GAMES AND SIMULATIONS PRINCIPLE

November 26, 2016


WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES FOR GAMES AND SIMULATIONS ?

     Creating effective educational games and simulations require that their features include entertainment and motivation while learning.  While most games include a tremendous amount of behavioral activity, they do not all require careful reflection and processing.  According to Clark and Mayer, our generation of Millennials, have been raised on the gaming industry and would not respond appropriately to your average power point/spread sheet instructional presentation (Clark and Mayer, 2013).  Does this format prove to be more effective?  Do students express a greater learning experience during these encounters?  Is this appropriate for all learning styles?  Will the learning (gaming) experience translate into an effective result?  Is the cost to design the game worth the end result? These are some of the questions to consider when pursuing this course of educational design. Unfortunately, there isn't enough research to prove definitively that gaming produces the results that most corporations and educational institutions are searching for.  However students are enjoying the process.

     Here are some considerations to keep in mind when designing these types of simulations and games.

Principle 1: Match type of game to the learning goals.

Principle 2: Make learning a primary goal of the program.

Principle 3: Design a program with instructional strategies that are proven effective.

Principle 4: Create guidance and structure.

Principle 5: Manage complexity

Principle 6: Make the relevance of your game clear.


Principle 1 Demonstrated (or not)
Nitrotype.com is a fun game for students that will assist them in developing their typing skills.  Students compete against other players in their race to the finish as they type a passage.  The winner is the typist with the fastest time and the least amount of errors.  In this instance speed is an appropriate match for this learning goal.  Adding the element of competition makes the game even more enjoyable.  While my 9 year old preferred Clever.com for practicing his typing skills, Nitro type was his second choice.

Nitrotype.com

REFERENCES

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designmers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer

THINKING SKILLS PRINCIPLES

November 24, 2016


WHAT IS THE THINKING PRINCIPLE?

     Corporations are constantly looking for opportunities to improve their workforce.  One skill that is constantly addressed to every university releasing a new set of graduates is that students need to have the ability to adapt to all types of challenging environments.  They need to be flexible and be able to adjust to new situations. For this reason corporations are looking for ways to improve their staff's thinking strategies.  There are three styles of thinking skills.  They are critical, creative and metacognition. Creative thinking skills focus on developing new and useful ideas.  Critical thinking skills involve reviewing various products and ideas.  Finally, metacognition involves planning, monitoring and evaluating a product or its ideas.  According to Clarke and Mayer, a successful program focuses on building a specific set of thinking skills.  In addition, you will find social learning strategies and collaboration incorporated into the program.

    The following are four guidelines offered by Clarke and Mayer when creating an effective program.

Principle 1: Focus on job specific and metacognitive skills:
This particular principle supports providing job specific skill training into your program.

Principle 2: Consider a whole task course design.
This principle reinforces teaching skills in the context of a real life working scenario.  This can also be experienced in a virtual world setting. There are 3 forms of whole task course designs.  They are Problem Centered, Guided Learning and Inductive Learning.

Principle 3: Make thinking processes explicit.
This focuses on allowing the thinking processes to be more visible.  Students should view thinking processes performed by experts. They should also be required to demonstrate why they chose a particular course of action.

Principle 4: Define job specific thinking processes.
This thinking process should include research tools, activities and data sources that reflect on-the-job procedures.

Principle 2: Demonstrated (or not)
Edheads is a wonderful educational resource for teachers as they begin to build critical thinking skills among their students using math and science activities.  Here they offer games that allow students to implement what they would do in a real life medical scenario, one of which is called the Virtual Hip Resurfacing game.  Students are given a problem and then provided instruction on what to do.  They can then perform the procedure on a patient.  While this is not a real life activity, the circumstances offer a virtual world setting for students to complete the task assigned.

Edheads Critical Thinking Website

REFERENCES

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designmers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer

LEARNER CONTROL PRINCIPLE

November 23, 2016

WHAT IS THE LEARNER CONTROL PRINCIPLE?

     When designing an e-course, the learner should have control over how they migrate throughout the program. This is provided through links, menus and site maps.  This can be demonstrated in a variety of ways.  Allowing students to choose which topic they would like to study first is called Content Sequencing.  Another type of control is called Pacing.  This is when a student is allowed to determine how long they will remain within a particular lesson.  Students might be able to use a slider bar, fast forward and/or play buttons to move quickly through this type of lesson. The final option is the Access to Learner Support.  In this particular format, students can choose whether or not to view additional demonstrations, resources, practice exercises, coach assistance and tutorials.
   
