EDCI 335: Learning Design for Technology-Mediated Environments

In this week’s blog post, I will be critiquing the Alzheimers Society YouTube on “What is Alzheimer’s disease”. I will be discussing how the video fits interaction and technological design principles, and suggesting ways to improve engagement. Please see the following link to the video below!

Alzheimers Society. (2017). What is Alzheimer’s disease? Retrieved from YouTube.

What activity could you suggest that they do after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

After watching this video I suggest students should take a test addressing the various key points discussed in this video. This is because the content covered in this video covers the philological effects and treatment options of Alzheimer’s disease. This would be information that students would take notes on while watching. Since it is hard to demonstrate within a role-play or interactive activity (as are dealing with physiological brain alterations) a test would best ensure students have an adequate understanding of the material addressed.

Coming from a science background, most assessments on learning comprehension were tests. In some cases, sometimes I found tests to be a bit redundant and repetitive- especially when they are all one question type. To help keep the assessment more dynamic for students, I would like to include a variety of question types, such as multiple-choice, true or false, and fill-in-the-blank. This will help to ensure students are engaged throughout the process.

A test would help students develop their critical thinking and active recall skills. This is because- the student will have to manipulate and apply their knowledge to the answers available to come to the correct conclusion. Additionally, students must actively recall/remember the information studied and apply it to the answers available.

I suggest this test be taken online on Google Forms.

How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

The online quiz I suggested for the video above will be taken via Google Forms. Students will get feedback on their answers as Google Forms allows users to view the question they got correct/ incorrect after the quiz has been submitted. I always found instant feedback helpful as a student, because you could review your mistakes right there and then. Rather than coming back to it, a few days/ weeks later when the knowledge is less fresh in your head. Also, Google Forms has the option for students to re-take and view their answers after submitting. This allows them to review their mistakes and see the topics they are struggling with- and rewatch the video/ask questions to help better their understanding of the material and do better next attempt.

How much work for you would that activity cause? Would the work be both manageable and worthwhile? Could the activity be scaled for larger numbers of students?

This activity would not cause that much work as a teacher. The most time-consuming portion would be developing questions that accurately test and apply the knowledge gained from the video. This is because as a teacher it is important to gauge the material and learning outcome from an activity to ensure students are meeting the learning desired requirements. I have used Google Forms in the past. It is a very user-friendly and simple platform- entering the material into the site itself would not be that much work.

This activity could reach a large scale of students. Only the YouTube video and quiz link are needed for students to complete the task.

How could the video have been designed to generate more or better activity from viewers or students?

The video moves the completed topic very quickly. So giving an overview brief summary of the key points and topics covered will aid students. As a student, I find this helpful as it prepares me for the important to come and ensures I have not missed any key ideas. Additionally, having time stamps for each topic covered- would help students easily rewatch the points they missed or need more clarification on. Rather than scrolling and trying to find the exact second they missed- which can be quite frustrating.

Next, the subtitles have a few mistakes. This makes it difficult for those who are hearing impaired or working in loud environments to follow the video along. Fixing these little mistakes would greatly improve the experience for non-audio users.

Choose one (or more) of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers to student success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?

One of our learning activities for our final project on Alzeminers includes a role-play activity where students are assigned the role of a doctor, nurse, patient and family member of a person with Alzheimer’s. The student has to research what the disease is like from their perspective from provided educational videos and readings. After the role-play activity students will come together in their small groups, to write a paper making suggestions to the Ministry of Health- to assist those impacted Alzheimer’s disease.

In order to ensure this experience is inclusive for all- the provided videos should include accurate subtitles. This will assist students with hearing impairment or who are working in loud environments- as they will be able to read the audio to follow along with the resource, rather than fully relying on the audio description. Moreover, the subtitles will be reviewed and corrected to ensure they are accurate. In some cases, subtitles can have errors, in translation- which can be confusing for the reader- especially if they are not relying on the audio description whatsoever. Therefore, ensuring the subtitles provided are correct is critical for the student’s experience.

