EDCI 337

Neil's EDCI 337 (Pod 5)

Category: Assignment 1 – Blog Posts

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Blog 5 Game Based Learning and Gamification

2021-06-20 / / 0 Comments

Game based learning (GBL) “designed to balance subject matter with gameplay and the ability of the player to retain and apply said subject matter to the real world” (Falciana, 2020). GBL can facilitate as problem solving, teamwork, communication, motivation, abiding rules, and decision-making (Falciana, 2020). Games usually involve a distinct goal to achieve, and a reward for completing the goal. Gamification is “the application of game elements and digital game design techniques to non-game problems, such as business (growing in education technology) and social impact challenges.”(Falciana, 2020). It uses game elements like points systems, achievements, and leaderboards that also encourage friendly competition, and motivation to succeed (Falciana, 2020).

Kahoot review sessions were used by a few of my teachers in Secondary school and I found them to be very fun. One teacher implored some students to create their own kahoots for the class for review sessions as a way of active learning, and participation in the class. Another example of gamification was designing jeopardy for review sessions before term tests. As augmented reality and virtual reality become more accessable, there is major potential for VR and AR companies to gamify the learning experience. LetĂŁo et al found that the use of AR could help develop empirical knowledge of mathematics and geometry 20% more compared to traditional teaching (2014). Here is my attempt on creating a Kahoot based on bicycles.

https://create.kahoot.it/details/e4bdbc77-a5ff-4c24-a079-687b858f24c6

References

Falciani, L. (2020, November 27). Game-Based Learning > What Is, GBL vs Gamification, Types, Benefits. Europass Teacher Academy. https://www.teacheracademy.eu/blog/game-based-learning/.

Leitão, R., Rodrigues, J. M. F., & Marcos, A. F. (2014). Game-Based Learning. International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies, 4(1), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijacdt.2014010105

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Blog 4: My experiences with SAMR and Google Earth

2021-06-11 / / 2 Comments

In grade 8, our English teacher assigned everyone into groups to make Prezi presentations on iPads. This would fall under the Substitution step of the SAMR model. At that time, iPads weren’t the refined machines that they were today. The Prezi application on the iPad was very limited, and barebones, so it was very difficult to customize the presentation.  The idea of a poster presentation was forced online, with tools that were fairly limiting (at that time), but the actual presentation (verbal narration part), was still in person. Another tool that my teachers used in high school was Kahoot, an interactive, competitive trivia game that was used for reviewing testing material where students were awarded points for the fastest and correct answer. I thought it was a fun way to break the monotonous learning style of writing/copying notes from the teacher. It is an alternative to the teacher just talking about the concepts, in the hopes that students absorb the information.

In 2019, I had the chance to try Google Earth VR in the lab in person at Uvic and it was a very interesting (nauseating too). The idea of virtual (and virtual reality) field trips has always been interesting as you can literally go anywhere in the world (Our solar system too) (that is documented by Google or independent companies) and study architectures, museum exhibits, art, sculptures, history artifacts, animals, other planets, more without investing the resources, time, and money. However, one thing you can’t really recreate (yet), is the atmosphere, weather, and interactions with people and the culture which can be equally or even more important than the locations themselves. Google Earth can be used as a presentation tool, or story telling tool which could help people practice presentation skills and creating multimedia content for their peers. Students can talk about their summer vacation, or talk about their homeland if they have  immigrated. I have attached at link of my attempt at making a google earth project about some of the places I visited a few years ago.

References

Akcaoglu, M. (2016). The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) Model: A Critical Review and Suggestions for its Use. TechTrends, 60(5), 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0091-y 

https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1to7mgTFLEmfJTSkZg_-26GD7mLO4arwP?usp=sharing

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Blog 3: ScreenCasting

2021-06-04 / / 2 Comments

Multimedia is the “combination of words and pictures that support learning” (Pastore, 2018) Screencasting are forms of content that involve recording a computer screen and adding narration on top to engage a certain audience (Simon, 2021). It is a wonderful way to express opinions about certain topics, spread knowledge, and share experiences about things for a variety of audiences. In education, this could vary from small lessons from grade school teachers, recording of lectures from professors at Universities, to the commercialization education on sites such as Masterclass, and Skillshare. Screencasting allows for individuals to learn on their own pace using paid (skillshare) or non paid websites (Youtube) at their leisure outside of work or school time. This means individuals can develop new skills, refine their current skillsets, or just research new things outside of traditional places such as Universities, textbooks, and workshops. Screencasting may also be used to develop teaching, presenting, and information sharing skills on a digital platform. At the University of Victoria, I have had professors share whole lectures with zoom videos of their content/powerpoints, to other instructors releasing their lectures in just audio format so we can download it and listen to it in nature. Screencasting is just one more way for students to keep learning in a digital platform. Here is my screencasting video tutorial on how to generate a battery health report on a Windows 10 Laptop. I hope you enjoy!

References

Pastore, R. (2018, August 16). What is Multimedia Learning? What is Multimedia? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-sknUVq1mk.

Simon, J. (2021, May 26). The Ultimate Guide: What is Screencasting and Why Use it?: TechSmith. Welcome to the TechSmith Blog. https://www.techsmith.com/blog/what-is-screencasting/.

