Jackson Howatt EDCI 335

Blog Post #4 – Interaction

I like the fact that you include peer feedback and discussion in your activity. I think that stimulating learner/learner interactions allows students to improve their cognitive processing by viewing a multitude of perceptions, different communication techniques and analysis. I also really enjoyed the video you selected. I think it will be effective in getting students to apply and practice using the resource as it provides step-by-step demonstrations on how to use HTML. Moreover, the clear demonstrations will provide students with a resource to refer back to for clarification and to resolidify concepts.  

Post #3: Inclusive Design

Your post on inclusive design was extremely eye-opening and forced me to reconsider how certain design aspects may lead to exclusivity. For instance, your take on the possible exclusion of internet-based instruction was accurate, as we often overlook the cost barrier that this may present to specific students. As a result, I agree that creating a mixture of delivery methods for content is important. I also found your take on the barriers of self-directed learning to be very insightful. I agree that it’s essential to provide learners with the opportunity to employ their own cognitive processing strategies, but in a way that also supports those who may not be able to do so 100 per cent of the time.

Inclusive Design

I recently finished a class in econometrics, which includes a significant amount of coding work. While working through the content, I never considered how difficult it would be without the colour-coordinated commands. I believe most coding platforms include the option to adjust your coding colours and shading to make it visually suited for the individual. For instance, the option to make it grayscale, as you mentioned, would definitely help those with colour impairment engage without missing a step. 

Instruction Methods

I really enjoyed your take on the importance of the presence of an educator through direct instruction. I agree that students can easily get off track and misinterpret assignments without it. Moreover, your take made me reflect on the effectiveness of some of my economics classes that shifted to a more inquiry-based approach. It made it more complicated to link and engage difficult concepts in my learning process. However, on the flip side, direct learning often strips students of the ability to be active in their own cognitive processing. More specifically, students cannot structure their learning in a way that works best for them. Ultimately, like any learning design, there are inevitably pros and cons. From what I can see, you have aimed to address direct learning’s possible cons by encouraging students to create and individually explore within your learning resource.  

Learning Design II

I really liked the fact that you acknowledge the limitations of direct instruction (creativity and independent thinking). Like all learning designs, there are flaws and addressing them ensures that we utilize the different designs in the proper setting to maximize the learning of the student. Furthermore, I agree that your chosen topic, “How to Succeed in University”, is a fluid concept that will be emphasized heavily based on the individual’s learning process (more inquiry-based approach). The reason being is that university consists of different programs, schedules and difficulty levels, so the tips provided from direct instruction can only guide you so far.  

Post 1

I really enjoyed reading about your experience with your costume design class’s use of constructivist learning. With my Economics degree, I found that a lot of the course work and material was structured on eliciting responses through recognition of patterns and concepts. However, we were rarely encouraged to engage with the material using our creativity and previous experience. Therefore, I can only imagine how inspiring and motivating it must have been for you to have more scope and freedom to engage with your theatre design course in a way that you felt best fit your style and learning. You also mentioned that the teacher would provide constructive feedback on your work, and it got me wondering how she would do this given the range of freedom you had to engage with the material? 

Post #1: : Learning Theory – Behavioralist, cognitivist, or constructivist?

I agree with your conclusion that it is ok to integrate multiple learning styles within your teaching. I think there is often an emphasis on stimulating higher-order thinking and cognitive processing through constructivism’s application and reflection-based learning. However, this does not mean that every learning outcome can and should be achieved using that strategy. Math, as you noted, is a perfect example of how behaviourism can be highly effective in aiding students learning. For instance, math’s focus on pattern recognition coincides nicely with behaviourism’s goal of eliciting responses through recognition of a specific stimulus. 

Link to video resource:

The video I selected was on the non-verbal techniques used to deliver an effective public speech. This coincides with my group’s selected learning resource, “How to design and deliver an effective presentation”, as public speaking is one of the significant components of effective presentations. 

