Month: October 2022

Interaction in the classroom is so important for a students learning, and being forced to go online during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging, atleast for some people. I like being in a physical classroom where I can talk in small groups with peers and complete creative activities together. Being alone in a room, just having a computer in front of me and trying to follow along online discussions and watching recorded lectures were just not the same. An example of interaction from my highschool days would be an activity from a psychology class. The room was divided into four sections (Agree, somewhat agree, disagree, somewhat disagree) and the whole class would break out in to each section depending on the controversial statement they would provide on the board. We would then have a debate/discussion about why we choose the section we were in. It was interesting to hear different opinions and views.

For my groups project, we are teaching first year University students the functions of the four brain lobes. I found this video on Youtube that gives a great explanation and visual to teach people where each part of the brain is located and what they do by using your hands as a model.

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

This video does a great job at getting people to follow along and use their hands to represent a brain, I especially liked how it explains/ demonstrates that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa. I like how the only tools you need to follow the video are your hands. “Some media are inherently ‘active’ in that they ‘push’ learners to respond” (Bates, 2019).

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?

If we were to use this in our lesson I would encourage students to follow along, and after learning each part of the brain, they would have to turn to a peer/ or find a family member/friend if they are taking the class online, and show them what they have learnt while explaining the functions of the lobes. Students could also make a short video of themselves recreating the video, forming a brain with there hands and explaining each function of the four lobes.

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?

I think the activity I suggested would be easy enough to complete/manage for small or large groups. Learners could find a partner to share their new knowledge with or the class could be split in to small groups of 3-5 and each student would demonstate what they learnt from the video, or what stood out to them most. I also feel like the activity would be something a student could do anywhere, and show to anyone to further their understanding. I also think do a phydical activity like this is would be more interesting and fun then just doing something like “fill in the blanks” on a diagram, or just writing it down.

How could the video have been designed to generate more or better activity from viewers or students?

I think the video does a great job at engaging people to follow along. A suggestion would be to have a count down, or a short timer for people to have time to form their hands in the right position, or even have a timer to explain the functions of the lobes to the student next to them. Or perhaps have a small quiz at the end of the video or throughout. The person speaking could ask the viewers/students to show the “Temporal lobe” with their hands, suring a 5 second timer, and then the speaker would reveal the correct answer/form.

References:

Bates, T. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age-Second Edition. Chapter 9: Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model. Retrieved from: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/ 

Blog Post #3:

This week, we learned about universal design for learning and inclusive learning design. I was interested in the readings’ contents since I’ve always believed that the educational system, especially high school, is catered to a particular personality and learning style. Not having adequate pictures to aid my understanding, I tried to follow instructions that made no sense to me. I always felt like a failure and insufficient if I was unable to study a new subject using the materials that were made available to me.

There was a video of the “selective attention test” that I watched as I read the inclusive design part. A gorilla walked through this crowd of people while I was ordered to observe and count how many times the individuals wearing white t-shirts passed the ball. It was interesting to observe that I was quickly sidetracked from the subject at hand, and this has frequently happened to me throughout my academic career. This part of the reading helped me understand the value of attention and engagement when creating a learning design and the need to support realistic work durations for people who are easily distracted.

The contrast between equity and equality really stood out to me. Even though I’d seen it before a long time ago, when I started to think about the educational system, it made more sense to me today. It demonstrates to us that because each person is unique and has distinct requirements, we cannot all be given the same things. UDL aims to do away with obstacles to learning right away. A sort of support for developing the abilities and knowledge a learner may already possess or is attempting to acquire is scaffolding. It is applied till the student is more assured. A clear vocabulary and definition list or step-by-step instructions are two examples of a scaffold.

Video for better understanding:

The interactive learning resource for my group will be delivered through a website and will be centred on the four distinct lobes of the human brain. We selected a website because it is accessible from a variety of electronic devices. We will strive to include several pictures, videos, and clear definitions throughout the learning activities we plan to provide in order to guarantee that it is inclusive for all learners. We’ll make sure the content and all the exercises are simple to understand. The student may complete the readings and exercises in any sequence and at any time. Along the process, there will be brief tests to keep the learner interested and inspired to put their new skills to use. The content we produce will be a combination of written, audio, and visual elements that may be accessed using a screen reader if they wish. Since we’ve chosen that our learners won’t have any prior understanding of our subject, we’ll give straightforward introductions to each of the four lobes.

References:

Universal design. (2022). https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/universal-design/

Inclusive design. (2022). https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/inclusive-learning-design/

AHEAD. What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL)? (2022). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGQ_7K35ysA