Artha's E-learning Blog(^.^)

Module 3 Activities

artha — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:07:51 +0000

Activity 3.1 What is multimedia?

“Multimedia is an eerie wail as two cat’s eyes appear on a dark screen.

It’s a small window of video laid onto a map of India, showing an old man recalling his dusty journey to meet a rajah there…”

Tay Vaughan, 1998, Multimedia: Making it Work

Multimedia is understood to mean a product that is digitally constructed utilising and seamlessly integrating various media: text, graphics, images, video, animation and sound.

Multimedia enriches the user through medias and technologies with the intention of engaging people’s minds!

Initially the delivery of multimedia products was via CD-ROM, but the internet provided a global distribution system that changed the structure and style of the multimedia products.

High levels of interactivity are now achievable using a range of software that runs on almost any current desktop computer.

The future of multimedia will be even more challenging as a plethora of delivery systems and displays are marketed. Enhanced program material provided on digital television and internet information displayed on mobile phones are just two examples of new multimedia systems.

Our notion of multimedia needs to encompass all new forms.

Review the following websites:

Examples of Multimedia in e-Learning

http://www.adrworkshops.com

From the map, click on Australia, then Test your Skills in the left-hand column, choose a scenario

http://www.listeningadventures.org

Carnegie Hall – learn about a Dvorak Symphony

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/lj/victorian_britainlj/sour_entry.shtml?site=history_victorianlj_sour

The BBC have a huge variety of e-Learning short course – try this one and see if you can improve Victorian Britain’s living conditions!

http://www.howstuffworks.com/toilet.htm

An amazing site full of all sorts of resources – this is a particular favourite!

http://www.cadre.com.au

Cadre Design are a Sydney based multimedia design company – from the home page, click on the Education link, this will take you to the Showcase. Click on the first example – the Astronomy site. Examine the possibilities (maybe learn something too)!

How do you define multimedia in today’s e-Learning context?

Compare this to the experiences with the Web 2.0 technologies and the issues raised in the Seely-Brown article.

Using different types of mediums in an interactive way to increase e-learning

Activity 3.2 Principles of Multimedia

A multimedia instructional message is a communication using words and pictures that is intended to promote learning.

For example, a multimedia instructional message in a book could include printed text and illustrations, whereas a multimedia instructional message on a computer could include narration and animation.

Examples of multimedia instructional messages include words and pictures intended to explain how lightning storms develop, how car braking systems works, and how a bicycle tyre pumps work.

Richard Mayer, p.21

Multimedia Learning

READ:
Mayer, Richard E. & Moreno, Roxana 2003, Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning in Educational Psychologist, 38 (1), pp43-52.
(PDF File in Subject Documents folder in UTSOnline)

7 Principles of Multimedia Design

1. Multimedia principle: Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.

2. Spatial Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.

3. Temporal Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.

4. Coherence Principle: Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.

5. Modality Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.

6. Redundancy Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text.

7. Individual Differences Principle: Design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners and for high-spatial learners rather than low-spatial learners.

Now consider your course and make notes where multimedia may be of value:

Task:

Consider the media elements in your design – use the questions above as a guideline if you are using animation, video or sound.

What are your recommendations?

follow the multimedia principles
content need to be relevant to the program
Should not be too long as it may increase information overloada

Provided examples of multimedia elements you would recommend.

vod casts
pod casts
online quiz
blogs
wikis

Activity 3.3 Visual Design

Exploring Visual Design

“At the beginning of a project, the screen is a blank canvas, ready for you, the multimedia designer, to express your craft. The screen will change again and again during the course of your project as you experiment, as you stretch and reshape elements, draw new objects and throw out old ones, and test various colors and effects – creating a vehicle for your message…many multimedia designers are known to experience a mild shiver when they pull down the New… menu and draw their first colors onto a fresh screen…this screen represents a powerful and seductive avenue for channelling creativity.”

Tay Vaughan, 1998

Visual design takes the composite of elements: text, symbols, photos, colours, video, in fact any graphic element and much more, to communicate your message – it is your primary connection with the learner.

Visual design is the process of producing visual images that are able to communicate information to other people.

Visual images are made up of lines, colours, textures, tones, hues and shapes applied in a spatial composition. We are surrounded by visual images in our everyday lives. Each visual image is trying to tell us something.

