EDCI 335 LEARNING DESIGN - LEARNER TEMPLATE

The interactive resource I chose is “How to succeed at University” and I decided to do peer review in two capacities: one is a freshman (a learner), and the other is based on the “Interactive Learning Resource” from EDCI335.

As a freshman, it is important to keep a balance between life and study, because a freshman will meet new friends and societies when they enter the University, so it is difficult to refuse invitations from different people. Therefore, construction time and formation schedule are necessary. The next part is optimizing attention which shows the effects of interrupting attention and ways to improve it. But two points make me confused. The resource describes the three types of memory but doesn’t explain the connection between attention and memory. Also, I spent more than 10 minutes reading the quiz and requirements, but I still don’t understand the options in the quiz. The next part is how to adjust yourself under pressure. I believe that most freshmen are very anxious and stressed before the first exam. The shared video explains why people face stress and I agree with the distraction theory which explains that performance suffers when the mind is preoccupied with worries, and doubts instead of focusing its attention on performing the task at hand. The last part, determine the improvement of yourself, explains the importance of self-assessment to learners, and it can help freshmen learn effectively, set goals, and understand their strengths and weaknesses. In conclusion, the interactive learning resource is helpful for freshmen. I suggest that the group members from pod 3 add a section on how to select courses efficiently. Choosing courses in universities is also a subject of learning, and many freshmen are troubled by the problem of choosing courses, and I believe that success in university requires not only students’ autonomy, but also carefully planned courses and teachers’ feedback.

Based on the “Interactive Learning Resource” from EDCI335,

1. There are no descriptions and rationales for the learning theory and the learning design.
2. The PPT contains an introduction to the learning context and learning outcomes. The learning outcomes and interactive activities are good and complete, especially the videos from Youtube, which I think are useful and important.
3. There is no overview of the assessment plan. For example, how you will determine a learner’s final standing in relation to the outcomes or how you set a scoring standard.
4. There is no overview of your plans to design for the inclusion of diverse learners.

Link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFDdk9LFoE/YEq9yjxIkO6nIGIpsMnoxA/view?utm_content=DAFDdk9LFoE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

Vkaoch’s blog includes the inclusive design of learning design for Technology-Mediated environments. In the first question, facing different groups of learners, provide course content in different ways, including audio, video, and books, to ensure the diversity of material resources. This is important because a variety of resources can ensure the flexibility of the curriculum and the adaptability of learners with different learning differences. But I think on this basis, teachers should provide specific help in the form of “scaffolding” so students can learn efficiently. The second question reminds me of the barriers to my topic. When the learning group I face includes English learners and students with hearing impairment, subtitles in the video and voice text provided are necessary. I have new ideas about the barrier that teachers will lead students on a walk through the local forest area. Teachers can try to use google maps to show the real scene of local forests or prepare VR glasses for each student to have a short close-up experience.

I found a video about my topic, drawing, on YouTube. This video is an interview with Shelagh Keeley, who is a visual artist & 2017 Canada Council laureate. In the video, she shared her definition and understanding of drawing with the audience. I put the video to the PPT of the drawing as an additional resource.

Video requires my students to interact with learners-content. This will not force them to make an inherent response. Just like attendance, no one can guarantee that every student who attends will interact. Students may respond by doing activities and thinking about topics. It’s important to think about the topic because when I first came into contact with painting, my thinking was limited I think painting must have complete and standard materials. But the protagonist in the video described the drawing as a language, a concept of nonverbal communication, and she used the wall as paper, the hand or body as a pen, and wax as paint in her early days. At that time, I understood that expression and thinking were more important in drawing.  It doesn’t matter how professional the materials you prepare are. But as a beginner, I still ask students to explore each material by themselves. After they have watched the video, I would suggest that students try to draw a stroke and make collages, which not only exercise their drawing ability but also let them think about what they want to express. This activity helps to improve students’ creativity, imagination, and ability to think alone. I will create one or more links in the Google form for students to upload their work, and I will give feedback promptly. Considering that there are English learners and those with hearing impairment among the students, the video I searched has subtitles and there is a transcript in the video introduction.

