I was reading an article in Slate recently about Google (and the internet in general) and it's effect on our memories. This lead to some further reading on Transactive Memory in general (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactive_memory) which I found quite interesting.
One of the first things to come to mind is - should we account for this in the classroom? Are students likely to divide themselves into "the ones who learn math facts, and the ones who learn history facts", and if so, what can we do about it?
I'm guessing the effect may be mild for many students, but it may be more pronounced for students less inclined to learn in the first place?
I know in high school that I myself was consciously aware of having a lower motivation to learn/memorize things that I felt would always be easily referenced in a book. This was reinforced by me teachers failing to convey (probably due to their own lack of clear understanding on the matter) that adding many of these things to my LTM would better enable me to make use of available WM space for problem solving.
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Week 3
We have no blog assignment for week 3, so I'm just going to post some random thoughts and observations.
First off, my 4 year old (almost) son asked me read about constructivist theories for almost half an hour before he fell asleep. An interesting observation - in his mind, if I'm not reading aloud, I'm not reading, I'm just looking at the page.
So - regarding the ZPD. If the method is to give a student a learning task too difficult for them to manage on their own, and thus require a teacher, won't that tend to create a kind of learned helplessness if you try to work in this area too much? Or perhaps I just keep thinking of is as the zone of "optimal" development, and that's not what it's about at all. Thinking about it (and checking the description in the text again), I see it's more just a description/measure of the area between what a student can do on their own, and the maximum they can achieve with help. Although really, how can you determine the maximum? What if some super smart alien came along with super amazing teaching methods? It seems more like it's the LID (Line of Individual Development), the most you can do on your own. And as that varies by task, and changes every time you learn something, it doesn't seem like a very useful thing at all?
I'm writing these things because asking questions (even of yourself) and reflection are supposed to improve learning.
First off, my 4 year old (almost) son asked me read about constructivist theories for almost half an hour before he fell asleep. An interesting observation - in his mind, if I'm not reading aloud, I'm not reading, I'm just looking at the page.
So - regarding the ZPD. If the method is to give a student a learning task too difficult for them to manage on their own, and thus require a teacher, won't that tend to create a kind of learned helplessness if you try to work in this area too much? Or perhaps I just keep thinking of is as the zone of "optimal" development, and that's not what it's about at all. Thinking about it (and checking the description in the text again), I see it's more just a description/measure of the area between what a student can do on their own, and the maximum they can achieve with help. Although really, how can you determine the maximum? What if some super smart alien came along with super amazing teaching methods? It seems more like it's the LID (Line of Individual Development), the most you can do on your own. And as that varies by task, and changes every time you learn something, it doesn't seem like a very useful thing at all?
I'm writing these things because asking questions (even of yourself) and reflection are supposed to improve learning.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Week 2 - Online Resources
This week I'm reviewing two sources for information on the brain and learning, information processing theory, and problem-solving methods during the learning process.
Sciencedaily.com
I read articles from http://www.sciencedaily.com at least once a week . In the past I've read anything on the main page that caught my interest, but recently I've been reading more of the content under the Mind & Brain section.
Recently I came across this article http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910142334.htm on creating memories artificially. It seems to me what they are really doing is "reinforcing, encouraging, or, strengthening" the formation of memories, because the events the rodents remembered (hearing a sound) actually did occur (University of California - Irvine., 2013, September 10). It's a particular definition of the word "create" I suppose - but it's very interesting all the same.
I can see research like this could leading to the further refinement of drugs and/or processes that could make learning via the formation of new memories easier for students.
Another recent article on learning during sleep was fascinating - and potentially useful to learners today (or tonight as the case may be) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130412132428.htm. It also used sounds linked to memory formation, but the researchers played the sounds back to sleeping test subjects to trigger memory rehearsal. Memories rehearsed during sleep are more likely to be retained than those that are not (Northwestern University, 2013, April 12).
Overall I find sciencedaily.com a fascinating read, with all kinds of exciting findings being reported. As the two articles mentioned indicate, the biggest downside to this site is that many of the findings in the reports tend to be somewhat preliminary, and the results require extensive validation or refinement before they can be used in any practical way.
ERIC
In the past I've heard it said that humans pay more attention to things that are red. All this reading on things that affect memory and learning made me wonder if any research had been done on the effect text color has on learning. A search of the ERIC database via the Walden library quickly turned up several results. A study on the effect of text and background color caught my eye. It would seem that certain color combinations can have a significant positive or negative effect on the number of terms memorized from a page of sample text Janko, Z, Damir, K., 2009).
