Author: xinyi

Youtube Video:

Q1. What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?

The video is inherently interactive, but it could be designed to be more interactive by teachers. The video is about professional communication skills, but it teaches people how to meditate, and how to control one’s breathes; it give students some time to pause the video and practice what the presenter (Adriana Girdler) says. 

The later half of the video teaches people how to write business emails, and this is the  part of the video that is not inherently interactive but could be designed to be more interactive.

Q2. In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?

They might respond to the video by taking notes and do some activities that the presenter recommend. The reason why I pick this video is because it is both instructive and interactive. There are lessons that students can learn from this video, methods of how to pay more attention to their body language and strategies of understanding others’ body language. In the video, the presenter said : “Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.”  When I first watch this video, I feel enlightened and encouraged, so my emotion is responding to the video. I assume that students would also feel the same, because many people get nervous to speak in a business context because they fear that something could be wrong or they are not well-prepared. Focus on what they can do in order to make the situation better is really a good strategy. I am also taking notes when I watch this video, responding to it emotionally. 

On the other hand, the video gives some instructions on how to be more confident such as focus on our breathing patterns and how to meditate before a stressful event. I also tried some of these methods and I find them very useful. Thus, in this part of the video, students can respond to the video physically. 

Q3. What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

As mentioned, the latter part of the video could be designed to be more interactive. For example, educator can use this part of the video and ask students to engage in a quick write activity. Use what they learn immediately. Give them a context to respond and write an email to, but only give them ten minutes. Then in the following class, the teacher can use scholarly articles or printed books to teach them the format of business emails, and how to be more professional in terms of their tone in writing and their writing style. Then the teacher can leave a homework which requires the student to revise their “quick write”, in this way, students can see their own improvements in the revise email. This process help students to be critical about their own writing, and it tests their ability to respond to a task in a quick manner. 

Q4. How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

Most students would know how they do after they compare their quick writes with their revised draft. In my opinion, self-assessment allows students to see their things: “Where”, “Why”, and “How”— 1. Where to change 2. Why I change 3. How to change. Educators can certainly tell students these things in the feedback, but that isn’t learner-focused, it’s teacher-focused— “I tell you where to change, I tell you why you needed to change, and I tell you how to change”. This kind of feedback is not going to help students in a long run, because students don’t have to agree with everything that their teachers say. They should have their own judgments, and what teachers can do is to help students go beyond what they find in the self-assessment: first, be a good listener and listen to how the students assess their own work, then provide professional feedback to their self-assessment by giving them more evidence either supporting their self-assessment or disapproving their assessment. Finally, the educator can ask students to write a final draft, incorporating their self-assessment and teacher’s assessment, then the educator can grade them based on how students improve from draft 1 to the final draft. 

This peer review is dedicated to Wenyi Hou, Yixi Chen and Yixing Chen.

Dear Wenyi, Yixi and Yixing,

Thank you for sharing your interactive learning resource draft. It was an enjoyable read! The following is some suggestions that I hope are helpful.

Topic:

This peer review is dedicated to Wenyi Hou, Yixi Chen and Yixing Chen. 

Dear Wenyi, Yixi and Yixing, 

Thank you for sharing your interactive learning resource draft. It was an enjoyable read! The following is some suggestions that I hope are helpful. 

First Impression:

The whole document is well-organized, very easy to follow, and the expressions is clear and has a formal tone. In general, this is a very good learning design. 

Topic: 

The topic is clear and well-addressed.  Here are some suggestions regarding to the topic:

Adding “who is going to benefit from your topic?”

Defining “Your purpose of choosing this topic”

Adding “How do you include inclusiveness”

Overview of Resource:

The overview is short and concise.Considering the following :

Add at least two sources to make this section more well-researched.

The content includes a definition of what “Whipping Cream” is and the uses of “Whipping Cream”, considering adding the introduction of your resources such as adding “why we included these resources but not others”, “how they will help students better”. 

Learning Theory and Design 

This section of the document clearly defines the theoretical background for this learning resource. Instead of briefly mention the “Cognitivism learning theory”, it would be better if you could elaborate it, adding a definition for Cognitivism learning theory, and then connects to your interactive activities. 

