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Category: Assignment 1 – Blog Posts

Active Learning Method

I feel like active and passive learning is two very different methods that every student encounters at some point in their learning career. As much as I like to think I am a participant in active learning all the time I know I am not, however, I believe that the way schooling is set up nowadays it is impossible to not be a passive learner.

This course I believe demonstrates a great balance between active and passive learning. Each week when I sit down to go through the weeks content I am reading what is provided and watching different videos which is an example of passive learning. Active learning comes into play when we are asked to engage with and create different forms of multimedia, create a blog post, comment on our peers blog posts, and interact with our groups for our different projects. Personally speaking I find that with this course specifically the active learning out weighs the passive, as there seem to be more active learning tasks then passive.

It is impossible to teach without incorporating a form of passive learning, but if there is a way to integrate active learning into passive learning it can help the learners gain a deeper understanding of what they interpreted through the passive learning activity. This week H5P was an active learning task integrated to our passive learning readings and watchings. Finding a video, setting up H5P, integrating different tools to the video, and now this blog post are all examples of just how easy it really is to participate in active learning! From the information I attained this week and the engagement with the material I came to the realisation of just how easy it is to incorporate active learning into every course I take, and how beneficial it can be to me!

Week 8: ChatGPT and other AI tools

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are a new tool that I have not explored or really been exposed to until this week.  ChatGPT has been a hot topic of conversation in my classes this semester, yet I have been hesitant to explore it until this week.  With many different consequences being implemented regarding the use of ChatGPT by professors and the university wavered me away from using it, until this week.  After completing this week’s content on AI tools and ChatGPT I can see how it can be a beneficial tool in any person’s everyday life.

I can see myself using AI tools to my benefit as I continue through my educational career and in the real world once I have graduated and moved on to whatever job I end up in.  As you can see in the image inserted below, I tried ChatGPT for the first time and asked it a question regarding my blog prompt for the week, “what can AI tools be used for?”  ChatGPT responded with eight different beneficial ways that AI can be used: automation, prediction, personalization, natural language processing (NLP), image and video analysis, healthcare, marketing, and cybersecurity.  It then finished off by stating, “Overall, AI tools have the potential to improve efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making across a wide range of industries and applications” which I agree with.  AI, I think can be a very beneficial tool for anybody no matter what their profession is.  For my own learning, I can see myself using ChatGPT and other similar AI tools to help me brainstorm ideas, develop and edit my first draft of essays and projects, and simplify explanations for complex topics that I am struggling to understand.  With hopes of becoming an elementary school teacher, I too can see ChatGPT being of use to me.  As mentioned in ChatGPT and The Professionals Guide to Using AI I could use it as a tool to help grade and generate feedback on my student’s work, generate lesson plans and activities, create fake essays for the students to edit and review, and so much more.  With all of this being said there are some tasks for that I would not use AI tools.  For instance, I would not use ChatGPT to write an essay for me as it has proven to have issues with some of the content it produces since it just processes the language used and does not actually understand it, as well as it cannot discriminate between different sources, leading to the use of reliable and non-reliable sources.

Overall, I believe that AI can be a beneficial tool if used for the right reasons.  No matter what field of study, profession or daily task one involves themselves, ChatGPT and other AI tools can provide a form of assistance, even for the simplest tasks such as figuring out what to get someone as a Christmas present.

Asking ChatGPT what AI tools can be used for

Asking ChatGPT what I could get my Mom as a Christmas gift

References:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e00HZY1vjK0qd72cdkRUbwuiT9RcQy8kcXfBedduSpM/edit

Week 6 Blog Post

A lesson that I believe could be built using Merrill’s 5 design principles is teaching younger students how to successfully solve a long-division math equation. The first principle is “Learners are engaged in solving real-world problems” (Merrill, 2002).  Within this principle, learning is promoted when the learners are shown an example of the task that they will be able to complete by the end of the module, and with long division, the teacher would be able to show an example and the process needed to complete the question before engaging in the module.  The students existing knowledge will be activated through learning the process of long-division as they will need to recall their acquired math skills regarding division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction.  Already knowing these skills will allow them to build on these skills through long-division.  The third principle states that “new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner” (Merrill, 2002).  This can be achieved through the use of examples, demonstrations of the procedures, visualization processes, and modelling of behaviours (Merrill, 2002).  All these methods can be used and implemented when teaching long division, which also gives the advantage of tailoring to many different ways of learning which will benefit the students.  The knowledge can then be applied by the learner as they attempt and learn how to solve these mathematical equations, using all the skills they have built up to this point.  With the final principle being “new knowledge is integrated into the learner’s world” the students will then be able to take this new skill and apply it to the rest of their schooling (Merrill, 2002).  It provides the ability to continue practicing their basic skills of division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction which will be needed for the rest of their lives.

Merrill’s Principles of Instruction diagram: This image helps summarize the Principles that Merrill emphasizes

References:

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First Principles of Instruction. ETR&D, 50, 3. pp. 43-59.

