EDTECH-513: Reflection of Learning

The challenge for this class was held within the title, Multimedia, a phrase that I have dearly tried to stay away from for years. I have always had a natural ability for speaking in front of a group and writing without worry, but the thought of utilizing a technological tool would have me running in the opposite direction. No doubt, taking this course I was forced to face my fears but what really made a difference was two things, I can’t possibly be alone and I learned to let go of the technological fear by viewing others’ work. This made a huge difference in my outlook, the simple act at searching the Internet and examples that my classmates shared allowed me to say, “I can do this!” One other note, our text e-Learning and the Science of Instruction spoke to me in a way that alleviated my stress and gave me sound evidence that promoted an inquisitive nature that I sometimes fear.

Being that I feel that Edtech-513 has been one of the best thus far within the MET program, I must say that my artifact on the Modality Principle and applying the Redundancy Principle illuminated me as if I was struck by lightning. The reason for such an impact is that these concepts hit me at my core as an instructor. I have always had a tendency of being “wordy” and this recognition open my eyes to reevaluating many of my presentation slides. Ashamed as I am, because I do come from the land of “more is better” type of thinking, and yet Chapters 6: Applying the Modality Principle and Chapter 7: Applying the Redundancy Principle has opened the door for me to see the errors of my ways. In my quest to teach budding healthcare providers, one would think that I would prepare my lessons with the utmost care to try and minimize the potential for cognitive overloading by learners. What good is attempting to fill an empty vessel with large amounts of knowledge if that vessel develops stress fractures and leaks? The Haiku presentation gave me that chance to use large amounts of knowledge yet with a minimalist approach and improve the learner’s chances of retention.

Throughout this semester I have been constantly challenged and shaken out of my comfort zone. Nonetheless, with the completion of every project, I have found a new way I’m practicing my craft within my classroom. Pressed to choose one, I would have to say that screencasting would benefit me as a teacher and also give me more range in connecting with my learners. The Worked example concept combined with the technique of creating a screencast has opened a new portal that can never close. It is my hope that this tool will help propel a much clearer transfer of information to the students and allow me to be more adventurous when traveling outside my comfort zone.

The following is a view of the course syllabus.

Course Syllabus-Edtech-513

Project #5: Worked Example Screencast

For our last screencast project I wanted to get back to basics and present something that is usable by the learners outside of my classroom. Up until now, my students have only received assistance within the class or after school in tutoring sessions. I never really thought about putting something online until now and after this experience I can see there is no turning back.

Dr. Hall gave us a few examples of the project and one inspired me to parody math examples that deal with caring for ventilator dependent patients, the minute ventilation formula. One thing I have noticed about my learners is when having to calculate formulas along with using the results to apply therapy they seem to be easily confused. In chapter 10: Applying the Segmenting and Pre-training Principles we learned of breaking up complex lessons into smaller parts to allow the learners a deeper cognitive process. By doing this and creating procedural worked examples, it gives a more simple path for the learners to not only follow along step-by-step but also a means of understanding the concept all together.

For my project I used two unfamiliar tools, Screencast-O-Matic to capture the presentation and the software Painters Essential 5 utilized by the Intuos Art pen and touch tablet, thus giving me a crash course in how to use these two. What was most challenging was that the tablet I bought to utilize with the software was designed more of “art” instruction not presentation modes such as “whiteboard.” I will say though even having what looks like the wrong tools I was able to be familiar enough to get it to do what I wanted. Screencasting may be a practice that is not often a part of my repertoire, but one thing is for sure it’s a practice that I no longer have to fear, if anything, it will forever be welcomed.

Project #4: Digital Story

Yosemite- the Making of a Family Tradition from Frederick Reyes on Vimeo.

Designing a digital story sounded intriguing but at the same time the subject matter had me a bit unnerved because I wasn’t sure how I could integrate a short respiratory therapy lesson in such short time. After pondering for some time, I finally decided to get out of my comfort zone and create a personal story of our family vacation spot. In retrospect, I think it would have been easier to create a storyline that was professionally based. The level of difficultly stemmed from the desire to tell a factual story and give it the respect it deserves. Each photo was carefully selected with hundreds, if not thousands, to choose from. In the end, I am quite happy with the finished product, the sound track matches nicely with the narration and the photos flow smoothly to tell more than the spoken word. I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone, it allowed me to appreciate the learning of two new tools, iMovies and GarageBand, but more importantly it gave me an insight to my family history and stories I haven’t heard in a long time or a couple that I had never heard before.