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Thank you learning pod #7 for allowing me to review your Interactive Learning Resource, I hope you like my suggestions! It is very well done and I had to read it over a few times until I found some weaknesses. I would have loved if my school implemented a program like this when I was in highschool.

Learning Pod: # 7

Peers’ Names: Eryn Wade, Sten Petersen, Nikolai Treskin, Aiden Bamford, Brayden Kells

Interactive Learning Resource Topic: Fueling the Future: A High School Physical and Mental Health and Wellness Program

Identify components of the Interactive Learning Resource that might be missing (e.g., appropriate outcomes, alignment, interactivity, inclusivity, technology use and rationale, presentation, grammar, spelling, citations, etc.).

• Has all components necessary for an Interactive Learning Resource – overview, learning design, learning theory, learning context, rationale, learning outcomes and ends with assessment, technology and inclusion of diverse learners. In your learning context, perhaps restate, and elaborate more on the ages that this program is targeted toward (i.e. is it for high school students of all ages, grades 8-12?, 9-12?, just older students grades 11-12?) and state how long this program goes on for (does it last one semester? All year? Just one month?)
• For the interactive activity on Nutrition when students create a meal plan, perhaps adding as second activity that students can choose between would be beneficial. Food can be a touchy subject for some individuals and those suffering from eating disorders may have a difficult time with reading food labels, reading about what they ideally should be eating and sharing with others what they plan to eat. Also, lower income students may not have access to many of the types of food in the Canada food guide so it will not be practical for them to create a meal plan that is unrealistic for them to follow. Perhaps adding a choice of the meal plan activity, or one other activity in this section would make it more accessible and comfortable for diverse students.
• I like that assessment is primarily based on participation and understanding through own interpretation (clearly executes experiential learning design – applying course material), however grading on effort and participation could be clearer. Perhaps a rubric on what each activity will be marked out of could be helpful. When students receive their feedback based on (1) effort/thought (2) competency and (3) participation, perhaps adding what these will each be marked out of could be beneficial. For example, each of these components will be marked out of 5, with an overall mark out of 15 for each activity.
• When you say “small groups” for the interactive activities, how many people exactly in each group? Do they get to pick their own groups?
• Add the resource links used for your interactive activity on nutrition to your reference list.
• Missing a learning outcome for exercise component. The slide is there, (slide #16) but no text is written.

Provide a summary of The Interactive Learning Resource’s strengths and weaknesses. Draw out specific examples from your peers’ work to justify your feedback.

Strengths:

• Constructivism and experiential learning approach very strong – states what these are based on what we learned in class, and how it will be applied in your learning context.
• Has a learning outcome presented after each subtopic, not only for the whole lesson which is strong in showing students and instructors what is expected from each component of this lesson, not just overall.
• Incorporates a holistic approach to health. Successfully focusses on all aspects of health with a dynamic approach. I think strength lies specifically with the inclusion of stress, sleeping and mindfulness. It appears that many schools lack these other aspects of health and focus primarily on physical health.
• Information presented in straightforward, informative manner, information is clear, no grammar or spelling mistakes.
• Multiple interactive activities so students are able to stay engaged and apply knowledge all throughout the program and be assessed after each topic (not just at the end)

Weaknesses:

• Could include examples of interactive activities that have been done before, interactive videos, outside resources to make more engaging.
• Some activities may be difficult for diverse learners to complete – although they may be accommodated to access the material and understand the lesson, some diverse learners may not necessarily be able to complete all activities.
• Does not incorporate many different types of technology that we learned about in class to be beneficial to learners.

Provide general, specific, and practical recommendations to your peers on how to improve their Interactive Learning Resource.

Overall, your Interactive Learning Resource has all the main components necessary for most learners to succeed. It is well designed and engaging, yet straightforward to work through. Some minor clarification could be beneficial in some areas (i.e., how many students in each group, clearer on how participation/effort is being assessed, etc.) Explanations on health and sources used are very good. Clearly incorporates some course material. The lesson is well designed so that diverse learners can access it, however I think that your interactive activities could use some improvement on accommodating to diverse learners. The interactive activities that you have are beneficial in applying the information from the program, allowing the learning to stick. However, I would recommend allowing students to pick one of two activities to complete for each interactive activity, to make it more accessible to all types of learners.