There are five Learner Control Principles to examine when designing your course:

Learner Control Principle (LCP) 1: Give experienced learners control

When providing Learner Control, a mature student should be given more freedom, allowing them to progress at their own rate. The beginner is not always sure which path to take and which steps are the best.  In this instance, they might require a little more guidance as they progress through their program.  With this in mind, it is always best to study the characteristics of your student to help you determine which method would be most appropriate.  Experienced learners should have prior knowledge of the content being taught.  The content should be less complex and the student should demonstrate higher metacognitive skills.

LCP 2: Make important instructional events the default

Require your student to intentionally go around an opportunity to practice the skill that they have just learned.  When learning a particular skill selecting "continue" will not skip the Practice link but it will take them directly to the Practice link.  According to Clarke and Mayer, courses that require a high amount of practice, will result in a higher rate of skill.

LCP 3: Consider adaptive control (also called personalized instruction or user modeling)
When providing this particular style of implementation, the course adjusts its level of difficulty based on the responses of the student.  As a student's level of expertise increases the level of instructional support can decrease.  Students that are excelling at a particular task will often skip the Worked Example and proceed directly to the Practice links.  Research has proven that this type of adjustment within a program as a student excels results in better test scores.

LCP 4: Give pacing control
When creating an asynchronous course, it is beneficial for the student to be able to access information in small chunks so that they can progress at their own pace.  Adding this form of control can increase a student's learning by allowing them to repeat a lesson or advance if necessary.


LCP 5: Offer navigational support in hypermedia environments

Embedding navigational tools such as course maps, screen titles, links and headers are traditional tools that assist in comprehension.  Using these types of tools improve a student's ability to understand and summarize a lesson.


LCP 4 and 5 Demonstrated (or not)
The Georgia Public Broadcasting Website has recently created a site expanding upon the life of the Cherokee Nation here in Georgia.  The organization and presentation of the material is grouped together in small chunks which provides a student (or teacher) the ability to access the information at a their own pace.  In addition there are a wide selection of navigational tools that allow you to move throughout the tour to discover more about this fascinating aspect of history.

GPB Cherokee Nation Virtual Tour

REFERENCES

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designmers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer

PRACTICE PRINCIPLE

November 21, 2016

What is the Practice Principle?

PRACTICE PRINCIPLE:  According to Clark and Mayer, the Practice Principle allows the student to engage in a sufficient amount of e-learning practice in order to acquire the necessary skills to perform a task.  This should be available throughout the instructional unit.  There are five Practice Principles to consider when adding them to your e-learning course.  They are PRACTICE INTERACTION THROUGHOUT E-LEARNING, MIRROR THE JOB, FEEDBACK, MIX TYPES OF PRACTICE, APPLY THE MULTIMEDIA PRINCIPLES and TRANSITION FROM EXAMPLES TO PRACTICE GRADULLY.  All of these principles of practice help to store information into a student's long term memory.  I will highlighting 3 of these principles today.

PRACTICE PRINCIPLES DEMONSTRATED (or not):

Practice Principle 1  allows students to indicate why an answer is or is not appropriate.  This exercise is used in Clarke and Mayer's text throughout their book.  As the student engaged in this particular practice, I was able to decide which was the best approach for each scenario and then understand why this was or was not the right choice.  Clarke and Mayer also used this practice to introduce each new principle, which helps to provide focus for the student.  Once a student makes a selection, the text provides information on why an answer is correct.  This type of practice should occur throughout the learning process.  Below is a screenshot of Clark and Mayer's use of this technique.

Principle 2   Encourages students to Mirror the Job.  It is not a enough for a student to indicate verbally that they understand a particular concept.  They must be provided with an opportunity to practice what they have learned.  This is clearly demonstrated through Student Teaching.  Students can learn an extensive amount of information for classroom instruction but it is not until they begin to put it into practice within the classroom that their coursework begins to stick.  Most universities will allow 1 - 2 years of opportunities to work in the classroom in preparation for this challenging yet rewarding career.

Principle 3 focuses on providing feedback to a student after they select an answer. Read Theory is an excellent resource in this area.  Students are required to complete a reading passage and then answer reading comprehension questions about the text.  Below is an example of how an explanation is shared with the student if the answer is incorrect.

Read Theory

BrainPOP is another website offering feedback to students while learning a particular subject.  Below a student must place the events of Susan B. Anthony's life in the correct order however if a student chooses incorrectly, it will place the card back in its original place.  In this way, students immediately learn that their choice was incorrect.

Susan B. Anthony Sequencing Game

REFERENCES

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designmers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer

WORKED EXAMPLES

November 20, 2016

What are Worked Examples?