To produce images that people understand, you need to consider the following:

1. What message are you trying to communicate?

2. What audience are you trying to communicate with?

3. What is the best way to visually communicate that message?

4. What are the elements and tools necessary to produce the visual image?

Complete the quiz in UTSOnline – Visual & Interaction Design – available in the Course Information tab.

Understanding Perception

When you look at a visual image you see lines, shapes, colours, tones, hues and objects in a spatial dimension.

The eye collects visual information from these images and objects and this information is transmitted to the brain. The brain interprets and constructs meaning from this visual information.

To design visual images that are meaningful to an audience you need to understand the way your audience actually sees. That is, how does the eye collect visual information and how does the brain interpret it? This line of inquiry is called the science of perception.

Discovering the way the eye works will help you understand how visual elements function in visual design.

Understanding Visual Communication

No two people ever see the same thing quite the same way. Cultural differences, the level of acquired knowledge, an individual’s psychology and socialisation will all affect the way we construct meaning from a visual image.

Physiology can also affect the way a person sees. The eye itself can have defects in the retina lens or suffer from colour blindness. The brain can also have its own problems that affect perception such as brain dysfunction, and alcohol and drugs.

To cater for these differences in perception you need to construct a clear, unambiguous image and know your audience well enough to construct visual images that they will easily recognise and comprehend. For example, a road sign needs to communicate its message to a wide audience instantaneously.

Visual hierarchy

Read:

About Page Design and Visual Hierarchy from the Webstyle Guide

http://www.webstyleguide.com/page/index.html

Use the navigation on the right hand side.

How would visual hierarchy influence learners?

it would influence which content they would likely to lean first, more/better as visual hierarchy emphasise certain contents to be more important than others

Activity 3.4 Principles of colour

Understanding Colour

Review the Colour Matters site and determine why some colours appear to hurt the eye!

From the same site – Color Matters – explore how computers generate colours and what this can mean to your multimedia images:

The Psychology of Colour

Some colours make us happy and others, sad. Colours have the ability to provoke a psychological reaction. Look at the objects around you: their colours have been chosen specifically because they create a mood or an association for the viewer.

Because of their power to provoke reactions in us, we use colours for their symbolic meaning. It is no accident that fire engines are painted red; red is a hot colour and denotes the idea of danger. Police uniforms are blue; being a cool colour, blue projects the idea of being under control, being calm and collected.

You can use colours in your visual designs to convey a mood, create an association or express your feelings about a particular event, activity or object.

Choose colours to convey the following:

Aggression
Friend
Solid
Weak
Serious
Depressed

Selecting Colours

Many things will affect your choice of colour. Consider the situation and choose your colours wisely. Think about the following factors.

Fashion

Colours go in and out of fashion. Bright colours are used to demand attention and make a statement. Designers of luxury items want their products to appear reputable and durable, and be seen to outlast the fashion of the day; gaudy colours such as bright pinks and yellows are unlikely.

The mass market
Strong and bold colours are used to attract the mass market. Advertisers usually use primary colours because they are the most appealing colours to the bulk of the population.

The environment

Australians live in a hot, dry environment so often use cool colours (such as pastel tints) in their buildings to make their physical environment seem cooler. In a European environment that is predominantly cold you tend to see warm, bright primary colours, creating a cheerful, cosy illusion.

Culture
Culture and history shape colour choice. If you visit Asia you will find temples painted in bright, primary colours. A European church is more likely to have more sombre colours.

Consider your e-Learning product – what colours might work? Why?

Culture of the organisation – the colours of the organisation’s logo, it would be more familiar to the learners and promote organisational pride
Corporate colours – usually blue, dark blue, black, green, dark green, it’s serious and professional

Fashion – colours that are appealing to the artistic side, can use those that are usually not used by corporates such as yellow, orange, red

Your message – depending on the message you like to get across, happy usually yellow or orange, love/anger/passion usually red etc

Mood of message – depending on the message you like to get across, happy usually yellow or orange, love/anger/passion usually red etc

Do not underestimate the power of colour to influence your learners!

Activity 3.5 CRAP

The following is a brief overview of the 4 basic principles of design :

C R A P

Reference: Williams, R. 1994, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Peachpit Press, USA

Contrast

Contrast can be the most important visual aspect of a page. The principle is to avoid elements on the page that are merely similar – if they are not the same – then make them VERY different.

Purpose:

§ To create interest

§ Aid in the organisation of information

§ Supports visual hierarchy

Eg. use of colour

Repetition

Repeat visual elements throughout – colour, shape, etc. Develops organisation and strengthens the unity.