Prompt one 

The video engages a learner-material interaction as it does not require teachers and students to coordinate throughout its content delivery. Furthermore, the video focuses on a more user-generated interaction. It does so by encouraging learners to deeply reflect on the material rather than pushing them towards a response or the need to complete a specific task before moving to further stages of the video. 

Prompt three

After watching the video, the students will have a firm grasp on four essential body language tips for public speakers:

• Have your palms open.
• Keep your body open.
• Know your stage.
• Don’t touch the podium.

In order to apply their newly learned knowledge, students will comment and reflect on why these tips are essential to the success of a speaker. In doing so, learners will reinforce the concepts and help build cognitive links to aid in future applications and information organization. This activity will take place on a blog-based app called Padlet, in which students can add posts to a prompt that is viewable by both the teacher and other students.     

Prompt four

The activity from prompt three will be purely based on formative assessment. More specifically, students will use a proficiency scale (emerging, developing, applying and extending) from which they will access their engagement and grasp on the material. The students’ self-reflection will then help teachers enhance and improve the design of the activity as well as get an understanding of the learner’s position to help better supplement their learning. The medium students will use to assess their engagement will be a shared google doc of the proficiency scale that they can duplicate and share with the teacher.

Prompt seven 

I believe the video addresses many potential barriers for learners as it allows students to move through the material at their own pace by pausing the video or rewatching excerpts. Furthermore, the video was developed by a professional public speaker, so he speaks clearly, enunciates, and uses pauses, so the material is easy to understand. In addition, the video provides captions, so ELL and hard-of-hearing students can follow the video better. However, one way to further supplement inclusivity with the video is to use Spechtexter, which transfers the speech from the video to a text script, allowing learners to have the information compiled in a more concrete and viewable manner.  

I chose to do my peer review on Brain Breaks

Hello Brain Breaks group! 

I found your slide three, “know, wonder, learn chart”, to be very effective in following your constructivist approach by stimulating the learner to incorporate pre-existing knowledge into their mental processing of the learning resource. However, when working through slide three, I also noticed that a brief description was provided for what the learner was supposed to include for “know” and “wonder”; however, for “learn”, it seems to me that it is missing a descriptor? Considering that your learning context is geared towards a younger audience (elementary and middle school) that may require more direction, it might be good to include information on how and when students should engage with the “learn” column. 

     On another note, I really liked the placement of the response activity on slide six. Through my schooling experience, I have found that activities and applications usually begin once all the material is provided. However, I find your use and placement ensures that students are reinforcing and solidifying ideas when they are still fresh in their minds and before they have experienced too much of an overload of information. One thing you might want to consider to help make slide six even more effective is using a form of media that has higher ease of use than email (possibly a link to Padlet?). The reason is that elementary students most likely don’t have email addresses, which may create more barriers and challenges for younger students to effectively and smoothly engage with this part of the activity.

     Furthermore, I like how you guys included lots of reflection and application in the lesson. I think it’s a critical component of your second selected learning theory (cognitivism) as it helps learners process how they will organize, store and retrieve the information for future use. However, it looks like all the reflection and applications will be done individually? I think our working memory is very limited, and constant individual-based work may cause cognitive overload (“What impact,” 2022). Therefore, including some group activities may better help students transfer the lesson material to long-term memory through its sharing of perspectives, thought processes, and enhanced communication (“What impact,” 2022).  

     Overall I was incredibly impressed with the effort that went into developing this learning resource. Your detail and coverage of the material are extensive, allowing the students to build a firm grasp on the desired learning outcomes. Furthermore, you presented the information in an inspiring way that encouraged the learner to be a more active participant in their learning process. My mom is a middle school teacher, and your work is something I would gladly pass along to her – with your permission, of course! 

Citations 

InnerDrive Ltd. (2022, March 3). What impact does group work have on cognitive load? Inner Drive. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/impact-of-group-work-on-cognitive-load

Post Idea #1

Choose one of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers for students’ success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?

