Hi everyone,
In the educational context where you teach or support learning, what outcomes and associated content could be supported by interactive media?
With future intentions, I believe that interactive media can support any form of learning outcome and any subject/topic. For example, if I wanted to teach Freud’s id, ego, and superego concepts through interactive media, I might choose to create an Edpuzzle lesson using a YouTube video narrating Freud’s psychological theory. I could create my own list of open-ended questions and embed them within my Edpuzzle video. Cherrett et al (2009) states that “interactive video supports learning gains in university students because they make learning active, engaging, and scaffolded” (as cited in Shelton, 2016, p. 472). I would like to continue experimenting with the Edpuzzle learning tool in order to further learn how to best create open-ended feedback and engagement (p. 469).
Since interactive media can increase student “reactivity, interactivity, tailor ability, progressiveness, and portability” (Kwok et al, 2016, p. 3), I believe that shifting my focus from an explicit use of paper-based textbooks, books, and note-taking into greater use of multimedia presentations, video creation, and multimedia learning tools (i.e., Edpuzzle) that I can increase the engagement and formative assessment of future students. I simply need to continue learning how to transfer paper-based course content into digital formats such as eBooks, PowerPoint presentations, or Edpuzzle lessons.
What challenges would you or your institution face in developing interactive media and integrating it into your courses?
I can imagine that the primary challenge that I would face in developing interactive media and integrating it into my courses would be receiving approval from college/university curriculum design teams. In speaking with a local college staff member about the integration of interactive media, I was told that it can be very difficult trying to challenge the status quo within educational settings. I was told that some team-members prefer not to change course design and trying to create consensus about new methods and pedagogies can create workplace conflict.
I also imagine that attempting to integrate interactive media into my courses would also require a hefty amount of collaboration with a campus IT team. By better communicating with campus IT, I would try my best to ensure that students have ample access to laptops, desktops, or iPads to use interactive media. For example, if students do not have the technology access required to use Edpuzzle, then it would be difficult to expect a productive integration of multimedia.
Best,
Carson 🙂
References
Kwok, K., Ghrear, S., Li, V., Haddock, T., Coleman, P., & Birch, S. J. (2016, October 25). Children can learn new facts equally well from interactive media versus face to face instruction. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01603
Shelton, C., Warren, A., & Archambault, L.M. (2016). Exploring the use of interactive digital storytelling video: Promoting student engagement and learning in a university hybrid course. TechTrends, 60(5), 465-474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0082-z
Hi Carson,
I was surprised to read your comment that in some institutions there is resistance to integrate interactive media into post secondary education. I wonder if these attitudes are related to capacity issues within departments. With restructuring through the pandemic and some teams being short-staffed due to illness, I find there is resistance to requests not related to key performance indicators as teams do not have the capacity for collaborations regarding budget and time. However, Roger’s (as cited in Power, 2019) Diffusion of Innovation model also depicts that people fall on a continuum to adopt innovation. I assume that people working in curriculum design would be innovators and early adopters, but perhaps I am incorrect, or it may depend on favorable conditions (e.g., budget, staffing, etc.) coming together. Influencing others to consider adopting new technologies is a social endeavor to achieve critical mass for change. Do you have any hunches why it would be difficulty to change the status quo within educational settings?
If your institution supports platforms (e.g., tools, LMS, etc.) for interactive media, I do not anticipate that you would be requesting many IT tickets. Occasionally I will ask a question to the Teaching and Learning department when I am exploring the functionality of a platform. Fortunately, I can integrate interactive media into courses independently as my institution supports multiple tools (e.g., H5P, Kaltura, etc.) and uses Blackboard. Hopefully you have the same experience, although it is beneficial to be well networked with the IT department!
Best,
Gena
Reference
Power, R. (2019). Week 7: Models and barriers to adoption and integration (Fall 2021 Webster). Thompson Rivers University. https://eddl.tru.ca/eddl-5101-educational-technology-for-learning-fall-2021-webster/eddl-5101-week-7-models-and-barriers-to-adoption-and-integration-fall-2021-webster/
Hi there Gena, thanks for your helpful attitude and kindness.
To answer your question of “do you have any hunches why it would be difficulty to change the status quo within educational settings?”…from what I was able to glean from dialogues with many different educational institutions, it appears that some professors explicitly choose not to learn open learning models or have never had the opportunity to learn multimedia lesson-planning.
For example, some professors appear to prefer not including video lessons (i.e., Edpuzzle, H5P) because (1) they confess they don’t have the requisite skillset to create their own videos or (2) they purely don’t believe in multimedia as an efficient teaching tool.
Also, from the conversations that I was able to have, some of the long-tenured professors took their education programs during a time where multimedia teaching tools were not being used. As a consequence, many of the long-tenured professors have not been exposed to learning about how to implement multimedia in their pedagogies.
In comparison, almost all of the ‘new’ professors who are new to their roles as teachers have been deeply immersed in multimedia pedagogies. They simply feel more confident in their multimedia skills because they were taught how to implement audio and visual resources effectively.
No matter what, lifelong learning is essential for ALL of us!
Carson 🙂