If we build it...
I have Jing somewhere… hanging out on my computer, but I
haven’t seen that yellow dot in a while.
I should go look for it. I
downloaded it after hearing some SLM’s from last year talking about it, but I
never used it- and really was never quite sure what it did. Technology is amazing if you know how to use
it! Oh yeah, that is the whole point of the
week’s readings. Griffis’ article
reminded me how much I enjoy learning from screencast tutorials. I find it extremely helpful when a U of M
librarian sends me a captured screenshot in an “Ask A Librarian” chat, but I
personally feel that they are not for everyone.
Right away I think of how much trouble my elderly parents would have
following a webinar with multiple screencast images. When I try to explain something to them I can
move my little cursor around like crazy, but usually end up just pointing my
finger at the screen. I’m finding this
happens a lot (for some students more than others) in the classroom as
well. I can repeat until I’m blue in
face, “Look at the big screen… see where the ‘magic hand’ is?”, but until I
physically point with my finger on a confused student’s individual monitor, her
eyes focused only on where she is, she has no concept of the place I am
referring to. Every learner is
different- and before we create a screencast tutorial, we should be
knowledgeable of the intended audience, and focus the instruction (speed,
visual attributes, style, content, etc.) to their specific needs.
What first struck me in the Yelinek reading was the comment
about explicit versus implicit learning of software. Again, I think the age of the learner plays a
huge part in the instructional librarian’s approached to teaching. Younger students have no problem diving into
a lesson about a topic that utilizes a piece of unknown software as a means to
create a product responding to the larger theme, what is important is to
continue this implicit learning with the software in order to develop a further
understanding of it. The article brings
up the critical problem of being able to provide differential learning
experiences in one tutorial- this is the same problem experienced in the
classroom. How can one lesson cater to
both the novice and the expert? What
prior knowledge does one learner bring to a lesson that other learners do not
possess and how does the teacher (or instructional method) accommodate varying
levels of expertise? The answer in this
article was simple- chunking: provide individual lessons that add up to create
the whole lesson. Learners can then
decide which parts of the tutorial they need to learn and which they can pass
over. Lessons become short,
self-contained modules that can be taken in any order (or even not at
all). In thinking about how this method
could be used in the classroom, I can see developing “chunking” centers- and
allowing students to join in on lessons based on what they need to learn and
moving on to another “chunking” center when they become competent in the
task. This might be a successful way
to introduce new software into the curriculum without loosing leaners along the
way- either because they can’t keep up or have lost interest because they
already know how to use it.
In the Johnston study, a literature review found that a
face-face learning session with an instructional librarian increases student
retention, but an online learning scenario also has its benefits- 24-hour
availability and online access to materials.
Again, I think the preferred learning style depends on the learners,
available resources, and time. The study
proposes that a combination of these instructional methods is the most
effective. This would give the students
the ability to ask questions of a real person (somewhere) while moving along at
their own pace. The greatest benefit of
an online tutorial is that it can provide greater access to more learners,
which may result in formally
reluctant learners coming to the source of the tutorial for personal
assistance. If we build it (and they find it worthwhile and want to learn more about it) they will come.
The One Shot Workshop reading is a great resource for planning and designing effective instructional workshops with purpose and intent for learning. I found the breakdowns of the four different types of workshop designs (individual, individual w/sounding board, with a partner, or as part of a team) especially helpful, because I can never expect to create every lesson plan on my own and this resource gives me ideas, suggestions, and methods to make collaborative lesson planning more effective. I think the UMSI staff that creates the SI 501 groups must have read the "Building the Team" section.
The One Shot Workshop reading is a great resource for planning and designing effective instructional workshops with purpose and intent for learning. I found the breakdowns of the four different types of workshop designs (individual, individual w/sounding board, with a partner, or as part of a team) especially helpful, because I can never expect to create every lesson plan on my own and this resource gives me ideas, suggestions, and methods to make collaborative lesson planning more effective. I think the UMSI staff that creates the SI 501 groups must have read the "Building the Team" section.
Readings
“Building Pathfinders with Free Screen Capture Tools”
by Patrick Griffis
“Is an Online Learning Module and Effective Way to Develop
Information Literacy Skills?”
by Nicole Johnston
“Creating the One-Shot Library Workshop: A Step-By-Step Guide”
by Jerilyn R. Veldof
“Captivate MenuBuilder: Creating an Online Tutorial for Teaching
Software”
by Kathryn Yelinek, et al
I think that you pointing out that people can't always see what the cursor is doing is really important. Screencasts could be very valuable, but only if you see what the instructor means for you to see, and there's always the potential for ambiguity there. If the screencast appears too small, for instance, the cursor's going to be a tiny little dot--screencasts for use on personal computers may not be full screen, as they might appear on your screen when you are making them. If too many things are going on in a screencast, too, not everyone will necessarily know which place to watch.
ReplyDeleteUgh, Blogger is so irritating. I had commented on this article and forgot I had to go in and do the second authentication :(
ReplyDeleteI think the chunking of learning for a variety of levels is an excellent idea. It would also be a way for the more advanced students to act as peer mentors. I agree about the mouse pointer. I know some of the software will allow you to highlight parts of the screen or enlarge the pointer to help alleviate that.