Assignment 1 – Blog Posts – Samantha Norrie

In Module 1: How do We Learn? Theories of Multimedia Learning, I had the opportunity to learn about Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and its principles. Mayer’s theory focuses on three main principles: limited capacity, dual coding, and active processing.

In order to ensure that one can successfully learn, it is important to ensure that their cognitive load is not exasperated. There are three primary types of cognitive load: intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load. Intrinsic load is the cognitive load that is needed for learning a new topic. Germane load is the load caused by learning new information. Some germane load is needed when one is learning about a new topic, but too much germane load can lead to negative learning outcomes. Extraneous load is the extra cognitive load caused by disorganisation and poor design.

While some of the principles of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning felt intuitive, I realized that I had misused and not taken full advantage of many. The principle that stuck out to me the most was the Dual Coding Principle. While I knew to use various verbal and visual formats when creating learning material or presentations, I did not know that doing so was effective due due humans using two separate channels for processing information. Going forward, I am going to try to be more aware of the Dual Coding Principle.

I tried to design my screencast presentation with the Dual Coding Principle in mind. The topic of my screencast is learning challenges in first-year Computer Science classes. The target audience of the presentation is educators who are interested in learning more about the Computer Science Education space. No Computer Science knowledge is needed!

I made sure to include helpful images and graphs in my slides to help me communicate my ideas. In the past, I likely would have added images and graphics that repeated points in my script. While my images and graphics were related to what I said in my screencast, I wanted to make sure that they improved my verbal points instead of just repeating them.

I noticed that I was quite apprehensive about adding too many items to my presentation. I worried that adding too many images or words would lead to me creating unnecessary extraneous load. I believe that learning how to balance between not creating extraneous load and including many items in my presentations will take some time. I am looking forward to practicing achieving this balance while completing the upcoming EDCI 337 modules!

Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:

Do you want to be online vs. offline?
Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.

First tasks you might explore with your new blog:

Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing categories or sub-categories). If you would like to add more course categories, please do so (e.g., add EDCI 306A with no space for Music Ed, etc.)
See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the course categories assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
Add pages
Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works)
Under Appearance,
- Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, etc.)
- Customize menus & navigation
- Use widgets to customize blog content and features
Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep for reference)

Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “Multimedia Learning” instead of “edci337).

Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.

Category: Assignment 1 – Blog Posts

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