Hi,
After reviewing this plan I think that what I’ve created is more like a series of lessons and less like one individual, specific lesson on how to create something using technology. That being said, I created this “lesson” and implemented it with one of my students and is a live, work in progress. I appreciate any feedback on what we’ve done to this point and look forward to more learning.
Please watch this video, using Screen-cast-o-matic (my second attempt at using this free program) to understand what I’ve created because I cannot share privileges to my private school website. We are using Moodle as our LMS and this has been excellent, concrete, authentic practice for me in how to create, publish and work with the options in Moodle. I will also attach my “lesson plan” for you to get a better sense of how I’ve structured things. Doing almost all of this has put me out of my comfort zone but has been incredibly satisfying as I’ve learned many new skills and watched my students learn and grow as well.
Online Cairn Terrier Inquiry Project
Assignment 1 – EDDL 5131
A Multimedia Enhanced Lesson at VLearn
Please have a look at the outline (below – google docs) of the project I created. I am working with two students (one with ASD) on a weekly basis to develop social skills and support literacy. Our face to face time has been interrupted with term 2 report card meetings and so this was an attempt to carry on with work on the project until we meet again in April. One of the students has not been active in the online portion of the lessons (this project is optional for both students) but I am currently supporting the student with ASD through the structure outlined below and getting a chance to actively work in our Moodle platform, creating something useful not only for my student, but for all the students in our program. It is going well from both of our perspectives and we are learning technology skills together!
I have chosen to use a variety of media to support learning about Kona – our Animal-Assisted-Activity dog at VLearn and know that they are critical for deeper understanding. The phrase – “a picture is worth a thousand words” certainly applies as one peruses the photo book I created in Moodle. Kona makes a difference every day in many students lives!
My intention is to create, with my students, an interesting, fun, informative space to represent all the different ways Kona is active and meaningful in learning at VLearn. “The rationale for multimedia instruction is that people can learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone” (Mayer, 2014). Together we will be developing our technology skills as well as many other academic and social skills. “Brown et al. (1989) emphasise the idea of cognitive apprenticeship where teachers (i.e., the experts of subject knowledge) work alongside students (i.e., the apprentices) to create situations where the students can begin to work on problems even before they are capable of fully understanding them” (Edirisingha and Popova, 2009). The project is a work-in-progress and will continue to grow and develop as my skills grow, and students build and work in and around the platform.
“Multimedia systems strive to take the best advantage of human senses in order to facilitate communication” (Rockwell and Mactavish, 2004). I have re-recorded some of my audio work, “creating audio instruction entails much more than simply plugging in a microphone and recording a voice reading some text” (Carter, 2012) to improve the quality, and value of my information shared as well as considered the best way to walk my students through our Moodle page using a video recording. My goal is to eventually have my students record how to navigate our Moodle page and grow their oral communication skills that way. “Instead of using the technology to merely deliver content, the authors advocate greater student control and ownership of the technology, and its use as a means for encouraging collaboration” (Lee, McLoughlin and Chan, 2008). My hope is that by including my students in my learning process I will be creating the opportunities for them to learn alongside. “The technical aspects of producing a podcast (or other form of multimedia – italics mine) offer students a unique learning opportunity with decision-making in the forefront as students grapple with issues related to the purpose and content for the podcast” (Hew, 2009).
Media used and created by Nic for the Moodle site/Cairn Terrier project:
Ratty: audio file (Voki)
Introduction of how to navigate the block: video, audio file (Screen-cast-o-matic)
Cairns 101: video file (embedded YouTube video)
Amelia_fetch.mp4, Kona_go_fetch_Katrina.mp4, Morgan_Kona.mp4: video files (Movie Maker – using music, video sound, and text to highlight important concepts)
Cropped photos: graphic files using text to highlight important concepts (book – Moodle block)
Social Thinkers: graphic file using text to highlight important concepts (photo in book – Moodle block, using Thinglink to create a digital story)
References:
Carter, C. (2012). Instructional Audio Guidelines: Four Design Principles to Consider for Every Instructional Audio Design Effort. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 56(6), 54-58.
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Hew, K.F. (2009). “Use of Audio Podcast in K-12 and Higher Education: A Review of Research Topics and Methodologies”. Educational Technology and Research Development, 57, pp. 333-357.
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Mark J. W. Lee, Catherine McLoughlin and Anthony Chan. “Talk the Talk: Learner-generated Podcasts as Catalysts for Knowledge Creation”. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39:3, 2008, pp. 501-521.
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Mayer, R. (2014). Multimedia Instruction. Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, eds. J.M. Spector et.al. Springer Science + Business Media, New York, 2014.
Palitha Edirisingha and Anguelina Popova. “Podcasting: A Learning Technology.” In Sanjaya Mishra ed. Elearning. New Delhi: IGNOU, 2009, pp. 66-69.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242590102_Podcasting_a_learning_technology
Rockwell, G. & Mactavish, A. (2004). A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, John Unsworth. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion/
