new to teaching but old to the love of learning

Category: edci337-blog

Multimedia and Interactive Learning Blog 2

Overall thoughts

To be straightforward, I thoroughly enjoyed topic three and our chance to experiment and learn more about the H5P software. I felt that as a student/learner I was able to understand and recall which classes I have taken over the years and how they used or failed to use these principles to enhance or decrease my learning. As a teacher, I believe that this subject of multimedia and their learning principles is so important for us to attempt to reach each of our students in the learning needs. It will always be challenging to create lessons that all students can understand and be engaged in, but with these principles in mind, it will be a step closer.

My own interactive video creation using Dr. Ray Pastore’s video: 

 

Which multimedia learning (MML) principles did Dr. Ray Pastore now follow in his video about MML principles? 

As my interactive video shows Ray failed to follow a few of the multimedia principles he was describing and a few he didn’t. The first and most obvious principle not followed is the embodiment principle which states: people do not necessarily learn better when the speaker’s image is on the screen. After browsing through his YouTube channel I realized shortly that this green screen effect of Ray placing his image on the bottom corner of his videos is a signature style choice and he enjoys the narration quality of it. The next noticeable multimedia principle not followed is the redundancy principle. The redundancy principle is the principle that says people learn better when the same information is not presented in more than one format. In this case, Ray consistently repeats the words seen on screen to us so we are both visualizing the text and hearing the text at once. In this video Ray continuously fails to follow the split-attention principle, as he (in multiple situations) talks about situations and thoughts that have nothing in common with the text on the screen. In this way, the multimedia aspect of Ray narrating and having the text on screen fails because the two media are not integrated. The next multimedia principle seen not followed is ironical during the description of the same principle, the coherence principle. This principle explained is that people learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather than included. I remember so specifically during Ray’s example of the airplane in the corner how I automatically zoned out and didn’t follow along with the far too long example. I was also distracted by his example of the two hearts on the screen (which in hindsight is another example of failure to recognize the split-attention principle). Finally, the last and most obviously displaced principle is the modality principle. Ray chose to use his narration and text instead of graphics, which as the modality principle states is less effective than just words alone. 

Can you think of some pedagogies that the HP5 tool might help support?

  • Engagement: Students can be fully immersed in the video as teachers can use multimedia techniques (images, graphs, diagrams, voice over, text, etc.) to keep the learner engaged. Engagement in watching the video also helps the students remember and transfer their learning to those who just read the material.
    -High interactivity: This is critical to making meaning, and can be produced by adding multiple-choice questions, “did you know” text boxes, highlighting key points and more to allow the student to feel active and involved in their learning.
  • Learner choice: With the H5P tool, students can learn at their own pace and choice. They can pause, playback, speed up, slow down, etc. the video and are free to choose how they remember the information taught. Students can take written notes, typed notes, sketch notes, voice recordings, or nothing at all and just enjoy the video.
  • Clear objectives: Throughout the video, teachers can explain key points of the lesson and direct the students to obvious objectives to what they should be learning by using the pop-up text box option. This also goes along with simple descriptions and definitions. With the H5P ability to have text box notes, students could have the information in a “summary form” with the teacher’s simplistic explanation.
  • Feedback: Learners can have clear and fast feedback through the interactive options of the video. With the multiple-choice option, students can test their knowledge and then quickly see how they did.

 

Which learning principles would a thoughtfully created H5P interactive video take advantage of or demonstrate?

 

References 

Ray Pastore, Ph.D. (2018, August 16). What is multimedia learning? What is multimedia? [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-sknUVq1mk&feature=emb_title

Mayer, R. (2014). Introduction to Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 1-24). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.002

Multimedia and Interactive Learning Blog 1

What do I hope to get from this class? What am I unsure of? 

One thing I hope to come out as more knowledgeable in is the relation of multimedia and learning styles. I am curious about whether or not the various presentations of multimedia learning are more beneficial to certain individuals and their learning differences. A broader question I have involving the entirety of this topic, is how multimedia learning is created and used for students with visual or auditory impairments? I’m curious about this because of the three presentations the delivery media view, presentation modes view and the sensory modalities view each presentation format requires a specific set of circumstances that most visual/auditory impaired learners cannot have met.

Something that could give me some uncertainty for this class is something very relevant to the topic of multimedia. This is my first to be fully online, without the presence of an instructor physically. In many ways this scares me, one; because of the type of learner I am, someone who needs to be able to ask questions and receive immediate feedback, and two; because of the multimedia components of the class. I can assume from the set-up of the first week’s website post that the class will be a mix of readings, videos, and lecture-style zoom sessions,  however, I cannot say how these variations of presentations will help me learn and how I will be able to absorb the information compared to the in-person lecture style of all the classes I have known.

 

Examples of both digital multimedia and non-digital experiences

As far as a “learning experience” I would say this example falls short in the “learning” components, however, I can say that the experience and experiences of this have impacted my understanding immensely. As someone who falls short in ideal hearing, subtitles have always been a way for me to be able to comprehend exactly what is going on. I find that in general I cannot simply watch a video, listen, and be able to recall the information being given to me.gray TV remote

Subtitles, being a multimedia form, allow me the chance to focus on my deeper thinking of what is happening and why it is occurring in the video. I did a little research on the beneficial aspects of subtitles and found a blog post that supported my own personal experience of watching a video without subtitles is hearing without comprehension. An argument made against subtitles in the post was that the close caption words take away the craftsmanship and talent of the actors and actresses, and that “we” as the audience are supposed to be able to decipher what the subtitles are telling us through the actions of the on-screen persons.  I counter this statement by arguing that subtitles add more understanding of why the events of the video are happening which then leads the watcher to have more of a complete comprehension of the story

An example from Chapter 1 of Mayer’s The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, “Introduction to Multimedia learning” of a non-digital multimedia learning experience that has aided me is the simplicity of instructional diagrams. Similar to the reading, I cannot comprehend what instructions/manuals are requesting from me when they simply just use printed word to explain how blah blah blah attaches on to blah blah blah. The use of diagrams in a set of instructions allows me to look initially at what I am trying to create is to end up as, and from there work through the instructions to figure out how I am to create the project.

white and blue instruction guide

References:

  • Jackson, L. (2020, February 13). You should watch everything with subtitles on. The Washington Post. 
  • Mayer, R. (2014). Introduction to Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 1-24). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.002