EDCI 337 A01

I wonder if I put a few words here?

Assignment 4: Introduction to Teach How to Be Happier

2022-06-23 / / 0 Comments

Learning Outcomes:

Participants will be able to do the following by the end of this workshop:

1.Brainstorm some possible elements related to happiness

2. Know the reason why happiness is so important to us in daily life

3. Access the factors that can lead to unhappiness

4. Understand the advantages of happiness in terms of physical health and mental health

5. Use the podcast to create a video about happiness

Step 1: Pre-Class Warm-up, General Introduction, & Video Watching

Procedure:

1 Warm-up Questions: (S1 – Poster)

Assess students’ prior knowledge about happiness by asking them to brainstorm some related elements and write them down on the whiteboard. Divide students into 4 groups and ask them to share their knowledge and experience on how to be happier to group mates.

2 General Introduction:    (S1 – PPT)

S1-PPT-What-is-happinessDownload

Give a 10 minutes clear introduction of the arrangement and expectation from students in class. It includes the brief introduction of our theme, quiz questions that students need to answer after watching the video and other after-class requirements. Then introduce happiness in terms of its definition and signs.

3 Video Watching:   (S1- Video)

Guide students to mark down the key elements when they are watching the instructional video.

Video Script: Have you wondered how to make others happy? What kind of activities or events would make them continuously happy all around? Theories from the Father of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman, suggest that almost 60% of happiness is decided by our nearby environment and genetics. The rest 40% is all on us!

It’s necessary for us to know that we cannot be happy all the time. Otherwise, we cannot feel the essence of happiness. Or there would be no such thing called happiness.

According to a study published in PLOS One, the most frequent human emotion is joy, followed by love and anxiety.

People experience positive emotions 2.5 times more often than negative emotions, but also experience positive and negative emotions simultaneously relatively frequently.

As above, if happiness is a frequent emotion in us as well, we should never give up on being happy. So in our life, we should think about different ways to be happier.

 (Recorded by Zhaohan Tan)

Step 2: Pre-Class Preparation Quiz  (S2- Google Docs Quiz)

Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSE3Q_MLdYE1FwtKHyBFRBbTPoDTeH1Ip5tVbiXf2UrQ1Jrw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Pre-Class Quiz Questions presented in the Google docs:

  1. According to Franklin Roosevelt, where does true happiness come from?
  2. According to Abraham Lincoln, “folks are usually about as happy as they make their _____up to be.
  3. What are two key components of happiness?
  4. What are two key components of happiness?
  5. According to Martin Seligman, 40% of happiness is decided by _______________.
  6. According to a study published in PLOS One, the most frequent human emotion is joy,followed by ______ and ______.
  7. People experience positive emotions _____ times more often than negative emotions.

Step 3: In-class Learning Activities and Instruction

Presentation slides:

S3-presentation-slidesDownload

       Instruct students to know factors of unhappiness, internal regulation with regard to changes in body, in mood as well as in the environments.

In-class activity:

S3-In-class-activityDownload

       Guide students to join in the three rooms and use different methods to solve their emotional problems and stay happy.

Text for In-class Exercise:

S3-Text-for-In-class-ExerciseDownload

       Introduce a happiness-related story to further boost students’ interests in thinking how to be happier.

Task about Podcast Editing with Video:

S3-Podcast-Editing-with-videoDownload

       Guide students to create a podcast video to remember their happy moments together with group mates. Students can choose their favored things. And then they would follow the introduction document step by step, in order to make a video. Teachers offer help when students have questions.

Step 4: Post Class Assessment and Course Feedback

       In this part, every group is required to utilize podcast to edit a video about the things that make them happy. Then they can use their knowledge about the elements and signs about happiness to present a 5-10 minute video on the stage. Teachers should watch their creative editing without interruption and take some notes for further feedback.

       Teachers must express gratitude and praise to students’ excellent group work, and also give feedback to each group and further encourage students to stay happy.

Assessment

       Self and peer assessment are needed after the group work. Besides, teachers will evaluate students’ performance according to their in-class activity, exercise and their creative videos.

