Hey Ms. G! This was a very interesting and informative blog post! If I am being honest, I also did not understand what Multimedia Learning was before doing the readings for this week. I cannot wait to delve further into the topic because I agree with you, it is a great tool to support students and their learning.Â
I noticed that we have similar experiences with multimedia and French classesâI also had to make and/or watch music videos that showcased french vocabulary or verbs in most of my French classes. By combining lyrics and auditory music and visual videos, the learning experience is definitely enriched by the multiple means of representation; student learning is greatly supported.Â
I like how you clearly explained the difference between âlearner-centredâ and âtechnology-centredâ interactive learning. I agree that teaching with a âlearner-centredâ approach is very important. It is up to the teacher to make sure that the digital multimedia that they decide to use with their students is authentic. Authenticity is key because I believe that any tools or multimedia used in the classroom, technological or not, must be relevant and purposeful for the unique group of learners present. My new thinking after reading your post and watching the video is how important pictures alongside text can be to âreinforce content and improve knowledge transfer.â Thank you for sharing your personal take on multimedia!
Hey Alexa!This blog post was very informative and it was supported by a wealth of anecdotal evidence. I really like how you said you can remember information quickly and for longer when âmultiple formsâ of media are used to âclarify any gaps that exist in a single form of representation.â It made me think about the reading from the Multimedia Handbook and make connections to what I learned there. It also made me think about this video that I watched about Multimedia Learning and how it goes hand-in-hand with student memory and senses (hearing and vision).
As a child, I remember having a human body book that I loved to read because the pictures and the accompanying text were so interesting, clear, and easy to understand. A part of your post that I really like is how you connect independent exploration of multimedia resources to inquiry-based learning. When I have a future classroom, it is very important that I stock the shelves full of educational picture books to promote “guided discovery” among my students.
Finally, I like how you explain the importance of powerpoints for not only focusing attention on important points of the lesson (the Signalling Principle) but also how they can aid an instructor’s pacing for a lecture. It is always useful when a professor slows down and lets us digest the new information after a slide, I agree! Thank you for this informative post, it enhanced my understanding of multimedia learning.Â
In our introductory lecture for EDCI 337, Rich told us a story about how his daughter learned to help code a web application project for the Digital Scholarship Commons at the UVic Libraries. Throughout the learning process, she was able to use a lot of helpful programs and tools (such as side-by-side coding software, online lectures, and notes) as well as having two mentors by her side (one physically and one over the phone). The combination of these tools and resources led her to an efficient and rewarding learning experience (Rich McCue, 2020, EDCI 377 Topic 1).
Photo by Nicole Wolf on Unsplash
This experience showcases the effectiveness of using multimedia in a learner-centered teaching approach to achieve learning outcomes. This approach actively combines words and visuals together in a way that is âin sync with the way people learnâ (Rich McCue, 2020, EDCI 377 Topic 1). Multimedia has been seen to improve learning outcomes through its accessibility when made available online and with how students can learn at their own pace (Rich McCue, 2020, EDCI 377 Topic 1). I agree with how Rich said that not all multimedia resources are created equally. Due to this, it is imperative for educators to choose their multimedia tools carefully and take into account the resourcesâ reliability, authenticity, and relevance to their own specific and unique group of learners.Â
Here are some helpful definitions I found in the readings and the lecture:
Synchronous: Real-time learning. An example in education would be a real-time class in person or on zoom.
Asynchronous: Go at your own pace or choose your own path by using the materials provided. For example, EDCI 337!
Multimedia: more than one medium combined together to convey information or âthe presentation of words and picturesâ (Mayer, p. 3., 2005).
Multimedia Learning: âlearningâ or âbuilding mental representationsâ from words and pictures (Mayer, p.1-2., 2005).
Check out this video discussing Multimedia Learning and applying it to student memory and senses:Â
Historical uses of non-digital multimedia and interactive experiences influence how we use digital technologies today through how they promote critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. Interactive learning experiences such as brainstorming, âthink, pair, share,â and buzz sessions are natural opportunities for effective student assessment,flexible teaching, boosting student engagement/motivation, and enhancement of the learning process (The SHARE Team, 2018). Today, many classrooms are equipped with digital multimedia such as tablets with games/applications, classroom iPads with cameras, SMARTBoards, and lectures accompanied by interactive visuals to achieve those same opportunities as before (Mayer, p. 3., 2005).
