types of learners such as verbal, auditory, kinesthetic, reading/writing, visual and many more. It is also worthwhile to think about if while you learn, you use a learning, design, constructivist, behaviourist, or cognitive theory or model. I am a visual and behaviourist learner so I find that online learning is very helpful and productive because I learn from videos, powerpoint lectures, and positive reinforcement. If you would like to figure out what type of learner you are, please visit this website: http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml

Photo by Beci Harmony on Unsplash

To me, multimedia involves multitasking and using your senses. You are constantly using your sight, hearing, etc, to figure out the environment around you and what you are experiencing. Similarly, at a concert you are doing similar tasks. For example, you are listening to your favourite band while talking to your friends beside you, while also following along with the lyrics on the video screen above the stage which is also displaying the band’s music video. The music, visuals and narration all paint a story in which the artist is trying to tell and make you feel. To explain the science of multimedia in music concerts, follow this link: http://www.promotiondownloads.info/the-science-of-multimedia-concerts.html

Music is an effective way to share stories and spread awareness. Additionally, it can bring people together, make you learn something without thinking you are learning, and it can bring out positive emotions. This video below is an example of a multimedia concert in which the story tellers sing about World War II and the experiences of Japanese Americans.