A general overview of the discussion:
We participated in threaded discussions about the importance of visual display, and techniques for communicating content and ideas visually and how we can use effective visual communication techniques to accomplish quite a lot, like to establish relevance and meaning, arouse interest and excitement, convey information about structure and expectations, and so.
We thought about our visual display and communication ideas for our own EdWebs and if we had any a-ha thoughts about how navigation
An excerpt of my most valuable contribution to the discussion:
I kicked off the discussion with posting what my is about, "Many residents and nurses need to rapidly adapt and learn new Information Technology to deliver patient care. This learning curve creates a huge training demand as new clinical applications are implemented frequently and new blocks of residents rotate into and out of the Hospital every month. Having "savvy" nurses who are certified expert users of the applications can help train the residents, and not so computer "savvy" nurses, on how to use the applications to deliver better and safer patient care."
What struck me the most about the readings and was my most valuable contribution was the statistics out of Driscoll that stated 83% learning comes via sight and 11% audio.
An explanation of why I consider it my best contribution:
People in my discussion thread were also stuck by the just how much of our learning comes from sight! I think it gave my fellow discussion partners a concrete idea of just how important a good visual layout can benefit the learning process and how important a good visual layout can determine a learning design's success or its failure, and who wants to spend hundreds of hours building something people can't benefit from anyway!?
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Week 9 Discussion: Attention Getter
A general overview of the discussion:
In week 9 we broke out in groups with each member of the group to post a quote they identified with a significant ideas from the reading. We posted our quote to start a threaded discussion for the rest of the group to discussion the quote in less than 250 words. After everyone in the group participated in the dicussion, the person who posted the quote had the last word in no more than 250 word response about what they are now thinking about the issue and their reaction to what the other people said about the post.
Linda Gillmore quoted a sentence out of our reading, "Gagne (1985) lists grabbing the attention of learners as the first of his nine events of instruction, which he proposed long before e-learning earned its current popularity." It seems that most instructors struggle with daunting task of getting the learners attention in a creative fashion that will motivate the learner to stay engaged in the learning.
Here's my most valuable contribution to the discussion:
Engaging the learner's attention is crucial. In the Marines, the first things we were taught when we delivered classes was to create an "attention getter." The interesting thing was that the "attention getter" didn't have to relate to the topic, it could have been an off topic joke. What was important was grabbing their attention as a means of shifting their focus from "what am I going to make for dinner," to "its time to put everything aside and focus on learning. "
What I discovered was beginning with a topic related story or question was the most effective, I always enjoyed the "attention getter" and was motivated to attend a class just to hear "the getter." It also helps the instructor to shift into the "teaching" mode as well as with bringing their energy level up a notch.
I also think we can think about how our "attention getters" can relate to our Common Instructional Values:
1. Active? engaging, exploratory
2. Supportive? fun
3. Contextual? relevant
4. Social? discourse, discussion
Explanation for why this was my best contribution:
I think tying our discussion in with our Common Instructional Values helps us to reconnect with what we are trying to accomplish with learning in our course. I believe if we can answer yes when connecting to our Common Learning Values the chances are good that we are approaching the learning design in a manner that will lead to successful learning.
In week 9 we broke out in groups with each member of the group to post a quote they identified with a significant ideas from the reading. We posted our quote to start a threaded discussion for the rest of the group to discussion the quote in less than 250 words. After everyone in the group participated in the dicussion, the person who posted the quote had the last word in no more than 250 word response about what they are now thinking about the issue and their reaction to what the other people said about the post.
Linda Gillmore quoted a sentence out of our reading, "Gagne (1985) lists grabbing the attention of learners as the first of his nine events of instruction, which he proposed long before e-learning earned its current popularity." It seems that most instructors struggle with daunting task of getting the learners attention in a creative fashion that will motivate the learner to stay engaged in the learning.
Here's my most valuable contribution to the discussion:
Engaging the learner's attention is crucial. In the Marines, the first things we were taught when we delivered classes was to create an "attention getter." The interesting thing was that the "attention getter" didn't have to relate to the topic, it could have been an off topic joke. What was important was grabbing their attention as a means of shifting their focus from "what am I going to make for dinner," to "its time to put everything aside and focus on learning. "
What I discovered was beginning with a topic related story or question was the most effective, I always enjoyed the "attention getter" and was motivated to attend a class just to hear "the getter." It also helps the instructor to shift into the "teaching" mode as well as with bringing their energy level up a notch.
I also think we can think about how our "attention getters" can relate to our Common Instructional Values:
1. Active? engaging, exploratory
2. Supportive? fun
3. Contextual? relevant
4. Social? discourse, discussion
Explanation for why this was my best contribution:
I think tying our discussion in with our Common Instructional Values helps us to reconnect with what we are trying to accomplish with learning in our course. I believe if we can answer yes when connecting to our Common Learning Values the chances are good that we are approaching the learning design in a manner that will lead to successful learning.
Week 7 Discussion: Why is Informal Learning So Valuable?