It strikes me that the group sample sizes were fairly small, and that you would want to test for cultural and age differences, but the reported findings that changing the background color of a page from white to yellow can increase memorization rates by up to 17% certainly warrants further study in this area. Maybe this is why yellow highlighters seem to be the most popular choice? You would also need to study what the limit of effectiveness is. If everything you read is on a yellow background, does it stop making a difference, that is, how much of the impact is due to the overall "novelty" of the experience? Also, what is the reason for the negative effect of some combinations. Is it just because the information is harder to perceive or process before you even get to the memorization stage?
While this article was exactly on the topic I was searching for, there seemed to be few other search results in ERIC using the search terms "learning color" that looked interesting. Searching "learning color" on Google was useless, as the hits were on things like school walls being beige, kids playing with colored balls etc. However a google search for "why do most people use yellow highlighters effect on memory" produced links to several interesting articles. You can't really search ERIC this way. Of course there are advanced modes for ERIC searches, and Google also has google/scholar which helps weed out non research related content. A couple of advantages of a database like ERIC over google/scholar (or web search engines in general) are that if you have access to the database, you can be confident that you can access any of the articles or reports found for free. Another is that the database will generally define the source of the content (academic journal, magazine, newspaper, etc.).
University of California - Irvine (2013, September 10). Scientists create new memories by directly changing the brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910142334.htm
Northwestern University (2013, April 12). Reactivating memories during sleep: Memory rehearsal during sleep can make a big difference in remembering later. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130412132428.htm
Janko, Z, Damir, K. (2009). More Efficient e-Learning through Design: Color of Text and Background. Paper presented at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (ELEARN). Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED510610)
Sciencedaily.com
I read articles from http://www.sciencedaily.com at least once a week . In the past I've read anything on the main page that caught my interest, but recently I've been reading more of the content under the Mind & Brain section.
Recently I came across this article http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910142334.htm on creating memories artificially. It seems to me what they are really doing is "reinforcing, encouraging, or, strengthening" the formation of memories, because the events the rodents remembered (hearing a sound) actually did occur (University of California - Irvine., 2013, September 10). It's a particular definition of the word "create" I suppose - but it's very interesting all the same.
I can see research like this could leading to the further refinement of drugs and/or processes that could make learning via the formation of new memories easier for students.
Another recent article on learning during sleep was fascinating - and potentially useful to learners today (or tonight as the case may be) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130412132428.htm. It also used sounds linked to memory formation, but the researchers played the sounds back to sleeping test subjects to trigger memory rehearsal. Memories rehearsed during sleep are more likely to be retained than those that are not (Northwestern University, 2013, April 12).
Overall I find sciencedaily.com a fascinating read, with all kinds of exciting findings being reported. As the two articles mentioned indicate, the biggest downside to this site is that many of the findings in the reports tend to be somewhat preliminary, and the results require extensive validation or refinement before they can be used in any practical way.
ERIC
In the past I've heard it said that humans pay more attention to things that are red. All this reading on things that affect memory and learning made me wonder if any research had been done on the effect text color has on learning. A search of the ERIC database via the Walden library quickly turned up several results. A study on the effect of text and background color caught my eye. It would seem that certain color combinations can have a significant positive or negative effect on the number of terms memorized from a page of sample text Janko, Z, Damir, K., 2009).
It strikes me that the group sample sizes were fairly small, and that you would want to test for cultural and age differences, but the reported findings that changing the background color of a page from white to yellow can increase memorization rates by up to 17% certainly warrants further study in this area. Maybe this is why yellow highlighters seem to be the most popular choice? You would also need to study what the limit of effectiveness is. If everything you read is on a yellow background, does it stop making a difference, that is, how much of the impact is due to the overall "novelty" of the experience? Also, what is the reason for the negative effect of some combinations. Is it just because the information is harder to perceive or process before you even get to the memorization stage?
While this article was exactly on the topic I was searching for, there seemed to be few other search results in ERIC using the search terms "learning color" that looked interesting. Searching "learning color" on Google was useless, as the hits were on things like school walls being beige, kids playing with colored balls etc. However a google search for "why do most people use yellow highlighters effect on memory" produced links to several interesting articles. You can't really search ERIC this way. Of course there are advanced modes for ERIC searches, and Google also has google/scholar which helps weed out non research related content. A couple of advantages of a database like ERIC over google/scholar (or web search engines in general) are that if you have access to the database, you can be confident that you can access any of the articles or reports found for free. Another is that the database will generally define the source of the content (academic journal, magazine, newspaper, etc.).