WORKED EXAMPLES:  This principle emphasizes the need to have a Step By Step Example of how to complete a particular lesson or task.  I recall reading many elementary school math textbooks as a child.  However whenever learning a new principle, I focused primarily on the worked examples and how the answer was achieved.  I would then attempt to duplicate those steps in a new math problem.  This will often be the practice of many students.  For this reason, we should always incorporate a worked example in our presentations when it is appropriate.  Worked Examples can assist in developing procedural skills or strategic skills.


WORKED EXAMPLES DEMONSTRATED (or not)

The Khan Academy is a well known site that offers instruction on every academic subject from Math to Language Arts to Social Studies and Science.  They cover lessons from the first grade all the way to college level material.   They use worked examples for all of their math lessons.  This particular demonstration provides instruction on procedural skill of how to solve a division problem.

4th Grade Math Long Division

Kahoot is an excellent tool to use when searching for ways enhance instruction.  Teachers can use this to review lessons on a variety of topics.  They can create their own assessments or find one that already exists and students have a wonderful time doing it.  On their site is a demonstration of how to create a Kahoot however I think that they could have broken the steps down a little more.  They also provide suggestions prior to creating your Kahoot such as researching your topic and incorporating fascinating images.  However the student made tutorials on YouTube break down the steps even better when creating their own tailor made Kahoot.

The example below provides a procedural example for teachers.  This particular demonstration focuses on how to manage a classroom.

Classroom Management Techniques

REFERENCES

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designmers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer

https://getkahoot.com/how-it-works

SEGMENTING PRINCIPLE

November 20, 2016

What is the Segmenting Principle?

SEGMENTING PRINCIPLE: This particular principle emphasizes the importance of presenting material in chunks or segments.  This is demonstrated when a book, lesson or video provides an overall heading, topics and then subtopics.  This is when a presentation breaks down large steps into smaller steps.  Another feature of this principle allows a students to pause the lesson if necessary.  This is crucial because it give the student an opportunity to stop and process the information that they have learned without experiencing an overload.  This allows each student to work at their own rate.

SEGMENTING PRINCIPLE DEMONSTRATED:  Don't you just LOVE the new way several cooking sites are showing you how to prepare your favorite dishes.  Whenever a cook would share a recipe with me, I would always ask for the "Betty Crocker" version.  In other words, none of that "add a little bit of this and a little bit of that".  I need very specific instructions.  This is why I subscribe to Goodful.  I love, love, love their step by step instructions.  They break a continuous lesson into bite size parts and I can see it.  While it is much more advantageous for the student to have a "Pause" button available, this practice can also be implemented when watching a video but it is less likely to occur. Videos like this make all the difference for those of us that are challenged in the area of culinary arts.

The Segmenting Principle is also demonstrated in the image below providing a step by step process on How to Tie a Knot.

REFERENCES

Clark, R.C. & Mayer, R.E. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (3rd Edition). San Francisco, CA.: John Wiley & Sons. 

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (3^rd Edition) San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

PERSONALIZATION PRINCIPLES

November 6, 2016


What are the Personalization Principles?

Personalization Principles:  This particular principle addresses that a conversational tone is more effective when instruction is provided.  In addition, the use of an agent also seems to provide some familiarity in the presentation of the material. I'm sure that many of us would agree that our learning was enhanced when the instruction had a more informal tone versus a formal one. This has proven to be more effective when providing an online course as well.

Personalization Principle 1:  This principle focuses on the importance of using a conversational tone over a formal tone.  When creating the text for your multi media tool, the use of a friendly human voice in the 1st or 2nd person achieves the best results.  This seems to be especially true for students with a lesser amount of academic experience.  When a student experiences social cues that are similar to a conversation, they are more engaged and are more likely to respond positively in instruction.  Using words like "You" and "We" can assist in achieving this type of tone.  Some are concerned that this approach might detract from the seriousness of the material being presented when that is far from the truth.  According to the research of Clarke and Mayer, a student puts forth a greater effort to understand what the author is saying when they feel like they are engaged in a conversation.

Personalization Principle 2:  This principle indicates that it is helpful to provide a pedogogical agent or coach.  This allows the student a chance to "feel" like they are interacting with someone or something when they are learning the material.  This agent can be realistic or imaginary and they can be stationary or mobile, just as long as the student can hear the agent's voice.

Personalization Principle 3:  Finally, when the information does have a more formal tone, the reader will have an enhanced level of understanding when the author is present.  This can be displayed when the author shares their opinion about the material or shares some personal information about themselves.


Personalization Principles Demonstrated:

Below, I have provided some examples of the Personalization Principle being demonstrated.  These two sites choose to use an agent when providing information and instruction for their sites.  Both of these websites include a character and/or a person to assist in the presentation of the material.  Both of these sites give the illusion that we are speaking with someone and therefore improves the student's ability to gain an understanding of what is being presented.

References

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (3^rd Edition) San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.