Application in other topics:

       This teaching example is also suitable to teach many other literate topics, such as introducing types of music, examining useful tips to stay healthy, teaching basic elements about arts and so on.

Pitfalls that did not go to plan:

       At first, our group did not consider the targeted grades. After we approximately assigned our jobs, we started to create original multimedia. However, when we firstly handed in our stuff and discussed, we realized that we had totally different style in designing the slide presentations or videos. Therefore, we spent energy and time recreating most of the work in this assignment.

List of skills a viewer will attain:

1) Knowing some signs of happiness

2) Receiving two components of happiness

3) Practicing exercises to be happier

4) Changing in moods

5) Using multimedia to present happiness

Embedded multimedia elements in this assignment:

Slide presentation (S1 & S3)

Google Docs (S2 )

Screencast video (S1)

Podcast video (S3)

PDF (S1 & S3)

Poster (S1)

Designed by :

Zhaohan Tan

Yixuan Wang

Zhihao Wang

Feedback for Chang Xu’s Blog Six

2022-06-22 / / 0 Comments
Week 6 blog

Hi Chang Xu,

Similar with you. This course is so insightful that we really learn some practical multimedia skills, such as video making or poster making. I am glad to read the steps about editing your video. Personally, I have some more skills to edit videos. To begin with, we can try to adjust the lens times speed to emphasize on something special. For example, when you walk out of the balcony and zoom in the sea scenery, you can adjust the speed to make it slower. Then the audiences can learn more about the details. What’s more, I think it is also a good idea to use a filter to make the whole video warm in a gentle and comfortable way.

Blog Six: Differences Between TRACK, SAMR and SECTIONS

2022-06-15 / / 0 Comments

In this week, we mainly learn about some effective theories to evaluate multimedia and multimedia tools. Sometimes, teachers need to combine with several theories to determine if a specific multimedia is the most cost-effect. Here in this blog, I mainly compare with TRACK, SAMR and SECTIONS and tell their differences.

TRACK model refers to technological, pedagogical and content, knowledge. It emphasizes on students’ understanding of knowledge and describes some effective pedagogical practice in technology-enhanced learning environments. This model is more likely related to formal K-12 classrooms.

SAMR, substitution, augmentation, modification, redefinition, is a technological model to see how technology might impact teaching and learning (Hamilton et.a. ,2016). In the substitution level, teachers merely replace the traditional materials with digital versions. In the augmentation level, teachers keep the contents unchanged but enhance the lesson through asking students to take part in the multimedia presentation. In the modification level, teachers can use a learning management system, such as Moodle or Zoom, to teach or communicate with students who have traditionally been marginalized. In the redefinition level, teachers tend to enable activities that were previously impossible in the traditional class.

SECTIONS refers to students, ease of use, costs, teaching functions, interaction, organizational issues, networking, and security and privacy. It is a rather comprehensive teaching system includes the technology and educational environment. Teachers would access the technology about its advantages or disadvantages before class. After accessing the technology, teachers would implement it to make the class most effective for students.

Generally speaking, all of the three models enable teachers to identify suitable technological ways to evaluate multimedia. TRACK model lays more emphasis on teaching knowledge with appropriate technological and pedagogical methods; SAMR focus more on different multimedia tools and provide a high-level view of technology integration in teaching; while SECTIONS is more like a checklist for teachers to access and implement the technology they used in the class.

References

Hamilton, E.R., Rosenberg, J.M. & Akcaoglu, M. The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) Model: a Critical Review and Suggestions for its Use. TechTrends 60, 433–441 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0091-y

Feedback for Yixuan Wang’s Blog Five

2022-06-14 / / 0 Comments
Multimedia Design for Learning and Differentiated Learning

Hi Yixuan,

I really appreciate your blog about the advantages and the disadvantages of differentiated learning. You are definitely right that differentiated instruction is tailored teaching methods to meet all students’ needs. As you mentioned, teachers can teach based on students’ characteristics and personal interests. This would greatly enhance students’ enthusiasm towards learning. However, I respectively disagree with you that schools and governments should lay more emphasis on the students with special needs. In other words, I think educators should provide more equal opportunities to students. But at the same time, teachers should motivate peers to help those who have special needs and encourage all students to achieve the same goal.

