October 17

Week 4 – Paas et al (2003) Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments

Monday 17/10/16 class.  To read article and blog.

Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments (2003) by Paas, Renkl & Sweller.

This journal article was an interesting read, however, it was hard to read through in one sitting.  The terminology used throughout this article, was very difficult to understand and keep in my head, in my working memory, to be able to continue reading through the rest of the article.

As mentioned in the article (& in my notes below), working memory can only process 2 or 3 elements, but ironically this made it difficult for me to keep reading the article; as the combination of terminology used and the depth of the information given, made it very difficult to process what I had read and was to continue to read.

The article’s text consisted of no paragraphs, which made the text seem really dense overall.  If the text had included paragraphs and use of a larger text font, then I feel it would have assisted my reading.

So far, I have read it over a period of three sittings, but wiould need to try again to read through the rest of the article.

 

Paas et al discuss Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), it’s origination, cognitive processes and framework.  Cognition can vary between individuals, as not everyone thinks and processes information in the same way.  The process ‘varies on many dimensions,’ for example a ‘continuum from low to high in element interactivity’ (Paas et al, 2003:1).

Element Interactivity –

  1. Intrinsic Cognitive Load – Information being learned by element interactivity and the demands on working memory.
  2. Working Memory – All cognitive processing, but limited to 2 or 3 interacting elements.
  3. Long-Term Memory – Enables the expansion of the working memory and processing ability.
  4. Schemas – Cognitive constructs, ‘consisting of multiple elements of information into a single element with a specific function’ (Paas et al, 2003:2).  Able to switch between long-term memory and working memory.

Extraneous or Ineffective Cognitive Load – ‘Unneccessary load that interferes with schema aquisition and automation’ (Paas et al, 2003:2).  Working memory can be used for activities that can be considered ‘irrelevant for schema aquisition and automation’ (Paas et al, 2003:2).

 

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Paas, F., Renkl, A., & Sweller, J. (2003) Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments.  Available at: https://moodle.roehampton.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/370378/mod_resource/content/1/Cognitive_load_theory_and_instructional.pdf  (Accessed: 17/10/16).

October 17

Week 3 – Learning From E-Courses

Monday 17/10/16 class.  Introduction to Scratch.

This was the first time I have used Scratch.  This introduction has been quite fun, however I did find that the given instructions were difficult to follow, as they were instructions for the previous version.

Being honest, completing this task did make me feel out of my comfort zone, even though I am digitally literate.  When I reached a point of confusion, I was able to problem solve with two other students in my class and my housemate that is studying a computing PGCE, who also teaches Scratch to his students.

Below, I have included pictures of each stage of the game creation process.

Scratch Website:  https://scratch.mit.edu/

 

Stage 1:  Shows the left and right motion settings of the Witch, set to speed 5; and the setting for the Witch to bounce when it touches the side of the stage backdrop.

e-learning-scratch-1

Stage 2:  Shows the looped control settings, for the Witch to randomly hide (between 2-5 seconds) and re-appear a random time later (between 3-5 seconds).

e-learning-scratch-2

Stage 3:  Shows the event setting, for when the Witch is clicked with the mouse, it will hide and play a fairydust sound.

e-learning-scratch-3

Stage 4:  Shows the added setting for when the Witch is clicked, the gamer will gain 1 point to their score.

whack-a-witch-4

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Stage 5:  Making it more complicated, I have added 2 more Witches, each a different size.

This 2nd Witch is set at speed 8, and gives 5 points per mouse click, as it is the smallest Witch.

whack-a-witch-5

whack-a-witch-9

Stage 6:  This 3rd Witch is set at speed 6, and gives 2 points per mouse click.  This Witch is medium sized.

whack-a-witch-6

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Stage 7:  Shows the Stage setting, which sets the variable for a set time of 30 seconds, to gain as many points as possible.

whack-a-witch-7

whack-a-witch-11

 

The finished game can be accessed here:    https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/126057391/

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October 11

Week 2 – Kahoot Mini Game

90s

Guess The 90s Image

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/0d5c62b5-965d-45e1-bf0d-805790787814

Pin:  735850

 

This week I unfortunately had to miss the class session, as I was unwell.  Luckily, I was able to meet-up with a class friend and she filled me in about what I had missed.  Following my friends instructions, I created this Kahoot quiz.

As I had missed the class session, I was a little unsure about what I should be including in the quiz but after a little research on google, I gathered some inspiration.

This was my first time using Kahoot and it was not like my original thought of what I thought it would be like.  I found it easy to use and simplistic to build.  The quiz provided a clear and friendly user interface.

 

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UPDATE: 18/04/17

Having created the Kahoot quiz for the session 4 e-resource, I experienced difficulties in sharing the quiz to the e-resources blog page.  I came back to this blog post, to remind myself how I was able to share this first quiz.  Looking back at the quiz on the kahoot page, I realised that the pin did not work and changed each time I logged in.  Having asked my class friend and lecturer, I have since resolved this issue.

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September 27

Week 1 – What is E-Learning?

27/9/16

E-learning enables us to ‘obtain and deliver knowledge anytime anywhere’ (Horton, 2000:6).

Technology has advanced so quickly, which has enabled e-learning to be incorporated into our daily lives, such as education, home, work and is accessible anytime and anywhere (Welsh et al, 2003).  Most people have mobile phones and tablets, among other technological devices, even televisions incorporate e-learning.

Children that are currently in education have been growing up with access to advanced technology and can appear to be more tech-literate than their parents and other relatives.

I remember my childhood when I only had four television channels; then we got our first computer (when you had to connect to dial-up to get online); then a little later we got a 5th television channel.  At age 16 I got my first mobile phone, which was originally my mothers, passed down from my father and my brother; prior to this, I had a BT phonecard that had about 12 digits to remember, to make a phone call using a public telephone box.

I feel that I had the best childhood and I would not change it; however, comparing it to today’s childhood, there are so many differences, which have mostly been due to technological advances.

Having studied ICT GNVQ and ICT AVCE in college, and having originally studied an engineering degree at Portsmouth University where some assignments were about building websites through coding rather than visually building it; I feel that I am very technologically literate and able, however, this is my first time writing a blog and using wordpress.

As this is my first time in the blog world, I have to be honest…it feels very daunting to write and reflect but not get to continue redrafting what I have written before I submit this assignment in May.  As I am applying for teacher training for a Sept 2017 start, I am extremely focused on achieving high grades this year as I need to achieve a 2:1.  However, having written this post, I now feel more confident in just going for it and writing what I feel is right at the time, as well as being interactively reflective .

I feel that e-learning is now very much at the forefront of our lives and very strongly influential in education.  I am very much looking forward to advancing my knowledge and understanding in this e-learning module; through interacting with different types of e-learning, multimedia principles, and developing a different appreciation of e-learning, for future advances, future generations and future implementation into my own classroom.

 

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Horton, W. (2000) Designing Web-based Training. New York: John Wiley and sons.

Welsh, E.T., Wanberg, C.R., Brown, K.G., & Simmering, M.J. (2003) E-learning: emerging uses, empirical results and future directions. International Journal of Training and Development. 7(4) pp.245-258. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-3736.2003.00184.x (Accessed: 26/09/16).