Podcast: Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate

This podcast is designed for use in a public administration course.It demonstrates the use of an audio loop with spoken text.

Direct URL: http://www.robertcat.net/podcast/podcast2.mp3

This is the storyboard for the podcast above..

http://www.robertcat.net/podcast/storyboard.pdf

Personalization Principle #3: Make the Author Visible to Promote Learning

Clark and Mayer (2011) recommend instructional materials be designed to make the teacher visible rather than to hide the teacher behind a presentation of information in the third person. If a teacher makes reference to himself or herself in an example, learners may pay more attention and experience more engagement and less transnational distance (p 198).

Source: https://www.coursera.org/instructor/gerrylanders

The screenshot above was derived from the promotion of a MOOC offered by Coursera. The instructor of the MOOC is quite literally visible to prospective learners. The screen reveals some details about his career, where he has lived, and his interests.I believe this is an example of making the author or instructor visible to promote learning. I believe that this principle should be practiced in moderation. A teacher with a large ego may err on the side of drawing too much attention to himself. The purpose, of course, is to convey relevant knowledge rather than to draw attention to one's self. If the instructor becomes the focus of attention the principles of coherence stand to be broken. This might also be the case if the instructor chooses to appear in graphics or video wearing attire that distracts from the content being taught.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Class Project 2: Screencast Video

This is an assigned project in my studies at University of West Georgia.

Title: "Throwing" a Short-story Character

Audience: Students in PADM 5011 Public Administration at Albany State University.

Purpose: To encourage my adult students to think of the design of a character for a short story relevant to becoming a successful public administrator using the metaphor of throwing a clay pot on a wheel.

My Uses as Instructor: To help my students become more aware of how personal attributes affect interpersonal relationships in professional interactions within organizations.

My Learners' Uses: To become more engaged in public affairs education and to become more effective professionals through story writing.

Video Storyboard:

Video Production Storyboard

Video:



"Throwing" a Short-story Character" by Bruce Neubauer



HERE IS THE DIRECT LINK TO VIDEO ABOVE.

Games and simulations principle #3: Build in Proven Instructional Strategies

Clark and Mayer (2011) recommend that instructional games and simulations incorporate explanatory feedback (p 383). This is in the context of the need for a instructional game or simulation to be designed and built using proven instructional design strategies. The feedback needs to be provided at a grain that enables learning. For example, a flight simulator in which the simulated aircraft simply crashes if the user makes poor choices may not be very instructive if the user is left to be unaware of which of his or her choices resulted in the crash. Clark and Mayer indicate that there can be variations in how feedback is provided to learners. It is reasonable to understand that if the simulation is intended to be used in a classroom situation the feedback can be provided by a human instructor. However, if the simulator is intended to be used by the student working alone, the program itself must provide timely and meaningful feedback.

Direct link to source of the simulation above.

I designed and built the simulation above several years ago with two colleagues in Kentucky. I still use this simulation with my students in traditional classrooms when teaching knowledge management. It represents three people at the scene of an emergency observing events and sharing their observations with one another and with the boss working in the safety of a distant office. The boss makes important decisions in real time. He depends upon members 2 and 3 for his knowledge. Students can set several initial parameters pursuant to various hypotheses regarding the efficiency of the flow of knowledge through a social network. They run the simulation multiple times to see the results. I help them reflect on the findings based on the simulation. It is useful in the classroom because it is visual and the outcomes are realistic enough to generate a classroom conversation. The program provides raw feedback in terms of the percent of field knowledge that gets communicated to the boss in real time. However, the numbers must be interpreted for the simulation to be a useful instructional tool. The program does not have interpretation of the data built into it. Meaningful feedback requires the scaffolding that I can provide in the classroom. Although I did not have the benefit of a knowledge of proven instructional strategies when my colleagues and I designed and built this years ago, I think it is an adequate example of Games and Simulations Princiiple 3.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Thinking skills principle #1: Focus on Job-Specific Cognitive and Metacognitive Skills

Clark and Mayer (2011) suggest that training resources be designed to be job-specific and to develop cognitive and meta cognitive skills. While general intelligence is certainly valuable, most training programs have a more specific scope. The success or failure of the training will be measured in specific terms and not general terms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t2vVChAZr0