Blog Five: The Understanding by Design Framework

2022-06-14 / / 0 Comments

In this week’s reading materials, I learned certain insightful information about UDL, UID and UbD. UDL refers to Universal Instructional Design and it is based on seven principles. It focuses that the instructional materials and environment should be accessible and fair to students. As for UID, it means Universal design for learning, which emphasizes on providing multiple means of representation, expression and engagement in the process of learning.

What impresses me most is the use of UbD. According to McTighe and Wiggins (2013), UbD, understanding by design, is beneficial for teachers to design a goal-based framework for students’ learning. When teachers plan the assessment at the same time as they create teaching contents, teacher would have a clear mind to match what to cover in the lesson. Overall the likelihood of having coherent, focused, and related learning activities increases. In my opinion, I concur that teachers should set the goal to help students to use knowledge meaningfully. Traditional classroom focuses more on teachers’ interactive teaching skills and multiple teaching methods. However, at the same time, they should take the goal for students to use the knowledge into consideration. If they do so, students would connect facts and create meaning, which means deeper learning is possible to true understanding.

Generally speaking, educators should know more about UbD framework and apply it into teaching.

Reference

McTighe, J.& Wiggins, G. (2013) The Understanding by Design® framework https://files.ascd.org/staticfiles/ascd/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

Assignment 3: My Updated Infographic

2022-06-13 / / 0 Comments

I chose to update the infogrphic about characteristics of instructional design models I created last week. Taking certain crucial design theories and models into consideration, I mainly made great changes in its information source, visual layout as well as background and font colors.

Firstly, I added the information source under the title. It is basic to respect for the original and tell readers where the information is obtained. In this way, I can show readers that I have done related research by listing source and raise the reliability of the poster.

Secondly, I changed the visual layout to a great extent. I added larger white space between each characteristics. According to Merrill’s sixth design principle, white space is like the silence part in the musical composition. In the poster, the design of white space can make characteristics distinguished from each other. What’s more,  I added six visual images to support each content. Illustrative image can impress the readers when it relates to specific characteristic. In addition, I changed the proportion in the poster. I enlarged the title of each characteristic and the illustrative image to arouse readers’ interest, and I made the short text letters smaller. According to Merrill’s fifth principle, it is important to establish major and minor areas in the design. With this in my mind, I adjusted a comfortable proportion to keep a sense of balance among texts and images.

Thirdly, I totally changed the background and font colors. In the previous poster, I mainly used green and yellow in the background and white font letters. Therefore, the major characteristics are not obvious and readers might feel a bit tired to read through every word carefully. In the updated poster, I changed the background color into orange-like and white. According to Merrill’s eighth principle, bright colors can make certain elements or information pop. Then, I adjusted the title letters into white with colored background flames and used black font colors in text. According to Merrill’s second principle, colors can be used to stand out the contents form the background, emphasizing the main ideas to make sure readers can see it at first glance. Generally speaking, after adjusting the background and font colors, it is easier to draw the readers’ eyes.

Reference

Merrill, David, mdavidmerrill Merrill on Instructional Design https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg_gbAhQhBbkj_NK0S211Aw

Feedback for Yixuan Wang’s Blog Four

2022-06-06 / / 0 Comments
Multimedia Learning Objects and Artifacts: Graphics & Infographics

Hi Yixuan,

I am so impressed by your Dragon Boast Festival poster designed by Canva. You chose the template with three parts and included the most important history, traditional food and dragon boat match into the poster. Anyway, I think you did a good job. Besides, I agree with you that graphics and infographics are important parts in multimedia teaching. These two elements can firstly catch students’ eyes and strengthen their impression on the contents in the class. However, there are some key theories when teachers use graphics and infographics in the lesson plan. As it is stated in this week’s reading material, do not include more than six objects in one slide. Generally speaking, teachers should make clear the process and theories of visual objects and artifacts when they design the multimedia lessons.  

