IT 5130: The Use of Words and Pictures According to Mayer

More on Mayer’s Multimedia Learning book…

• Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other. (p. 81) This is because according to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, meaningful learning depends on building connections between mental representations of corresponding words and pictures.
• Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively. (p.96) We are sense makers who engage in active cognitive processes such as selecting the relevant words and pictures, organizing the selected material into verbal and visual mental models, and integrating the verbal and visual models. (p.100)
• Students learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather than included. (p.112)Extraneous material is anytning that isn’t relevant to the learning at hand material that isn’t relevant to the topics being taught. We want learners to be able to focus on the topic.

IT 5650: What Key Events Have Impacted Instructional Technolgy?

As part of a course assignment, I’ve been researching various topics/events that may have impacted distance education or instructional technology. So far my interests revolve around art history and global economies. I’m curious how the different art periods/art mediums impacted distance education or how the political climate of the time impacted distance education. I’m also curious how the different learning theories will relate to what I uncover.

IT 5130: Students Don’t Learn by Hands-on Approaches “in the Physical Sense”

I remember reading a sentence in Mayer’s book Multimedia Learning that said something along these lines: Students don’t learn by hands-on approaches in a physical sense. (p.18) They learn by engaging in cognitive activity. This summary stuck with me. Even now, weeks later, I remember what he said. I want to elaborate on this summary in case I forget and need a reminder, so here it goes.

It’s not a mater of what’s going on with the learner’s physical behavior. Rather, it’s a matter of what’s going on in the learner’s mind. Meaningful learning depends on the learner’s cognitive activity during learning. Behavioral activity doesn’t guarantee cognitively active learning. We need to promote cognitive active learning. (p.17-19)

I know I’ve been guilty of creating learning acitivies that require “hands-on” activity from learners but that doesn’t require learners to “think” per se. From this point on, “hands-on” activity will have a different meaning!

IT 5130: Evaluating an Instructional Message

After reading Medina’s rules, Tufte’s Fundamental Principles of Analytical Design, and the early chapters in Mayer’s Multimedia Learning, I created a summary of what I learned about creating effective instructional messages.  The attached MS Word file contains the summary.

Based on feedback from my peers in class and the class discussions I’ve read and been a part of, I marked up a copy of a job aid that is currently being used at my company. The attached PDF shows a marked up copy of the changes I suggest for the Cabling Job Aid.

Because I found this excercise so helpful and eye opening, I prepared a “mini lesson” to share with my department. I shared the two attached documents with my department last week. My co-workers told me how helpful it was to see a “before” and “after” version. My boss told me that what I shared was incredibly valuable and that this sort of information will help take our courses and support materials to the next level. Giving the mini lesson also helped me to better understand what I had learned.

As an aside, we plan to implement the suggested changes to the job aid within the next couple of weeks.

IT 5130: Brain Rules

We read several of John Medina’s rules from Brain Rules a couple of weeks ago, and while I’ve highlighted the documents, I wanted to add my notes to this blog so that they are part of my blog for later reflection and for my classmates to comment on as they like.

Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things
Medina suggest that we find a way to arouse and then hold the learner’s attention for a specific period of time. He offers these suggestions:

• Emotions get our attention.
• Meaning before details is remembered.
• The brain cannot multi-task.
• The brain needs a break.

Rule #5: Repeat to remember
Memory happens in 4 steps: encoding, storing, retrieving, and forgetting. This rule is about the encoding. One statistic that struck me is that people usually forget 90 percent of what they learn in a class within 30 days, with the majority of this forgetting occuring within the first few hours after class. He also tells us that we should repeat information in timed intervals. In addition, he tells us that encoding has these common characteristics:

• The more elaborately we encode information at the moment of learning, the stronger the memory.
• A memory trace appears to be stored in the same parts of the brain that perceived and processes the initial input.
• Retrieval may best be improved by replacing the conditions surrounding the initial encoding.
• We need to provide real-world examples, compelling introductions, and familiar settings.

Rule #6: Remember to repeat
Working memory can be seen as having three parts: auditory, visual, and executive. If we are re-exposed to information that we learned, we’re more likely to remember it. It’s important to space out the re-exposure/repition of information. Our memories and brains can only hold so much, so when we are on overload, something goes away. In other words, forgetting allows us to prioritize information.

Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses
Medina reminds us of what Mayer tells us:

• Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
• Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simlutaneously.
• Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near to each other rather than far from each other on the page or screen.
• Students learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather than included.
• Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.

Vision #10: Vision trumps all other senses
The more visual the input, the more likely it is to be recognized and recalled.

IT 5130: More Thoughts on Mayer’s Book

I’ve continued to read Mayer’s book Multimedia Learning and want to try to capture what I read this week (chapter 3 and 4).