Link to resource:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13PzycT8ggMBD5gx-lF33Fj9bWn9WI4RRs_Gc5EcYc3g/edit?usp=sharing

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

I think that this video is a great example of user-generated interaction, where the students are encouraged to independently reflect on the material that is being delivered (Bates, 2019). A main goal of teaching race to young students is to allow for personal interpretation and encourage them to think about their family and their own characteristics, in comparison to those around them. Although this video is not inherently interactive, because it does not force learners to complete stages of learning before allowing them access to further information, I think that using a Sesame Street video encourages interaction from students because it adds an aspect of fun and familiarity. Most students grades K-3 have likely watched Sesame Street or seen Elmo before, allowing them to feel interested and comfortable with the delivery of the information.

In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own (learner-generated)?

I think the learner generated response that this will promote is students beginning to consciously acknowledge their own, and others’ features, and what looking different actually means. Although it is known that children become aware at a young age that people look different from each other, the conversation where Wes’s dad Elijah explains melanin to Elmo, will allow students to think “this is the color of my skin, eyes and hair and this is the color of my parents my parents”. This will promote many questions, and the acknowledgement of why their classmates may look different than them.

How could the video have been designed to generate more or better activity from viewers or students?

To generate more activity and measurable interaction from students, I think this video could have added the Sesame Street characters talking to the students, where the video would ask a question to the viewers, such as “Elmo’s fur is red and Wes’s skin is brown. What color is your skin?” This could be helpful in guiding students’ thinking, while still allowing user-generated interaction and use of their own experiences. Some technology also requires the intervention of the teacher to assess learning and promote interaction (Bates, 2019), so the teacher could also make pauses throughout this video and ask the class questions, since the video does not explicitly do it.

How will you address any potential barriers for your learners in the use of this video to ensure an inclusive design?

In order to address learning barriers, I think that it is important to first understand what students already know about the topic, and what they struggle with, and then to build off of that. A potential barrier is that since the interaction is learner generated, it is difficult to assess the level of interaction from students, and the struggles some students may experience in understanding the material. I think that adding the aspect of pausing the video and the teacher asking the class questions, or doing exercises will ensure an inclusive design. This allows for the teacher to assess the students’ understanding, address their struggles and then provide guidance and feedback, while including the possible barriers of all students.

References

Bates, A. W. (T. (2019, October 10). 9.6 interaction. Teaching in a Digital Age Second Edition. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/

Explaining Race. (2021). Sesame Street In Communities. YouTube. Retrieved March 9, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk_HYAiS26I.

This weeks content discusses the importance of designing for inclusion, where it is stated that “human rights law requires education providers to make their services accessible to persons with disabilities” (Right to Education, 2020). Many students, including those without disabilities, experience daily struggles that prevent them from making optimal learning progress, which is why instructors are shifting away from teaching for the “average learner”, and working to make education more inclusive. Using interactive learning, specifically through technology allows for students to engage in the learning process. I think that my group’s interactive learning resource will be successful in engaging all learners, as students will have some choice in the information delivered, and therefore will be the facilitators of their learning. This aims to eliminate personal barriers that some learners may have.

Our interactive learning resource is a digital storybook teaching children grades K-3 about race, which will be presented in class via a smartboard, so that students are able to come up and engage with the material in a hands-on form. Our primary goal for our interactive digital storybook is for each student to gain insight and understanding on their race and other races, through their own and their classmates’ experience with the material. To ensure that all learners’ needs are met, various forms of delivery will be used, such as activities, group discussions, games, videos, all of which will be both visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and some incorporation of reading/writing.

Bates (2019) discusses how high quality learning and interaction can be provided equally well in an online learning context. I think that our interactive learning resource would translate well into online learning if an unexpected event such as a pandemic were to arise. Parents could be sent this digital book, where they would guide their children through the activities. Parents would also benefit in being able to choose subtopics that are specifically relevant in their families culture and values.

It is clear that online learning can feel very lonely, and after reading the material on the need that we all have to interact, I think that to accommodate online learning with our digital story book, the teacher could add a section where students would be able to view their peers’ activity. For example, if each student were to create a family tree, these could then be visible to all students so that they can learn about and interact with other students in the class’s experiences as well. Some possible barriers however could be that because families do not have smart boards at home, they would be doing the digital book learning and activities through a computer, so students would not be able to come up and use the smartboard and navigate through the material through touch. Also, families with low SES may not have access to a computer, or only have one computer for multiple siblings needing to complete schoolwork.

Overall, online learning involves trial and error but with a well designed interactive learning resource, room for feedback, and access to help, interactive learning can be promoted for all types of learners and is a successful way to facilitate an inclusive learning design.

References

https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/category/designing-for-inclusion/

Bates, A. W. (T. (2019, October 10). 9.6 interaction. Teaching in a Digital Age Second Edition. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/

Inclusive Education Canada. (2020). Right to education. Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://inclusiveeducation.ca/learn/right-to-education/

Students participating in a smartboard activity. (n.d.). ViewSonic. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://www.viewsonic.com/library/education/benefits-of-interactive-learning/.

