Category: edci337–blog

I think that game-based learning is an extremely effective method of education, especially for younger individuals. Elementary school children are known for being able to immerse themselves in game environments because of their vivid imaginations. Being able to immerse themselves in these environments makes the experience natural and I would assume that the learning portion would come seamlessly.

I remember being in elementary school we would play a typing game once a week called “all the right type”. I tried to find the game to play to determine if it was a game-based learning experience or a gamification experience but the software has to be bought. I remember the experience being a genuinely fun one as I would compete with my friends to get a higher score. At no point throughout these sessions would I consider the educational aspect of them. I am curious if other students played All the Right Type or similar games?

This video overviews some of the features of All the Right Type:

Like other concepts covered in this class, dual coding is a theory that I had never heard of before. The notion of the theory is something that I had definitely encountered before but had never put some thought into the ideas behind it.

The concept within dual coding theory that relates to cognitive overload as a result of the same information being taken in visually and verbally was something that I am very interested in testing out. In the “Multimedia Design for Learning- Overview” piece by Howat the narrator states that our brains can be overloaded by reading subtitles of a motion picture as they are being verbally processed by our brains. Is this something that is true for everyone? is reading and verbally processing information at the same time not overwhelming but actually more efficient for some people? these are all questions that arose while listening to this piece.

I have also included my narrated screencast for this week. I chose to do mine on creating an effective main page for your LinkedIn profile.

After reading the augmented reality article by Garzon, Pavon and Baldiris it really got me thinking about the future of education, technology and how we learn. Using computers and online platforms is such a new concept to education and I am wondering what the end results for education will be in the future. Assuming this trend of more digital use in the school environment continues, I wonder what will be the end result of how people learn.

To my understanding, brains are wired to learn in a certain way. My generation grew up in classrooms that involved very few online components. That is what I am used to and learning from strictly online resources for a semester was considerably difficult. For kids going through the primary and secondary education system in today’s environment, the use of online technology must be transitioning to normality. Will there be a noticeable difference in the learning strategies and ability to learn between these two generations?

With the way technology is developing I’m sure these education trends will follow. Augmented Reality (AR) for education is something I had never been aware of before. It seems like a very groundbreaking technology for education as it allows for students to be a part of the experience they are learning about. In the most extreme sense, AR would allow surgeons to practice performing in an emergency room well before they are faced with such a task.

*Also included is my Canva poster

This week’s topic on effective presentations was one that I’m sure all of us can relate to. I find that presentations such as power points can either go the route of being very engaging and interesting or a mind-numbing display of information that is very easy to ignore. With this in mind, I reviewed the methods from David JP Phillips Ted Talk video and attempted to create my best attempt at an engaging powerpoint.

For my first blog post, I decided to incorporate the topic of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) with multimedia learning. More specifically, how multimedia learning and ABA therapy can be used to assist individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This topic is a very interesting parallel that really displays the wide range of benefits that effective multimedia learning material holds.

ASD encompasses a range of developmental disabilities that can cause many challenges behaviorally, socially, and communicatively. ASD proposes academic challenges, so finding modes of teaching that work for each individual is crucial. ABA therapy, as described in the video below, is a technique used for individuals with ASD to learn valuable skills within an appropriate environment. ABA therapy encompasses many multimedia learning practices, as these techniques can be oriented towards any type of learning style. When teaching individuals with ASD, it is important to reduce as many extraneous means to make it easy for the individual to focus solely on the task at hand. Much like multimedia learning, ABA therapy finds using words and graphics in teaching styles much more effective than words or graphics alone.

Overall, in many ways, ABA therapy encompasses many of the principles of multimedia learning. Effective multimedia learning strategies are very relevant to ABA therapy because of the necessity to keep information concise, simple, and engaging for the individual.

Khan, T. M. (2010). The effects of multimedia learning on children with different special education needs. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 4341–4345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.690