Context 

This section is well done! Perhaps it would be better to move this section before “Learning Theory Design” section, so that it connects to the topic, and give readers an idea of how that connects to the overview of resource. If I am a student or a teacher, I would want to know if I can teach/learn this topic, am I the suitable learner for this topic. Hence, moving this section in the beginning, would defiantly improve the overall structure of this document.

Concept Analysis &Leaning Outcome 

I am impressed by the break down of the units topics and how that coordinates with your concept analysis and learning outcome. Following this table of unit topics, it is very clear to me of how you want to develop the course, along with the learning resources & activities that will be used to achieve learning outcome in each unit. 

Examples of topic 

I really like your examples, it shows that you also breaks down your topic into four sub-topics, and you have provided an analysis of how you want to develop these sub-topics. I would say this part along with your unit plan are the strength of your Interactive learning resource, keep up with the good work!

Reference Page:

Thank you for the reference page, I see that you categorize your learning resources into different categories such as scholarly articles and websites.

Concluding Comments: 

Overall, very enjoyable read! Good work. The last suggestion I would have is that include your idea about “Inclusiveness” in this project too. It would be great if you discuss how people need further flexibility or assistance in your “Context” section. 

Best. 

Ye. 

Cooperative Learning

–An overview of the characteristics of the approach

One famous cooperative learning approach is called the Jigsaw method. The Jigsaw Method was developed by Elliot Aronson in 1971, students were divided into several groups at the beginning of the class, which also known as the home group (Dwi Nur Rachmah,2017). Then the teacher will assign one topic to each member of the home group, and students were required to learn about the given topic by themselves (Dwi Nur Rachmah,2017).The next step is to form an expert group, students who got the same topic come together and form an expert group. Within each expert group, students share what they have learned, take notes and help improve each member’s understanding of the topic. Then, students will return to their home group, and start their presentations (Dwi Nur Rachmah,2017).

From the Jigsaw Method, we can identify some of the characteristics of cooperative learning: 1.Students were divided into groups; 2. Students work as a group but each of them have their individual task to accomplish, in other words, they are individually accountable ; 3. Role-shifting within the group, the students were no longer passive learners, they take ownership of their own learning. 

Cooperative learning has advantages and disadvantages. Based on behaviorism theory, cooperative learning as in the Jigsaw classroom can motive students by activating the four sources of self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1988), the four sources of self-efficacy are 1. Performance accomplishment 2. Vicarious experience 3. Social persuasion 4. Physiological and emotional states (Bandura, 1988). When students are within a group, not only they have more role models (where vicarious experience comes from), they are also more likely to be more vivaciously (physiological and emotional states). They also have the chance to feel competent when they feel like they are leading the classroom. 

The disadvantage of cooperative learning might be social loafing, but if everyone are individually accountable, this disadvantage can be avoided. 

—a discussion of how that approach does or does not align with your chosen topic

This approach does align with our chosen topic because our topic is about leadership skills and communication. The way we construct our learning resources also matches how the cooperative approach works: 70% of our assessments are formative. Students will be presented with multiple case studies, and analyze which communication strategy best fit the given scenario, and then formulate a response. After this activity, students will have a peer critique session, this provides them an opportunity to work with others. 

Reference :

Bandura, A. (1988). Self-efficacy conception of anxiety. Anxiety Research, 1(2), 77-98.

Dwi Nur Rachmah. (2017). Effects of Jigsaw Learning Method on Students’ Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Learn. Journal of Educational, 6(3), 1-9.

Blog Prompt 1–Learning, Theory and Motivation (Responding to two peers)

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I really enjoyed reading Sandra Wang‘s post on how to overcome a learning challenge and what strategies to use. She used her personal experience to demonstrate some of the obstacles that international students face while studying abroad. I appreciate Wang for sharing her story because I find myself resonate with her. As international students, we face issues such as language barriers, culture shock, and different types of stress caused by living in a foreign country. We need to cope with these issues while trying to study.

