EDDL 5131 WEEK 2 Activity 1

By scook January 21, 2020 January 21, 2020

Consider media that you have used for teaching in the past. How does the model of multimedia learning described on p. 388
and in Fig. 31.3 and Table 31.1 relate to your use of media? If you think about new online experiences that might be used
for learning, are they represented in this model?

One piece of media I have used in the past is a Powerpoint that contained a verbal reading of a short extract of descriptive, Pre-19th Century text and it was timed with images to represent key ideas as that part of the text was read (temporal contiguity principle) This was successful as students had the written text in their exercise books (verbal signalling with words stressed and also printed in bold in their exercise book) but as they were hearing this, they were also able to visualize what was being described (it was a challenging unseen text). The spoken words impinged their ears and this information was stored in their auditory sensory memory whilst the images impinged their eyes and was consequently stored in their visual sensory memory. Active processing (Mayer, 2014, p.388) happened as students were able to cognitively process the information into a meaningful way. They made connections between the words they heard (verbal model) with the images they saw. (pictorial model) and as a result this knowledge is constructed in the working memory and embedded in the long-term memory of the students. This worked well as the students struggled with this aspect of the exam and so their motivation to want to make sense of the material was high. I believe this applies to new online experiences; if your motivation to ‘understand’ the content is not high then I do not believe you will attempt to make sense of the presented material regardless of whether it is multi-model or not.

Describe an instance from your teaching or learning where media was (or should have been) designed or modified to reduce extraneous
processing. (See pp. 390–393.)

When I first started teaching the course I teach now, the learning materials were littered with clipart. It was overwhelming just how many SpongeBob Square Pants and Dog images there were on nearly every slide and Moodle page. There was no connection between the images used and the information being displayed; they were simply there for aesthetics. As a result, the processing required for learning overloaded the student’s available cognitive capacity. This consequently reduced the student’s capacity for the renaming essential and generative processing which was needed to make the learning meaningful and therefore retained. I removed all non-essential images and ensure that when images were used they were relevant . I adopted the signaling principle by ensuring that essential material was highlighted and organised as well as the spatial contiguity principle by placing the images next to the information that they were supporting.

Describe one adjustment you could make to manage essential processing in a media-supported lesson you have taught or studied.
(See pp. 393–394.)

One of the lessons that I teach is quite complex and contains many parts and can stretch across 3 blocks. To support learners, I use the segmenting principle by breaking this learning down into manageable chunks. My lessons are all hosted on a G-Site and so I used sub-heading and dividers to visually segment and scaffold this learning. As the lesson involves finances and using formulas etc the worked-out examples are also broken down into logical steps (rather than just presenting the answer).

You want to convert your PowerPoint presentation into a video to be distributed online. Describe how you might use Mayer’s
principles for fostering generative processing to improve it. (See pp. 394–395.)

If I were to convert my Google Slides to a video presentation I would use the Principles for Fostering Generative Processing as explained below:

Temporal Contiguity Principle As people learn better from words and pictures (rather than words alone) I would ensure that relevant images were used to support this text. I would also ensure that any essential material in the text was highlighted and organised as well as adopting the spatial contiguity principle by placing the images next to the information that they were supporting.
Personalization principle- By using a more informal and conversational approach to how the text is written or how verbal information is presented, it will help develop a social partnership between myself and learners and they will therefore feel more inclined to make sense of the information.
I would also adopt the voice principle by using my own voice for recordings and narration as this would too develop deeper cognitive processing during learning as the information will be more accepted than if it was a robotic voice.

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Multimedia instruction. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Elen, & M. J. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (4th ed., pp. 385-399). Springer Science & Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5