Media 710 Learning Technologies
Course Description
Course Objectives
Use an instructional systems design model to design training courses and modules, which are to be delivered using contemporary instructional technology.
Develop training courses, modules and materials using computer‐based technology.
• Select appropriate training methods to meet training course and program needs.
• Select appropriate hardware, software and delivery systems to meet training course and program needs.
• Deliver a training module using a contemporary instruction technology.
• Evaluate the delivery of a training course, module or program.
• Provide leadership in the proper utilization of delivery systems for training.
• Apply research and forecasting techniques to project technological developments and potential impacts.
Text
Discussion prompts from Learning Technologies
Chapter 1 - History of Multimedia –So1.0
As I opened our textbook I felt as though I wasstepping back in time… literally dusting off each page as Iturned it.
Because my professional background is in educationtechnology, I really took aim at section 1.7.2 – Instructionin School andElsewhere. Isneeredat the editor-in-chief, RobertMcHenry’s,of Encyclopedia Britannica, blurbabouthow the company was altering itsmediumto keep up with the technology. (In reference to CD-ROM and Internet) “WeatBritannica…want to convey a certain body ofinterested learners and we always use the tools athand” (p.24). My thoughts instantly were inwonder…Is their even an editor-in-chief position atBritannica anymore? It has been 10years since this textbook waspublished – which is light years in terms of technology. We atBritannica (information developed by a select few )has beenreplaced with We at Wikipedia (informationdevelopedby masses of people – including people like me and you!). What use to cost 12.50/mo (p. 25) now iscompletely FREE and is evolving with up to date information as ithappens! An interestingread…McHenry’sWikipedia entrycriticizing Wikipedia.
One could purchase multimedia CDROMs of classic titles likeGoldilocks and the Three Bears, The Princess and the Pea and the UglyDuckling. Now, students andteachers arecreating their OWN versions of these stories and uploading them toYoutube forthe world to see. (1,2,3).
I could go on about all of the advances that have occurred andthat are prevalent in our schools and most of all in our learning today. Chapter 1 has some great backgroundinformation, but has been somewhat of a disappointment to me. I hope the rest of the book will offer goodand most of all USEFUL information.
Chapter2 – Why Science Matters
Chapter 2 was interesting to mebecause it brought us backto the basics (and science) of visual and audio theory. I am especiallyinterested in visual communications. “Quiteapart from verbal communication, visualcommunication…affords a veritable wealthof information to human beings, which they then apply to their ownattitudes,thoughts, ideas, opinions, education, behavior, and actions (pp.66-67). ” I feel that visualcommunication takes an active role in education today and can have asignificant impact on the participants if choreographed creatively.
As I do presentations all the time, I remember back when Ifirst learned how to do PowerPoint. BeforeOffice 2007, Microsoft defined what our presentations should look like– no morethan 7 lines with 7 words per line. Well– after Microsoft sucked the creativity out of us (HA)– people realized thatinteresting presentations, that made people react (laugh, cry,surprise, ect)would actually go much longer than the traditional “Death byPowerPoint” typepresentations.
Enter Presentation Zen. (book by GarrReynolds) Afterreading the book, I focused less on reading my slides andfocused moreon presenting/conveying information to my staff. For thefirst time(in a long time) my presentations were interesting. Thetextbookdefines an image as a result of optical sensations with meaning. Thesense, feeling, tone, or intent of an image can heighten the audience'sexperience of the presentation. Space, size, color, lighting,gradients, interposition, time, and perspective all play an activerole in the depth and interpretation of the imagery. (p. 82) Eventypefaces (fonts) can be utilized to heighten the meaning of theimagery. Note the slidesare below. This is examplesfrom thePresentation Zen book to show you before/after imagery of PowerPointslides that have been 'zennified'. What do you think - whichslidesare most interesting to you?
The lastthing I want to mention is the use of audio with these presentations.Whether it be sound effects or music, It seems to me,the more sensesthat aretriggered, the bigger the impact it will have on the individual. Mixsome theatrics, music, and youtube and you now have viral videos like JK WeddingEntrance Dance. (which by the way - is currentlyover 25 million hits)
Chapter 3 -Hardware in 1998 vs 2009 – what a difference!
