Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Instructional Designer & Consultant

Instructional Design

Actively Learn – A New Favourite App!

This past week, in the OLC Teaching Certificate program, I stumbled upon an individual who was using something called Actively Learn within the course they were developing. I’m always keen to check out new technologies, and I wasn’t let down by this one!

Actively Learn allows you to create deeper engagement and instructor presence in an asynchronous environment by allowing you to provide markup within your readings and incorporate interactive quizzing. Once I watched the demo for this application, I knew I had to make a push to my faculty members to begin using it within their online courses. So far, I’ve demoed it to 2 people and recommended it to 3 people currently developing courses…and it’s only been three days!

I see it being useful for courses that require a good amount of synthesis, as it can allow students to form more well-rounded understanding of the readings instead of just passively engaging with the materials. I also think that by combining questions (which the students must answer before moving on) allows the students to have a greater understanding of the materials as a whole, which may in turn lead to greater academic achievement.

I recorded a quick demo (below), and it’s obvious that I’m still new to the technology myself, but I wanted to show both the teacher and student perspective. Check it out and see how you can make Actively Learn work for you!

E-Learning Challenge #58 – Digital Magazines and Interactive E-Learning (FREE STORYLINE 2 TEMPLATE)

This week’s challenge was a fun one – there were so many great submissions, and tons of inspiration!

The Concept

This week, we were tasked with creating digital magazine samples built using Articulate products. We were provided with examples of several popular digital magazines, and asked to make a few considerations.

The Method

Originally, I was going to develop a cat magazine, and create some actual content…because I consider myself somewhat of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in that field. However, time got the best of me, and I became inspired by some images I found on Unsplash, so I took a more nature-y approach. I even added some very therapeutic sounds on the cover page.

I sourced several images I wanted to use, added them (with varying levels of transparency) across four pages (including the main page). Grouped three sets of objects and added some triggers on the main page, along with a titleset that recurs (in style) on each page.

I tried to take a different approach to layout for each page, and made use of some motion path interactivity on the second page – how fun!

The ResultScreen Shot 2014-11-13 at 9.49.20 AM

Overall, I was very happy with the result, and I think it can be a useable template for various situations; specifically if you’re creating some sort of outdoorsy magazine, which is why I’m going to share the source files with you!

Click here to view the live demo.

Click here to download the FREE Storyline 2 template.

Terminology Tuesday: Incubation and Percolation

First off, I know I’m a day late, but you know what – it was a holiday and I think that warrants taking a day for myself. Let’s be honest, I did a lot more sleeping than I typically do, and it was GLORIOUS!

Secondly, I’ve been plugging the heck out of How we Learn by Benedict Carey, and no I haven’t finished it (because I was distracted with ploughing through Amy Poehler’s Yes Please – which was amazing – go purchase/read now!), and this week’s TT post is going to discuss some concepts he talks about in his book: Incubation and Percolation. Part of what I love about this book is how relatable it is, and I’ve been that person at the poker game lately who relays study tips to friends who are finding themselves in the ‘mature student’ role. I love learning, what can I say?!

Incubation

The concept of incubation is one which emphasizes the importance of distraction in learning – which is great to hear, because I distinctly remember marathoning Criminal Minds episodes during much of my graduate degree. Good to know I wasn’t wasting my potential!

Incubation should be used when we encounter a problem that we simply cannot figure out; we should step away from the problem, and come back at a later time – refreshed and renewed. From an Instructional Design context, I do this before reviewing products for delivery. You’ve spent so much time with a product, that you need that time away in order to provide a solid review and pick up any little errors you may have made. For me, most of my good (and functional ideas) come to me as dreams – having trouble getting some Storyline triggers to behave properly? Nap on it, and surely some idea may come to you! Having an enrolment crisis in a post-secondary university? Hit the sheets, and maybe you’ll come up with an idea for a new certificate program. Maybe my books will write themselves this way….no?

Carey (2014) explains that incubation is “subconscious. We’re not aware it’s happening.” – This explains why my dreamt up ideas make so much more sense! Basically we should just be napping all the time – I kid. But really. We should. J/K. An important step with incubation is verification, for obvious reasons. For example, one of the ideas that came to me to resolve a trigger issue didn’t work. BUT, it helped me think a little different about how to approach the issue, and I was able to resolve the problem in less time after incubation than before.

Percolation

Percolation is the idea that you let the mind linger on a problem, in order to provide a more well-rounded response. For example, when it comes to paper writing, term papers (based on all of the readings throughout the term) are often more well-rounded than say 6 papers throughout the term on 6 different topics. This is because the individual has time to percolate on one subject, without distracting the mind with different concepts or topics. Each reading and assignment throughout the term is provided on the same topic, in different contexts, with different goals, and they contribute to the greater whole of the end-of-term paper.

