Lindsay Jeanne

Fear is fun!

2005-11-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed Norman’s article “Attractive Things Work Better,” and although I found the whole idea behind why attractive things ‘work better’ to be a given, I learned a great deal from this article. Several parts of it reminded me of previous experiences. Just last week, I wrote a paper about leadership, and how many leadership theories ignore affect and emotion as factors that play into leadership. As I read the first page of this article, I found it quite ironic that Norman mentioned how emotions can change the way the human mind solves problems, and more specifically can change how the cognitive system operates. Norman’s theory about the role of aesthetics in designing a product, therefore, makes perfect sense. If you are attracted to something, you are more likely to find solutions to problems that relate to the ‘something’ you are attracted to. Get it?

As I read through the three levels of processing, I began to wonder about the idea of attraction. Who decided what is and what isn’t attractive? Straight teeth, a thin figure, bright colors, soft and warm vowels… Did we define this as attractive? Or have individuals been taught this generation after generation. If my generation was the first ever generation of human beings, would we find the same things attractive? I think it all stems from our behavioral and reflective level of processing, which only humans have. We can reflect upon our experiences and communicate them through others. I suppose this is how we learned what is attractive and what isn’t. In reading about the behavioral level of processing, I thought of the many times I drove home from work (when I lived in buffalo and had a real job). I would get home and wonder how the hell I got there, not remembering anything from the twenty minute ride home. As Norman mentioned, we are able to subconsciously complete a task while consciously thinking of something else. Although this probably happens to most people on a daily basis, I still find it fascinating and quite scary.

Fear is fun. Isn’t that why my best friend and I used to pay $20 at Six Flags to bungee jump? Hilarious, because every time we bungee jumped, I screamed the whole way up, begged my friend not to pull the rip-cord (not sure we had a choice), then screamed the whole way down. Yes, we were 16 and had nothing better to do, but to even go as far as bungee jumping twice in one day, what the hell was I thinking? According to Norman, my visceral angst was competing with my reflective pleasure. Sure. Ok, so is this also the reason why people do things that they know will eventually become detrimental for the instant gratification of it (i.e. going out with friends and consuming a lot of alcohol the night before an important day of work)?

Ok so to finish up my final post for this course, I should try to relate Norman’s article to not just design, but web design in particular. Web designers can get away with more (not sure what, perhaps using tables??) if they create fun and attractive sites. However, it also helps if users are in a relaxed and pleasant mood. My best advice to any web designer is to make their site fun, and perhaps even use humor to lighten up the mood. Maybe this is what the designers of Diesels website had in mind…

That’s it kids. This class ruled, minus all the frustrating nights spent at the lab. I learned a lot and have no regrets. Jim likes coffee. Alright I need to finish my final site.

See everyone tomorrow!
Lindsay

Link to Deocding HW#3

2005-11-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

I chose to decode the conference website for the Association of the Study of Higher Education, as Maya and I are desiging our own conference website and have used this as a reference in creating our final design document.

My final decoding homework!

Anchored Instruction...

2005-10-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Anchored instruction…another fancy way of 'transferring' information into new situations using technology. Exciting? Not really. If I have learned one thing regarding instructional design theory, it is that traditional instruction fails to produce the skill of transferring information to similar situations, and that the use of technology is a great way to produce this transfer skill. Bransford et al. describe how we can use technology to implement anchored instruction, a model of instruction to help students develop useful knowledge rather than inert knowledge. Although they mention that one can implement anchored instruction without the use of technology, it is more powerful when used in conjunction with technologies (of course).

The main concern posed by Bransford et al. is that students are not using previously learned knowledge in different situations in which this knowledge is applicable. However, with the use of an ‘anchor,’ the authors give several examples of how technology can help students experience the usefulness of information so that there is a greater tendency for them to use it appropriately in new situations. Many of the examples paired up mathematical problems with video clips. They found that by using anchor cues within a video clip, students’ abilities to integrate knowledge are enhanced.