Purpose:

§ To unify and add interest

§ For consistency

Eg. navigation, colour identifiers, layout – anything your learner may visually recognize.

Avoid repeating the element so much that it becomes annoying and distracts from the message

Alignment

Nothing should be placed on your page randomly. Every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page.

This creates a clean, sophisticated look.

Purpose:

§ To unify and organize your page design

§ Be conscious of where you place your elements – always try to find something that aligns them

Avoid:

§ More than 1 type of text alignment on the same page

§ Don’t always centre align

Proximity

Items relating to each other should be group close together. Items in close proximity become one visual unit rather than several separate, unrelated units.

Purpose:

§ Reduces clutter and confusing your reader

§ Organizes information – reduces cognitive load

§ Logical information is more likely to be remembered

Visual and Interaction Design Quiz

artha — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:12:11 +0000

Scored 7/8! horray

couldn’t find serif n sans serif in word doc lol

Question 1

1 out of 1 points

Who said: “design is thinking made visual”?

Selected Answer:	Saul Bass
Correct Answer:	Saul Bass

Feedback:

That’s the one!

Question 2

1 out of 1 points

The basic elements of visual communication are: form,content, arrangement, light & colour.

Selected Answer:	True
Correct Answer:	True

Question 3

1 out of 1 points

What does SAFE stand for?

Selected Answer:	Simple, Appropriate, Functional, Economical
Correct Answer:	Simple, Appropriate, Functional, Economical

Feedback:

Great!

Question 4

1 out of 1 points

What are the emotions that drive visual communication?

Selected Answer:	Seduction, conviction and inspiration
Correct Answer:	Seduction, conviction and inspiration

Feedback:

That was tricky – but you got it!

Question 5

1 out of 1 points

What is the purpose of graphic design?

Selected Answer:	To make it as easy as possible for readers/viewers/users to understand your message.
Correct Answer:	To make it as easy as possible for readers/viewers/users to understand your message.

Feedback:

Great – keep it clear and to the point!

Question 6

1 out of 1 points

Grids give design:

Selected Answer:	A sense of order & constraint
Correct Answer:	A sense of order & constraint

Feedback:

Fantastic!

Question 7

1 out of 1 points

In terms of colour choice, it is important to choose colours that:

Selected Answer:	Reflect the message you are communicating
Correct Answer:	Reflect the message you are communicating

Feedback:

Great – you’ve cracked the colour code

Question 8

0 out of 1 points

What type of font has “tails”?

Selected Answer:	Sans serif
Correct Answer:	Serif

Feedback:

No – these all have tails!

web

artha — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:16:43 +0000

http://www.geocities.com/arthavelina/ElearningDesign/ConflictMgtQuiz.htm

In class 21/05/08

artha — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:42:17 +0000

Part II: Visual Design Evaluation
Due: Exercise will be conducted in class Wed 28 May
Weighting: 10%
Task:
Evaluation of visual design components from 3 existing e-Learning courses. Explanation of how the screen designs effectively addresses the principles of visual design.

Read Mayer & Moreno

• Describe the screen layout
• Visual Hierarchy (evaluate the use of contrast to draw attention to the key elements) eg movements, color contrasts, pictures, size, bold texts, placing t on the left because we read from left to right, audience?

• Placement of Graphics (evaluate in terms of multimedia principle and alignment and proximity principles) ie, learn better with pics than words alone, graphic and text should be near each other,

•    Style of graphics (describe in terms of appropriateness and multimedia coherence principle) ie. choice of graphics – apply to the text? Purpose of graphic, is it distracting learner? static/motion/interactive/video
•    Use of colours (do the selected colours enhance or distract the learning context)
•    Do you consider the visual design effective from the learning perspective? Why or why not

Cognitive load – too much informations

Activity 2.6

artha — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:47:40 +0000

Activity 2.6 Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura (1977) combines behaviourist reinforcement with cognitive processes for understanding the behaviour of others. Bandura empasises the importance of observing and modeling – his 2 key elements for learning are: experience and expectations§ Experience enables us to learn the consequences of our actions§ Expectations are formed by our experiences Four processes underlie this type of observational learning:1. Attention: focus on the features of behaviour to be modeled2. Retention: how well the behaviour is remembered3. Reproduction: observed behaviour must be turned into action, practice and feedback4. Reinforcement: to motivate learners to reproduce and perform the behaviours How could you apply Bandura’s Social Learning Theory in an e-Learning context?