Photo by CDC on Unsplash
Multimedia is also an excellent means of demonstrating how teaching through stories allows students to relate deeply to lessons through themes and motifs (stories can relate to a novel, lesson, current event, etc) (Juliani, 2016). Teaching students through stories that impart or reference the important material of the lesson “[increases] the potential for rich learning experiences” to occur (Juliani, 2016). There are many digital storytelling forms of multimedia that I look forward to exploring in this course such as Twine.
Photo by Agefis on Unsplash
A classic interactive learning experience that I always enjoy is group brainstorming. As simple as it may seem, collaborating with my peers on a big piece of paper really pushes me to keep thinking and continue the conversation on whatever subject is presented. It is impactful to me because I am able to discuss the topic with other people and ponder different opinions or viewpoints as we write and create a huge (and often colourful and enticing) resource with all of our thoughts.
A digital technology that I have enjoyed using in my learning experiences is Google Docs. Being able to write and edit documents in real-time alongside my peers has been very helpful in my learning journey. I have made and collaborated on pictorial and text filled study guides, scripts for speeches/presentations, research projects, and more. By being able to edit these documents on the go, view them offline, having them auto-save, and being able to access them from my smartphone has been crucial to my educational career so far.
Since âtechnology should complement human abilities, aid those activities for which we are poorly suited, and enhance and help develop those for which we are ideally suited,â multimedia (specifically digital multimedia) should be used purposefully in all classrooms (Mayer, p. 16., 2005). I cannot wait to learn more about this interesting topic and apply it to my teaching toolbelt!
Mayer, R. E. (2005). Introduction to Multimedia Learning. In R. E. Mayer (Author), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (pp. 1-16). New York, NY: University of Cambridge.
McCue, Rich. (2020). EDCI 337 Topic 1 – Introduction to Interactive & Multimedia Learning [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/V39sIKsRpUI
Hello there! Today is the final day to show my guitar progress in EDCI 306A! I will discuss my final progress on my criteria, goals, and how the overall experience went.
I have all of my chords memorized, I have memorized the transitions between the chords (they could be smoother, but that will take more time to master), I have memorized the strumming patterns, and I am now able to sing at the same time. I mentioned on my Musicianship Goal sheet that by the final, I would hopefully be able to add dynamics to some of my songs. In the song “Slow Burn,” I add a few harder strums every so often to create a louder and more emphasized moment for musical effect on certain lines.
One of my goals that I do not think I have fully met yet is playing the songs with smooth chord transitions. Despite my regular practice, I think in order to play smoothly one must practice for longer than 3 months or have had previous guitar experience. Since I have never played the guitar before this course, I am proud of the chords that I have memorized. I enjoy that now that I know these chords, I can apply them to different songs. During one of our in-class practice days, Kiya taught me “Stand By Me” and we were able to play the song together by the end of the class. I had a lot of fun learning the guitar with my peers and individually this semester.
Greetings everyone! Today I will be posting my final EdTech blog post for EDCI 336! Today we watched the final class presentations and learned about coding in the classroom. We looked at Scratch, Google Coding, and CodeBC Teachers’ Guide. We watched a video called “exact instructions challenge” which I had trouble viewing in class because the screen was lagging a bit. Before the video, Rich described coding as “hands-on problem-solving.”
My group EdTech Inquiry presentation went really well and I learned a lot from Rich’s input at the end. Now that I know that you don’t necessarily need to do all of the preparation quizzes to be able to do the final quiz become a Google Educator Level 1, it might become my special project for the quarantine times. The logistics of doing a presentation online are definitely different than doing it in real life. You have to take into account varying bandwidth speeds between computers, microphone quality, and video quality. All in all, I have had a great experience using zoom over these past two classes.
Rich posed the question of “How could Computational Thinking help my students? Or not?”
According to CodeBC, “Computational Thinking (CT) is a critical thinking process which is not only vital to the improvement and ongoing innovation in personal computing applications, but can likewise be utilized to bolster critical thinking over all orders, including the humanities, math, and science.” CT helps students “start to see relationships between scholastic subjects, as well as in day to day life, both inside and outside of the classroom.” These are skills that would definitely help students because problem-solving and critical thinking can be applied to all subjects. The earlier that children are aware of solving problems independently and thinking critically about things, the better.
Here is my snowflake that I coded with Frozen Coding.
https://studio.code.org/c/49768924
Here is another design I coded with Frozen Coding.
https://studio.code.org/c/618940565
My computer was kind of overloaded with coding and other tabs being open so my final creation did not show up as a link to share. I made spirals and flower shapes. I had a lot of fun coding with Anna and Elsa. Coding teaches students lots of principles of math and computers and physics without you as the teacher even having to express what they are learning, they learn it without you even pointing it out.