What did I learn from this article? Well I learned that logarithms are numbers invented for “the more easy working questions in arithmetic and geometry.” Thank the Lord… I have been wondering all these years what the hell logarithms were. Anyway, I feel as though this was a decent article even though I often found myself lost in the authors’ several long examples. In addition, Bransford et al. did not introduce the concept of anchored instruction until pg. 13 of the article, which annoyed me. I have to admit, however, that I did find some of the examples very interesting. I end my post with one question… Other than video, what other technology can be used to enhance anchored instruction?

Cognitive Overload!

2005-10-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed Mayer and Moreno's article regarding cognitive overload. The theories they incorporated into their article were clearly stated and easily understood. I feel that the concept of two learning outcomes, which we all know in more or less words, as memorization and meaningful learning/transfer, has been forever instilled into our brains. I can even transfer the idea of transfer. Ha ok seriously, this article definitely ranks up there in comparison to other readings for this class. It is an article I would definitely recommend to beginners in multimedia instruction. The authors gave several examples of cognitive overload and suggested ways to reduce cognitive overload, as well as discussed the results of testing the effectiveness of their suggestions through studies done at UCSB. I think this serves as a great resource, as I begin to design my first website, even though my viewers will not need to use their auditory/verbal information-processing channel. If I ever design a site in which learners need to use both information-processing systems, I know what to do and what NOT to do thanks to Mayer and Moreno.

Often times, especially in the field of higher education, relating theory to practice is quite difficult. The way Mayer and Moreno explained the theory of multimedia learning, by illustrating the two channels of human information-processing (in Figure 1), made it easy to relate the multimedia learning theory to practice. The first overload scenario spoke about Type 1 Overload, which is when one channel is overloaded with essential processing demands, a situation in which the split-attention effect occurs. The learner's attention is split between animation and on-screen text, causing some information to be lost. This example reminded me of watching a foreign film with subtitles. Sometimes I get so caught up in reading the subtitles that I miss the beauty of the actual film. (Perhaps I need to read faster or just learn the language, any suggestions?)

I skimmed the "Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design" article and it seems as though the authors are stating some of the same information as Mayer and Moreno, but using 30 more pages to do so... For anyone who fully read this article, please correct me if I'm wrong! Ok, it's 9:30PM on a Friday night and it's been a long and exhausting week, so that's it for now. See everyone tomorrow!

Fun With Forms...

2005-10-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

I played around with forms and added some fun to my index page below (scroll all the way down). I still need to figure out how to change the submit button so it doesn't reset the page. Anyone know how to change that???

Forms...

Link to Decoding HW#2

2005-10-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the 2nd page I chose to decode...

GO BILLS!

Storyboard for Final Project

2005-10-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here is our storyboarding for the final project... after you click on the links, the documents should be saved in your downloads folder (for Macs).
-Lindsay & Maya

first storyboard document

second storyboard document

Link to HW...

2005-10-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the website I chose to decode.

This week's readings...

2005-10-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Chapter 6 – The Design of Learning – I have to agree with what Sue mentioned in her blog earlier this semester, which is that education has changed completely from when we were children. This relates with this chapter’s focus on the design of learning, and how educational design needs to accommodate to the most current educational goals. The “Then and Now” section on pg. 121 sums up the extreme change in education over the past 200+ years. As I read, I wondered what it might be like in another 10, 20, or 30 years.

Educators should take the learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered environments into consideration. It would also be wise if, in the future, schools were required to monitor such environments. Teachers educate their students with the goal of having them pass state and national exams. Unfortunately, I think politics also plays a part in the way students are taught. The state wants to report positive information to national sources about their public education system, and therefore, encourage teachers to educate their students to pass state exams, and to perform well on standardized tests. Unfortunately, this type of education system focuses more on the ability to memorize and less on the ability to think cognitively. In regards to community-centered environment, I agree that trying to borrow successful educational practices from different countries is risky. Japanese teachers focus on the class as a whole, while American teachers focus on individuals, both of which align with the overall culture in their respective society. Although Japan has found much success by having students explain their mistakes, and so on, I agree that this probably wouldn’t have the same effect on American students.

Chapter 9 – Technology to Support Learning – I liked how this chapter identified five ways to use new technologies, and have even changed my mind about the use of scaffolds. In my last week’s blog, I said I was against the use of scaffolding as an educational tool because I was skeptical that the students would not retain any information being taught. I can now say that it would benefit students up to a certain point, at which time the scaffold technique being used should gradually be removed, as suggested in this chapter.