- Have assessments so that students are able to demonstrate what they’ve learnt- Ongoing encouragements from others are needed so students should be encouraged to have communications with others; in an e-learning environment they can have synchronous or asynchronous communications through chatting, video conferencing, email etc.-

Read: Social Constructivismhttp://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Social_Constructivism Watch/listen to the brief lecture:http://www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/impaticas/Social-Constructivism-PPT.html

Activity 2.5

artha — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:39:05 +0000

Activity 2.5 A Constructivist Approach

Bruner’s Constructivist Theory:

Bruner (1966) based his theory on learning by discovery – information should be organised in a spiral manner that allows the learner to re-arrange and re-assemble content to create new insights.

According to Bruner, discovery and meaningful learning enhances recall and transfer of learning. The main objective is to build upon knowledge the learner already has.

“By creating learning environments that foster the self-development of learners as they explore a situation or problem, teachers can enable learners to arrange, rearrange, and transform evidence so they can gain new insights and experience a sense of achievement in making their own discoveries. The problem–solving strategies they develop are more transferable, as they have personal meaning and value in terms of the learner’s own purposes and intentions.”

Burns, R. 1995, The Adult Learner at Work, Business & Professional Publishing, Sydney.Applying principles of Bruner’s theory:

1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and context that make the learner willing and able to learn (readiness)

2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the learner (spiral organisation)

3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and/or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given)

The Current Debate:There is a great deal of current debate in education fields that can be summarized into distinct views:1) Directed InstructionPrimarily the behaviourist and cognitive learning theories2) Constructivist Learning Characteristics of the 2 types of instruction: Directed Instruction Constructivist Learning

Focus on teaching sequences of skills that begin with lower-level skills and build to higher-level skills
Clearly state objectives with test items matched to them
Stress more individualized work than group work
Emphasise traditional teaching and assessment methods; skills worksheets, activities and tests with expected outcomes

Focus on learning through posing problems, exploring possible answers, and developing products and presentations
Pursue global goals that specify general abilities such as problem-solving and research skills
Stress more group work than individualized work
Emphasise alternative learning and assessment methods; exploration of open-ended questions and scenarios, doing research and developing products, assessment by portfolios, performance checklists

How could you apply constructivist learning principles in an e-Learning environment?

q Group work (collaborative learning)?q Scenarios, case studies?q Enriched learning environments (multimedia e-Learning)?q Use of mind maps q q

Activity 2.4

artha — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:55:15 +0000

Activity 2.4 A Humanist approach

The Humanist approach developed from the Cognitive but focuses on experiential learning and the assumption that the individual is ever seeking greater personal adequacy, self-esteem and self-actualisation. Humanists emphasise the individual’s innate need to achieve personal worth, dignity and creativity and believe a better society will evolve by nurturing these qualities. Humanist teachers can create a positive classroom climate and encourage the psychological growth towards the creation of self-actualising people. Humanists believe that learners respond to their environments as they experience it – part of that is the person themselves – the self. Feeling and emotions play an important part in learning.

What effect might e-Learning contexts have for the Humanist approach?

I think the e-learning environment need to be flexible in that students would be able to explore themselves and be able to learn in the way they want. I think the blogging context is good for this type of students because they can explore their emotions and feelings (like in a diary). The context should not be competitive, so maybe formal assessments would hinder learning. Assessment should be individually based – it should be about how they are improving themselves not about improvement in compare to the other students.

Principles emphasised by Humanist theory:

§ People learn by relating the world to their previous experience – they learn by doing

§ People learn in a free environment that permits and encourages development of potential, self-expression and self-determination

§ People learn co-operatively, which includes constructive feedback in a non-competitive environment

§ The learning that has most meaning for people is that which is contructed by individuals out of their experience

Burns, R. 1995, The Adult Learner at Work, Business & Professional Publishing, Sydney.