Not going to lie, our inquiry journey has been a bit of a start and stop adventure. Our initial plan of getting our Google Level 1 Certification – while something my group and I still all intend to pursue – was not a feasible option for this semester. After discovering how much time is required to complete the course, our advice to others is simply to be prepared to dedicate some actual time to Google. We calculated that a person could get their certification in just 7 weeks if they were to invest an hour and 45 minutes a week to the course!
Emma Cottier, one of our aforementioned seminar leaders, has achieved far beyond her Level 1 Google Innovator Certification. During her lectures first semester, she frequently demonstrated different ways in which she uses Google as an educational resource and advocated the advantages such technology has brought to her students. With Emmaâs presentations and our own independent exploration into Google Certifications, we found the following benefits…
BENEFIT #1) Fancy title to include when applying for a job
BENEFIT #2) More resources for organizing presentations/documents/worksheets
BENEFIT #3) Implement innovative technology in future classes (fun projects)
BENEFIT #4) Aware of a variety of tools that may help students better showcase their learning
Despite our desire to obtain our Google Certification, we obviously failed in our attempts to complete the course over the span of the semester; so instead, we explored the following Google platforms…
SCIENCE JOURNAL â Free app that allows students to document their science experiments through measurement, picture taking, and note-taking.
CODING WITH GOOGLE â When paired with Googleâs free course curriculum on teaching computer science, teachers can help their students learn to code and create various instructions for actions they want to elicit from their computers.
GOOGLE JAM BOARD â Program that allows you to visually display your ideas using an interactive canvas where you can paste images, add notes, and incorporate assets from all around the web.
Our Takeaways: Google offers MANY free resources that can be especially useful for educators; however, it is important that teachers use these resources in ways they see fit for their classes… Not every resource will be a perfect match for every student, but every program does have unique ways that it can be adapted!
Hello everyone, today is exactly 6 days until I post the final video of my guitar progress! I find it so easy and fun to practice the guitar when it is beautiful outside. I have come to a realization that despite my best efforts playing for 10 minutes a day 6 times a week (sometimes longer), I have not made many major strides in terms of my technical skills (especially the chord transitions). I am doing about the same as I was doing at the midterm. I have found that while I am not progressing with a lot of technical prowess, I have a lot of fun and look forward to my guitar practice times. With that being said, here is my progress on my indicators of success.
Criteria (Indicators of Success)
Chord Memorization:
All of my chords are memorized and to make them sound most whole and full, I need to keep working on pushing down each string fully.
Chord Transitions
As mentioned above, my technical progress in chord transitions remains the same as at the midterm. I will keep working on the following transitions:
As mentioned before, I need to play a slowed-down version of the songs in order to play the chords, the chord transitions, and the strumming patterns accurately.
Greetings everyone! I hope you are all having a great time self-isolating and keeping yourselves safe! Today I will be recapping our first online class and the presentations we saw. I will be supporting my post with my personal pros and cons of Zoom. I will also touch on what I learned about Twine.
Class Schedule
Used Zoom
Kicked us off twice of Heather’s computer
Had to switch to mine
Pros of Zoom
Large classes can participate
Screen mirroring of the desktop to view presentation
everyone can participate and speak if they wish by raising their hand and unmuting themself in a calm manner
Cons of Zoom
hard to hear everyone if computers pick up feedback from other computers
some students may be able to goof off in the background
if someone does not have access to a laptop or wifi they are not able to participate
there is a hard learning curve for the set up for those who are not technologically educated
Next, I will be outlining what I learned from the presentations today
Presentation #1: Photography in the Classroom
Photography in the classroom
Students can take the camera home and take pics of their life
Learn about photo editing and uploading
Photography as an assessment tool
PortfoliosÂ
Reggio Emilia â portfolio of learning
Pros:
Place-based pedagogy
Displays work in authentic waysÂ
Documenting memories
Connects personal lives to class
Cons:
Equipment (expensive)
Have to teach how to use a camera
Ethics:
Photo release formsÂ
Primary Ideas:
Photo scavenger hunt (eg. go take pictures of nature)
Take pics-write story
Intermediate Ideas:
Start a photography club
Historical building photoshoot
No copyright if they take their own photos
Presentation #2: How is Kahoot Beneficial to student learning and understanding?