It was also interesting to read about the way teachers and students can use technology to give feedback, reflect, and revise. The Dean at the NYU College of Dentistry (where I work) has plans to make the institution very ‘high-tech.’ This year students were given clickers to use in their large lecture classes, as well as labs. I am not sure who the product is made by, but it is the same idea as Classtalk, which was described in this chapter as a technology that, if used appropriately, can target the processes that students use to solve problems. The dental students have lecture with their entire class (about 250 students) and the large class size is intimidating. To combat this issue, the Dean purchased this new technology. Professors can now ask questions in lecture and get immediate feedback from everyone in class. The professor can instantly know what percentage of the class understood the question, and whether or not they need to return to the concept being covered. Unfortunately, some students have told me that only a few of their professors are using this new technology, and some that are using it are only doing so for attendance and quizzes.

Final Project Proposal

2005-10-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Maya and I are co-chairing the 3rd Annual "Careers in Student Affairs Day" conference on December 9th. It is a full-day conference held at NYU for undergraduate students interested in the field of higher education/student affairs. This year we are going to put more time and effort into the conference, and expect about 50-75 participants from all over the tri-state area. During our first meeting, we decided it would be best to provide information on the web. We are therefore interested in creating a website specifically for this event that will include general information, contact information, online registration, links to presenter bios/pictures/emails, directions to the event, etc. We are very excited about this and hope it's approved!

Design Issues for Learning Envrionments...

2005-10-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

If someone can cue me in about these Knowledge Management system, and who would be apt to using them, and what exactly they do, that would be great. I understand why an organization would prefer the KM system to the older "waterfall system" approach, just not sure what these systems are exactly used for. I hope I am not coming off ignorant, but I was pretty confused throughout the article. Help.

In regards to Collins' article, I agree with the fact that several issues should be considered before determining the best approach to effective learning goals and styles. I assume that when looking at learning styles one would take into account the objective (or goals of the educator). With the amount research and literature out there on cognitive learning vs. memorization, I would hope that future educational goals would lean towards improving Thoughtfulness, Depth of Knowledge, Diversity, Whole Tasks, Understanding, Cognitive Development, etc.

I especially agree with the point that was made in the fun vs. serious learning section. Meaningful tasks, that at the same time capture the attention and interest of students will best educate students opposed to something 'fun.' Although I found particular subject areas in high school to be quite boring (i.e. chemistry), I remember that once we transferred what we learned by doing hands-on activities, I finally understood the concepts.

I think that giving learners control versus computer or teacher control is necessary, especially in high school and college. I believe higher education currently offers student's limited control through the choice of major, as well as offering elective courses. However, there are still mandatory requirements for students no matter what degree they're earning. (I believe NYU refers to them as MAP courses, although I might be wrong.) Perhaps teacher or computer control should be applied more during elementary school and gradually offer students more control as they enter middle school/high school.

In regards to sequence and methods, I disagreed with Collins in some areas. I think that, with the use of several examples, students might benefit from grounded learning. Although I agree that abstract learning is very important, tying in several grounded situations might help the students appreciate the abstractions. Because this post is turning into a novel, I just want to add one comment in regards to methods. I am a bit critical of the idea of scaffolding in education. I remember doing math homework in high school and often referring to the back of the book to check my work, or to just find the answer, in which case I didn't learn how to find the answer on my own. I would only recommend scaffolding to students who are in remedial classes. I also don't like the idea of using a computer as a coaching agent. Why do we rely so much on computers as teaching agents? Aren't they just dumb machines?

Link to HTML pages with external CSS stylesheets...

2005-10-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to this week's assignment. I am still trying to figure out what went wrong with the link to my blog. Should have it fixed soon.

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ljs333/styles_p1.htm

I should not be allowed into the society of computer users...

2005-09-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

"The notion lingers that if you have not passed the secret rites of initiation into programming skills, you should not be allowed into the society of computer users."