Direct link to video above

The video above is a demonstration of an advanced multimedia technology called augmented reality. Augmented reality involves the employee wearing special eye glasses that impose a layer of real-time instruction as he or she engages reality. Here a BMW mechanic is apparently learning how to perform a specific repair by following instructions displayed in his glasses. In my opinion, this example demonstrates part of Thinking Skills Principle 1, bot only part. It is job specific. But it is a more a crutch than an technology of learning. This kind of instruction is very costly to create. Its application appears to be designed to "dumb down" the responsibilities of a professional mechanic. I want a mechanic who has sense enough to figure out what is necessary to do, and who refers to traditional documentation when needed. We are likely to see may new applications of virtual reality and augmented reality in the near future. I think they could serve to develop human intelligence and not be designed to substitute for human intelligence. I see too many cashiers who cannot count back change in the absence of a cash register. Let's not scale that up to whole-task responsibilities that require a lot of human intelligence. The purpose of education is to education, not to 'dumb down" employment roles.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Learner control principle #4: Give Pacing Control

Clark and Meyer (2011) rcommend that asynchronous e-learning be divided into small chunks that learners can access at their own pace (p 327).

Screenshot Kahn Academy course

Direct link to video represented above

Although this tutorial is intended to be completed in only one hour, it is divided into parts and the learner has the ability to work at her or his own pace. I believe this is an ideal example of Leraner Control Principle 4. This course also incorporates other design elements such as segmentation and an outstanding degree of interactivity with immediate feedback.


References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Learner control principle #1: Give Experienced Learners Control

Clark and Mayer (2011) on page 319 of our textbook recommend giving learners the option of going beyond the essential content, or giving them the option to skip segments of instruction that they may not need to review. To implement this suggestion it is necessary for the designer to cue learners as to what parts of the instruction is necessary for completion, and which parts can be skipped by either novice learners or by experienced learners. This is valuable when the instruction is intended to be used by students with different backgrounds. Otherwise, novice learners may become discouraged by segments of instruction that are difficult and not essential to their instructional purposes. And experienced learners should not be forced to plow through material they already know.

Source: Kahn Academy -- Linear Regressing and Correlation

In the example shown when a learner begins to view this part of the course (a 7-minute video) he or she is told that the mathematics is relatively difficult and that it is not necessary to view this particular video in order to continue and complete the course. In other words, this is made available for students who what to "drill down" on the mathematics behind a specific concept. Without such guidance, students may be unable to discern what content is essential (to complete course objectives) and what segments can be skipped. Without that information, novice students may become bogged down in material that is not necessary, and experienced students may not realize that a particular segment is likely to be of special interest to them. 

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Practice principle #2: Mirror the Job

Clark and Mayer (2011) on page 262 if our textbook, explain that skill building requires practice on the component skills that make up a part of a specific work domain. If the intent is to improve the work performances of learners, it is not enough to "only" provide them information and expect them to be able to recall the information. A skill is an ability that can be transferred and practiced in a relevant context. Designers of training programs should keep in mind th ways employees will apply new knowledge in their job tasks.

Source: Dick Marks -- How to Greet Customers YouTube video

In the video above, Dick Marks's instructional intent is clearly work-related. The video includes multiple examples of people practicing the target skills. Each example provides the learners both context and example of performance. Upon completion of this training, learners should not only be able to recall the information but realize almost instinctively when it is appropriate to perform these skills on the job.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Practice principle #1: Add Sufficient Practice Interactions to e-Larning to Achieve the Objective

Beginning on page 257 of our textbook Clark and Mayer identify the benefits of practice and the challenges of designing practice into instructional materials. It is not enough for most learners to only see the explanation of the performance of a complex cognitive process. Nor is it enough for learners to solve only one such problem. To remember how to apply and repeat the performance later, it is often necessary to complete many variations of the same performance. Only then is it likely that the process and its performance will "stick" in the mind of the learner.

Source: "MySecretMath Tutor YouTube video - Statistics - Find the z Score

The need to find a z score is a common and frequent need in statistical problems regarding probabilities. The performance involves multiple "elements" that are not familiar to many learners. It is likely that learners will only master the process by having seen and worked through the process many times. This is an important example of the kind of learning objective that is likely to require including many opportunities for practice into design of a course.