University of California - Irvine (2013, September 10). Scientists create new memories by directly changing the brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910142334.htm
Northwestern University (2013, April 12). Reactivating memories during sleep: Memory rehearsal during sleep can make a big difference in remembering later. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130412132428.htm
Janko, Z, Damir, K. (2009). More Efficient e-Learning through Design: Color of Text and Background. Paper presented at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (ELEARN). Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED510610)
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Week 1
Greetings fellow Earthlings.
In this Blog I aim to share my
thoughts on Instructional Design, and attempt to define and explore the
intersection between ID and the UXD practices (User Experience Design) commonly
found in the application development community.
Why? Because in my day-to-day job I am responsible for the
development (and to a large extent the user experience) of applications designed
for use by Educators. I feel a better knowledge of ID will help both inform my
UX practices, and also provide deeper insight into the needs and practices of
my customers.
This Blog also serves as part of my assignment activities
for the course in Instructional Design I am currently taking at Walden University.
For my first assignment I have found four other Blogs that
feature or focus on Instructional Design concepts.
Designer Librarian
The Blog of Amanda Hovious, a Librarian working on her M.S.
in Instructional Design and Technology and the University of North Dakota.
Posts on this site vary from highly ID focused to only
slightly (or not at all) related. I find the articles well written,
informative, and well referenced. Amanda posts include topics such as
“Gamification” and Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction. I find it interesting how
much the concept of ID intersects with the role of Librarian as Educator.
There are not all that many posts on this site, so after I
finish reading the entries of interest to me, I will probably not use it in the
future, other than reference if something pops up that links back to a concept
that was well described here. I may also bookmark some of the interesting or
useful sites they link to.
Effective E-Learning
Blog
The Blog of Andrew Jackson at The Training Zone focuses on
how to motivate Learners, and improve the outcomes of e-learning courses.
Andrew has posts on topics such as SME (Subject Matter
Experts) “Rock stars”, the use of PowerPoint, “Talking Heads” and the effective
use of video for instruction. In general his posts are more about the bigger
picture of e-learning practices than specific Instructional Design theory, but
I feel this broader scope is useful and thought provoking.
This site also has a limited amount of content, and the
topics tend to be such broad scope musings that I’m unlikely to return here,
but I did find the articles worth reading through one time at least, and I will
probably record some of the URLs referred to in a couple of the articles.
Instructional Design
Fusions
http://instructionaldesignfusions.wordpress.com/
Written by Dianne Rees, an instructional designer working in
the healthcare industry in Baltimore, the author describes her blog as
“exploring the mix of new technologies, instructional design, and best
practices for elearning and training”.
This site has a large number of posts going back several
years. Articles are well referenced, informative and thought provoking. Dianne
covers topics such as Gamification, including mobile learning and alternate
realities, as well as project pre-mortems, divergent thinking, and David
Merrill’s “pebble in the pond” approach to ID, which reminds me somewhat of
another article I read recently on an “Agile” approach to ID.
It will take me a while to read through all the relevant or
interesting looking information on this site, so I will likely come back to it
from time to time rather than try to cram everything here into my head at once.
This will also give me a chance to catch up on any new postings. This may well
be a site I contribute to / comment on in the future.
Instructional Design
& Development Blog
Unlike the previous sites, this one has multiple
contributors. The Blog is authored by members of the Faculty of Instructional
Technology Services department at DePaul University.
The site has a huge number of articles going back to 2007,
with posts sorted into categories (there are 97 entries under “pedagogy”). Each
post includes an approximate reading time in the summary (typically 2 to 3
minutes).
Posts are in theory focused on the use of technology to
improve learning and include topics such as Web Fonts, MOOC’s and
Accessibility, but there are a huge number of posts on topics such as the use
of Rubrics and Play Based Learning. The site contains a wealth of information
written by people who have been working in the field of Instructional Design
and course delivery for (in most cases) many years.
As this site has a huge amount of information written by
people who are using and developing both courses and technology with an
instructional design foundation, I imagine I will return here often to read
further articles, and hopefully engage in discussion with the authors and/or
other readers on some specific topics of mutual interest.
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