Mayer makes three assumptions:

• Humans possess separate information processing channels for visually represented material and auditorily represented material. (p.46)
• Humans are limited in the amount of information that can be processed in each channel at one time. (p.48)
• Humans actively engage in cognitive processing to construct a coherent mental representation on their experiences. (p.50)

He says that three cognitive processes are involved in Active Learning:

• Selecting relevant material (words and images)
• Organizing selected material(words and images)
• Integrating selected material with existing knowledge (word-based and image-based representations) (p. 52)

We should present words and pictures rather than words alone. A multimedia presentation guides the learner to build a verbal mental model and a pictorial mental model, and to build connections between the two. (p.69)

Meaningful learning occurs when learners build picture-based and word-based representations and build systematic connections between them.(p.79) It is our job to help guide the learner’s cognitive processing of the presented material, so we should ask ourselves which which instructional techniques help guide the learners’ cognitive processing of the presented material. Learners will come away with a better understanding of the material (better transfer occurs) if you do this.

IT 5650: The People-Process-Product Continuum in E-Learning

When I first read “The People-Process-Product Continuum in E-Learning: The E-Learning P3 Model” by Badrul Kahn, I thought, wow, must be nice to have the luxury of all of those people. The more I thought about it, I decided that I was gald I didn’t work for an organization that had that large of a staff because then I wouldn’t get to do all of the things that I do. For example, in my current role, I’m responsible for everything from initial planning and project management to course development and implementation. I do work with a multimedia designer for my media requirements though.

I’m guessing that many factors impact how a learning organization/department is structured. For example, I bet things like the volume of courses, course type, release/update schedule, and resource pool influence the role that an ID plays and what other positions are needed. I also think that finding a team of people who are able to be productive and efficient would need to be considered. For example, if you had a team of seven IDs and two multimedia designers who did everything, and you were trying to find ways to be more effective and efficient, you might start to wonder if it would make more sense to have fewer IDs who focused on the ID work and then had one or two people do the production side of things.

I’m curious what other people thought of this article.

IT 5650: Reflections from the Intro of Blogs and RSS Feeds

I found the article “Reflections from the Introduction of Blogs and RSS Feeds into a Preservice Instructional Technology Course” insightful and helpful. I can relate to the students’ struggles with using blogs as part of their class. I’ve had little experience with blogs myself and am not sure the best way to write an initial post. I’m also not sure how to organize a blog website, so I’m finding my way. So far I’m using my blog to capture some of my notes and my initial understanding of the reading assignments. I’m tweaking the organization as I go along. RSS feeds are new to me too. I don’t have any experience with these, so I’m hoping to learn more about them and their benefit.

IT 5130: Philip Zimbardo’s Videos

The following mish mash of thoughts are an attempt to make sense of what I heard in the three videos by Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D Stanford University.

Sensation and Perception Video
Our perception of reality is the result of what we see with our eyes and minds. Visual perception takes place in our brain. Our brain eliminates the confusing parts so that it makes sense to us. Part of this elimination occurs because our expectations and previous experiences affect what we see. Sensory receptors detect external stimulus.  Zimbardo mentioned that with bottom up processing we get the details. It’s the top down processing that gives meaning to our perception.

Remembering and Forgetting Video
The context in which we learn and and recall affects our memory, so does our motivation. We may wonder why memory fades fast. The main reason is that there are no hooks to tie the new information to current meaning, order, and organization. The input must be encoded and then stored in memory. Then it can be retrieved when needed. Our long term memory is like our own private library of information. Our short-term memory is our “active” memory in that it holds all of the knowledge that’s currently in use.

Only a small amount (5-9 items) can be held in short-term memory and only for a short amount of time (minutes). The new information pushes out the old information. We can hold knowledge longer if the information is grouped logically. We also learn new material by associating it with something familiar or something that we already know.

This brings up the topic of schemas, which were totally new to me. After surfing the internet for more informatin about schemas, I found this description of schema theory: it views organized knowledge as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures which represent one’s understanding of the world.
In other words, our schemas influence our perception and understanding of the world.

An additional note I took is that when we remember something, there’s a physical change in the brain.

Cognitive Processes
Our thoughts give meaning to our experiences. This goes hand in hand with Descartes’ statement “I think therefore I am.” Cognitive processes have to do with the thinking that has to do with how people solve problems and how our experiences get turned into models. If we use computers as models for how humans think, we are not getting the full picture. Computers are logical and rational, but humans are not always logical and rational.

All of the videos were excellent. There was lots of good information and I know when I listen to them again, I will pick up even more. The notes I shared are just a tip of what Zimbardo was trying to get across.

IT 5130: Promote Cognitive Activity

Here are my thoughts after reading Mayer’s Multimedia Learning  (Chapter 1 and 2):

Mayer delves into what a learner-centered approach to learning means. He looks at what promotes meaningful learning outcomes. He says that meaningful learning depends on the learner’s cognitive activity during learning and not on the learner’s behavioral activity. (p.18) Just because learners have the opportunity for hands-on doesn’t mean this results in effective learning. I found it curious that there are times when it would be better to present material as opposed to  offering hands-on.  This is because meaningful learning occurs when the instruction promotes active cognitive processing.

The most effective way to use animation is to coordinate the animation with narration such that when an action takes place there’s also a coordinated verbal description. (p.26)

We want learners to retain what they learn and also be able to apply it (use it) in new situations such as solving a new problem. (p.29)