EdTech 513: Project #8: Worked Example Screencast

In order to create this worked example screen cast, I used Camtasia. It worked very well because once I created the PowerPoint, there was an add-in feature available through the program and I was able to record right in PowerPoint! The purpose of this worked example was to teach marketing students how to calculate the costs of a magazine bleed ad. For my worked example, I provided three examples. The first example was completed together, the second was completed through gradual release, and the third required students to do the problem completely on their own. I think it turned out really well!

Some challenges that I faced were the amount of times that I recorded the screen cast to get it just right. Eventually, I ended up writing my presentation script prior to recording, rather than just describing as I went, which worked much better. I enjoyed using Camtasia, but since I used the trial version, the water mark doesn’t look the greatest on my presentation. There are many cool features that could have been added to the presentation, but I chose to keep it simple! See below to view my worked example of how to calculate the costs of a magazine bleed ad!

EdTech 513: Project #6 Digital Story

For this assignment, I decided to teach about an advertising concept through a digital story. The story explains the 4 parts of an ad: headline, copy, illustration, and signature. It defines and explains each part, while providing an example for students to better understand. It includes the Personalization Principle because it is presented in a friendly tone with a fun cartoon character that is explaining the concepts and examples. It also explains the material visually.

I used PowToon to create my story. I have seen some really cool videos with this digital storytelling tool so I thought I would give it a try! It was very frustrating in the beginning. I spent a lot of time playing around with all the features before I got the hang of it. The website was running very slow as well so this was another frustration. Eventually I decided to try it in a different browser (Explorer) and it ended up working a lot better.

An obstacle while creating this project was making sure that my voice narration lined up with the text and graphics that I had entering the screen. It is crazy to me that a 2 minute video took me several hours to create. Overall, I liked PowToon, but think they could update a few things such as being able to group text and graphics. It is also kind of overwhelming the amount of feature that the site offers.

The video that I created isn’t perfect, but it was definitely a learning experience. Now that I have the hang of it, I would probably use PowToon in the future, but I think it would be difficult to teach students how to use. The best thing to do is learn by trial and error, even if it took me way longer than it should have! I ended up adding closed captioning to my video which is something that I have never done in YouTube before. It was very easy to do and I am glad that I will be able to CC videos easily in the future.

EdTech 513: Project #5: Coherence Analysis

“According to the Coherence Principle, you should avoid adding any material that does not support the instructional goal” (Clark & Mayer, 2008, pg. 151). It also suggests that e-lessons should avoid the following:

1. Extraneous audio
2. Extraneous graphics
3. Extraneous words

An example of a successful attempt to apply the Coherence Principle would be to simply have a presentation slide with only what is necessary to teach the instructional goal. This could include a graphic and minimal text such as a headline, or labels of the graphic. An example presentation slide of this is shown below. There is no extraneous audio included and only necessary graphics and text are included. By eliminating extraneous audio, graphics, and words, channels will be able to process and apply what is being taught to the overall instructional goal, in this case learning the 4 parts of an advertising layout.

A bad example of applying the Coherence Principle can be found in Figure 8.2 on page 154 in e-Learning and the Science of Instruction. This is a poor example because it displays information about ammunition, while having background sounds with explosions. This audio is not necessary and is most likely distracting, violating the avoiding extraneous audio rule of this principle.

I have definitely seen this principle be violated and have most likely violated it in my own classroom! An example of a violation is when I had students create a PowerPoint project about themselves. When presenting the PowerPoint, a student used sound effects as the text was entering the slide. The sound they used was a typewriter for each word on the screen. Not only was this distracting to the audience and quite annoying, but it also took away from the oral presentation. In correlation with the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, “background sounds can overload or disrupt the cognitive system, so the narration and the extraneous sounds must compete for limited cognitive resources in the auditory channel” (Clark & Mayer, 2008, pg. 156). This would take away from the overall instructional goal of the presentation.