Chapter 3 described the hardware usedto develop andinteract with multimedia presentations and environments. I felt thediscussionof monitors, speakers, keyboards, digital camera, video cameras,cd-rom’s, and modemsis dated. All throughout the chapter, I was thinking of the impact ofTODAY’shardware including plasma or lcd tv/projectors. There was no mention of iPhones, iPods, or flash drives. There was no mention offlip cameras,Internet TV, or my beloved DVR. Thetext’s highlight of networking consisted of modems– not broadband access likefiber to the home, 802.11x wireless access, and 3G/4G networks.
The virtualreality section was interesting, but it wouldhave been even more interesting to learn about the virtual reality oftoday,including devices that intermix with Second Life, the impact ofWii,PS3,andXboxsystems as learning technologies.
What I did find veryinteresting was the VR section - Figure3.9 and the factors affecting the degree of immersion in virtualreality. (p.151) I am remindedby the quality of ourgaming systems today. Mysons have anXbox 360and as I watch them play the latest Madden NFLgame, it is quiteamazing the quality, complexity of the graphics, audio, andinteractivity ofthe application. Froma distance, onemight not even realize that it is a virtual game vs. real life footballgame. I do notthink this can be consideredcompletely VR since it is mostly controlled with a wireless controller. But as I think of the Wii– and the motioncontrol device vs. joystick controls…I reallyhave to wonder how long it willbe before these gamingconsoles will be shipped with its VR headsets and gloves? What do you think?
Setiawan, A. VirtualReality [Online Image]. (March 2008). Retrieved September25, 2009, from Flickr Creative Commons. http://www.flickr.com/photos/adisetiawan/2332993278/.
Chapter4 - Who needs plastic surgery when youhave Photoshop?
I would like to start this post bystating the importance ofthe network protocols and topology mentioned on pages 187-195. Withoutthese important pieces, the Internet may have never existed as it doestoday. Graphicapplications have alsoevolved with the rise of the Internet. Years ago – Photoshop wastheking of graphic art programs! Editingthe image like applying textures, text, flipping, rotating, editinghues,tones, redeye, ect was once somewhat difficult. Now, new opensource apps like picasa and gimpand cloud computing applications like picnikmake photo editing a cinch. (opensourceand cloud computing are terms not mentioned in our textbook!) Have youpicnik’dyour facebookor flickrphotos yet? Notonly is it simple, but is very fun! By the way – if it wasn’t forjavascript, webplugins, media players, and servers – none of the links Ihave mentioned wouldprobably be in existence.
So what is missing from the text? Flash. This is how sites like youtube, vimeo,andhulu delivervideo to the world!XML. XMLis markup language that gives the Web today its 2.0. And RSS allows me toinstantly be updated of all myfavorite blogs, tweets, wikis, and social networks.
As I think about how we view multimedia today – I think thechapter has a good foundation, but felt compelled to mention all of thesitesabove. How aboutyou – what is yourfavorite Web 2.0 multimedia application?Figure 1. Talking Tree. TotalTraining Adobe Photoshop CS2 on Mac [Online Image].(December 2008). Retrieved September25, 2009, from Flickr Creative Commons. http://www.flickr.com/photos/adisetiawan/2332993278/.
Chapter 5 -5.3.4 Is MultimediaInterpersonal or Mass Communication?
Has the world of multimedia evolved so much that the data (in ourtextbook) is now inaccurate?
On page 284 the text states “Multimedia is not masscommunication because it entails farm more interactivity and feedback,may have somewhat different message flow, and requires a more intimateknowledge of the audience…On the other hand, multimedia isnot interpersonal communication because it is not as interactive asface-to-face communication, lacks the physical presence of anothercommunicator, is unusually packaged and stored, and multimedia is basedprimarily on sociological data about the receiver rather thanpsychological data.”
P. 277 - Mass communication is defined as “a sender (usuallya large media organization) transmitting messages to a large, diverse,and socially distant audience termed “the mass”.“ One of the keypoints the textbook makes is that there isvery low interactivity in mass communication.
Below is the quite famous and viral JK Wedding youtube video. It was uploaded by a St. Paul couple (not a large media organization)after recording their uniquely choreographed wedding entrance to ChrisBrown’s song Forever. As it stands, the video hasbeen watched over 25 million times.
This video is very interactive. I can stop, play, favorite,embed, and rate the movie. I can provide feedback instantly(via comments) and I can have interpersonal conversations with otherparticipants. As I look at the chart on p. 285, it comparesinterpersonal communication with mass communication and where theauthors believe interactive communication sets. AsI look at the chart and reflect on sites like youtube - is thisinformation now inaccurate? I truly feel that multimediatoday can be VERY interpersonal – yet can be communicated tothe masses. What do you think?