Ok, so I haven't taken a shot at any computer programming (nor do I ever plan to), but this week's assignment was enough to make my head spin. Dreamweaver was not the problem, nor was creating three HTML pages and linking them together. I even managed to load my pages to the server by following the cheat sheets provided by Jim. It was that damn index.htm page I created during the first week of class that threw me off. After giving my new html pages the same name, I couldn't figure out how to remove the old one from the server. Ahhh!!! So the old one persisted, and I eventually gave the new HTML page a new name, index1.htm. I apologize to Jim for the crazy emails he received from me Thursday evening. On a bright note, I feel like a Dreamweaver pro now.

I continuously attempt to relate the readings to what we're learning in class. The chapters in the Web Style Guide are very informative and I am sure to return to them upon starting our final project. As for now, I am finding the information to be quite overwhelming!

What really caught my mind this week was at the end of Chapter Six in the "The Design of Everyday Things" article. The section called 'Two Modes of Computer Usage' describes two ways of getting a task done, either by using a command mode or a direct manipulation mode. I related the command mode, or third person mode to the use of Dreamweaver, and the direct manipulation mode, or first-person mode to writing our own web pages using HTML code. We often use the third person mode when designing web sites because programs, such as Dreamweaver, are well suited for situations that require a lot of manual labor, or repetitive detailed actions. The direct action mode gives the user a feeling of control, and is more task oriented. The user feels as though they, and not the computer, are doing the work. Although, we have done very little HTML coding, I feel as though we would feel more in control if this were the case. Of course, there are pros and cons to each mode.

I am curious as to when this article was published, as the last section: "The Invisible Computer of the Future" already seems outdated. Is this not a PDA being described, or as the author calls it... an imaginary perfect calendar?

Words of Wisdom - "The computer is a dumb machine."

Link to my Three Linked HTML Pages...

2005-09-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

Link to my pages...

Theories Theories Theories

2005-09-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

I believe I have been cursed by the Theory Gods! I took this course to get away from all my theory based required courses and here I am... but honestly, I can say I have enjoyed it, or have at least been entertained by the fact that Mayer's "Theories of Learning and Their Application to Technology" chapter strangely relates to the material I have studied in the Higher Education Program. Who would have thought that Web Design and College Student Development could relate?

I was actually quite amazed as to how much the theories related to the material I studied last semester in my College Student Development course. The course focused heavily on the cognitive development of college students, how each develops at a different rate, and how college administrators need to be aware of this so they can create opportunities for students, as individuals, to grow intellectually, socially, and even professionally. We were very much advised to take a 'Child-Centered" approach of teaching & leading. If only we had studied Mayer's chapter. (Maybe I'll be a guest lecturer next semester...ah yes another name to add to the list of theorists.)

The comparisons between Mayer's chapter and higher education are endless. "Learning by Memorizing vs. Learning by Understanding" is another example, and a great concept to bring to the attention of many professors, especially at the undergraduate level. As an undergraduate psychology major, I earned almost straight A's. All it took was a 400 student lecture hall, a power point presentation, and cramming the night before the tests. Ask me today what I learned throughout those four years, uhm... a good GPA?! I was temporarily memorizing and have probably retained, at best, 20% of the material I studied. Constructivist learning or learning by understanding might make the time and money spent on a college education more worth it. (Perhaps a future research topic...and definitely something to bring to the attention of college educators.)

I wasn't sure where Mayer's chapter was going until I got to the part that described learning as a process of structure building. There was an 'ah-ha' moment for me when it all came together. The Cognitive Model of Learning (p. 148) made it clear to me that images and words presented simultaneously, plus prior knowledge requires learners to engage in three cognitive processes. Ahhh something to consider when teaching with technology.

As for Chapter One of the Web Style Guide, the only thing I have to say is that there is SO much more to planning and implementing a Web site than I ever thought possible. How are we going to do this in one short semester??? I'm not scared...yet. As for Chapter Two... well it's only Thursday, so I'll be reading that tomorrow. I'll be sure to post again if I have any additional 'ah-ha' moments.

Theory + Web Design, I get it now! : )

WebDesign

2005-09-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

So, I registered for a Web Design course this semester. I was only an hour late on our first day of class. Oops. So, against my own will I am being forced to create a Blog. Online journal, yuck. I guess I'm just not a 'bloggy' type of girl. I'll get over it.