References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Worked example principle #4: Apply Multimedia Principles to Examples

Beginning on page 235 Clark and Mayer present a kind of meta-principle. The incorporate their own Multimedia Principles into their Worked Example Principles. We remember that the authors recommend against the presentation of both spoken text and written text in parallel. This perhaps either "chokes" working memory, but more likely taxes the part of the brain that processes language. According to the Multimedia Principle, it is okay to present learners with either spoken words with visuals; or written text with visuals. The worked example principle #4 simply is an application of that multimedia principle in the context of an example.

Source: Kahn Academy Sampling Distribution Example Problem

The video above is an example of applying multimedia principle to an example. The instructor speaks to learners while writing on the working surface. The learner is able to receive associated information via both hearing and sight. There is no written text on the page.If a learner is deaf, he or she can use closed captions. The problem there is that in that situation the learner must move her eyes back and forth between the what the instructor is drawing and the written explanation of what the instructor is saying, via closed captions.


References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Worked Example Priniciple 3: Include Instructional Explanation of Worked Examples in Some Situations

Clark and Mayer (2011) on page 234 of our textbook recommend adding instructional explanations to worked examples. Research indicates that this is important when conceptual understanding is the immediate goal of the instruction. This can be especially valuable in lessons regarding mathematics.

Source: Kahn Academy- GMAT Preparation: Math 1

In the video above, Mr. Kahn is verbally demonstrating how to reason through a word problem while making written notation about his line of reasoning. He is modeling what should become the student's thought processes. The goal is conceptual understanding. He is providing scaffolding for the student, so the student will develop the ability and confidence to think through and solve similar problems on the GMAT standardized test. This is a good example of Worked Example Principle 3.



References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Segmenting Principle: Break a Continuous Lesson into Bite-Size Segments

Clark and Mayer (2011) recommend on page 207 and following that complex lessons including multiple major aspects be presented to learners in a logical sequence of segments. This is especially important when designing instruction for learners who are novice in the subject-area. By presenting complex information in a logical sequence of parts, learners are less likely to become confused and frustrated.

 Kahn Academy's course on the Chemistry of Life appears to present the first lesson by breaking down the content into three segments -- Periodic table, Atom, and Element.

Source: Kahn Academy - Chemistry of Life

However, the video presentation of the first lesson is not segmented, but rather proceeds upon a "fabric of instruction" that weaves together the concepts featured in the lesson. Assuming that the learners already have a basic understanding of these concepts, this is not a "bad" or incorrect design. However, I believe that if the intended audience was people for whom these concepts were not already somewhat familiar, a segmented approach to instruction would be more effective.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Personalization Principle #2: Use Effective On-Screen Coaches to Promote Learning

Clark and Mayer (2011) suggest or recommend the use of pedagogical agents in the design and development of online instructional materials (p 193). Their major interest is such agents regards their abilities to employ sound instructional techniques that foster learning.The authors do not address the question of the ages of the learners who may benefit from the use of such agents. Nor do the authors adequately address the necessary nature of interaction of the agent with learners (in my opinion).

Direct link to example above

The example above is from the Oddcast company that sells hosting services for its variety of agents, used for marketing and other purposes. I used one of their agents with some of my adult students years ago. The response of the students was remarkably underwhelming. In fact, no one provided any feedback to me at all. The instructional capacities of my agent, "Alvin" were limited. In the absence of any feedback, and faced with a monthly charge for Oddcast hosting, Alvin was of short duration. My guess is that such instructional resources work better with children, and that unless the programming behind the avatar allows it to provide highly personalized feedback to learners, the novelty does not last long. I believe that the demonstration above is an adequate example of the use of an avatar for marketing or instructional purposes.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Personalization Principle #1: Use Conversational Rather than Formal Style

Clark and Mayer (2011) recommend a personalized style of speaking or writing that addresses learners in the second person. They refer to this as Personalization Principle 1: Use Conversational Rather then Formal Style. In this Coursera MOOC titled, "Fixing Healthcare Delivery," Dr. Frederick Southwick addressed learners in the second person and personalizes the course by use of many examples, including his own experiences as a patient.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/fixing-healthcare/

Source: Coursera.com, especially, Fixing Healthcare Delivery course description

Notice that the evidence of the use of Personalization Principle 1 is evident. In the syllabus Dr. Wouthwick address learners as "you." The course begins in week one with the study of the true experiences of a patient named Mary.