Next, the reading materials involved in the research/role-play activity should be available beforehand for students to review before/after class. This will assist students with reading impairments such as dyslexia. Reading large bodies of material on tight deadlines can be challenging for all. So providing the options to review the material before/ after class to help those who need special accommodations will create a less stressful learning environment. This will ensure that students with dyslexia or other reading impairments have a fair opportunity to review and understand the material- rather than focus their energy on keeping up with others.

Finally, to make the group paper portion more accessible- students will be given class time to work on it and have the option to hand in a written copy as well as digital. Arranging a time to work on group projects can be difficult, especially for students who work or have other responsibilities outside of class. Therefore, providing some class time to work together can assist students in at least starting a baseline for their report. This can help take some pressure off the assignment and give students a head start on writing! Furthermore, giving students the option to hand in a written rather than a digital copy of the report- can assist those who do not have access to a computer/ digital device. Typically students have access to some digital device or computer, however, that is not always the case. Thus, having the option to hand in a written report can accommodate students who don’t have access to the internet or digital devices at home.

In this blog post, I will give an overview of the research I gathered on inquiry-based design and explain how it is/is not applied to my group’s learning blueprint on Alzheimer’s disease.

Inquiry-based design

Inquiry-based design is a learning approach that encourages students to acquire knowledge to feed their interests on a topic (Queen’s University, 2024). This is a highly individualist learning approach- where the student takes charge of their education, rather than relying on their teacher to guide them through a lesson. In inquiry-based design, students can ask questions about the given material and its gaps, research to gather information to help them address their questions, evaluate their corresponding resources, and synthesise their knowledge (Lee et al. 2004). Inquiry-based design is non-linear and ever-changing. Learning outcomes and material can be adjusted depending on the direction the student’s research takes and their given findings. Based on my past educational experience with inquiry-based design- you definitely get what you put out. For example, the more research a student puts in or the can and effort put into asking/answering meaningful questions to determine that learning will achieved from their studies.

My experience with inquiry-based learning

Coming from a science background, inquiry-based design was something that was used a lot specifically in lab settings. In the previous animal behaviour class I took our final research project was to observe an animal species- choosing and describing the meaning of their movement patterns. This required inquiry-based learning design because we as a group had to research our specific animal species and narrow down the movement patterns we were interested in and wanted to study. Next, we had to spend hours observing the animals and recording when and what provoked certain movements. The more observations and knowledge we gain about the animals the more our research questions switch directions and evolve. Finally, we had to present our ideas and findings, using critical thinking skills to justify our results. Thus, not only does inquiry-based design teach students information research skills, but it always facilitates other important life skills such as; critical thinking, time management, and self-reflection (Queen’s University, 2024).

How inquiry-based design aligns with our blueprint

For our blueprint, my group chose to design a course teaching the basics of Alzehimers to university-aged students. In my opinion, I think that inquiry-based design principles are not very applicable to our lesson. This is because, in our course, we as teachers are very specific about our learning outcomes and the learning activities designed and are very tailored and specific to meet these needs. Therefore, there is little room for creative freedom and self-directed study. For instance, one of the learning and associated activities is to effectively understand/identify the brain regions affected by Alzheimer’s disease. With this specific example, students do not have much room to explore their personal interests on the subject- rather just stick to the material and answer the questions at hand.

References

Lee, V. S., Greene, D. B., Odom, J., Schechter, E., & Slatta, R. W. (2004). What is inquiry guided learning. In V. S. Lee (Ed.), Teaching and learning through inquiry: A guidebook for institutions and instructors (pp. 3-15). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Queen’s Univeristy (2024). Inquiry-Based Learning. Queen’s University: Center for Teaching and Learning. https://www.queensu.ca/ctl/resources/instructional-strategies/inquiry-based-learning