So far in this course, we have learned about the following multimedia principles:

• Multimedia: Include both words and graphics
• Contiguity: Place words near corresponding graphics
• Modality: Present words as speech rather than on-screen text
• Redundancy: Do not add on-screen text to narrated graphics
• Coherence: Avoid extraneous audio, text, and words

I believe that all of these principles work well with one another and the main goal is to achieve the instructional objective, while minimizing cognitive overload of channels. Learning about these principles has really made me think about past, current, and future presentations that I create. I know that I have violated some, if not all of these principles and in the future I plan to apply each to make my presentations more effective by minimizing the cognitive load for students.

Fundamental theories of psychology come into play when applying the Coherence Principle. By simplifying to only what is necessary to reach the instructional goal, channels will be able to process information more efficiently, allowing information to be better processed in the working memory.

What I like about this principle is that it supports that simplicity is a good thing. Many times as educators, we try to make these elaborate presentations that would actually be more effective if we followed that “less is sometimes better”. By eliminating extraneous audio, graphics, and words, students won’t experience cognitive overload.

Although the findings of this principle are backed up well by research, I appreciate that this textbook notices that there is still work to be done. There are challenges and unknowns about the Coherence Principle. One challenge in particular is determining if this principle applies to high-knowledge learners. “The challenge for instructional professionals is to stimulate interest without adding extraneous material that distracts from the cognitive objective of the lesson (Clark & Mayer, 2008, pg. 173). Further research would need to be completed in order to determine if there are ways to incorporate words/graphics while supporting the instructional goal and promoting interest. Now that I know about this principle, I plan to not only update my own lessons, but also teach these principles to my students for any presentations that they create.

References:

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction, 2nd edition. Pfeiffer: San Francisco, CA.

EdTech 513: Project #4: Prezi

I chose to do Ch. 7: Redundancy Principle as my top for my narrated Prezi. Click the link below to view and listen!

Narrated Prezi

EdTech 513: Project #3: Haiku Deck

I really enjoyed the simplicity and ease of use of Haiku Deck. This site allows you to create PowerPoint-like presentations, but limits your text. My goal was to have as little of text possible on each slide and have the main parts of the presentation be the visuals. Haiku Deck is awesome in that it allows you to search over 40 million images that fit your presentation needs. In addition, if you use the images provided by the site, it cites the photos used for you! How awesome!

For my presentation, I decided to do the basics of the marketing mix, also known as the 4 P’s (product, price, place, and promotion). This concept is the foundation of marketing. When using Haiku Deck, I learned that what I am teaching can easily be expressed in less text and awesome visuals. I love how I was able to keep each slide simple with just a picture and the topic that I was discussing as the title text. The slide notes allow for me to expand on what I would like to teach. This allows for a clean look and delivery of information, without the chaos of an overwhelming slide of text. I think this site would be great for not only teacher presentations, but student presentations as well. Not allowing a lot of text forces users to keep it to only what is absolutely necessary and then expand on each topic as they present. I believe this type of presentation would benefit audience engagement.

I will definitely be looking into using this site again. One disappointment was that you only get a 7 day free trial and then after there is a fee. However, I loved how easy it was to use and how it forced me to simplify my presentation! Click the link below to see my Haiku Deck:

Marketing Mix Haiku Deck

EdTech 513: Project #2: Static Multimedia Instruction

Learning Objectives: After viewing this tutorial, the learner will be able to successfully log in,  access, and save a document to their OneDrive student account.

Students will follow the 8 steps to complete the learning objectives. Please click the document to view the steps and corresponding screen shots.

I absolutely loved using Clarify and I am looking forward to using this tool in the future! I created instructions using screen shots before, but have never used a program that was this easy to use. It has all the tools that I need to screen shot, type steps that go with each picture, draw arrows and add boxes to highlight the part of the picture I am referring to, and so much more! I will be able to create tutorials in half the time it took me in the past. I also passed this tool on to our school’s technology specialist because I was so impressed by its ease of use and features.

The process for creating this tutorial first began by outlining the necessary steps to complete the learning objective. Then, I went through the process myself and took the screen shots along the way. Finally, I added in an additional notes, boxes, and arrows to highlight parts of the pictures that I felt would be beneficial to the learner.