The link to the video I searched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5XFOsVTQQY

Experiential learning is a practical learning process that allows students to participate in practice and reflection. It is different from rote learning or cramming education. Learners learn or absorb knowledge passively. Experiential learning pays more attention to learners’ learning process and autonomy. By actively participating in the experience, learners can reflect on the experience and reasonably understand and apply the learned knowledge. The reference from Qing’s blog describes the four-step learning process through a circle: observation, thinking, action, feeling, and conceptualization of learned knowledge.

Qing’s topic is about how to succeed in university.  Compared with experiential learning, I think direct instruction is more suitable for her topic. Direct instruction emphasizes carefully planned courses and clearly defined and specified teaching tasks. Summarize experience through students’ autonomy and professional teaching and feedback provided by teachers, and set goals for the next exam or semester. Experiential learning may require a longer reaction cycle, which requires a certain period of the learning experience, results, and reflection. If students want to succeed in college, direct instruction may be more efficient.

I found the barriers to student success from our planned learning activities from Blueprint. At the initial stage of exploring materials, learners are required to analyze the usage and characteristics of each material. However, there is a concept that “Fair isn’t always equal”. Because the topic of drawing to some extent includes diverse groups, many people have different foundations for drawing. For example, learners who have some basic knowledge of drawing will be more accessible in the process of material exploration, and they know how to correctly explore each material, such as lines, textures, and form deep to shallow. But zero-based learners may cause barriers of over effort and separation. So my way to solve the first barrier is to establish a “scaffolding”. I drew a picture of how to explore materials with the specified materials and showed the correct way to explore materials in four ways in PPT. I also draw pictures and share additional resources as examples in other planned learning activities. I try to demonstrate how to solve problems and share resources to enlighten learners and improve the flexibility of the course. Shared resources include visual and auditory materials as support. In this way, learners’ barriers to success can be reduced in the planned learning activity.

Another barrier is how learners can show what they have learned. When the preliminary design of the blueprint is completed, there are only display paintings from Unit1 and Unit2 and self-reflection about the assessment plan. However, this method can not fully understand the mastery of learners’ learning content. So I added an informal quiz and questions in self-reflection. The questions in the informal test aim to know whether the learners have mastered the basic knowledge. For example, through material exploration, please rank 6B, 2H, 4B, HB, 2B, and 4H from deep to shallow, and in a sketch, when a beam of light shines on an object, what three parts do we need to pay attention to? In the reflection part, I help learners complete self-reflection in the form of guidance and questions. For example, in your opinion, what is your strongest drawing? Why? What is your weakest drawing? Why? And describe your approach to drawing (this may be different for different drawings) and what have you learned about the drawing skills & techniques that you explored and practiced. All the quizzes and questions are created by Google Forms, so I can see learners’ submissions and reply to them in time. I will give praise and affirmation to the learners who answered the questions correctly and submitted good drawings. I will give encouragement and appropriate suggestions to learners who have a misunderstanding of knowledge and drawings. I believe that the adjustment and change of my current plan can help learners reduce these barriers.

The learning environment I chose is experiential learning. Experiential learning is a process of learning in practice by involving students in practice and reflection. It is different from rote learning or cramming education which learners learn or absorb knowledge passively. Experiential learning pays more attention to learners’ learning process and self-initiative. To be specific, learners actively participate in the experience and can reflect on the experience, and they can reasonably understand and apply the knowledge they have learned. When problems arise, learners can solve problems and have new reflections through problems. For example, Learners learn about pandas in the zoo through contact and observation with pandas, rather than through books or other people’s descriptions. Similarly, UVic co-op is also a good example of experiential learning. Students can practice in areas of interest and gain valuable learning experiences. Research describes that experiential learning refers to all the knowledge and skills acquired by people through life, work experience, and learning, and these knowledge and skills have not passed any formal education or professional certification (Evans, 2021).