What is Kahoot
A website/app to create quizzes
Have to use own devices and connectÂ
Promotes sociability amongst students
How to create a Kahoot:
Make an account as a teacher or student
Different templates: eg. slides, formative assessment, puzzles
Type in a question and put an image
True or false, multiple-choice, open-ended questions
 Game-based student response system
Class/individual competition
Pros:
Provokes attention amongst studentsÂ
Promotes student interaction
Itâs fun!
Cons:
Usually one answer only
Technology issuesÂ
Usernames
Solidifies learning
Presentation #3: Technology shortcuts in the classroom
Spellcheck, Talk to Text, and Text to Talk
While these technologies are very crucial for some students with designations and learning differences, they can be used by other students in a way that makes them lazy and causes them to lose necessary literacy and language skills
Presentation #4: SMARTboards
A controlled whiteboard connected to a computer and projector
Have a touch-controlled screenÂ
Digital ink
Pros:
Interactive and engaging
Reduce paper
Low maintenanceÂ
Write notes on a whiteboard â they are saveÂ
Cons:
Expensive $$$
Ideas:Â
Group activitiesÂ
Videos and games
Tips and Tricks
Change pen size, font, colour
Recording functionÂ
Presentation #5: Screen Time: Beneficial or DetrimentalÂ
How might we incorporate meaningful screen time in the classroom?
Hello everyone! We are coming at you with one of our final EdTech Inquiry blog posts. Todayâs topic is how to âunleash your creativityâ with Google Jamboard. First we will be describing and outlining the technology and then we will move on to discuss itâs pros and cons before showing a video of the technology in use.Â
Google Jamboard is described as a way to âvisualize your ideas in a new and collaborative way.â It is a way to âsketch your ideas whiteboard-style while benefiting from the access and connectivity of an interactive canvas.â This platform allows for images to be dropped, notes to be added, and it grants access to assets from all around the web. It is a portable 55-inch, 4k display screen that can move around an office or school with a âpurpose-built portable stand and single-cable setup.â It comes with a passive stylus and eraser that do not require pairing so it cannot run out of batteries.Â
Co-authoring can occur both in the same room or across the world using a physical Jamboard or even the Jamboard app.Â
Pros:
Jamboard supports up to 16 touchpoints at once on a single device – lots of kids can use it at once
Unlike a smartboard it is mobile and can move from class to class if a school can only afford one Jamboard
Work from google docs/sheets/slides/photos can be inputted into a jam
Cons:
Jamboard is quite costly: Jamboard starts at CAD $6,949 (includes 1 Jamboard display, 2 styluses, 1 eraser, and 1 wall mount) plus a CAD $820 annual management and support fee. However, G Suite for Education customers are eligible to purchase a Jamboard with a one-time management and support fee payment of CAD $820. There is no recurring annual fee. Email jamboard-sales@google.com or contact your reseller.
It might be unnecessary – you could just use a whiteboard and google docs to collaborate in class
Let us know what you think about Google Jamboard and if you think it is an effective tool for collaborative, inquiry-based education. Is it a tool just for offices/business or do you think it could transfer over to education as well?
Hello and welcome back to my music blog! Today is my first progress report after the midterm and I will be outlining my progress on my criteria/indicators of success.
Photo by Tony Rojas on Unsplash
Criteria (Indicators of Success)
Chord Memorization:
I have now memorized the F chord that I introduced at the midterm. I need to remember that I must push hard with each finger on the strings and also strum only the bottom four strings. All of my other chords are memorized, what I need to work on is pushing hard so that the sound is full.
Chord Transitions
Similar to my midterm progress, my chord transitions between Am to C and G to D in âSlow Burnâ are still not able to be played accurately yet. The G and D and G and C chord transitions are improving but still not smooth in âHappy Birthday.â Finally, in the Alphabet Song, I find the transition between C and F difficult but it is way easier than during the midterm. All I need to do is move my middle finger and ring finger down/up one string each when transitioning between the two.Â
Strumming Patterns
I have completely and accurately memorized the strumming pattern for âSlow Burnâ (âDown, Down. Down, Up, Down, Downâ). For âHappy Birthdayâ I am learning to strum âDown, Down,â however, it is still on the way to being fully memorized. Finally, in the Alphabet Song, I use a be using a simple âDownâ strumming pattern that I have memorized.
Ability to Sing at the Same Time
In order to sing along to my songs, I still must play them in half-time.Â