In Class 14/5/08

artha — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:36:16 +0000

Theories of Learning

Behaviorism

observable behavior
conditioning
cause and effect (in response to a stimulus)
learning is a modification of behavior by application of stimuli, shaping of responses and the provision of reinforcement.
practice and feedback
classic conditioning can also be demonstrated by our ability to generalize our responses to stimuli.
operant conditioning- ppl learn to behave in ways that help them obtain things they want or avoid things they don’t want (positive and negative re-inforcement)
ignoring reinforcements, response will die out.
learner must be able to respond actively
frequency of repetition
reinforcement is vital
generalization suggests the importance of practice in varied situations (learning transfer)
Immediate feedback of results is strongly motivating
shaping behavior by the reinforcement of approximate responses is essential in learning new skills.
feedback straight after or before the next attempt

Cognitivism

one difference from behaviorism- cares for the process between learning and being able to do the skill
learning is based on the re-organisation of experiences into systematic and meaningful patterns that lead to problem solving and insight
Meaningfulness and insight
use of groupings, pegging, hooking,
has pre-test to see what they already know and post test

Humanist

based on cognitive approach but focusing on individuals need seeking personal adequacy, self-esteem and self-actualisation.
blend with another

Constructivism

schema-mental model build by personal interactions with others, unique to each individual,
learning highly dependent on prior knowledge
go over but in more detail each time (spiral)
take knowledge and apply it into live situations
no final formal assessment

Social Learning Theory

blend with other
observing and modeling (mentoring)
experience
four processes: attention, retention, reproduction, reinforcement

Social Constructivism

blend of social and constructivism
http://tip.psychology.org

Activity 2.3

artha — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:12:00 +0000

Activity 2.3 A Cognitive Approach

Cognitive psychologists emphasize the role of experience, the development of meaning, and the use of problem-solving and insight as the sources of learning. The individual learner will perceives organised wholes – rather than disconnected pieces. Each person will behave and learn in terms of what is real for them. Learning is therefore based on the re-organisation of experiences into systematic and meaningful patterns that lead to problem-solving and insight. This will mean that interpretation is subjective – reality is what each of us perceives and understands at any given time. TASK: Watch the following video from the Wharton University of Pennsylvania:http://www.learningwiki.com/theory Part 2 – Cognitivism Examples you may be familiar with: Meaningfulness:

According to cognitive theory – our brains look for patterns and completion.

Our brains have the capacity to associate anything with anything else and will find associations if we allow it to! This allows us to be creative and problem-solve. Each person will create their own meaning based on the current context and their past experiences. Insight:

The sudden Blinding Flash of the Obvious!

The realization of how to solve a problem by a cognitive restructuring of the environment – looking at things differently!

Until we start thinking around the problem (restructuring and reorganizing) we will not be able to gain any insight into how to solve the problem.

What effect might meaningfulness and insight have in e-Learning contexts?

I think meaningfulness and insight would be achievable in e-learning because students are able to explore the content themselves in a more intimate way. For example using web logs they are able to generate and reflect ideas until they are meaningful to them.

E-learning context should be personalized for each student so that it would be more meaningful for the individual students. The context should also be structured from simple to more advanced, can use sections to divide, therefore the context should be interactive so that students can have the choice to proceed or not.

Advance Organisers:An advance organiser provides a scaffold for the ideas – or cognitive structure – which will bridge the gap for the learner between the content – what’s known and what they will need to know before new material becomes meaningful. The scaffolding is intended to provide a higher level (more generalized) concept that will then allow the learner to incorporate more detailed and differentiated materials into the structure. Advance organisers use current and relevant concepts that the learner already has – to make it possible to put new learning into the framework. The sequencing of content must allow new concepts to be related to old ones. How can we use Advance Organisers in e-Learning contexts?

E-learning should also have an organized aim and structure to the course. Just like our e-learning classes. The Subject outline is like an advance organizer in that it shows us the topics we will do. For cognitivists it would be helpful also to have learning outcomes and assessment crieterias to show the categories of the content.

Principles emphasised by Cognitive theory:

§ The perceptual features of the problem as interpreted by the individual affect what is learned

§ A learning problem should be structured by the teacher so that the essential features are open to the learner’s inspection

§ The organisation of knowledge should move from simple to complex to create a meaningful whole

§ Feedback as hypothesis testing is a basis for correcting faulty learning

Burns, R. 1995, The Adult Learner at Work, Business & Professional Publishing, Sydney

In Class 7/5/08

artha — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:46:01 +0000

What is learning?

the process of acquiring knowledge or skills, understanding, making meaning, building on existing knowledge, retaining and applying

How does learning occur?

through changing information to knowledge, practice and feedback, doing activities, creating meaning and connecting mental schema , teaching and experiencing, self exploration

What factors influence learning?

learning style, context of learning, motivation, learning environment, content, definition of outcomes, goals, feedback, attitude, individual learner characteristics (eg. age, culture), interest

PERSONAL EPISTEMOLOGY -your own understanding about what is learning to you, will effect the way you will create learning