Within the percolation chapter, an interesting study was discussed which suggested that unfinished tasks linger in our memory longer than those that are finished. In considering the term paper example, this makes a lot of sense. Students likely perform better, churning out a well-rounded term paper, when they are able to percolate on the subject matter, in different contexts, throughout the course of the term versus changing topics each week. By changing topics, the student finishes each assignment, and may not carry forward the context of which that assignment was attempting to illustrate (e.g. the importance of an outline, or historical overview, literature reviews, formulation of own opinions, etc.).

Very interesting, no?

Resources

How we Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where and Why it Happens – Benedict Carey

Terminology Tuesday: Spaced Learning

Man oh man! Life has been busy, with lots of unexpected surprises (e.g. no internet connection for four days…IN TWENTY-FOURTEEN – COME ON!), so I’m a bit late to the TT punch. However, I’ve been reading How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why it Happens by Benedict Carey (of which I had much time to read this past weekend), and there was a concept I found incredibly interesting: Spaced (or distributed) Learning.

I think what I found most interesting was the research that went into the findings related to spaced learning – it would have taken some dedication, that’s for sure! And while it certainly seems like an effective method for learning, it still baffles me and I’m not sure I could commit to such study practices on my own.

What is Spaced Learning?

Spaced learning is a learning method wherein an individual must learn a series of information (often quite dense in nature). In order to optimize learning and retention, spaced learning posits that one should space their study activities out, with distractions in between. For example, you have three sessions of study – one 10 minute session with a 3 hour gap in between, the next study session is 10 minutes with 1 day in between, and the final study session typically occurs in close proximity to the formal test (e.g. the night before). Spaced learning has been shown to enhance retention, allowing learners to score higher than their colleagues who are not implementing a spaced learning method for their studying.

Essentially, spaced learning makes memories more memorable! Neat, eh?

Resources

E-Learning Challenge #56: What Instructional Designers Don’t Want to Hear

Oh boy! This week’s challenge was definitely a relatable and somewhat fun (somewhat angering) challenge. I think everyone out there, regardless of your profession, could easily come up with a slew of things they hate hearing (and maybe some responses). I actually saw a buzzfeed article today titled 26 Faces Every Single Retail Worker Will Immediately Recognize, and nodded my head at every single one of them over breakfast…and thanked all things holy that I no longer work in retail.

The Concept

This week, David challenged us to design an infographic, poster, or list of the 10 things Instructional Designers don’t want to hear and how we would best reply to each of these items. The latter task being the more difficult. For web designers/developers out there (and anyone else – they’re easily modifiable!), my pal Erin actually created an INVALUABLE swipe file – Designer Scripts – Email Templates for Sticky Client Situations and it’s definitely worth checking out!

The Method

The method for this challenge was a little muddy, I have to admit. The first task of course was to come up with a list of my top 10 things I hate hearing as an Instructional Designer; I thought this task would be a lot easier than it was, so I was certainly surprised!

Once I came up with my list, I took my number 1 thing I hate to hear and turned it into a little poster. If nothing else, I hope you folks can relate to that one!

The Result

10. “We don’t need a prototype.” – In this situation, I would explain to the client that I understand they’re likely on a tight budget, but that a prototype will allow us to negotiate the overall design of the product, reducing time spent within the revision cycle later in the game.

9. “I trust your expertise. Just be creative.” – Here, I would explain that I understand the client hired me for my expertise; however, signing of on some broad design elements will reduce revision cycles (and $$$) in the long run. My aesthetic might not be their aesthetic (or the end client’s). For example, what it a cat lover like me snuck in images of cute kitties throughout the course…but the client is a dog lover and absolutely hates the idea of a cat?!

8. “One review cycle should be sufficient.” – I would refer back to our delivery schedule, and remind the client of that schedule, emphasizing that if they only want to pay for one review cycle, they will need to be meticulous and schedule-conscious during their review, because I will absolutely need the two days I requested to do my revisions, and will certainly not be doing them the day before delivery.

7. “I need this finished by the end of the week.” (said as the client hands you an entire re-development of the course you created) – In this situation, I would assess the amount of revisions and explain that the timeframe requested is not a feasible amount of time for the volume of work to be done, but that you can have it completed by X date. I would also explain that this extended timeframe is due to the client wanting a complete re-do of everything developed.