Picture of Hololens 2 and conceptual AR application that shows patients vitals during surgery

Blog 2: Augment Reality and Education

2021-05-28 / / 4 Comments

Augmented Reality (AR) and education has a massive potential to be used widespread as more smart devices get access to special sensors and lenses to support basic AR applications. AR uses cameras and a device to superimpose an image using the surrounding environment while Virtual Reality (VR) completely recreates an environment on a screen along with fully digital objects (Gupton, 2017). Mixed Reality uses both real world and digital objects and is a combination of VR and AR.

The Microsoft HoloLens 2 is special set of Mixed Reality device that has major potential for both educating medical students and possibly improving quality of care by letting healthcare providers superimpose and manipulate medical imaging such as CT scans to interact with them in an AR space (Philips, 2019). Learning the human body, which is a complex artifact with veins, vessels, bones, and fluids going in a variety of directions could be aided by AR since students can touch (Ideally). Perhaps medical students can also practice going through surgical procedures using the Hololens 2 as a guide instead of having nothing or using cadavers (Philips, 2019). Not only can the Hololens 2 can also potentially help students learn background knowledge of human anatomy, it may also be used to simulate certain scenarios such as emergency responses, telemedicine visits, disaster training, violent patient escalation, patient education and other soft skills that require precise communication in the future (DeCapua, 2018). Although the Hololens seems promising, it is fairly expensive starting at $3500 USD per device (Microsoft Store, n.d).

Although the concept of visual, auditory, and sensory type of learners (OECD, n.d) is a Neuromyth, AR has the potential to stimulate and combine all three types of learning and create an immersive learning environment. Fields trips, and artifacts from historical landmarks around the world could be studied. Overall, I think AR and VR have tremendous  potential value, and will be more accessible as smart devices get more computationally capable, and affordable. Here is a poster I made on Canva promoting the Hololens 2.

References

DeCapua, M. (2018, April 24). 7 Ways Microsoft Hololens Will Transform Healthcare. https://www.melissadecapua.com/7-ways-microsoft-hololens-will-transform-healthcare/.

Gupton, N. (2017, September 21). What’s the Difference Between AR, VR, and MR? The Franklin Institute. https://www.fi.edu/difference-between-ar-vr-and-mr.

Microsoft Store. (n.d.). HoloLens 2: Find Specs and Features – Microsoft HoloLens 2. Microsoft Store. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/holoLens-2/91pnzzznzwcp/?activetab=pivot%3Aoverviewtab.

OECD. (n.d.)  Neuromyth 3. OECD.

https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/neuromyth3.htm

Philips. (2019, March 13). Philips and Microsoft HoloLens 2: could augmented reality change the face of image guided therapy? Philips. https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/articles/2019/20190313-philips-and-microsoft-hololens-2-could-augmented-reality-change-the-face-of-image-guided-therapy.html.

Blog 1: Learning Theories, PowerPoint, and Neuromyths

2021-05-21 / / 4 Comments
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

PowerPoint presentations are commonly used to present ideas to a large amount of people in a relatively short amount of time, and usually includes a narration of content. Some presentations are more effective than others.

Throughout my stay at the University of Victoria (UVIC) I have been through hundreds of PowerPoint lectures which were text heavy, and include too many points in the slide. Although many times figures, graphs, charts, and diagrams were used throughout these PowerPoint lectures, some of visuals were pixelated,  elongated, text sizes were too small because of the amount of content within diagrams, out of date, and not sufficient quality. As a result, there were some lectures where it was difficult to maintain concentration on concepts, and/or my understanding of concepts were incomplete. Many of these errors contradict the rules of simplicity, appropriate font choices, simple chart choices set out by Amanda Miller and other presentation experts (2019).

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Neuromyths are concepts that are popular misbeliefs of how learning takes place such as the left hemisphere being responsible for logical ,and rationale thinking and a right hemisphere being responsible for creative and emotion thinking (OECD, n.d-a). These neuromyths are taught, and still being taught throughout all education levels. However, the neuromyth that surprised me the most was that there is such thing as auditory, visual, and haptic types of learning (OECD, n.d.-b). OECD emphasizes that seeing, hearing, and touching is only the first step, and another step is needed to create connections between the input of the senses  and a concept to actually understand topics (n.d.-b). I have been taught this throughout post-secondary and I always thought I landed somewhere in between all three types of learnings. It is easy for me to associate all three types of senses, to some study habit or learning experience I have done. OECD emphasizes that this is a commonly accepted theory among laymens, but not experts (n.d.-b).

Here is a presentation I made about Consumer digital health technology using some of the learning theories, and PowerPoint tips. Feel free to download it to see the speaker note!

References

Miller, A. (2019, June 20). 6 dos and don’ts for next-level slides, from a TED presentation expert. ideas.ted.com. https://ideas.ted.com/6-dos-and-donts-for-next-level-slides-from-a-ted-presentation-expert/.

OECD. (n.d.-a). Neuromyth 6. OECD. https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/neuromyth6.htm.

OECD. (n.d.-b)  Neuromyth 3. OECD.

https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/neuromyth3.htm

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