Samchy\’s World Of E-Learning

As outlined in out activity guide these are the seven principles of multimedia design

• Multimedia principle: Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
• Spatial Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.
• Temporal Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.
• Coherence Principle: Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.
• Modality Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.
• Redundancy Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text.

Based on these seven principles our university course, the BA in organisational learning, focuses predominantly on the principles of Human Resource Development. Because a lot of the learning revolves around theory based work i feel that it would be highly beneficial if a multimedia entity was designed to deliver a large proportion of the course. At current there is a  minimal use of multimedia  (through MS powerpoint) however i feel that there is not enough emphasis on the narration of text. For example, in our second year studies – one of topics of study was analysing the operations of the adult brain. The reader that we had to read was exceptionally thick not to mention BORING. I feel that if there was a presentation designed with a Narrator and lots of diagrams and picture i would have been engaged more as opposed to yawning and sleeping on my book.

In addition, a lot of powerpoints that we are presented has an insane amount of text on the screen. when this happens not only does it completely draws our attention to the bird outside the window but it also distracts our learning process when there is a picture or diagram on the screen. (it is sooo hard to try and focus on a digram and a text at the same time)

here try it

This is a water cycle below as you are probably all aware of, now imagine trying to read what i am typing right now while trying to soak in the process and diagram below, knowing that the presenter is going to change slides any minute now! you have another 5 seconds before the slide changes…stop… now!

That was pretty lame, but as you can see i was merely trying to demonstrate just how much people disregard this basic principle.

Defining multimedia use to be as simple as naming the media types that allow it to happen i.e. the intergration of text, audio or visual elements into one final entity (back in my high school days anyway). I remember my first interaction of a multimedia program was “Hyperstudio” back in primary school.
However, as the years progressed and as technology developed the word multimedia became harder to define. Essentially the main concept is there – multimedia is the digital integration of various media types. However as we see the dominant emergence of Web 2.0 there became a change in the structure and style of multimedia products.

traditionally multimedia was just a combination of images to combine one moving animation (to me that was already amazing). However the level of interactivity in multimedia has increased, we now have Mass Multiplayer Online (MMO) games such as WoW, that incorporates high levels of multimedia and online virtual worlds such as Second Life, where users basically get to control a character and decide on where to go in their multimedia enriched virtual world.

Some issues with current multimedia is that as technologies increase people are beginning to focus more of the graphical aspect of learning which can sometimes deter the learner from engaging in efficient learning processes e.g. too much funky animation on a page.
If i was asked to give my own official definition of multimedia it would simply be this. The electronic phenomena of integrated media types that is has taken over the internet, computers and even technology worldwide.

I have literally sat on this computer for about 15 mins reading through the various types of e-learning technologies that we have touched upon (M-learning, webinars, social networking, Podcasting, Vodcasting, Virtual Worlds, Wikis) and thinking about WHICH learning theory would be suitable for which technology. Up until now i still can’t come up with an answer that i think sounds “correct” in my opinion.

i believe that all e-learning technologies with the exception of vodcasting, podcasting and M-learning can incorporate Bandura’s social learning theory, humanist, constructivist and cognitive learning approaches. This does however, depend on what content is being learnt.

Podcasting, Vodcasting and M-learning in my opinion incorporates a mixture of both cognitive and constructivist learning approaches,minus the ability to facilitate collaborative learning, unless however podcasting and Vodcasting were used within a facilitated classroom.

At the end of the day designers need to consider the learners and the content that they are trying to teach before finalising any decisions. It is highly important that they ensure they do not incorporate an inappropriate learning approach for a particular technology. For example, the behaviorist approach with Vodcasting would be frustrating for learners as in most cases they would not be able to be provided with immediate feedback (positive or negative)  which ultimately hampers their learning process.

The social learning theory is essentially based on learning through our own experiences and expectations (observational learning).

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory could be applicable within an e-learning context if they follow the four principles of:

1. Attention
2. Retention
3. Reproduction
4. Reinforcement 

A demonstration of the skill or concept that teachers want students to learn would be needed. Learners would also need to be able to practise these skills and receive timely feedback from teachers. As this learning theory is based on a learners experience and expectations designers of e-learning courses need to ensure that learners will have a positive experience when learning the content. Group discussion pages, Webinars and Virtual worlds would be ideal technologies to facilitate this type of learning as they allow immediate feedback to be provided and create a platform for teachers to demonstrate what they want to learners to learn.