Blog Four: Design of Multimedia Learning Objects and Artifacts

2022-06-05 / / 0 Comments

This week, we mainly focus on certain useful and effective theories of media to help teachers emphasize their teaching purpose in the class. It is important for them to use instructional design models to ensure the multimedia lesson can go smoothly.

As for the design process, as shown in the material by McCue (2021), Alexander proposes six stages to create multimedia class, including definition, research, ideation, develop, improve and feedback. Followed by these stages, teachers can illustrate an explicit teaching goal, have more data on it, sum up the key opinions and then create related multimedia contents. In this way, teachers can implement their teaching goals in a right direction.

What’s more, there are some obvious characteristics of instructional design models. For example, it is a must for teachers to design the class as learner-centered, goal-oriented, empirical elements with team effort (Kurt, 2015). Teachers should take these elements into consideration when they design a lesson. During the process of making multimedia lesson plan, teachers should also remember some rules of making PowerPoint. For example, never try to put more than two ideas or six objects in a slide (Jarrett, 2020), which actually relates to cognitive load theory. When teachers keep these in mind, they would improve students’ effective learning in the class.

In addition, What I have learnt most in this week’s materials is about creating learning artifacts with Canva. Canva is a popular tool to create infographics (McCue, 2021). Below is one of the posters I made:

References

Jarrett, Christian (2020, Nov). Cognitive Load Theory provides a useful framework for understanding the different ways the pandemic could be playing havoc with your mental function. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201103-cognitive-load-theory-explaining-our-fight-for-focus

Kurt, S. “Instructional Design Models and Theories,” in Educational Technology, December 9, 2015. Retrieved from https://educationaltechnology.net/instructional-design-models-and-theories/ Dr. Serhat Kurt, Instructional Design Models and Theories. February 17, 2021.

McCue, R. (2021, February 20). EDCI 337—Selected Multimedia Creation Tools [MP3]. https://soundcloud.com/rich-mccue/edci-337-selected-multimedia-creation-tools

McCue, R. (2021, February 20). Introduction to Infographics with Canva & Related Multimedia Learning Principles [MP4]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1k3deWbw2c

Feedback for Yixuan Wang’ Blog Three

2022-06-01 / / 0 Comments
Blog 3 Trends in Education: Game-Based Learning and Gamification

Hi Yixuan,

I 100% agree with you that game-based learning and gamification can make students learn actively in the class. It is true that when they are playing games in the class, they are actually experiencing the concept and the process of the knowledge. All these could activate them into deeper game levels to experience the knowledge. Especially in the early grade curriculum designs, it is more related to games, teachers would use manipulatives and electric devices to boost students’ learning interests. In higher grades, teachers can design traditional instruction and game experience reasonably to enhance students’ learning. All in all, I think your blog this week is so informative and useful in explaining the benefits of game-based learning and gamification.

Blog Three: Game-Based Learning and Gamification

2022-05-25 / / 0 Comments

In the field of multimedia and interactive learning, game-based learning and gamification are important means. According to Dichev and Dicheva (2017), game-based learning refers to a specific game-like environment with learning-and-playing contexts, while gamificaiton is about inserting games into traditional learning activities.

I think learning is a by-product of playing games, especially in lower grades. Games contain different elements, such as stories, rules, scenes and so on. When students believe that they are playing a game, they can easily shift themselves into the magic circle of imagination and have a sense of self efficiency. In this situation, they are learning and applying the knowledge talked in the class unconsciously. For example, games like “World of Warcraft” and “Halo” can encourage students to think critically. If we put it into curriculum design in a similar way, students would study and then meet different levels of questions and problems. Then they need to work together or independently to achieve a brand new barrier. Gamification is engaging and interactive. And students are encouraged to integrate different methods of media into their learning outcomes.

Generally speaking, game-based learning and gamification can greatly motivate students to further develop their academic achievement.

Reference

Dichev, C., Dicheva, D. Gamifying education: what is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain: a critical review. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 14, 9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0042-5

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