Designer’s dilemma

1. Designer’s dilemma • Director says a first version “seems a little dry—can you spice it up a bit?” • Why might spicing it up with extra graphics or background music seem worthwhile? • Common sense: avoid boring the learner • Arousal theory: when learners become emotionally aroused they try harder to learn the material

2. The Coherence Principle • Interesting material can hinder learning • Why? • Cognitive theory: learners have limited resources • Extraneous materials competes with core material for limited cognitive resources • Coherence: all materials should cohere relevantly with what needs to be learned

3. Avoid extraneous sounds • Background music and sounds may overload working memory • Especially when learner experiences heavy cognitive processing demands • Experimental results: • For lightning presentation, added sound effects such as winds depicting air movement and crackling of charge transfers • Retention was 61-149% better for narration without additional sound effects

4. Also avoid extraneous words • Adding interesting sentences may seem like an easy way to increase interest • Again, they may just distract learners • Conclusion: avoid seductive but irrelevant details that force excitement but don’t increase understanding

5. How will you apply coherence? • Discuss in your project group • Do you follow this principle in your scripts so far? • Are there any sounds or graphics in your script that you might drop?

6. What’s the difference? • Which is more effective for learners?

7. Personalization principle • Conversational style aids learning • Formal style avoids first- and second-person: e.g., “Caution should be used when opening pyrotechnic containers.” • Use second-person: “You should be careful if you open any containers with pyrotechnics.” • Why might informal style help learning? • People work harder to understand material when they feel they are in a conversation with a partner. • Discuss examples on p. 164

8. Use onscreen coaches (pedagogical agents) • Agents may be representations of real people or artificial characters using animation and computer-generated voice • Clippy, Knobby or professor personae?

9. Agent in Design-A-Plant Tutor • Herman the bug improved learning 24-48% • Lifelike agents may not be essential • Human voice may work better than computer-generated speech

10. Adele tutors medical students • Web-based agent supports lesson presentation, student monitoring and feedback, probing questions, hints, and explanations

11. Microsoft Agent architecture • Characters move freely in computer display, speak aloud and display text onscreen, and even listen for spoken voice commands • Downloadable from www.microsoft.com/msagent/

12. Visible author • Reveals personal perspective in 1st person • See text examples on p. 174 • Psychological reasons for using visible author? • Author as guide for student • Social relationships motivate students • Evidence shows that learners provide richer answers for some learners

13. How will you apply personalization? • Will you adjust your writing style? • Will you use learning coaches or agents? • Check out Microsoft Agent software? • Will you include a “visible” author?

14. Does practice make perfect? • Interactive practice exercises help learners integrate knowledge into LTM • What kinds of exercises? • Drag-and-drop and simulations • More crucially: exercises should mirror thinking processes and environment of actual task • Better learning results from practice questions interspersed throughout the lesson • Learners should be trained to developer their own questions

15. Interactions should mirror the actual job or task • Activities should require learners to respond in similar ways during training as they will on the job • E.g., Jeopardy game doesn’t help transfer on job • Simulation of actual job decisions does • Avoid simple regurgitation of information provided in training program • Doesn’t implant cues for retrieval in job context

16. Effective practice questions • Asking “why” questions improves learning • “Why does an object speed up as its radius gets smaller?” • Results in greater factual and inference learning • Pro and con analysis improves learning • Developing arguments requires organization and integration of materials

17. More practice aids learning • Well designed practice exercises provide opportunities for encoding knowledge or skills • The more encoding opportunities, the more integration • Logarithmic relationship between amount of practice and time to complete tasks • Improvement occurs regardless of initial ability • Tradeoff of time in development and lesson • Interactive practice can be harder to design • Practice also adds to training time: eventually there are diminishing returns on learning

18. Spacing practice aids learning • Spacing practice is superior to massed practice, e.g., at end of lesson • Spacing effect is not immediate but after a period of time

19. Apply media principles to practice • Contiguity: keep text close to graphics • Modality: use audio to explain graphics • But audio is transient, so redundant text and graphics is OK for practice questions • Feedback should also be presented in text • Redundancy: use text alone • Don’t narrate text directions or practice questions • Peronalization: use conversational language • Provide hints and feedback in first & second person

20. Train learners to self-question • Learners can ask and answer their own questions during lessons: “How can I apply the program features to my job?” • Agent could suggest such questions • Why encourage self-questioning? • Active engagement improves learning • Developing metacognitive skills improves learning

21. How will you add practice? • What kinds of practice questions are more effective? • Why is it better to think of them as practice than quiz questions? • What kind of interactive exercises are you planning? • Discuss ADT constructive exercise. • Discuss Turing machine simulation. • How many practice exercises will you have? • Where will your exercises appear?