I got to admit that these e-learning subjects are thought-provoking yet very time consuming. It has been a great semester learning about these new technologies in which i wasn’t familar with before – things like webinars, podcasts, etc.
I think I have gained a lot of knowledge in regards to these web 2.0 tools and will hopefully be utlising them since I am now aware of them; if not definitely in the near future.
Thank you to ABB for accommodating our needs and ensuring that our learning experience is a valuable one.
Also, a shoutout to Brett Lyon, our project manager from DoCS. Its been great hearing your stories and thank you for the input and ideas that you provided to assist in creating the storyboard.
Colour is the first thing we register when we are assessing something. Colour is one of the most effective tools that can be used to make an impact. Psychologists have suggested that colour impression can account for 60% of the acceptance or rejection of any product or service.
Colours to convey the following are:
Agression – red
Friendly – yellow
Solid – blue
Weak – grey
Serious – orange
Depressed – violet
Colours that might work when designing the following -
When considering Visual Design, it is important to consider 3 aspects which is displayed below in the image.
The three elements are discusssed below:
Brand
It is important to create the lasting look and feel of a page. This usually involves the use of colour, shape, type, texture, space, images and logos.
Layout
Layout and hierarchy rely on the user seeing patterns in the design and giving them meaning. This involves the organisation of elements on the page, the use of balance, proportion, hierarchy and emphasis
Controls
The functional elements of the graphical user interface (buttons, icons, windows etc) needed for interaction between humans and technology.
A storyboard is a plan for teaching and learning activities. It can be a combination of outlines and visual sketches (e.g., flowcharts) that map out the contents or sequence of ideas (Klaus, 2002).
Storyboards are graphic organizers which show the scenes in a multimedia project in a rough drawing form. A storyboard will help you visualize how the content chunks relate to each other and will help to shape the direction of your efforts as you create your project. With a storyboard, you are able to map out your original ideas for communication to your viewers. Evaluating the storyboard will allow you to make adjustments during the early formative stage while revisions are still quite simple to do.
How to create your storyboard:
Storyboards take many different forms. A simple storyboard may be a flowchart, a table, an outline while a more complicated storyboard for multimedia development may include a detailed description of the visual elements such as text, graphics, video and animation (Orr, Golas, & Yao, 1993). It will also include the sequence and what will occur simultaneously.
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Developing a storyboard has proven to be a difficult task. I have been trying to create a storyboard based on the Cultural Awareness Training Course for DoCs. To be honest, I don’t even know where to start. I have jotted some notes down on with pen and paper – been trying to link everything up so that it makes sense and flows.
Its just complex and setting the structure of the storyboard according to learning theories is just mind-boggling!!
I hope I can work my way through this ..
References:
Klaus, N. 2002, What is a Storyboard? Retrieved May 14, 2008, http://www.montanatales.org/tools/Tutorials/Storytelling/ What_is_a_Storyboard.doc.
Orr, K.L., Golas, K.C.& Yao, K. 1993, Storyboard Development for Interactive Multimedia Training, Retrieved May 14, 2008, http://www.tss.swri.edu/pub/pdf/1993ITSEC_STORY.pdf.
Multimedia is simply multiple forms of media integrated together. Media can be text, graphics, audio, animation, video, data.
Multimedia has many advantages and disadvantages -
Advantages:
engage students and provide valuable learning opportunities
multi-sensory
rentention and application of knowledge
control over pacing and sequencing of information
Disadvantages:
does not provide feed back (one way communication)
may be complex for people who are not familar with using computer technologies
Now in multimedia in today’s e-learning content – graphics illustrate each term, audio demonstrates the correct pronunciation, animations allow visualization of different parts of each whole, and video shows everyday use. “Learners can make use of electronic flashcards and download print resources for help with studying. The classroom-based course allowed for live interaction. The old computerbased training provided flexibility for training” (Shank, 2005).
References:
Shank, P., 2005, “The Value of Multimedia in Learning”, Adobe Systems Incorporated, USA.