6. “The Subject Matter Expert (SME) is in charge of content.” – I would let the client know that this is fantastic news, but that I expect our communications to be related directly to the content and not the design. I would explain that I expect the SME to adhere, fully, to the schedule (especially their review of the content) to ensure there is no impact to the deliverables.

5. “I could have done this in PowerPoint in waaaaaay less time.” – Really? Alright. Here, I would explain the the client that they specified the work be authored using X tool, and as such, I adhered to using the specified tool. I would also explain that developing some elements in PowerPoint may have been more time consuming than developing them in X tool. I would explain that I appreciate the opinion, but that there was a reason the client decided to hire me…to do the job that I did.

4. “I think maybe we should just change the colours. That’s an easy fix, right?” (said days before delivery) – In this situation, I would explain to the client that we signed off on the overall design prior to development, and that even an ‘easy’ fix such as changing the colour scheme would take a fair amount of time. I would tell them that I’d be happy to oblige, but it may impact the delivery date.

3. “Can you make it more interactive?” (said after reviewing an extremely dry and prescribed compliance course) – If there’s wiggle room for creativity, I would tell the client ‘sure!’ and explain the impact on the schedule. However, if the content needs to be displayed verbatim, I would explain that we would need to chat about our options and provide them with a few solutions, explaining that it will likely increase cost and development timeline.

2. “Can you add just one more scenario? Oh! and I forgot to give you this 30 page document – it needs to be incorporated into the course somehow.” (said after the first review cycle and certainly leaning into scope creep) – Here, I would explain to the client that the project scope was created to account for 5 scenarios, not 6, and that I will most certainly include a sixth scenario for X cost. As for the second item, I would explain that prior to developing the contract, I requested all content and course documentation to adequately price out the contract, and this 30 page document was not in the original estimate, so I will incorporate it at X cost to the client.

1. “This looks great, but I just can’t ‘visualize’ the end product.” (said after initial review of a text-based storyboard) – This is my most-hated sentence. I’ve heard it from clients, SMEs, programmers, media developers – UGH! This situation begs me to explain that the text-based storyboard was requested (by the client) and developed primarily as a means of reviewing the content within a certain context (of the screen and with a brief description of the supporting media elements), and that the visual elements would be available for review in the second review cycle. Similarly, during the second review cycle, I hate hearing “Can you please review the comments I made; there are a few content revisions that need to be made.” (GAH! You’re now reviewing for look/feel – bugger off!)

ELH_Challenge_56

Terminology Tuesday: Piagetian Tasks

This week’s term is less of a term and more of a group of tests or ‘tasks’. In any event, Piaget was always cool in my books, so I thought I’d chat a bit about some of his tasks, reversibility in particular. I was inspired by a chat I had recently with a very passionate professor – she rattled off one of the tasks she has her students do (so these are on average 18-22 year olds):

  • First, she presents the students with two jars of jelly beans; one contains all red jelly beans and the other contains all black jelly beans. She explains that there are 250 jelly beans in each jar.
  • Then, she shows her students a scoop, explaining that it holds exactly 15 jelly beans.
  • She takes a scoop or red jelly beans and puts them in the black jar and then takes a scoop of now black and red jelly beans and puts them in the red jar.
  • Finally, she asks the students how many jelly beans are in each jar.

The result she gets is much the same as one a child might get. Why? The correct reason is because the students, at 18-22, still have issues with the concept of the reversibility. Another reason might be that the students became confused by the word problem…similar to any time I was presented with one of those ‘a train is traveling south west at a speed of X…’ problems – which I HATED. Anyhow…so that discussion was my inspiration for this week’s post.

Alright, but what is a Piagetian task?

Jean Piaget was a developmental psychologist who some may refer to as the pioneer of cognitivism. He was a pretty cool cat, and is often chatted about in close proximity to Vgotsky (another name, another theory). His theory basically stated that cognitive development occurs in stages, as we grow, age, and learn from the world around us. Throughout his research, he tested children in varying stages of development with Piagetian tasks to determine whether they understood concepts of conservation, centring, and reversibility, to name a few. Based on their responses, Piaget posited that he could determine (or approximate…in the example of the 18-22 year olds) what stage of cognitive development the child was in. How neat is that?!

Another popular Piagetian task you might be more familiar with is one having to do with conservation of volume:

  • The child is presented with two beakers; one is squat and wide, while the other is tall and slim.
  • There is water in both beakers, and the instructor asks “which beaker contains more water?”
  • The child typically responds that the taller one contains more water, when in actuality, both beakers contain the same amount of water. BAM!

Intrigued? Here are some resources: