Applying Educational Theory to Media-Enhanced Learning

Overview of Presentation Educational theory Delve into active learning strategies Consider our student body Using media in teaching Limitations

Educational Theory

Active Learning Bonwell & Eison (1991) define active learning as “anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing”. Encourage student engagement Promotes deeper understanding Provides more frequent feedback to students Addresses different learning styles Builds self-esteem Creates a sense of community

Active Learning 5% 10% 20% 30% 50% 75% 90% Low retention rate High retention rate

Active Learning 5% 10% 20% 30% 50% 75% 90% Low retention rate High retention rate Listening to a lecture Reading Audio visual Demonstration Discussion group Practise by doing Teaching others

Why Use Media in Teaching? Who are our students?! Use of the Web Use of mobile devices Use of Instant Messenger Use of online communication Gravitate toward group activity Busy with extracurricular activities Respectful of social conventions and institutions Fascination for new technologies Howe & Strauss, 2003

Using Media to Enhance Learning Media can form active learning strategies –Group discussions or case studies –Film clip –Podcast of a lecture –Newspaper article –Student video project –Lecture-capture –Online collaboration tools –Discussion boards

Using Media and Active Learning Media creates a multimodal environment – different ways of presenting material Attention span minutes/ Frequent but brief lapses! More than one sensory mode Students learn more deeply from combination of words and pictures than words alone (Mayer, 2003) Fadel (2008) suggested “students engaged in learning that incorporates multimodal designs, on average, outperform students who learn using traditional approaches with single modes.”

Using Media and Active Learning Students become more self directed Employability skills Different learning styles/developing learning styles Accommodate greater range of information processing styles Diverse student body and cultural backgrounds Illustrates relevance of concepts Empowering and motivating students Change is stimulating

Limitations Achievement by groups of students Use judiciously Preparation Copyright issues Distraction Time consuming

Conclusion Variety of representations of content improves: –Understanding –Retention of content –Interest –Enjoyment

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