Lesson Plan

Big Idea    What is the big idea that the learner will walk away with at the end of the lesson that is critical for learners at this stage of their learning path?  Learning Outcome(s) What specific things will the learner know or be able to do by the end of the lesson?  Evidence of Learning What does learning look like for this objective? (e.g., accurate performance of a task, correct use of terminology)Assessments What will learners do to provide evidence of their learning? (e.g., a presentation, a test, a project)Learning Activities What learning activities will allow learners to acquire and practice the skills necessary to demonstrate their learning and complete the assessment successfully?
Ideally, the learner will walk away with a broader understanding of problem-solving and mathematical equations.  This will be practiced through the online website called “Nerdle”.The learner will be able to apply the process of elimination and problem-solving techniques into different difficulty levels of mathematical equations, while having built upon their math skills.This task will require the learners to take their time and apply the knowledge they have previously gained in math as they have limited attempts.  As they become better at the problems and their math skills evolve, they are able to change the difficulty of the equation.This can be an in-class activity, requiring them to show the teacher upon completion.  If wanted, a chart can be made to keep track creating a form of friendly competition among the students.Through the use of this website, learners will continue to build upon their skills while practicing different equations daily.  The goal at the end would be to see an improvement from the beginning to the end of the learners problem solving and mathematical abilities

https://www.nerdlegame.com/?gp=&v002

Here is the link to Nerdle if anyone would like to give it a shot!

Week 5: Infographic

Below is the infographic I have created for this week. I created this based on a project I am in the midst of working on in my Technology and Society class. My project is based on facial recognition technology, so as one can see I filled my infographic with information regarding what facial recognition is and how it works. As I was creating this infographic I kept the “6 Promising Practices for Infographic Design” in mind as discussed in this weeks content. I kept my colour pallet and imagery simple, while keeping my style choices simple. I used two fonts, with one of the fonts only being used for the title, while all the information was delivered in one style of font (Easel.ly, 2021).

References

Easel.ly, Crash Course in Infographics Webinar, Accessed Sept 28, 2022

Universal Design for Learning

I believe that media and multimedia play a very important role in a learning environment that is designed with UDL guidelines.  By incorporating accessibility multimedia design factors into learning environments can lead to an increased learning experience for every learner.  Engagement represents the WHY of learning, which means building user controls into media and multimedia, so learners gain control over the speed in which they learn.  Representation is the WHAT of learning, which provides alternative ways in delivering the information in a way that is customizable to the learners.  Kim Holmes developed 3 inclusive design principles; recognize exclusion, solve for one extend for many, and learn from diversity.  I believe that if every educator, corporation, and company implemented these principles into their systems the world would become a more accessible and inclusive place for people affected by different disabilities.  Aligning with these guidelines is the promising practice of using simple language through text, avoiding unnecessary jargon throughout the text which could complicate the message that is trying to be portrayed.  Allowing learners to have full playback control, giving them the opportunity to control the pace, and rewind videos as needed allow them to be able to watch and learn from the videos at their own pace.  Through the use of images, adding an alternate, descriptive text to an image for those who cannot see the page allows for the information to be more accessible to all.  Kat Holmes said it best stating that “disability isn’t a lack of ability, it’s a mismatch between a person’s abilities and their environment.”

Here is a video describing the UDL in more depth and what it is.

Week 3: Sketchnote

This week the idea of taking notes and/or studying for a class through the process of creating a sketchnote caught my attention.  I tested out this learning activity with a theory I was learning about in my EPHE class this semester.  I believed that this would be a good topic to test it on as we have a quiz next week and have been learning many different theories so far in this class.  Through this process, I found that I was able to easier recall the different components of this theory and the meaning behind them, along with how the different components interact with one another to get to the end goal.  Through completion of this week’s course material, I thought that Meyer’s theory of Segmenting regarding managing Intrinsic Load was applicable to creating a sketchnote.  His segmenting principle is based on summarizing the content and breaking it down into smaller, more simple steps that allow the learner to build on and learn the content at a pace that works best for them.  The process of optimizing cognitive load is also demonstrated through the exercise of producing a sketchnote.  It allows the learner to manage their load to a certain level in which they are able to learn the new content and retain it, giving them the opportunity to build on to it as they feel comfortable.  My goal is to become an elementary school teacher.  I believe that I could incorporate this activity into a lesson through an art project.  I can allow the kids to pick a lesson from some time in that week and create their own personal sketchnote from it.  By completing a sketchnote this way I believe that it will be a way that keeps the kids engaged in the content, while allowing them to be creative through the process.

Here is an image of the sketchnote I created to help understand the Health Belief Model in my EPHE348 class

Welcome and Introduction

Hello, welcome to my Student Blog!  My name is Megan Crombeen and I am a third-year student here at the University of Victoria. I am studying a dual general major in Social Justice Studies and Technology and Society, with a minor in Education. Once I have completed this degree my plans are to return home where I can do a two years masters program in education, with hopes of becoming an Elementary school teacher afterwards.  My home to me is in Calgary Alberta, where I live with my parents and my twin sister, originally however I was born in Toronto Ontario where I lived for the first 7 years of my life. This course is a required course for my minor, and although it is required it is a course that grabs my interest. I believe with how relevant technology is within every aspect of our society, and the constant addition of it into schools and learning that gaining and building on my knowledge about interactive and multimedia learning will be extremely beneficial. I am looking forward to further exploring this course and all it has to offer throughout the semester!

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