Haiku Deck

Haiku Project

This week I was asked to do something that is completely contrary to my natural state as an instructor, minimize my use of words within a presentation. Inherently, my natural instinct is to fill the slide with text, but being introduced to the modality principle and cognitive theory of multimedia learning convinced me to drop my defenses and give the idea of “less is more” a try.

Click here to have a view of my Haiku presentation. This program is user friendly and is designed with the minimalist of message in mind.

The Modality principle describes the notion of utilizing audio narration with graphics as opposed to using just text and images alone. The point of this recommendation is to minimize the overload that learners experience by trying to process words and graphics at the same time. Within our reading we are told of two processes of assimilating information, one being visual/pictorial processing and the other being audio/verbal processing, which if attempted to utilize both at the same time may create a cognitive overload that produces a decrease in the learners’ overall ability to retain information. This is an interesting lesson in changing ones approach from thinking that an educator’s point of instruction is to just provide information and it’s the job of the students to learn it, the filling of a empty vessel type of mantra versus the more viable approach of not over-taxing the learner through separate channels of processing and improve the chances of quality knowledge retention.

Project #1: Static Multimedia Instruction

Static Multimedia Project 1

Outline for Project

Title: How to Log in to the American Association of Respiratory Care and Start Using Research Tools

Instructional Objective: After viewing the tutorial the learner will be able to sign on the American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC).

Applying the multimedia principle by using Clarify made for an easy transition instead of utilizing written instruction where the directions possibly confuse the reader.   Never before had I placed so much emphasis on the relationship between images and words in the process of conveying information. It’s true that words are the epitome of thought but the conveying of that thought in an order in which it is assimilated and the utilization can be challenging for learners, especially the novice. The point really being is to afford the learner, being that learners do all acquire knowledge differently, a path that leads them to information that is likely to be understood for cognitive processing.

My particular learners, being introduced to the field of respiratory care, need the most guidance. These neophytes historically have shown difficulties transitioning their tract of thought from standard prerequisite type of classes to the specifics of physiological processes dealing with the lungs. Multimedia principles can be quite useful in this transition. Within my outline and multimedia presentation I wanted to convey a message of confidence, thus selecting graphics and words that would engage the learner to the instructional objective. The presentation has the necessary graphic types from Table 4.1 (Clark, R.C. & Mayer, R.E.) that would illustrate procedural steps that would be “resulting in the completion of a task” (p. 74.). These types of attempts, by using multimedia principals, have been proven to be important learning tools, especially with the novice being that they learned better with the use of text and illustrations, rather than text alone. The combination of choice static images along with text direction is a step that can help make those first initial steps of unknown territory more inviting and more receptive to active learning.

As it is illustrated by my presentation, I feel that the contiguity principle of learning is accomplished. The use of graphics and text are formatted to create a relationship with each other and the attempt was consciously made to avoid violations of this principle. Because the students are going to continuously reference the American Association of Respiratory Care for professional development and as a source of researching evidenced based medicine, this presentation will guide them from the log on process to the advanced search capabilities of the website. This multimedia presentation, no doubt, will be an instrumental tool for their growth throughout the program and given its approach will lessen any stresses about venturing into new territories.

 

References

Clark, R.C., & Mayer, R.E. (2011). e-Learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (3rd ed). San Francisco: Wiley & Sons, Inc