My group’s learning resource, “how to design and deliver an effective presentation”, can be broken up into three primary learning activities: formatting, presentation script, and public speaking. For the public speaking component, learners will receive a list of verbal and physical techniques that correlate with effective public speaking. Then, sequentially, students will apply the material from the checklist to an in-person presentation for the class. Following the presentation, the teacher will evaluate the student’s ability to integrate the public speaking techniques into their presentation. 

At first glance, this task seems relatively straightforward; however, many barriers within the activity may present challenges for students with different learning styles. For instance, the in-person presentation could inhibit the ability of those with hearing impairments to follow along with content and identify uses of critical learning techniques such as enunciating, emphasizing key points, and uses of silence. 

     Another Barrier to success could stem from the learning activities assessment plan, which focuses on content knowledge through teacher evaluation (“UDL,” n.d.). This method by itself leads to less support for learner variability, as engagement, self-reflection, and progression are not factored into the learner’s experience within the activity (“UDL,” n.d.).

     To mitigate these barriers, our learning resource’s public speaking activity must follow a structure founded on a universal design for learning (UDL). UDL is a concept developed to encourage educators to maximize learning by focusing on exclusive design flaws rather than the potential limitations of the individual learners. UDL is achieved by emphasizing three principles: providing multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement (“Overview,” n.d.).  

     By factoring in the principle of multiple means of representation, we can resolve the barriers resulting from in-person presentations. More specifically, we can do so by allowing students to present in different ways, including video-recorded presentations through Flipgrid. In doing so, learners with language barriers or hearing impairments can engage more efficiently with the presentations through Flipgrid’s speech-to-text feature. In addition, learners who move at a slower pace or suffer from in-class distraction can engage with the material in a setting and timeframe that better suits them. 

     By considering the principle of multiple means of action and expression, the barriers perpetuated through single assessment learning plans will be removed. We will accomplish this in our public speaking activity by implementing more formative assessments such as progress checks after learning the public speaking techniques, self-reflection, and peer feedback/reviews on Flipgrid presentations. By implementing these changes, the overall learner inclusivity will increase as students’ engagement and expression will be open to differentiation (“Overview,” n.d.).  

Citations 

Overview of 3 UDL principles. Durham College . (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2022, from https://durhamcollege.ca/ctl/teaching/planning-to-teach/udl/3-udl-principles/ 

UDL tips for assessment. Cast . (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.cast.org/binaries/content/assets/common/publications/downloads/cast-udltipsforassessment-20200920-a11y.pdf

Cooperative learning 

Cooperative learning (CL) uses small cohorts/groups to encourage students to work through tasks together to enhance their learning and the learning of the students around them (Johnson & Johnson, 2018). CL challenges students to grow through high levels of autonomy, its promotion of personal responsibility and the group-to-individual transfer of learning through the advancement of social relationships (“Five Characteristics,” n.d). More specifically, CL is comprised of five essential characteristics that serve as a structural guideline for educators who choose to implement this method of learning:

1. Positive interdependence 

• Positive interdependence is the primary component of CL, as students must believe and perceive that there is value in working together, more specifically, that their individual learning and working product cannot succeed without the group’s collaboration (Laal, 2013). 

2.  Individually accountable

• Individually accountable is an essential structural component of CL as it helps combat the free-rider effect and social loafing within the cohort/groups (Laal et al., 2013). Individual accountability through CL is maintained by assessing the performance of each individual in the group and then providing the results as feedback to the group and the individual (Laal et al., 2013). As a result, there is an enhanced promotion of equity and insurance that students who need more aid and assistance are identified. 

3. Promotive interaction 

• Promotive interaction encourages group members to support, assist and motivate each other. In doing so, further cognitive processing is stimulated, including how to constructively provide feedback on group members idea’s, use of verbal skills to communicate ideas, and connection of individual learning towards a common goal (Johnson & Johnson, 2018).     

