How to Introduce Yourself to New People

1. How to Introduce Yourself to New People GayleFisherProcedure, EDTC-656-700

2. To minimize cognitive load, to aid in near- and far-transfer, and to trigger prior knowledge, I am using familiar visuals from the PowerPoint clipart library. The lessons continue to change, but the visuals are sometimes recycled. Also repeated are parts of previous learning modules on personal introduction, handshakes, and eye contact, for the same reasons. As a result of this Body Language concept module, the lesson objectives would be greater learner confidence in how to handle social situations, more risk tolerance for social interaction, and more effective body language communication. The intended audience would be at-risk or special-needs learners who are deficit in basic social skills. In EPSY-636 this semester, my research project is a quantitative study, and I am using the Visual Literacy modules as the instruction instrument. Dr. Goetz knows what I am creating for you in this class, and that my post-semester intention is to continue refining the merged course work. I will attach with this Concept Visualization the draft copy of my Research Prospectus . There is no overlap of what I create for you and what I create for Dr. Goetz. The overlap will only exist when I marry up the two parts after the semester and try to make something of it in the real world. I would measure the success of an effective intervention if the learners started modeling their new social skills within the learning community of the classroom and on campus. I would then say that (at least for the present) that near-transfer and far-transfer of the mental model has occurred. Will the learners actually peer model and assimilate into their daily rituals the social skills involving introduction, eye contact, body language, and smiling? I used examples and non-examples of body language in a different format: not “wrong” and “right” but “different”. I have designed content that socially-challenged learners can work through at their own pace, without cognitive overload, using familiar but tweaked graphics in a harmony of line drawings and photographs. For some of our literal-thinking special-need learners (i.e., in the autistic spectrum), actual photographs convey better understanding than do cartoon drawings. I have tried to create a smooth and child-elegant page navigation, one that fits the graphic motif of the entire PowerPoint lesson. The concrete and abstract concepts of body language fits into the prior knowledge and the long-term memory of my previous assignments. My strategy is that once I put all the pieces together (Process + Fact + Quantity + Concept + Trigger), the 30-minute social-skills module will be ready for a field test with some of my teacher friends. I am not limiting my scope to at-risk and special-needs learners. I had storyboarded that I would add audio clips of self-narration, to aid the learner as she worked her way through this module. However, I think my voice would be so personal that it would be off-setting to the targeted learners. So I didn’t add the audio clips. I also used small text boxes for contiguity instead of mouseovers, to reduce cognitive overload and user confusion. Social Skills: How to Introduce Yourself GayleFisherConceptVisualization, Visual Literacy 2

3. Social Skills: How to Introduce Yourself Performance Objective: Students in the autistic spectrum avoid eye contact and social interaction. This social-training module can be used by teachers and parents to encourage them to build the skills of eye contact, introducing themselves, and creating the best first impression. If they are non-verbal, the audible “Hi” can be omitted; the model still works under that condition. Intended audience : Language-delayed (LD) learners, peers, teachers and parents. Rationale: If the neuro-pathways do not presently exist, language-delayed (LD) learners can build these pathways purposefully by practice. LD learners can overcome the fear and be rewarded by social acceptance by others. Neuro-typical peers can also learn social cues from this module, not only as prospective friends but also if they themselves lack the social skills due to extenuating circumstances. Making the best possible first impression is a valuable life-long skill. Measuring Success: After the training module, students will role-play introductions and give each other constructive feedback for further improvements. Communicating Content: Graphics were chosen from the PowerPoint clip art library for their simplicity in awaking prior knowledge with least possible distraction, and for their minimal cognitive load. Near-Transfer and Far-Transfer concepts are both included, f or these social skills will be used in both familiar and new settings. The lesson plan content is designed with a few well-known prior knowledge key words as memory triggers, placed to the left of the graphics for left-to-right eye flow. A few audio clips are automatically opened in the PowerPoint Show to relax the learner and to provide a happy interjection of emotion for bonding with the graphics. For most LD learners, these concepts should already be in long-term memory; this procedure is designed for their rehearsal and the reinforcement of their importance via self-paced navigation arrows. The graphic sequence is designed to build in complexity and to flow from start to finish as the social interaction would naturally flow in meeting people. Specific near-transfer conditions are given first, then far-transfer circumstances are presented. This module is rich in graphics to reinforce its message. GayleFisherProcedure, EDTC-656-700

4. The lesson of this Facts module is “The Handshake: Its history, its math mechanics, and its lifetime scorecard”. The performance objectives of this lesson builds on the Procedures lesson in preparing the student for school-to-work transitions into the eventual workplace, with the learners able to: Introduce themselves for the best first impression, Handle near and far transfer of basic social learning skills of eye contact, verbal greetings, body language, and physical greeting gestures (handshake and wave) The intended audience continues to be learners with special needs and with sensory integration issues, and other at-risk students who haven’t been exposed to these social niceties as much as they might wish. The rationale for the instruction to this target audience: succinct but fewer written words and effective visuals. I focus on reducing cognitive load, respecting their individual learning models, and hoping to build automaticity in these social (and eventually instinctive) skills. Building empathy and personal relationships can be difficult for some of the targeted learners. Also, trying to find facts regarding social learning has been rather a challenge. To measure the students' success at meeting the objectives has taken a new prospective as I try to integrate Educational Research procedures of EPSY-636, into what I hope I can accomplish in real life with my teacher friends and as I continue to build content for adaptive transitions on my website. I try to avoid illusions of grandeur and falling into the rescue fantasy. Still, I am able to substitute in Life Skills classes within our local school system, and my model for this semester is “would it work in real life?” So, back to assessment and measuring long-term memory learning models, I propose a 10-minute role-playing pre-test, a 30-minute teaching module, and a 10-minute post-test within one class period. I would also propose revisiting the post-test in approximately one month, to verify true long-term memory transfer and learning. Dr. Goetz told me that measuring a nominal “passed” or “not passed” would be insufficient, so I am still working on what statistical measurement to use. What would you suggest? I research and visualize repeatedly what social learning content would lend itself to better understanding through graphics. My learning reinforces how much I don’t know but yet how much prior knowledge I am building. I am constantly humbled by this process. These modules continue to follow the self-pacing navigation so that the learner can better manage cognitive load Some of the tools I would use on my web pages are lacking in PowerPoint, and so I have partially failed to follow the continuity principle of keeping representational visuals on the same screen as the discrete and concrete facts. There are three learning storyboards in this module (2 discrete and 1 concrete). This lesson integrates prior knowledge from my Procedures lesson via visuals, key words, and page navigation. I added a few audio clips but they were too distracting, so I added a few relaxing music clips. My words worsened the cognitive load. Social Skills: How to Introduce Yourself