Category: edci335

What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?

The following video is a computer technology medium that requires interaction with learning materials. The primary interaction in this case is video-student through technology-based instruction. The video describes the clinical presentation of Parkinson’s disease which students can utilize to facilitate “reflective” interaction or if the video was to be used for an assessed response or in our case an interactive learning resource, it would be an “observable” interaction.

In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?

In the clinical presentation above, there is no activity accompanied with it. So this means that the student interacting with the video is left to interpret the meaning and purpose of the video in the specific course they are in (Bates, 2019). Since the clinical presentation is very dense in information, the student can solidify their learning by keeping notes or even following with an iteration of the diagram shown in the video. Additionally, there are many terms included in the clinical presentation. To increase memory retention of Parkinson’s disease, students can also create a meaningful activity by creating flashcards to retain their learning.

What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

With this specific video of Parkinson’s I would highly recommend students to utilize flashcards. Flashcards are a great way to develop information retrieval skills and enhance memory. The benefits of using flashcards is that it enables students to use an effective self-testing approach that results in long term retrieval of information through spaced-out practice (Using Flashcards | Academic Gains Through Improved Learning Effectiveness (AGILE) | University of Southern Maine, n.d.). To effectively implement the use of flashcards, I recommend using an online flashcard application such as Quizlet. Quizlet allows students to become comfortable with flashcards and even has its own self-testing feature after students become comfortable with flashcard repetition.

How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

Since Quizlet is an application that provides instant feedback, students would need to master the subject through various repetition of the material. Once they are comfortable with their level of knowledge, a Google quiz can be taken to test their level of knowledge. After completion of the quiz, students can receive their grade instantly.

How much work for you would that activity cause? Would the work be both manageable and worthwhile? Could the activity be scaled for larger numbers of students?

Creating both a Google quiz and a Quizlet set will require a bit of work on the side of the educator as they will have to focus on making sure to create questions for the Google quiz that does not directly copy from the Quizlet questions. The work in creating this activity will be manageable but will require some thinking when separating the questions from both quizzes. Additionally, the Google quiz questions must incorporate questions that enable the student to use critical thinking. This activity is effective for teaching the disease as it can reach a larger scale of students.

References

Bates, A. W. (2019, October 10). 9.6 Interaction – Teaching in a Digital Age – Second Edition. Pressbooks. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/

Using Flashcards | Academic Gains through Improved Learning Effectiveness (AGILE) | University of Southern Maine. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://usm.maine.edu/agile/using-flashcards

Interactive Learning Resource Inclusion & Adaptability

For our interactive learning resource, we will implement an inclusive learning design and follow universal design principles. As each student has different needs, our lesson plan will account for these specific needs to ensure that our lesson plan caters to all types of learners. Our first step to creating an inclusive lesson plan will consider all the different needs of each student. This step is crucial in determining how we want to structure our lesson plan to cater to all student needs. To identify student needs, we will need to break it down into chunks and first identify additional educational resources, student disabilities, and the student’s ability to comprehend the topic to ensure that the topic is easy to understand for each student. Once we have identified the needs of students, we will focus on identifying learning barriers and setting up accommodations for students. Below is a table of barriers adapted from (Science in School, 2022).

Accommodating the barriers above will help achieve an inclusive lesson plan and accommodate various students with different needs. Utilizing the first two points of the accommodation chart for our weekly quizzes benefit students and make them feel more comfortable in understanding and demonstrating the topic. Additionally, if students feel more comfortable in other ways of demonstrating their learning, we will adjust learning activities to best suit their needs.

Universal Design For Learning Guidelines

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines will be essential for our lesson plan; utilizing these guidelines will optimize our lesson plan and improve student learning. Moreover, implementing these guidelines is an effective method to enhance learning as it is scientifically based on how humans learn and intake information (UDL: The UDL Guidelines, 2022). Below are the three main principles of UDL that we will be implementing into our interactive learning resource.

References

Science in School. (2022, August 30). Inclusive lesson plans using the NinU grid –. https://www.scienceinschool.org/article/2022/inclusive-lesson-plans/

UDL: The UDL Guidelines. (2022, September 2). https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method which makes learning interactive and engaging. In a PBL environment, students actively explore and investigate complex questions, problems, or challenges over an extended period (What Is PBL? n.d.). The result of a PBL environment assists in developing essential skills such as critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Most importantly, PBL allows for maximum creativity, which is vital in encouraging participation.

PBL compared with common Projects

Compared with other learning approaches in terms of projects, PBL has distinguishable characteristics that set it apart from project-based approaches. In typical project-based approaches, a project is fun and creative. However, some limitations disallow the student to achieve maximum participation fully. Regular projects allow for little collaboration and are essentially a recollection of ideas learned from a teacher. Compared with Project Based Learning, the unit that is taught is not delivered in a formal instructional method but instead has instruction integrated into the project. PBL focuses heavily on collaboration and allows students to visualize their impact on projects which results in an impactful experience and deeply engages students ((“Doing a Project” Vs. Project Based Learning, n.d.).

Project Based Learning and the Topic of Parkinson’s Disease

Since project-based learning is primarily project-oriented, it is challenging to implement a project-based learning approach with Parkinson’s Disease. Although PBL is not entirely compatible with concept-based teaching, the engaging nature of PBL can achieve the capability to demonstrate what is learned. However, without applying what is learned in PBL, the application of PBL is ineffective with Parkinson’s Disease. Topics highly compatible with PBL would be app development, blog posts sharing learning outcomes, and interactive infographics. PBL is essential in teaching effective communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, which are beneficial components in social learning and interaction. As for the concept of Parkinson’s disease, a direct instructional method would be highly effective for teaching it as a topic.

References

“Doing a Project” vs. Project Based Learning. (n.d.). PBLWorks. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.pblworks.org/doing-project-vs-project-based-learning

What is PBL? (n.d.). PBLWorks. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl

Learning Theories and Utilization

Learning theories are effective strategies that can be utilized in different contexts and environments. As someone who constantly seeks new strategies to learn, I have utilized specific learning theories and applied each method to its respective approach.

Finding a good study habit was one of my most difficult challenges when learning. As someone who was easily distracted, I needed to create effective habits that required positive reinforcement so that I could be motivated to study. To overcome this challenge, I developed a behavioural learning strategy with a reward system for every positive outcome during my study sessions. I started by narrowing down the different rewards I could give myself for each positive outcome. As a student who spent a lot of time in front of a screen, I decided that my reward would be a certain value of screen time (TV episode, YouTube video, etc…). To effectively initiate this behavioural strategy, I asked my parents to be involved in observing my study habits and make sure that I am free from any distractions. My final behavioural strategy was that I would reward myself with screentime currency for every good studying outcome. Once the screentime currency was used up, I would have to earn it all back by studying again. This strategy is still effective to this day due to its behavioural approach.

Learning Experiences

My learning experiences in high school and university have been a mix of both great and not-so-great. There were classes that I enjoyed but were ruined by teaching approaches, but there were also classes that I despised and ended up enjoying. My most positive learning experience would have to be when I was taught Calculus I in my first year of university. I was not too fond of Calculus or math in general, but my professor made the course engaging by constantly reassuring me that students can succeed. This positive outlook throughout the course made Calculus enjoyable and motivated me to learn. My professor also utilized a constructivist approach and encouraged group learning during class, leading to a more concise understanding of information learned and increased retention of learned knowledge. Ultimately the positive reassurance led to an increase in self-confidence which was a major factor for success in the course.