The topic of my group is drawing which is mainly about basic drawing and creative methods in drawing practice and it will be explored as a means of expressing ideas and creativity. The approach is consistent with the topic I chose. First of all, drawing requires many kinds of materials, such as 2B, 4B, 6B, HB, 2H, 4H, soft, neutral, hard, eraser, pencil sharper, and wire-bound sketchbook. I won’t tell learners the characteristics and usage of each material. I will ask learners to explore and use all materials to find their characteristics. Then, I won’t ask learners to draw a specific object. I hope that learners can actively explore the surrounding environment and find the objects they want to draw and imagined patterns. An interesting part is making collages. I will ask learners to use their drawings which are from the Material Exploration part and Practice part to make one or more collages. Learners’ process of creating collages is an expression of active participation in practice and self-initiative. They create a unique picture through thinking and imagination, and it also attracts learners to spend time and energy completing “homework” rather than submitting perfunctory homework by the deadline. The whole course revolves around learners’ active participation in the experience and Reflection on the experience, so they will be asked to share their self-reflection. That is why the approach aligns with our chosen topic.

In my final interactive learning design, I will combine experiential learning with my topic because our topic, drawing, focus more on the active practice and reflection of participants.

Evans, N., 1923. (2021). Experiential learning: Assessment and accreditation (1st. ed.). Routledge. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.4324/9781003160908

Hi Zhenyu,
I like your story very much and it reminds me of my experience when I first encountered a difficult course. It’s true that when we face challenging courses or problems, we should study in a planned way, and everyone has his or their way such as behaviorists, cognitivism, and constructivists.

Thanks,
Sullo

Hi Derek,
This view indeed varies from person to person in your blog. When constructing the K12 learning plan, some learners’ goals may be unclear or in the wrong direction. Because Behaviorism aims to cultivate learners’ habits through reinforcement and feedback, this may not be suitable for everyone. Constructivism can let learners contact and experience various types of subjects, and let them find or find what they are interested in. Learners can actively participate in learning and make corresponding explanations according to their own experiences and interaction. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism all have their own characteristics and benefits to learners. Therefore, we should pay more attention to which strategy learners are suitable for. This depends on the learner’s age, education, and grade level.

Thanks,
Sullo

I want to share a story about how I overcame a learning challenge. I am a student majoring in economics and I am interested in futures and funds. Last month, my flight was canceled because of the epidemic, so I decided to spend two months learning about futures and taking the futures certificate. This is very difficult for me because I did not learn about futures in university, and the passing rate of the futures qualification examination is only about 50% in China. So I made a plan and until now I think it is effective.

First of all, I established my motivation. I told myself futures are what I am interested in, and it determines my employment direction after graduation. When I have a reasonable motivation, I will take the initiative to learn and persist.

Secondly, when I designed for motivation, I define which strategy in learning theories is suitable for me. I am a behaviorist and I plan through a specific environment, time, and feedback. Environmental factors and habits are very important. Learning is accomplished by showing appropriate responses to specific environmental stimuli. Specific environment and time can cultivate learners’ habits. Therefore, I make a pot of tea every day and go to the study to study from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Tea which can make people concentrate and calm down is also a kind of specific environment. When I finish a chapter, I will do the corresponding questions and give feedback to myself. Also, I keep the wrong questions and do them again every once in a while. This helps to strengthen the stimulus-response correlation strategy.

Finally, I have completed all the chapters on the test of futures, and I still keep doing the questions on the test of futures every day, and the accuracy is improving steadily. Through daily persistence, I can increase my confidence in exams and goals. Self-efficacy around goal setting helps me feel more focused on manageable goals and perceived abilities.

My name is Sullo and I am 24 years old. My major is Economic and I am a Year 4 student.

My flight was canceled because of the epidemic, so now I’m in China. The reason why I take this course is I had Edci 337 and Edci 339 courses last two semesters, and I am interested in this and want to learn more about Edci courses. Also, this course is an online course that is suitable for my current situation.

This semester is kind of difficult for me. Because I hope to pass this course smoothly while learning knowledge. At the same time, I have to work and take the qualification certificate for futures major.

While the epidemic brought disaster, it also made me cherish time more. I will arrange more time to be responsible for my group, my instructor, and myself in this course.