Each learning experience I have, whether or not I am a student or a teacher, I am reminded how valuable informal learning really is to the learning process. Just today, I taught a class of nurses how to use a medication administration checking application, where they scan bar codes listed on medications and patient's wrist bands to ensure that the right medication is being given to the right patient at the right time. The trick to training nurses is that they are so hands-on and that they expect their learning experience to be authentic so they can rationalize just how this program will work in real life when dealing with real patients whose lives are in their hands. Time and time again while training in this environment I notice just how much they actually learn from one another, they often share learning experience in off the cuff discussions or side conversations. As a trainer in a hospital I am challenged with either hushing their conversations and request them to plainly follow along with my mouse clicks, but the teacher inside that is actually putting the kibosh on what they value and relate to as learners. So, just how can I include this informal learning into the formal classroom training?
Its important to remember that "we all bring unique experiences into our "formal" learning environments that we likely cultivated in "informal" learning experiences. And, 'that we are' be more motivated by our "informal' learning goals than by our formal learning goals."
In addition, how do we as designers of online learning think about about the relationship of a given course’s design with the learner's informal learning experiences and goals. The five questions and my challenges in the classroom led training got me thinking about how they tie in with our Common Values.
A few weeks back my classmates and I in CU Denver's eLearning Design and Implementation cohort engaged in a discussion on Informal Learning and its relevance in eLearning.
Here's some questions that were asked, I boldeded my responses.
1. What do you often talk about at home or with your friends that you seldom talk about at school (this course) or work?
• Authentic and Real-World! The design should be contextual to the learner.
2. What are topics that you find relevant or valuable that you would like to see addressed in this course?
• Practical and Hands-On? Of course, the design should actively engage the learner.
3. What are some questions that this course should be asking if it were to be realistically related to the life you live? (or want to live?)
• Applicable…yes, the design should definitely be learner-centered to meet the highly motivated learner’s objective.
• 4. If Dave and Joni were to spend time with you outside of class, they might find it interesting that you.......
• Valued and Respected!! Everyone wants to feel valued, the design should be culturally responsive to include social interaction and also be supportive of the learner.
5. Something you definitely think you know more about than Dave and Joni is.......
• Sharing! As a teacher/trainer, I always deepen my knowledge about what I am teaching when I share my knowledge, the design would be enhanced if it included peer teaching/mentoring/coaching and fun…more social instructional values and supportive instructional values.
Why are these questions and the respective answers so important? In relevance to both eLearning and classroom learning the quality of informality brings with it an authentic learning experience that the learners can connect with on a personal level: this is important with retaining what's been taught. Sometimes I feel that my learners are like chatty kids on a playground running amuck, but this time also provides them with invaluable incites that I as a trainer of Information Technology Systems cannot offer. So I let them run for a bit, then gently guide them back into the formal classroom environment and onto another learning objective comfortable knowing that their conversations have provided them with a relavent and memorable learning experience.
Its important to remember that "we all bring unique experiences into our "formal" learning environments that we likely cultivated in "informal" learning experiences. And, 'that we are' be more motivated by our "informal' learning goals than by our formal learning goals."
In addition, how do we as designers of online learning think about about the relationship of a given course’s design with the learner's informal learning experiences and goals. The five questions and my challenges in the classroom led training got me thinking about how they tie in with our Common Values.
A few weeks back my classmates and I in CU Denver's eLearning Design and Implementation cohort engaged in a discussion on Informal Learning and its relevance in eLearning.
Here's some questions that were asked, I boldeded my responses.
1. What do you often talk about at home or with your friends that you seldom talk about at school (this course) or work?
• Authentic and Real-World! The design should be contextual to the learner.
2. What are topics that you find relevant or valuable that you would like to see addressed in this course?
• Practical and Hands-On? Of course, the design should actively engage the learner.
3. What are some questions that this course should be asking if it were to be realistically related to the life you live? (or want to live?)
• Applicable…yes, the design should definitely be learner-centered to meet the highly motivated learner’s objective.
• 4. If Dave and Joni were to spend time with you outside of class, they might find it interesting that you.......
• Valued and Respected!! Everyone wants to feel valued, the design should be culturally responsive to include social interaction and also be supportive of the learner.
5. Something you definitely think you know more about than Dave and Joni is.......
• Sharing! As a teacher/trainer, I always deepen my knowledge about what I am teaching when I share my knowledge, the design would be enhanced if it included peer teaching/mentoring/coaching and fun…more social instructional values and supportive instructional values.
Why are these questions and the respective answers so important? In relevance to both eLearning and classroom learning the quality of informality brings with it an authentic learning experience that the learners can connect with on a personal level: this is important with retaining what's been taught. Sometimes I feel that my learners are like chatty kids on a playground running amuck, but this time also provides them with invaluable incites that I as a trainer of Information Technology Systems cannot offer. So I let them run for a bit, then gently guide them back into the formal classroom environment and onto another learning objective comfortable knowing that their conversations have provided them with a relavent and memorable learning experience.
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