Sunday, March 31, 2013

Podcast and Audio files

Podcasting and Audio files are making their way into the learning environment whether it is to teach a second language or catching up on a lecture you have missed. My workplace does not currently use either of the above options but I know many students who rely on them to enhance memory, review material, or learn a subject from the beginning. 

I tried to look for a way to upload an audio file that I have created to this blog. I look up a few different ways on the internet and tried to use this link below. It does not work. 

<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=https://drive.google.com/?tab=lo#folders/0B0oz38HRpFr3aG5BNVNObG1HV2M height="27" width="320"></embed>

I have since uploaded the audio mp3 files to my google drive and I am testing to see if I have enabled the correct settings and if I can successfully create a link in my blog.

Please take a look, I have uploaded files that I have created to help parents learn basic Mandarin or to play for young children. I am still unsure how to change the quality of the audio file and editing, but I used my photo booth and garageband for this experiment.

Chinese Lessons Folder

http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/scutter.pdf


Podcasting as Complement to Graduate Teaching: Does It Accommodate Adult Learning Theories?

Luna, Gaye ; Cullen, Deborah

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2011, Vol.23(1), p.40-47 






Facilitating personal design to appeal to the learner's emotion



Richard E. Mayer suggests that optimal learning occurs when visual and verbal materials are presented purposefully and this is how he defines multimedia instruction (R. E. Mayer, 2009)

After having been through many sessions both as a learner and facilitator, I have noticed that often the materials we use are trying to be too “fun”.  This brings me to think about cognitive overload and how as educators we can be making it more difficult for learners when we think we are showing them something not necessarily linked to the topic at hand.

Another piece of information I found interesting is when educating through the use of multimedia, the effect of using words such as “your” and personalizing the content brings higher retention and level of understanding (R. E. F. Mayer, Sherry ; Farmer, Lindsay ; Campbell, Julie, 2004). Using words catered and involving the leaner may appeal to their emotions and this increases learning outcomes especially if involving positive emotions (Um, 2012).


I believe some learning material in my workplace could be presented and written following the positive emotion principle. Perhaps VLE could be more personalized. If all learning is conducted via multimedia (including web2.0) are there ways of making sure that students who fit within a certain behaviour/profile have access to information designed specifically for them? This is just a thought as this would not be efficient for Instructional Design teams and would require a vast amount of information to be collated before even beginning implementation. 

I as a learner currently have access to Moodle and Blackboard, now that I am used to it these  systems could be the future of managing workplace learning for a specific role and group of employees who have the level of experience. This is a possibility for the workplace but I am sure something similar to wikispaces could benefit creativity, communication and be in a clear format as well to be used as a central learning "hub" of sorts.

Mayer, Richard E. (2009). Multimedia Learning   Retrieved from http://MONASH.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=424624



Friday, March 29, 2013

Cognitive load and Prezi

"Cognitive load theory has been designed to provide guidelines intended to assist in the presentation of information in a manner that encourages learner activities that optimize intellectual performance" (Sweller 1998).

Customer facing staff often do not have the ability to listen to a podcast in a retail branch and studies have shown that pictures can often represent and transfer information to the user in a clearer format (Sweller 1998). When designing training for customer facing staff, the instructional designer needs to the environment of the training taking place. It would not look professional to have staff with headphones on when a customer walks into the retail branch. 

With this in mind, I created a presentation using a tool called Prezi which you can sign up for free with. I found this allowed for creativity and from my point of view more engaging to a learner.  I did find some difficulty initially when learning to use Prezi however did eventually find usage easier after a few tries. I have seen some challenging and engaging Prezi's and would recommend you give this tool a try. Next time I use prezi I would probably consider using Popplet (mind mapping tool online) first so I can make planning easier. 

I believe if there was a way for an organisation to use Prezi officially in the workplace (with policies and procedures in mind) it would be more popular. 

Check out Prezi here.


Sweller, J., Van Merriënboer, J., & Paas, F. (1998). "Cognitive architecture and instructional design". Educational Psychology Review 10 (3): 251–296.doi:10.1023/A:1022193728205

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Journal Content

After attending a multimedia session this past weekend, I have finally decided on what to journal about.

My workplace often conducts week long training for Operation Fundamentals however as as new tellers and start dates vary, many tellers spend 2-3 months learning on the job then attending the workshop. After the Operation Fundamentals workshop was reviewed, Learning & Development decided to shorten the course to a 2 day one instead.

Though I have not seen the new workshop, most likely there are components that have been scaled back and possibly be rolled out via multimedia. If I had the opportunity to be on the Instructional Design team I would consider having short tutorial sessions available and instructional videos that can be accessed through the intranet. After reading "Changing the Face of Instruction: Is Online or In-class More Effective" by Nichols, Shaffer and Shockey, I am not sure what to think of online pre and post assessments as the study showed they were not as well received by the participants.

I have tried making a podcast but do not think this will be effective learning for customer facing staff completing training in retail branches (Boulos 2006). I made it in garage band and when I saved it I found out that I could publish it as a podcast or send it straight to my itunes library which is very useful.





Boulos, Maged, Maramba, Inocencio, & Wheeler, Steve. (2006). Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education. BMC Medical Education, 6(1), 41. 



Nichols, James, Shaffer, Barbara, & Shockey, Karen. (2003). Changing the Face of Instruction: Is Online or In-class More Effective? College & Research Libraries, 64(5), 378-388. 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Knowles video

Since Andragogy was one of the first articles we read about in class I think this video is a good summary of the theory we went through. I find youtube a wonderful resource though not always for academic purposes but there are many entertaining and well designed videos a few clicks away.
I have the results of The Great Debate. I found it very handy that google docs could summarize the answers for me. There seems to be a major love-hate of cats.Thank you all for taking the time to complete the survey. I will leave it as a shared file so it can be added onto.


Which animal do you prefer?
Dogs1067%
Cats533%
Who do you think will win in a fight?
Dogs640%
Cats960%
Which animal is cleaner?
Dogs17%
Cats1493%
Which costs less to keep?
Dogs17%
Cats1493%
Which is cuddlier?
Dogs853%
Cats747%
What would you prefer to be attacked by?
100 Dogs747%
100 Cats853%
Which animal is more annoying?
Dogs853%
Cats747%
What would prefer to wear?
A coat made of shed dog fur747%
A coat made of left over cat fur853%
Which would rule the universe better?
Dogs857%
Cats643%
Other comments
Very sticky questions!!!! Good for thinking critically.Just LOVE cats!!!i had no idea i liked cats so much
Number of daily responses

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Dogs vs. Cats

This week we were challenged to attempt and create something new using a new multimedia tool. 

I gave google docs a try and created a very simple survey.

Please click on the link and test it out for me. 



Sunday, March 3, 2013

"The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire and persistence."

-Milton Glaser

If you like the movie 300 and memes check it out:

http://memegenerator.net/instance/25361450
Today I tried to use Imovie and it took me so long to make my first photostory. I used photos from my recent trip to the States, added text and music to it. Here is the link to the youtube page:

http://youtu.be/8i8GSnliQQM

I was quite surprised how everything came together and I know there is lots of room for improvement. Here is what I would do differently next time to make the presentation better:

-Use a storyboard
-Use clear text
-Have even spacing and color schemes

I am quite happy with my first go and though it took forever and it wouldn't upload to the moodle forum as it exceeded the file size limit and I got a bit frustrated so decided to put it onto youtube instead.

I think this skill will come in handy in the future and there is a lot of space for education over the web as things such as Ted.com, youtube and several other video sharing sites come onboard.