This module was a great start to gaining a better understanding on multimedia principles and the theories associated with it. I had fun creating a screencasting video of my own, using the Chrome application Screencasetify, something that I was unfamiliar with previously. It allowed me to have a new experience in my learning, and even though I came across technology struggles I was able to power through with positives outcomes. The video I made shared how to use the website Canva, a popular tool for creating different types of design.
Mayers Principles of Multimedia Learning
The principle that I found interesting to learn about is the coherence principle. I feel like there is always a notion to only include important information in your work, yet I didn’t realize there was a proper name for it. I find when given freedom to create a piece of work without any limits I tend to go overboard with it, yet when given a limit I become more aware. it made me think about what I was doing when I created my screencast as I tried to keep on track. I also believe that the modality principle was an intuitive on. Simply describing it as “showing the words” instead of “saying the words” made me realize that the signalling principle always needs to be added with another principle. It was interesting to understand this in a stronger way.
Learning of these principles made me realize that I have used them in my everyday life previously. The signalling principle is one that I have used previously when presenting assignments. I am a visual learner and using my hands/mouse when signalling in a presentation is a big part of a project. It keeps both myself and the audience in check of where we are at in the learning. I found I do not use the pre-training principle as much as I wish to. Incorporating all of the principles equally in my work is going to allow for the best outcome in my future project and work in multimedia, something that I will keep in mind going forward!
Screencast Video
I imagined the target audience for my screencast video would be students, high school age and above. I focused on the infographic teaching as that is a useful tool during school, in all types of courses not just the health courses as I mentioned in the video. I highlighted the usage of collaborative white boards, presentations and documents as well so that those watching are able to view the other features as well. In the quick example I chose mental health for the topic as it is well known and recently had my roommate ask for help making an infographic in that subject, so knew it would be useful for others to see all the options. I kept the signalling principle in mind when creating this, as seen in the usage of my pointing of the mouse. I believe that I struggled to incorporate the redundancy principle as i tend to repeat my words often, something that I have always been trying to work on. Attached below is the link to my screencast!
29 September 2023 at 11:48 pm
Hi Skye, I loved your screencast and module 1 post! I really liked your reflection about the signaling principle “simply describing it as ‘showing the words’ instead of ‘saying the words’”. This really struck a chord with me too. I also had the same thought about the pre-training principle. It seems very underused yet powerful. Your screencast was absolutely perfect! It looks like we will be using Canva in the next module, so your screencast acted as a real-life example of pre-training. I think your estimation of it being for high school age students and above was very on point. I really liked how you used the personalization principle and spoke in everyday language. You used the segmenting principle perfectly as you broke down the content, Canva website and functionalities in simple and straightforward way. You also used signaling effectively as you pointed with your mouse and signaled with your voice as well. I was able to follow your instructions and thoughts very well during your screencast. Thank you so much for sharing.
I am looking forward to working together and taking another class together,
Maya El-Lakany
30 September 2023 at 2:37 pm
Hi Skye!
Your Module 1 post is really interesting! I’m familiar with Canva, and I agree it’s such a useful tool for school, work, and personal life. Through your screencast, I gained a better understanding of Canva’s features, and you did an excellent job presenting a clear and informative screencast.
I appreciate how you relate this screencast to how Canva is useful in your own life. For example, you referred to examples from old projects and stated which type of infographic you chose, such as a social media application you utilized for work. It was valuable to have both you and your screen recording. By combining narration and a diagram, it resembles your efforts to incorporate the modality principle.
I really appreciate how you took the audience through the process of editing and personalizing a Canva template, focusing on mental health. This is really useful and provides learners the opportunity to refer back and rewind at their preferred pace to your screencast when constructing their own Canva projects.
You did a great job at thoroughly explaining all of the Canva sections while remaining on topic, which demonstrates the coherence principle. I found this Module 1 super interesting since I realized how many of these principles occur in my education and everyday life, which you mentioned as well!
It’s impressive that you recognized not utilizing the pre-training principle to its full potential. Since these principles are important for the foundation in EDCI 337, I am interested to know if the course material will dive into explaining strategies on how to improve incorporating these principles.
Your screencast is suitable for your target demographic, especially since this technology is probably too complex for young children anyway! Overall, amazing work on your screencast, and I am looking forward to working together more!
Nicole Campbell
12 October 2023 at 9:06 pm
Hey Skye!
I relate to the point you made about going a bit overboard when not given a limit of how much content to include. I often find myself rambling on and on when I could have said the point in a few short sentences. As you said, I think we use all of these principles in our life on a daily basis but being aware of them will really elevate our work.
I really enjoyed your screencast, I bet you had an easy time this past week making the infographic on Canva! You explained things slowly and well and I felt if I would have been able to follow along. I enjoyed how you showed us with your mouse what you were doing instead of just saying it, it made it very easy to follow along. I also struggled with the redundancy principle with my screencast as I felt I was repeating some things, but I definitely think that is something that comes with practice.
Overall, I really enjoyed this blog and think you did a great job!