Emily Kapfer Mora

ISTC 655

Final Reflection

December 2020
Question 1

If I were to revise one of my projects, I would choose the ‘Learning is Social’ project. I

did not follow a script as I was recording my ideas to share with classmates. My initial thought

was that speaking without a script would produce a more natural conversation, mimicking that of

if we were having a face-to-face class. As stated in Mayer’s (2009) Voice Principle, I did not

want to sound robotic as I was reading so my classmates could learn and absorb what I had to

say as they listened to and processed my thoughts. Listening back on my recordings, I would

rerecord them and follow a prepared script if given the chance.

By making this change, my peers would have an easier time following my thought

process and would likely better relate to my ideas. Although my project was still decent, it would

have been much improved if I were to implement this change. My peers may have had an easier

time comprehending the content I was discussing if I had stuck to a script that was well-thought

out and more prepared, or at least rehearsed. Since the social aspect of the objective was to learn

from peers, I feel as though improving my project would have provided a better learning

opportunity for them. I still received valuable feedback and correspondence on my recordings

from classmates. However, I believe when I record myself for assignments, there is always room

for improvement, whether that improvement benefits myself or my peers who are learning from

me in this specific case.

Question 2

A topic I found difficult to grasp in this course was depth perception. I studied the

‘Learning is Visual’ chapter because this is the chapter I chose for my peer learning presentation;

however, even with thorough reading, rereading, and additional researching, this concept was

very difficult for me to relate to education and learning. Peters’ (2014) explanation of depth
perception is very science-based which causes me to get lost easily. I wish the chapter would

have provided more explicit examples of how depth perception affects our learning. For instance,

what is an example of depth perception working to aid a learner as opposed to how depth

perception could hinder learning? This is a wonder I had as I read the chapter and wish I could

have more clarification on.

Question 3

I found Mayer’s principles really interesting and appropriate to not only instructional

technology, but educational psychology, as well. Although I found a few principles, like the

Temporal Contiguity Principle and the Modality Principle to be somewhat redundant, reading

through each principle was actually fascinating to me. It is interesting to learn about a topic that

makes perfect sense when presented and is relevant to everyday teaching; when reading about

each principle I felt as though some were obvious and some were new information to me. Even

the obvious principles, such as the Coherence Principle, for example, was still enjoyable to learn

about because it affirmed the approach I have been taking to both regular teaching and virtual

teaching. Then the principles that were new to me, such as the Pre-training Principle, gave me

new insights to my teaching as I applied this idea to how students learn.

Question 4

As I am currently teaching virtually, Mayer’s (2009) Voice Principle is a theory I am now

extremely conscious of as I plan and implement lessons. I rely more heavily on recorded read

alouds, videos, and other multimedia narration tools when teaching my students to give them

another source of information aside from my lecturing. As I search for resources that I may have

once thought would be valuable to my students, I now analyze the narration of the resource to
see if it is an engaging, human voice. I understand after learning about this principle that learners

learn best from voices they are accustomed to hearing rather than mechanical voices.

A specific technology that I discovered in this course was Screencast-O-Matic. I utilized

this tool to create my peer learning presentation and found that it is very user-friendly. With the

challenges of virtual learning, the families in my school community have relied heavily on

tutorial videos of how to navigate various platforms we use. I intend to use Screencast-O-Matic

to create any upcoming how-to videos for families. For example, I have recently had many

parents emailing me for help accessing their child’s report card online. With Screencast-O-Matic,

I am able to create a tutorial with narration and visuals to demonstrate to parents how they can

view the report cards. Taking the ten minutes to create the tutorial video and send it to my

families is a simple solution to typing out directions to each parent who asks for assistance.

Screencast-O-Matic is also beneficial to me as I can use it to create videos for my

students. Modeling is a huge component of kindergarten as these young students often need

explicit direction and examples for how they should approach learning. An issue of live screen

time has come up with my young learners, and I have come to find that the parents appreciate

learning opportunities that can be asynchronous. By creating a Screencast-O-Matic, students can

view the video on their own time (or their parents’ time as they frequently need assistance) and

replay my asynchronous teaching as necessary for their learning. For instance, if I created a

screencast of a project I was modeling and giving directions for on a computer program, my

students could rewind a direction they were not clear on or follow along on their own device.
 References

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning: Vol. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.

Peters, D. (2014). Interface design for learning: Design strategies for learning experiences. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: New Riders Press.