“I HEAR AND I FORGET
I SEE AND I REMEMBER
I DO AND I UNDERSTAND” 

(Gentry, 1990)

Experiential learning is based on building knowledge, understanding and meaning from real-life experience (Yardley et al., 2012). According to Gentry (1990), a person must actually test their knowledge in a real life situation to know it with certainty, and until then, a person can only think that they know the information. Experiential learning is often hands on, such as an internship or a hands-on lab. An example of experiential learning that could be applied to grade K-2 children, would be going to the zoo and learning through observing animals rather than reading about them.

Experiential learning was developed by Kolb in 1984 and falls under the constructivists theoretical perspective. This approach promotes the involvement and responsibility of the student, as they are directly involved in the learning process. It allows for flexibility and the incorporation of full-cycle learning, while encouraging students to apply what they have learned in school to everyday-life problem solving (Kong, 2021).

After discussing other learning methods with my group, we do not think that this approach best aligns with our topic on teaching young children about race. Although we will be incorporating activities and hands-on crafts and projects in our lesson plan, I think that direction from the teacher will also be necessary for teaching our topic. The students will benefit from an approach that allows for instruction and then application, rather than learning strictly from the application. With a topic as important as race, which oftentimes is taboo, students will need a teacher to explain this concept and answer questions. Students will then apply this knowledge in activities that will show them what a real-life example could look like. Because our target audience is so young, they may not have yet had a real life experience with race, or if they have, they may be too young to understand what was happening. Doing these exercises will further their understanding but I think that an explanation and examples from an instructor first, is necessary. 

References

Gentry, J. W. (1990). What is experiential learning. Guide to business gaming and experiential learning, 9, 20. Retrieved from https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u5/2013/WHAT%20IS%20EXPERIENTIAL%20%20LEARNING%3F%20%20.pdf

Kong, Y. (2021). The role of experiential learning on students’ motivation and classroom engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.771272 

​​Yardley, S., Teunissen, P. W., & Dornan, T. (2012). Experiential learning: Transforming theory into practice. Medical Teacher, 34(2), 161–164. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2012.643264

Based on the three types of learning that were discussed in the reading on behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism (Ertmer & Newby, 2013), it is clear how each of these different learning theories can be specifically beneficial depending on the situation and the intended learning outcomes. There is overlap in the three theories, and perhaps the “best” form of instructional design consists of extracting different aspects from each theory. However, based on other students’ blog posts, it seems that each individual typically has one theory they personally favour for overall instruction. When receiving information in a school based context, I find the behaviorist theory to be most successful in allowing me to retain information and understand the subject. A behaviorist perspective aims for learners to react to conditions, and “no attempt is made to determine the structure of a student’s knowledge nor to assess which mental processes it is necessary for them to use” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). I would choose to use this instruction style because it allows for different interpretations of knowledge, as it focuses less on the mental process, as opposed to cognitivism. To me, the behaviorist design allows for learners to get to the same answer, through their own unique process. 

One of my best learning experiences occurred in a psychology class last semester. To assess students on tests, we were given prompts and could write about what we know on this subject, and are encouraged to incorporate information learned from other classes, personal experience, or various other sources. I relate this to behavioral instruction, as I learned and expressed my knowledge through reacting to a prompt. I finished this class feeling like I had learnt and understood much more than I did in my other classes that use multiple choice, or more standardized testing for evaluation. I think this is because my motivation was coming from learning, rather than memorizing information for a test (“Why is learning hard?”, 2023).

This week’s content also allowed me to reflect on how people do not often talk about how learning itself is hard. Although you may hear about specific skills or tasks being difficult, the process of learning in general can be difficult, even when the information or skills seem simple (“Why is learning hard?”, 2023). The backwards brain bicycle video allowed me to reflect on the work and repetition it takes to obtain knowledge. I interpreted this video as a demonstration of using your knowledge, or you will lose it (“The Backwards Brain Bicycle”, 2015). Finally, I enjoyed how a bicycle was used in this video to demonstrate how difficult a task can be when a person tries to do it backwards, because typically, biking is viewed as a skill that you learn and never forget. You hear “It’s like riding a bike”!, as if it is something you can pick up after years of not doing it and still be able to, so it was fascinating to see a different perspective demonstrated through this video.

References

YouTube. (2015). The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133. YouTube. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&t=472s. 

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. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21143 

Why is learning hard? EDCI 335. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci335/why-is-learning-hard/