On page 184 Clark and Mayer note that, "expressing information in a conversation style can be a way to prime appropriate cognitive processing in the learner." Ideally, the spirit of modern medical care in the United States is that care should be patient-centered. The use of personalization and patient-based examples in the course aligns well with the spirit of patient-centered care.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Coherence Principle #3: Avoid e-Lessons with Extraneous Words

Clark and Mayer (2011) recommend against the inclusion of text (words) beyond what is required to convey necessary information at the intended level of instruction. The addition of interesting but extraneous words may result in poorer learning (p 166). Extraneous words can detract from learning for the same psychological reasons that extraneous sounds and graphics should be avoided (p 168). The issues include relate both to the constraints of human working memory and to the potential to create incorrect or sub-optimal neural connections by triggering tangential existing neural patterns rather than the neural patterns containing the target points of attachment in long-term memory.

Source: https://www.commoncraft.com/video/rss

The screenshot above is from a site intended to teach viewers the value of the use of Commoncraft resources for use by teachers. The instructional video (example) is overly hyperactive in my opinion (but perhaps not by modern practice). The video and the context in which it is displayed is heavy with a lot of textual content that may be relevant to the company trying to sell its product but which is probably extraneous to most people viewing the presentation. The presentation contains a lot of text and so a lot of rapid animation that serves to overload at least my working memory.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Coherence Principle 2: Avoid e-Lessons with Extraneous Graphics

Clark and Mayer (2011) recommend against the inclusion of pictures in instructional multimedia that do not directly relate to instructional content. They report that extraneous pictures can interfere with the learner's attempts to make sense of the material presented (p 159). They report that extraneous pictures (an their text captions) interfere with earning because they become sources of distraction, disruption and seduction (p 161). By seduction they mean that the pictures can trigger existing knowledge tending to create incorrect neural associations between the new material and existing knowledge. Clark and Mayer recommend that when graphics are used that the graphics be simple so as to not overload working memory.

Source: Understanding Exposure, 3rd edition by Bryan Peterson

I would argue that while instructional multimedia about learning to produce photographs for instructional purposes is likely to be full of photographs, the inclusion of many photographs are not likely to be a violation of Coherence Principle 2. So long as a photograph in such a book or online medium is included for the purpose of illustration rather than decoration, it is a needed design element. Brian Peterson's books available at Amazon.com and other book sellers.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Peterson, B. (2010). Understanding Exposure, 3rd ed: How to shoot great photographs with any camera. New York: Amphoto Books.

Coherence Principle 1: Avoid e-Lessons with Extraneous Audio

Clark and Mayer (2011) advise teachers not to include unnecessary audio (including music) in instructional multimedia. They reason that background music and souncs may overload working memory (p 154). The authors point out that there is arousal theory which predicts that students will learn more from multimedia that includes interesting sounds and music (p 156). But according to the authors cognitive theory of multimedia learning indicates otherwise.



Link to video titled, The Best Prezi Presentation Ever!

The Prezi presentation above titled, "The Best Prezi Presentation Ever!" is not. It may have been designed to pacify the hyperactive mind. It includes music with lyrics that do not correspond with any of the other media coming at the viewer rapidly. I think the fact that it contains lyrics makes it all the more likely to overload working memory. Several of the comments posted below the presentation on YouTube commend the music. But based on research reported by Clark and Mayer it is likely that viewers retain less of the intended content because of the presence of the music. If the purpose of instructional content is to get lesson content through working memory and to anchor that new content in long-term memory, music and lyrics are more likely to clog up working memory than to facilitate learning.

Reference

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

The Redundancy Principle

The Redundancy Principle is similar to the Modality Principle except it states that delivering the same words using both audio narration and screen text at the same time is redundant (Clark & Mayer, 2011). "People learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics, narration and on-screen text." (Faculty Center for Learning Development) 

I think this video regarding a MOOC offered by Coursera does not violate the Redundancy Principle because what the instructor is saying (through audio narration in the video) is not replicated as words on the screen. However, the video is embedded on a page with A LOT of text on the screen that competes for the users attention while the video plays on the page. Although the words are not redundant, I believe the viewer may be overwhelmed with words unless he or she uses the feature to enlarge the video to full screen while watching the video.This example does meet the principle because the words on the screen are not the same words spoken in the video.

References

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Faculty Center for Learning Developoment (no date). University of Hartford. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
https://www.hartford.edu/academics/faculty/fcld/data/documentation/technology/presentation/powerpoint/12_principles_multimedia.pdf

The Modality Principle

According to Clark and Mayer (2011, p 199-122) when many words are being presented with relatively complex visual displays it is better that the words be spoken rather than written so as to leverage both visual and audio human processing, especially if the visual is an animation or video. 

The following dynamic explanation of a computer simulation of knowledge throughput in a work team that I created has an audio explanation that can be heard while the running simulation can be viewed by learners. This is an example of an application of the Modality Principle.The learners' visual attention is directed toward the running simulation while they listen to an audio explanation of what they are seeing.

Reference

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Contiguity Principle 2 (temporal contiguity)

According to Clark and Mayer (2011, p 102) Contiguity Principle # 2 is that spoken words should be synchronized with corresponding graphics.In other words, spoken words (audio media) should be contiguous in time with visual images. When spoken words and pictures are integrated people can make meaningful connections between them in working memory (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p 105).

The following slide is part of a (silent) Slideshare presentation available on the Web.

The purpose of the Slideshare presentation represented above is to teach how to integrate an existing audio file into a Slideshare presentation. The odd thing is that the presentation does not include audio, the very feature it intends to teach. While the example above fails to incorporate Contiguity Principle #2 it does present a development tool intended to be used to implement Contiguity Principle #2.

Reference

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

The Contiguity Principle 1 (spacial contiguity)

According to Clark and Mayer (2011, p 93) the Contiguity Principle #1 is to place printed words near to corresponding graphics.

In my opinion, the following part of a Rubbermaid product description illustrates both the application and the violation of the Contiguity Principle #1.

The source of the image above is is part of the description of a deluxe kitchen drainer offered for sale by the Rubbermaid Corporation.

This example demonstrates the application of Contiguity Principle #1 in that the words, "SHOP NOW" appear in immediate proximity to the image of a shopping cart.

This example demonstrates a violation of continuity Principle #1 in that the explanation of "Microban" appears at a substantial distance from the image representing the Microban feature.

Reference

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

The Multimedia Principle

According to Clark and Mayer (2011, pp 80-83) the multimedia principle is that it is generally better that words (written or spoken) be accompanied with images (pictures or video). The combination of words and images is especially useful when the learners are relatively new to the material. Learners who already have substantial knowledge in the subject area may be able to learn effectively from either words or images alone.

Here is an example of the Multimedia Principle, derived from an explanation of how to assemble a closet kit that can be purchased from the Rubbermaid corporation.

The example above demonstrates an application of the Multimedia Principle. Users have the benefit of both words and images.

Reference

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

The immediate purpose of this blog regard requirements in the course titled Multimedia Design Journal (MEDT 7468). Our studies include principles of instructional design included in one of our textbooks (Clark & Mayer, 2011). As a student I will make at least twenty celign-related posts here as follows.

1. Multimedia Principle
2. Contiguity Principle #1
3. Contiguity Principle #2
4. Modality Principle
5. Redundancy Principle
6. Coherence Principle #1
7. Coherence Principle #2
8. Coherence Principle #3
9. Personalization Principle #1
10. Personalization Principle #2
11. Personalization Principle #3
12. Segmenting Principle
13. Worked Example Principle #1
14. Worked Example Principle #2
15. Practice Principle #1
16. Practice Principle #2
17. Learner Control Principle (choice of 1)
18. Learner Control Principle (choice of another)
19. Thinking Skills Principle (choice of 1)
20. Games and Simulations Principle

The posts here are likely to be similar to the posts available in Dr. Huett's eds blog.

Dr. Huett' eds blog

For each of my assignment posts here I intend to create a screenshot of the principle in action, a descriptive URL where the example originated, a brief definition of what the principle is, and an explanation of how the example does or does not meet the principle.

Reference

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven Guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.