Bandura empasises the importance of observing and modeling – his 2 key elements for learning are: experience and expectations

§         Experience enables us to learn the consequences of our actions

§         Expectations are formed by our experiences

Four processes underlie this type of observational learning:

1.       Attention: focus on the features of behaviour to be modeled

2.       Retention: how well the behaviour is remembered

3.       Reproduction: observed behaviour must be turned into action, practice and feedback

4.       Reinforcement: to motivate learners to reproduce and perform the behaviours

The constructivist approach is essentially based on the following principles:

• Emphasis 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 individualised work
• Emphasise alternative learning and assessment methods; exploration of open-ended questions and scenarios, doing research and developing products, assessment by portfolios, performance checklist

How could one apply these learning principles in an e-learning network? – I have come up with the following ideas.

Because the constructivist approach is essentially focused on group work and problem solving – e-learning tools such as Second life and Webinars (Webconferencing) and even online chat would be great tools as groups can get together to discuss particular issues and also engage in certain activities as well. With second life you are able to replicate specific real life scenarios which would facilitate the exploration of open ended ideas.

The Humanist Approach looks at the development of the self and being able to keep motivated through high self esteem. As mentioned in our activity guide Humanists emphaise the individuals innate need to achieve personal worth, dignity and creativity and believe a better society will evolve by nurturing these qualities.

In an e-learning context the effect the Humanist Approach would have is that designers of learning courses over the virtual and web-based world would need to effective and motivating for these types of learners. This can be achieved by facilitating open discussion where learners are able to express their own ideas and concerns as well as providing feedback to let them know if their ideas are valid or correct. By doing this it may assist with these learner types to reach the stage of self actualisation. Open chat discussions like webinars could be used so that immediate feedback and ideas can be provided. allowing learners to pitch ideas can essentially help boost their self esteem – especially if the information they provide are valid and acknowledged by others.

I have recently been studying these two learning technologies and the more i look at them the more i am fascinated at how convenient they are. Clicking around various websites i have noticed that almost any page with audio or video can be RSS’d so to a certain degree – almost any audio or video file on the internet can become a podcast or vodcast even if the publishers have not created a specific newsfeed for the content.

I have also created my first ever content which is available on our e-learning design wikispace (i’m not going to post up a link in case a random is reading this and i don’t want to be embarrassed haha) but i was surprised at just how simple uploading an audio file is. A lot of websites are available which can help accommodate you with uploading the content such as www.ourmedia.org

i’ve also realised that youtube is one massive vodcast central!!!!!!!! Users are able to suscribe to a publishers content using RSS available on the site – so things that interest you such as football – can all be fed to your tool bar if you are interested!

The cognitive approach to learning is based on the re-organisation of experiences into systematic and meaningful patterns that lead to problem-solving and insight. This basically suggests that with the cognitive approach learners can take in a piece of information and make a connection between particular ideas thus allowing them to be creative and problem solve. By making such connections it also creates meaning for the learner i.e. understand what a particular concept is about. Having this sort of cognitive approach towards E-learning is highly important as learners need to understand why these e-learning tools are being utilised and how it is similar to learning within a face-to-face environment. I will draw on the example of Secondlife again, although the tool is highly animated and seems almost like a game if learners understand and create the link that it is a simulation of a real life context they will be able to gain an insight of what is being taught and apply to their day to day lives.

As mentioned in the activity guide, the behaviourist approach to learning is the reinforcement of desired behaviours and is generally demonstrated in the response or behavior of the learner.

Generalising within the E-learning context can have a detrimental effect on how successful the learner can learn. It is important that before any learners begin learning using any e-learning tools they need to erase any negative preconceptions from their mind or else they will not be able to utilise the technology effectively. For example, drawing from a personal experience I was 110% against the use of Second Life. However, after doing a bit of research and realising how companies actually benefit from using such a program i realised that it’s not as bad as first thought.

An aspect of the behaviorist approach also focuses on positive and negative reinforcement. That is creating a positive atmosphere when a certain behavior is desired e.g. dog sits on command – owner pats and says good boy (positive) dog soils the carpet – owner scolds and gives a light smack on the side of dog (negative). It is essentially feedback for the learner to understand what sort of actions or behavior are acceptable

Learning can be defined in so many different ways … so what is learning?

An interesting question as I have frequently come across people always saying “you learn something new everyday” which cannot be more true. In my opinion learning can be as simple as acquiring a new skill or learning something new about another person. There has been numerous times where i have learnt through searching on google or reading a newspaper – e.g. i learn what happened to my favourite sports team on the weekend, i learn how to edit a document through google etc.

I suppose an important aspect of learning should also be about retaining the knowledge that you have just attained. So maybe there is a difference between learning and learning effectively – this sort of links back to LMS and LCMS doesn’t it? with LMS you get smothered with information where as LCMS is selective as to what components you are taught…. I am confusing myself and probably you as well so i will stop it here