I was very intrigued to find that World Youth Day 2008 was embracing telecommunications as a means of communicating with one another.There is a dedicated online social networking site called XT3 (Christ for the 3rd Millenium) that will connect attendees during the festivities throughout WYD08 and help them stay in touch when they return to their home countries. It is the first time that the online social networking site has been embraced by the Catholic Church. It will help those youths who have met for the first time, struck up friends and interest, will allow them to stay in contact with one another.Pope Benedict XVI will also interact with the young individuals through text messaging – daily inspirational text messages. I found a video where Cardinal George Pell talks about embracing these new technologies —
Another social networking site developed for WYD08 is FaithTrip. It has been constructed as a long-term communications strategy to service the communication needs of the Church community online. The concept is similar to Facebook and MySpace, launched in response to a recommendation from Australia’s episcopal conference to use new technologies to better serve the faithful.It has been developed by Church Resources, a purchasing organisation for Church and nonprofit groups. The site brings the characteristics of online networking to the life and ministry of the Catholic Church, as well as offering the global faith-based community a chance to share their worlds via a one-stop location. It offers personalized blogs, links, community forums, unique videos, music, events, wikis, thoughts, news and more. FaithTrip can also act as an educational instrument for faith-based academic institutions.I think its a great idea that there is an emphasis on these new web 2.0 technologies. This is definitely a prime example that web 2.0 tools will be embraced by many in many years to come .. as it provides such a beneficial means of communicating and collaborating as a whole. Its great to see that WYD08 want to create a unique experience by using new ways to connect with today’s tech-savvy youths.
The constructivist approach is based on the following principles –
Focus on learning through posing problems, exploring possible answers, and developing products and presentations
Pursue global goals that specify general abilities such as problem-solving and research skills
Stress more group work than individualized work
Emphasise alternative learning and assessment methods; exploration of open-ended questions and scenarios, doing research and developing products, assessment by portfolios, performance checklists
You can apply constructivist learning principles in an e-Learning environment through:
Collaborative Learning
Webinars –the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience can respond over their own telephones that you can use for things like meetings or presentations. You can use WebEx that has been developed to bring people together from around the world to collaborate and work collectively on creative ideas and business.
Wikispaces — allows students to post their work so that teachers and classmates can correct, improve, and discuss their work. It also has discussion page so that you can easily converse with one another.
Humanism concentrates on experiential learning and the assumption that the individual is ever seeking greater personal adequacy, self-esteem and self-actualisation.
In an e-learning context the effect the Humanist Approach would mean that you would need to create a positive classroom environment that will enable an individual to boost their self-esteem.
Principles emphasised by Humanist theory:
People learn by relating the world to their previous experience – they learn by doing
Learners are able to readily access information that have are familiar with several times through the uses of wikispaces, UTSOnline, etc.
People learn in a free environment that permits and encourages development of potential, self-expression and self-determination
In an e-learning context; learners are able to access information from different locations and any time most convenient to them. The learn is also able to work in a free environment through social networking tools, blogs and vodcasts through customisations of profiles, layouts, texts, that encourgage self-expression.
This flexibility gives the learner to work at their own pace so they can develop their own learning experiences whenever and wherever they want.
People learn co-operatively, which includes constructive feedback in a non-competitive environment
Tools such as wikispaces offers a discussion page which allows group members to provide feedback to each other and collaborate ideas as well on their individual page.
Another example is the comments function on weblogs which allows individuals to provide feedback and/or criticism to one another that can potentially enhance the learning experiences of one-self
The learning that has most meaning for people is that which is constructed by individuals out of their experience
learners can blog about anything they want through weblogs sites that enable you to create an account.
When we apply a cognitive approach to learning and teaching, we focus on the understanding of information and concepts. If we are able to understand the connections between concepts, break down information and rebuild with logical connections, then our rention of material and understanding will increase.
Meaningfulness and insight in e-Learning contexts means that memory is an important component of this theory. Much of the material learned is very dependent on whether the individual is able to recall the knowledge and the overall motivation of the learner will be determine through how effectively the information is retained or processed.
Dr. Stanton Wortham states that if you want to help people learn, you have to help them build new concepts, new theories of the world. In order to help them do that, you’ve got to set up a context where they run into something they haven’t seen quite that way before, and you have to encourage them to think about it in a new way. It is important not to force someone into something they are not familiar with as the learner is actively trying to make sense of the worlds. The learner is actively trying different ways of imagining what might happen in the given context so its vital to build understanding through encouragement and motivation.
Advance organisers are an ideal method that allows the learner to recall and transfer prior knowledge to the new information being presented. In essence, the advance organiser is a brief speech presented by the teacher before presenting the new material, to introduce the new lesson/class that encourages the transfer and application of old knowledge, into new meaningful knowledge.
References:
Special Program for Learning 2007 Participants 2007, PodCast: Part 2 – Cognitivism by Stanton Wortham, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, Pennsylvania.
The Behaviourist’s theory is another attempt to explain human personality. The effects of generalising in an e-learning context means that a controlled environment needs to be set so that learners are aware of what is required of them. Teachers look at being able to shape behaviour based on environment learners are learning in. This can be done using some repetition, small, concrete, progressively sequenced tasks and positive and negative reinforcement.
Students work for things that bring them positive feelings, and for approval. They change behaviours to satisfy the desires they have learned to value.
