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As our multimedia design final project, Sarah Hiscox and I created a lesson on the topic of “Fractions with Food”! Follow this embedded link to learn about how the study of mathematics can be applied to our everyday lives.

Let’s Learn Fractions with Food

Passive vs Active Learning

This week we learned the difference between passive and active learning. Upon reflecting on my own learning experiences in this class and other classes I have taken I would say that the experiences definitely differ in terms of their passivity. I have a background in biology and psychology and have found that many classes I have taken in the past rely heavily on a lecture based design and follow the “information-in, information-out” model that Jennifer refers to in her blog. This may be because she is referring to a K-12 classroom where as I am reflecting on my experience in a university classroom, however, actively engaging with information is important no matter what age the learner is or what learning level they are at.

In this class I feel that we have been provided with lots of “hands on” learning opportunities to be able to demonstrate the concepts we have learned. Other university classes I have taken consist of only lecture material and exams to test retention of the presented material. This design is heavily based in passive learning leaving any active engagement with the material to be the responsibility of the learner which can be difficult when dealing with complex novel concepts. Some classes will have a laboratory component designed to demonstrate course concepts, however, it is not enough to cover the full scope of information being presented in class. It is interesting to consider how more university level classes could incorporate active components and how this would have an affect on the learner.

Exploring H5P

It is very fascinating to see all the opportunities for creating learning content that H5P provides. I enjoyed using it and appreciate how it can make relatively passive learning material more engaging and active. I am excited to continue to explore the features of H5P.

I also wanted to further explore H5P and created a mix and match game from the presented Youtube video on the frog life cycle, please try it out and test your learning! Drag and drop each image of a developmental stage of the frog and match it to the correct title. Use the Youtube video as a resource.

Reference: Images are screenshots taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etGmCvIL014&t=25s

My Original Multimedia Project

I chose to update a multimedia project that I created in a previous blog post. After evaluating my project, I realized that there were a few aspects I could improve upon using the skills I have learned in order to enhance the effectiveness of the learning material. The goal of this multimedia learning material is to teach the learner how to complete the task of posting a picture on the social media platform Instagram.

My Updated Multimedia Project

Transcript

Managing Intrinsic Load

Upon viewing my original project, I noticed that the main downfall is that I did not have any elements to direct the learners attention to the various steps of the process of posting a picture, I only had my computer mouse to highlight features of the instagram page. As well, the browser screen was very busy, this can be distracting and increase extraneous load as it overwhelms the learner with information.

Alt Text: My multimedia project displayed in Screencastify’s editing software

To correct this, I edited my video in Screencastify’s video editing software. I utilized the “zoom” feature in order to manage intrinsic load and utilize the Signalling Principle from Mayers Theory of Multimedia Learning. By “zooming” into the elements of the process while I narrate them, I was able to highlight to the learner what is important and limit the view of what isn’t. From the same theory, I also utilize the the Contiguity Principle by using labels to highlight the “display picture”, the “username handle” and the “photo feed” and keeping these labels close in proximity to the features they are associated with. The Redundancy Principle  states that on screen text can be unnecessary when visuals and narration are used due to the Dual Coding Theory’s explanation of audio and visual information processing. However,  in this case, the text is used strictly to label features of Instagram’s platform and the Modality Principle related to managing intrinsic load suggests that text can be beneficial if the words are unfamiliar to your learners. I kept this in mind and considered the intrinsic load of my intended audience, as intrinsic load can vary depending on the audience. I decided to use these labels because a learner who is unfamiliar with the Instagram’s platform and is learning to post a picture may be unfamiliar with the names of the various features such as “display picture”, “username handle”, and “photo feed”. In this case, labels would help manage intrinsic load rather than adding to extraneous load. 

Enhancing Accessibility 

Alt Text: My multimedia project displayed in the Youtube subtitle editor

When I posted my original project to Youtube, my video had the auto generated closed captioning but I did not edit or inspect them. The auto captioning is often incorrect and does not include proper punctuation, when I inspected them for my upgraded project, I found this to be the case. In Svetlana Kouznetsova’s TEDtalk, she describes how to edit the closed captions and recommends having a transcript in addition to captions. I followed her instructions and made both of these changes to my updated project and found editing the captions to be a simple task that makes a substantial difference in the quality of the captions. These changes make my project more accessible as the correct and legible captions are available to those who can benefit from them, which is not only limited to those who are hearing impaired, as the University of Washington suggests. All learners can benefit and the absorption of the content is enhanced when proper captioning is available.

Creating the Lesson Plan

This week I created a lesson plan teaching the lifecycle of a frog. I created this lesson based on backwards design and started with the goal of learning the life cycle of a frog, I then began to work backwards by creating an associated learning assessment and creating learning outcomes and evidences of learning to meet that goal and prepare learners for the learning assessment.

Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction

When creating this lesson, I consulted Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. There are five principles that Merrill deems essential for effective learning. The five principles are as follows:

• Learning is promoted when learning are engaged in solving real-world problems.

The concept of the frog life cycle is valuable to understanding the concept of metamorphosis in other species and lays the foundation for future biological study regarding growth and reproduction. Science helps to understand real-world phenomenons. Progression of complexity can also be applied here by first introducing the stages of the life cycle and then breaking it down into the defining characteristics.

• Learning is promoted when existing knowledge [and skill] is activated as a foundation for new knowledge [and skill].

This principle refers to activating prior knowledge or providing foundational experience. If learners had experience with the general concept of a biological life cycle (ie cyclical stages that form a repeating cycle) then this could be prior knowledge that could be activated.

• Learning is promoted when the instruction demonstrates what is to be learned.

Demonstrating what is to be learned can be done in the way of the media video narrating the life cycle of a frog and showing relevant video demonstrating what is being narrated. This provides audio and visual demonstration of what is being learned. The chosen video will need to demonstrate all concepts required in the learning assessment.

• Learning is promoted when learners are required to use their new skills to solve problems.

Applying the new learning is done in the way of completing worksheets in small groups. This way, learners can practice organizing the life cycle in chronological order and practice discussing the concepts with peers, solidifying the learning that has occurred.  The worksheet can also include a drawing section allowing learners to demonstrate the concepts with visuals that are meaningful to them.

• Learning is promoted when learners are encouraged to integrate the new knowledge or skill into their everyday life.

This principle refers to demonstrating, integrating, and creating using the newly learned information. This principle can be incorporated by having the learning assessment be in the form of a project. The learner can choose the medium for the project, giving them control over their learning and allowing them to demonstrate what they have learned while assisting learning at the same time by getting the learner engaged with the material.

Learning Material

After designing the lesson plan, I looked for media that would clearly demonstrate all the concepts necessary to achieve the learning goals and assist learners in completing the learning assessments and activities. This video provides audio and visual information about the stages of the frogs life cycle and the associated physical changes. I could take this further by creating my own media perhaps in the form of an infographic to show these concepts and reinforce the learning outcomes.

A Note on Accessibility

In one of my previous blog posts “Enhancing Accessibility“, the WAVE accessibility software found that the teal hyperlink text colour had too low of contrast, however, I could not determine how to change it and believed it to be embedded in the template. This week, I have figure out how to change it! I ran this post through the WAVE software and did not get a low contrast notice for the green colour I have chosen for the hyperlinks.