Chapter 6 - There is no 'I' inA.I. (artificial intelligence)
Ihave to admit, I was very drawn to the artificial intelligence section(p 372-277) As I read the through the problem types inartificial intelligence, I was compelled to find out where we have comesince 1998 in a couple of the areas.
The area of game playing and virtual reality seems to almost be mergingtogether. The textbook highlights DeepBlue's victory over champion Gary Kasparov. In todays gamingenvironment, this truly seems archaic - yet, I find it interesting thatthe system was learning how to beat the human. I am not surehow feel about this. Remember The Terminator? Notreally sure I want computers and robots wiping out the human race! Onsecond thought, I think - maybe these are the programs that will findthe cure for cancer. Beat cancer, something humans havefailed to do. Is it possible these machines will save thehuman race?
In a previous post, I had discussed what the Wii had done for gamingand the significance these devices could play in virtual reality siteslike Second Life. I happened to stumble upon Microsoft's XBOXresponse to the Wii. It is called ProjectNatal. It provides full-body 3D motioncapture, facial recognition, and voice recognition capabilities. It recognizes 48 skeletal points on the body down to theparticipants fingers! As I watch the clip below, I am amazedthat this technology is here. First I am in awe and feel asthough I am watching the SciFi channel. Health wise - this isGREAT! But, I do wonder what jobs will be lost from this technology?.Physical Therapy, Personal Trainers, Others? What do youthink?
Project Natal. (2009, October 5). In Wikipedia, the freeencyclopedia. Retrieved October 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natal
No Author. [Online Image] Retrieved October 5, 2009 from http://www.mymovie-downloads.com/images/the-terminator-terminator-297809_555_800.jpg
Chapter7 - Keep it simple, yet robust
Meyersdimensions forevaluating interface-building tools (p. 410) reminded me of the beautyof Web2.0 tools that are commonplace today. For instance, Myown mother went from no Internet to Fiber Interent in thehome and Facebook within a week. Ok, maybe 2. At any rate, the reasonwhy she was able to do this is because Facebook is so darn easy to use.
The following are the dimensions for evaluating the interface buildingtools and I am going to compare it with ever popular- Facebook.
Depth - AllI have to do is have a computer, Internet, browser and login and I havethe access to a wealth of tools to remain connected to my 'friends'
Breadth -Share pictures, video, comments, play games, applications, chat, toname a few! What is your favorite?
Portability- I facebook from my phone - do you?
Ease of use - My mom example above explains it all.
Quality of resultinginterfaces - I am continuously impressed with quality ofall other applications that interface with facebook. Have youpicnik'd aphoto lately - it is a web based version photoshop that is verypowerful - yet simple to use!
Speed of resultinginterface - I rarely have speed issues and I only haveDSL. Even uploading photos is suprisingly efficient and quick!
Price - It doesnt get any better than FREE!
Robustness and Support- I have rarly had any support issues with facebook. The problems I dohave, usually revolve around the 3rd party applications I use. (Like Farmville- I am addicted to that game and now follow their tweets! Am I crazy orwhat?)
Lion, W. Simplicity ishard [Online Image]. (July 2008). Retrieved October 6,2009, from Flickr Creative Commons.http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/2646213692/
Chapter 8 - Scene 1, Take 1 - ACTION!
AsI think of being in a Youtube generation, section 8.3 TheProducer/Director Role (p489-497), was very pertinent to whatI seehappening in the school district I work for. Not so longago, schoolmultimedia projects consisted of Powerpoints. Students began theirfirst Powerpoint projects in 2nd grade. By the time they wereseniorsin high school, they were literally Powerpointed to death.
Now,a decade later - video is becoming very popular and is the preferredmethod of multimedia projects for many of our students and teachers. Why? I truly believe that the student new role as aproducer, allowsfor deeper knowledge of content they are creating and sharing and allof the stages below require much thought throughout the process .
- Pre-production phase
- Production phase
- Post-production phase
Ofcourse - thesekids are no StevenSpielberg - but if you look at the example below- can see how this video touches on all of the above phases? In aclassroom setting, sometimes certain elements need to be defined by theteacher, but the main goal ofthis project was to explain the cell cycle. (Pre-planning,music,paper plates, licorice, cheetos, celery, zooms, text, transisitions,script, shooting, editing, publishing, teachertube)