This instructional tutorial demonstrates both the multimedia principle and contiguity principle 1. The multimedia principle recommends that “e-learning courses include words and graphics rather than words alone” (Clark & Mayer, 2008, pg. 70). I definitely agree with this principle as well as contiguity principle 1 that takes it a step further. This principle expresses the “need to coordinate words and graphics” (Clark & Mayer, 2008, pg. 93). In this assignment, this was accomplished by having the instructions in a step by step format right next to the picture of step that it was describing. I believe it is so important for a combination of text and graphics to be used when giving instructions. This gives learners another reference to make sure that they are on the right track. In addition, it saves time by being able to match their screen with the pictures and instructions.

References:

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

EdTech 541: Integrating Technology into Classroom Curriculum

I am so excited to be taking this course! Today, I explored Weebly, and began creating my own web page for this course. I really enjoyed how easy the site was to navigate and all the options that are available. My goal for the next school year is to create a class website. Wix and Weebly will definitely be my top choices as web platforms! Check out my course website here.

As a marketing teacher, I am always looking for new and fun ways to integrate technology into the classroom. Our assignment for this week was to create an I Am poem using the provided format and then add and image that symbolizes us. I liked this assignment a lot and appreciated the freedom to express oneself. It was fun to get to know my classmates by reading their poems as well. This would be a great intro activity for high school students and incorporates technology well. Below is my I Am poem. Looking forward to an awesome semester!

 

EdTech 543: Creating a Positive Learning Environment (curated content)

For this week’s module, we were assigned to pick a topic and use a curating tool to find 25 resources that aligned with our topic. I chose the topic of ways to create a positive learning environment. I used the tool Scoop It and loved it! I had no idea that such amazing tools existed. Before this discovery, I was a person that would  just bookmark resources that I found valuable and then struggle to find it later when I needed it. Those days are long gone and I can now organize everything in one place according to each topic! I am very excited to use this tool again. Click here to view my curated content!

Click to look at my self-assessment using our group’s curation criteria.

EdTech 543: Criteria for Effective Curation

This week our group of Katie, Ben, Jasmine, and myself created an alphabet to describe effective curation (via great idea of Katie!) I thought our group worked very well together. We used email, Facebook messenger, and the Google Doc to communicate with one another. Katie jumped right in, creating the Google Doc and came up with a creative idea of the alphabet to express our criteria. Next, the rest of our group members completed research and added in our contributions. I think our alphabet turned out awesome! I learned a lot about curation in the process and honestly had no idea what it was before this module. Looking forward to working with this PLN in the future!

Criteria for Effective Curation: An Alphabet

EdTech 543: Thoughts on Social Media!

I am very excited about this Social Networking course! I use social media frequently in my personal and professional life. I also teach about it! I am a high school Marketing teacher and we discuss different social media platforms and how companies utilize social media marketing. As technology and social media continue to evolve, it is interesting to me to see how it can have both positive and negative outcomes for companies that have a presence on social media, resulting in a good or bad brand image that can change at any second!

I have used Twitter and Facebook for awhile so I am very comfortable with both platforms. In module one, I learned about something new, TweetDeck, which I think will be quite helpful! I have never used Diigo before and am interested to see what it is all about. I am a quick learner and am ready for the adventure!

As far as professional development, I use social media to search topics that I need help with (classroom management, marketing curriculum ideas, etc.) and have participated in a few discussions such as #edtech chats. The last class that I took, EdTech: 537: Blogging in the Classroom, I used Twitter and Edublogs to communicate with classmates, share and read blog posts, and discover new users to follow that would benefit my curriculum area. I am looking forward to learning how I can utilize social media more professionally.

I use social media (Twitter specifically), frequently as a means of communication with my students. I have a teacher Twitter (@plsgilin) and another Twitter account for our school business club, DECA (@papiosouthdeca). In my advanced marketing course, we have used Facebook to create pages to market products/services, Twitter to create a specific campaign for a company, and LinkedIn to professionally share information. I am looking for ways to effectively use social media more in my regular marketing class for things such as discussions or other unique ideas!

I would like to learn more about how enhance my social media use both personally and professionally and how to incorporate social media more in the classroom. I am very excited form this course and am looking forward to learning about new social media platforms and skills!