Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Week 6
For this week’s lesson, we are supposed to evaluate two multimedia lessons conducted for the students in school; one with action agents while the other without.
To be fair and putting aside the technical error that occurs at the beginning of the evaluation, I must say that the multimedia lesson with the agents will definitely spark off learning interest from the students as elements of cuteness – in term of using lively and cute agent graphics – are incorporated into the lesson. The contents to be delivered to the students are clear and concise, coupled with lively narration by the agents. Instructions to activate figures and answers by the agents, indeed, make the whole lesson more interactive and appeal to the students. While the lesson is conducted in a slow pace, it is not boring but manages to capture students’ attention due to the lively tone of voice and actions of peedy and its assistant. I took about 20 min to complete the whole lesson.
On the other hand, the time taken to complete the lesson without the agents took me about 5-10 min to complete. Hence, less time is used as compared to the lesson with agents. Information is presented in a straightforward manner and easily accessible. However, no attempt has been made to summarize the lesson, resulting in a large chunk of information presented under each section, which is not easy to digest at first reading.
Personally, I would prefer the lesson with the agents. The graphical elements are, in fact, a bonus to learning and will infuse students’ enthusiasm towards knowledge seeking. Learning naturally involves teaching in a step-by-step approach. The agents, effectively, act as teachers which go through each piece of information in a systematic and interesting way. Although it is more time consuming than the lesson without the agents, students will be able to absorb more. In contrast, students taking the lesson without the agents might require going through the lesson again to comprehend better. At the end of the day, the lesson with the graphical elements is considered more productive in term of learning.
There are certainly rooms for improvement with regards to the lesson with agents. Firstly, it is best if the introduction of the lesson by peedy and its assistant can be optional, meaning that a ‘skip intro’ option is introduced. Otherwise, an accidental click on the home button in the midst of a particular lesson will trigger the introduction again without an option to reject. In addition, students must be told, prior to the lesson, to deactivate the function which disabled pop-up window in order to be able to see the figures 2a and b in the last segment. Besides, the font size of the content could, perhaps, be enlarged to improve visibility. I feel that the content can be better presented if it were to appear after the narration of the agents as the display of the whole piece of content beforehand can be distracting to the students.
In a nutshell, I feel that the effectiveness of the lesson is based on the students’ passion and interest in the lesson and most importantly, the degree of adsorption of the content as well as the ability to apply them. In order to achieve these, educational tools should be user-friendly and not complicated to use.
To be fair and putting aside the technical error that occurs at the beginning of the evaluation, I must say that the multimedia lesson with the agents will definitely spark off learning interest from the students as elements of cuteness – in term of using lively and cute agent graphics – are incorporated into the lesson. The contents to be delivered to the students are clear and concise, coupled with lively narration by the agents. Instructions to activate figures and answers by the agents, indeed, make the whole lesson more interactive and appeal to the students. While the lesson is conducted in a slow pace, it is not boring but manages to capture students’ attention due to the lively tone of voice and actions of peedy and its assistant. I took about 20 min to complete the whole lesson.
On the other hand, the time taken to complete the lesson without the agents took me about 5-10 min to complete. Hence, less time is used as compared to the lesson with agents. Information is presented in a straightforward manner and easily accessible. However, no attempt has been made to summarize the lesson, resulting in a large chunk of information presented under each section, which is not easy to digest at first reading.
Personally, I would prefer the lesson with the agents. The graphical elements are, in fact, a bonus to learning and will infuse students’ enthusiasm towards knowledge seeking. Learning naturally involves teaching in a step-by-step approach. The agents, effectively, act as teachers which go through each piece of information in a systematic and interesting way. Although it is more time consuming than the lesson without the agents, students will be able to absorb more. In contrast, students taking the lesson without the agents might require going through the lesson again to comprehend better. At the end of the day, the lesson with the graphical elements is considered more productive in term of learning.
There are certainly rooms for improvement with regards to the lesson with agents. Firstly, it is best if the introduction of the lesson by peedy and its assistant can be optional, meaning that a ‘skip intro’ option is introduced. Otherwise, an accidental click on the home button in the midst of a particular lesson will trigger the introduction again without an option to reject. In addition, students must be told, prior to the lesson, to deactivate the function which disabled pop-up window in order to be able to see the figures 2a and b in the last segment. Besides, the font size of the content could, perhaps, be enlarged to improve visibility. I feel that the content can be better presented if it were to appear after the narration of the agents as the display of the whole piece of content beforehand can be distracting to the students.
In a nutshell, I feel that the effectiveness of the lesson is based on the students’ passion and interest in the lesson and most importantly, the degree of adsorption of the content as well as the ability to apply them. In order to achieve these, educational tools should be user-friendly and not complicated to use.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Week 5
The discussion for this week’s lesson is on MSN Discussion Forum. I’ve learnt that technology can be put to great usage in education if we understand the constraints prior to implementation. In my opinion, if the discussion forum were to be utilized as an educational tool, a direction should be set by the teacher. It can be a discussion on a detective story or maths puzzle thrown to the students. Teachers can come in as moderators to give some hints as and when necessary. Otherwise, the discussion forum will be relegated to a chat room without any focus and direction. In this way, teachers who want to grade students based on their discussions can develop appropriate and clear-cut rubrics. On the other hand, the topic chosen for discussion must be something that is not factual and hence can facilitate discussion to take place.
The discussion forum can be started by teachers conveniently. All that is to be done is essentially to register for a group and invite the students to come into the forum to discuss relevant issues. Of course, beforehand, teachers have to inform the students to register an account with MSN as well as setting ground rules for discussion, for instance, no flaming, before embarking on this project. This is to prevent a sense of loss by the students and results in a state of confusion when the discussion forum starts.
Moreover, besides using the forum as a discussion platform, I feel that it can also be used in other ways. One instance would be utilizing it as a common online storage to display photos from class outings or Sport day etc. As such, the forum would not be under utilized and deemed it as merely another format of boring school work.
Most importantly, the usage of the discussion forum can bring about the bridging of ideas and thought. Comments from fellow classmates in the class can be new and constructive perspectives to the others. It is a platform for one to exhibit or express his burning ideas as well as a chance to reflect on your own or others’ discussions. Hence, if used effectively, it is definitely a good avenue to air one’s thought in an analytical way, which is considered a luxury in the limited time period during lesson.
The discussion forum can be started by teachers conveniently. All that is to be done is essentially to register for a group and invite the students to come into the forum to discuss relevant issues. Of course, beforehand, teachers have to inform the students to register an account with MSN as well as setting ground rules for discussion, for instance, no flaming, before embarking on this project. This is to prevent a sense of loss by the students and results in a state of confusion when the discussion forum starts.
Moreover, besides using the forum as a discussion platform, I feel that it can also be used in other ways. One instance would be utilizing it as a common online storage to display photos from class outings or Sport day etc. As such, the forum would not be under utilized and deemed it as merely another format of boring school work.
Most importantly, the usage of the discussion forum can bring about the bridging of ideas and thought. Comments from fellow classmates in the class can be new and constructive perspectives to the others. It is a platform for one to exhibit or express his burning ideas as well as a chance to reflect on your own or others’ discussions. Hence, if used effectively, it is definitely a good avenue to air one’s thought in an analytical way, which is considered a luxury in the limited time period during lesson.