When trying to overcome language barriers, Wang used cognitive learning theory as her strategy because she believes that language and culture are connected. Wang’s post suggests that our cultural background influences our cognitive processes; hence, understanding Canadian culture is the first step she took when she was learning English. Her explanation of her learning process is a really good introduction to cognitive learning theory and gave me much-needed insight into the cognitive process in learning, such as the link between language, information processing, and problem-solving, In Chapter 11 of the book, Peggy A. Ertmer & Timothy Newby(2013) state that cognitive learning theory puts great emphasis on making learners more involved in learning, and providing the environment in which students can actively absorb information, and process information (Ertmer & Newby,2013). I think Wang is really an active learner because she knows that learning a language is more about learning the language itself, when she discovers that culture influences her learning of English, she actively changed her strategy and made good use of her cognitive ability.

Finally, In discussing the topic of motivation, Wang’s post introduces how behaviorism learning theory plays a role. By giving learners tangible rewards, Wang thinks students will be more motivated.

A big thank you to Sandra Wang’s thoughtful post, it was a very enjoyable read indeed!

Reference:

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.

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I appreciated Huatian He‘s post on his experience with a barista course. He’s learning experience makes me wonder whether intrinsic motivation is the key to become an active learner. In other words, He’s post allows me to see cognitivism learning theory from a different perspective. From Ertmer & Newby’s (2013) chapter, I learned that cognitivism learning theory wants students to take ownership of their learning. There are various ways for instructors to help students to become active learners, but what if students lack the intrinsic motivation to be actively involved in the course? In He’s post, what makes his learning experience a successful one are: 1. he likes drinking coffee (which makes him interested in this barista course in the first place); 2. his education background: mechanics and chemistry. I believe that one’s interest is something that cannot be forced or controlled, but instructors can make good use of behaviorism learning theory–use tangible rewards to motivate students externally. Then, learn about student’s educational backgrounds, and use the cognitivism learning theory to make the connection between new information and the old knowledge that students already acquired.

He’s post is really enlightening and I really appreciate that he shared this experience. It made me to see the importance of both behaviourism and cognitivism learning theory.

Reference: Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.

Blog Prompt 2—- Learning Design II

Huatian ‘s post is really impressive, he included additional research which allowed me to see how inquiry-based learning can be implemented in math classrooms. Compared to what Huatian said about the inquiry-based learning method to my personal experience with math classes, I think the difference is that non-inquiry-based learning is more teacher-oriented, whereas the inquiry-based learning method focuses on student’s learning experience. It is an interesting choice for Huatian to relate inquiry-based learning with math classes because my stereotype is that math classes leave students less space to be creative, as my math teacher always wants us to solve questions in his way, but not in our own way. Hence, I am very delighted to see teachers nowadays are changing the traditional method of teaching, and give students in math class the freedom to explore different problem-solving methods, and what they really want to see is student’s skills developed in solving problems. I think this method also matches with our learning resource because we would also like to see student’s creativity and their critical skills in learning.

Sandra’s post is very thoughtful and inspiring. Her post is about experiential learning. It was a very enjoyable read because Sandra always includes illustrations and highlights (of important parts) in her post. The illustration (a figure) of experiential learning showed me how experience, reflection, thoughts, and act work together in a learner’s learning process when adopting experiential learning. . This learning method is also focused on learner instead of the teacher, which I think it’s a characteristic of useful learning method. Another advantage of this learning method is that it helps students to gain a holistic understanding of the subject, I think this is the biggest benefit of this learning method because it is something that some learning methods cannot achieve. Experiential learning method is especially good for our learning resource because we don’t want to limit our students’ communication skills just in a business context. We want them to apply what they learn in other real-life situation so that it could help them deal with different scenarios, which is why our learning resources also include readings in communication discipline, and link these materials that to a business context.

Blog Prompt 3 —-Design for Inclusiveness

I really enjoyed reading Sandra’s post about designing for inclusion. I think she really managed to see special needs as simply human needs and to label human needs as special needs is a sign of discrimination. The video that Sandra embedded in her post helped me to see how designing for inclusion/diversity actually works, even though most of us know what inclusiveness means, it does not necessarily mean that we know how to foster that kind of inclusive environment in our classroom.

Here are the list of lesson I learned from the video that Sandra posts:

1. Know your students
2. Make sure that your students know that this course aims for inclusiveness
3. Design the learning resource to be student-centered

I also appreciate that Sandra mentioned my approach to ensure inclusiveness in the interactive resource draft. Thank you for agreeing with my approaches and add such a great video along with them.

Blog Prompt 4 —- Design for Interactive

Huatian‘s post about designing for interactive is very educative. Although the video is not inherently interactive, Huatian provided some suggestions that could make this type of learning resource more interactive, such as the use of the activities in the video, and then ask students to do each of these activities. What I find most interesting is the “forum” activity that Huatian mentioned. For me, I think forum activity would not facilitate interaction because it’s not synchronized. Some students leave a message and wouldn’t be checking it until the next day. Thus, I think it really would slow down the process of collaboration if we are really aiming for one. Also, Huatian acknowledged that monitoring forum activity is not an easy task, and it is hard to see students’ improvement just from responding and replying to others.

Sandra’s post also included a video that is not inherently interactive, she managed to see the potential of this video and design it to be more interactive, the one activity that I particularly like is to let students write questions for the video. This activity could make students more engaged in the class because it requires them to think more critically. Sandra’s idea about playing this video at the beginning of the class is very appropriate because the video is basically an abstraction of our topic. However, letting students write reflections at this point of the class is inappropriate because they don’t have enough knowledge to reflect considering we are still at the early stage of the course. As for Sandra’s choice for feedback, I think the email might not be the best way to give feedback. This is because if we really want students to learn communication skills then we should get them to talk, thus schedule a short (perhaps 3 minutes) session with each student and give them feedback while communicating with the students really matches the intention of our course and allows them to apply what they learned in the video.

What is one idea from the readings or videos that you disagree with, and why?

After watching the Backwards Bicycle Video, I would disagree that learners have to completely undo old understandings when confronted with new information. Although I agree that we sometimes give more credibility to ideas that we are already familiar with, it doesn’t mean people need to abandon what they knew in order to learn something new. For instance, when learning GRE vocabularies, I find it very hard to memorize new words from scratch. It is much easier if I just make connections to words I already knew. What I discover is that most GRE vocabularies are from Greek, Latin, Middle English, French or even Old English, without knowing what the root means in Modern English, it is very hard for me to memorize them. Also, once I figured out what the affixes mean (as well as the root),  I can understand a new word without actually knowing them. Hence, the Backwards Bicycle Video somewhat challenged my whole understanding about learning, the reason I disagree with the ideas presented in the video might because I have my own bias, and I need time to digest with this new way of thinking about learning. In addition, the ideas in Backwards Bicycle video contradict to constructivism learning theory, which values how learners assemble prior knowledge when confronted with new situation or new knowledge (Ertmer& Newby,2013). I have always been a big fan of constructivism learning theory, therefore, I would disagree with the ideas in the Backwards Bicycle Video, and contends that prior knowledge plays a huge role in obtaining new knowledge.  

Reference:

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.

Share a story about your best learning experience (could be a formal course or something more personal). Why did you enjoy it?

Last year, I was in an Econ class, and unlike other Econ courses I have taken before, this course has a lot of collaborative assignments. Initially, I was worried, because I have had a very bad experience with group work, where I ended up doing most of the work, which is time-consuming and frustrating. Fortunately, group members in this Econ class were very engaging. Everyone has their own specialty —one was good at making the presentation slides, one was good at presenting in the class, one was good at research, and one has the patience to proofread every sentence that goes into the project. Our project got the highest score and we enjoyed the time we spent working together, they also helped me to understand the course concepts much better. This particular experience made me appreciate collaborative working and see the beauty of it. Many educators tried to incorporate collaborative assignments in their curriculum in order to engage learners. The bigger challenge is how educators avoid the Ringelmann Effect or social loafing— productivity decreases when people pulled with a group because they think others will do the work. Hence, we can see how motivational problem arises in projects that aim to motivate learners as well. Therefore, one more consideration aside from Keller’s Arcs Motivation Model is—How to avoid the Ringelmann Effect in learning design.