4. Social skills

• CL requires students to enhance and develop a deep understanding of interpersonal skills for the group to function effectively and efficiently. Some of which include leadership skills, conflict-management skills, and decision-making strategies (Johnson & Johnson, 2018).

5. Group processing 

• The final structural component of CL is group processing, which is an opportunity for students to examine and review the effectiveness of the individual member’s actions and group strategies used throughout the work process (Johnson et al., n.d). In doing so, students can reflect on what tools and strategies should be used in the group’s future endeavours. 

CL aligns very well with our Interactive Learning resource (How to design and deliver an effective presentation). Our group has stressed the importance of formative assessment through peer reviews as a critical tool in the learner’s development and success. With CL, learners will be getting a more constant inflow of peer feedback through the enhanced encouragement of positive interdependence, individual accountability, and promotive interaction that comes from group work. Furthermore, because our interactive learning resource has significant potential for future application, the added value of the structural component of CL, group processing, helps ensure learners have a more concrete understanding of the strategies and skills they should carry forward.  

Citations

Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (2018). Cooperative learning: The foundation for active learning. IntechOpen. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/63639 

Five Characteristics Of Cooperative Learning. IPL . (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://www.ipl.org/essay/Five-Characteristics-Of-Cooperative-Learning-PKWUPW7EAJF6

Laal, M. (2013). Positive interdependence in collaborative learning. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813035039#:~:text=Positive%20interdependence%20is%20the%20belief,they%20are%20done%20in%20collaboration. 

Laal, M., Geranpaye, L., & Daemi, M. (2013). Individual accountability in collaborative learning. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813032941#:~:text=Individual%20accountability%20occurs%20when%20the,assistance%20and%20support%20in%20learning. Johnson, D., Johnson, R., Stanne, M., & Garibaldi, A. (n.d.). Impact of group processing on achievement in cooperative groups. The Journal of social psychology. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28135508/#:~:text=Group%20processing%20may%20be%20defined,actions%20to%20continue%20or%20change.

Blog Prompt 1: Describe an example from your life of when you were taught using each method described in this article: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.

Behaviourism Example  

When I played basketball in high school, my coach implemented a behaviourism learning design method within the early stages of training camp. More specifically, he would use environmental stimuli such as drills and rotational walk-throughs to elicit basic skills. In addition, he would condition and strengthen the connection between the stimuli and skills through reinforcement/consequences. For example, if at any point during a drill you didn’t have your hands up and active, the whole team would have to run suicides. 

 Utilizing behaviourism during the initial stages of our team development facilitated the automatic performance of essential skills, which allowed the team to focus on high-level skills such as problem-solving when faced with new defensive schemes, and inference generating when anticipating player movement.

Cognitivism Example 

Last semester in my economics of firm strategy class, we were challenged throughout the semester to link our class learnings with a company of our choosing. At the end of the week, our class would meet and demonstrate our ability to transfer/apply our knowledge within the different settings of our individually selected firms. Through the process of sharing, we were able to view how other students conceptualized the material as well as how they organized and received it (Ertmer & Newby, 1970). As a result, we could better reflect on our learning process and develop new strategies to engage with the material efficiently. Moreover, the process of weekly sharing also helped the professor make adjustments to instructional explanations, demonstrations and illustrations based on the success with which students were able to form connections (Ertmer & Newby, 1970).    

Constructivism Example 

In the first year of my undergraduate degree, I took a sociology class in which my professor taught using a constructivist learning approach. He did so by never mapping out a blueprint for which skills needed to be learned or interpreted. Instead, my professor encouraged us to think with the “sociological state of mind,” which meant not viewing course material as black or white but rather through the shades of grey. By utilizing this style of thinking, we as learners could develop our own interpretations and build on our individual experiences and interactions when working with the class material and real-world concepts. This allowed us to take more control of our learning and discover the strategies that better increase our engagement and motivation levels (Ertmer & Newby, 1970). 

Citations

Ertmer, P., & Newby, T. (1970, January 1). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism. Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. Retrieved May 16, 2022, from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism