Author: alisonneale

An effective and educational learning environment consists of techniques that promote interaction, engagement and the attention of your audience. We do not want to bore and overload the brains of our learners.

After watching and examining this 4 minute YouTube video on the social, economic and environmental impacts on health inequities, I think that it will be a great resource for my group’s Interactive Learning Resource Project on “sociology’s perspective of health inequity and how it resulted in social murder.” Online interaction can be more difficult to navigate than face-to-face communication but it is not impossible to execute.

The techniques that made this YouTube video successful include:

• The speaker talked in a casual and informal voice, like she was having a friendly conversation with the audience. It didn’t sound like the speaker was going on and on which made learning more engaging and manageable.
• There was one topic per slide which made the powerpoint easy to follow along and read.
• The entire video was narrated and had captions available. 
• The speaker paused shortly after every idea.
• The speaker only included simple visual text and images on each slide that directly related to the main topic being presented. Slides weren’t too detailed or crammed with too many images.
• When the slide is a picture, spoken words are used to enhance learning.

From experience with interactivity in previous classes, I’ve noticed many good and bad approaches to how the class was presented. 

A bad learning experience: 

• Death by powerpoint: the professor provided a powerpoint lecture that just included visual text and would proceed to read word for word off the slides. This professor didn’t interact with the students or deliver us fresh information. 
• Because of this lack of interaction, my interest in this course decreased and I dropped out of the class. 
• I didn’t learn anything, I was bored each class I went to, and felt like it was a waste of time. 

A good learning experience: 

• The professor engages and interacts with students by having a discussion with the class and uses their powerpoint lecture as a visual aid and not the sole resource of the class. 
• The professor would give the class a break in the middle of class to refresh our brains, and talk with the people around us. 
• Receiving feedback! Getting just a letter grade back doesn’t reassure or let the learner know where they may have gone wrong and what they could work on or think about in the future. 
• Interaction with learning materials: a mix of readings, powerpoint slides, videos, and games like Kahoot. 
• Student-teacher interaction: one on one and in groups such as online discussion forums, blog posts, discord groups, etc. 
• Student-student interaction: class discussions, group projects such as our interactive learning resource project and community contributions in our blog posts.

Community Contributions

This week I read blog posts by Zhefu and James.

References

Bates, T. (2019, October 10). Chapter 9: Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model. Teaching in a Digital Age Second Edition. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/pedagogical-roles-for-text-audio-and-video/.

When thinking about inclusion in education, I think of a classroom that provides various learning and assessment opportunities, and a variety of points of view and voices. Having these factors in a classroom improves inclusion and encourages every learner that their learning ability and voice is significant and necessary for a successful learning environment. 

According to Moore and Schnellert (2017), “teaching to diversity and inclusion is where we value the characteristics that are diverse, and not try and homogenize them” (p. 9). We can value these diverse thinkers by being polite and acknowledging the contributions of each student. The key to inclusion is showing common respect for everyone. This may seem like common sense, but can be a pitfall. It is important to acknowledge students and their opinions. My group will do this in our Interactive Learning Resource Project by providing helpful feedback on assignments and a reassuring voice and a listening ear for the students whenever they need it along the way. Additionally, learners are also more content on participating and sharing their thoughts when the environment is welcoming, kind and inclusive. 

Students and teachers in a classroom should also keep the spirit of collaboration as a driving force. My group’s Interactive Learning Resource Project for example is not a 1 person show and is all about working together. Collaboration creates a common ground and allows students to bounce ideas off of each other in an authentic and inclusive work space. 

In this class specifically, I am able to collaborate with other students who have similar interests as me thus, improving my attention and interest in the course. According to Chandler (2014), an approach called ‘interactive engagement pedagogy’ helps students interact frequently in small groups to grapple with concepts and questions. This is exactly what we do in EDCI as we have learning pods and the ability to reply to other students’ blog posts with common topics and ideas.

It is also important to keep in mind that there are many different types of learners such as verbal, auditory, kinesthetic, reading/writing, visual and many more. My group will keep this in mind when creating our Interactive learning resource project and also make sure that we are inclusive to: 

• Colour blindness
• English language learner (ELL)
• Loss of hearing
• Single parent who is working full-time and has 2 kids in elementary school
• A person who does not have access to a computer at home, but has a mobile phone with a data plan

Our project is still in the process of being completed but we plan on implementing videos, powerpoint slides, articles, group work, etc so we can create a positive and inclusive learning environment.

Community Contributions

This week I read blog posts written by Kyla and James.

References

L. Chandler, D. (2014). Study: Online classes really do work. MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved from https://news.mit.edu/2014/study-shows-online-courses-efective-0924.

Moore, S., & Schnellert, L. (2017). Introduction. In One without the other: Stories of unity through diversity and inclusion (Vol. 1, Ser. Reimagining Inclusion: The ONE Series, pp. 6–10). essay, Portage & Main Press.

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. We become builders by building.”

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

What is Experiential Learning?

Students become more interested and passionate about learning when they can get involved with the material. Therefore, learning by doing is key when grasping a learning outcome (MTa Learning, 2018). We have all learned how to ride a bike, not entirely by being shown or told how, but by physically practising our technique on a bike. Students, teachers, and all learners implement experiential learning in all sorts of situations. Thinking back on some of my best learning experiences, they often involved hands-on action. For example, I learned how to play soccer by physically practicing. Though I had my soccer coaches, teammates and family verbally teach and help me understand how to play, it was only when I kicked the ball on my own I developed a true understanding of the game. Encountering learning tasks with either past or current hands-on education helps you be able to effectively retain and reflect on information.

Experience plus reflection equals learning. 

John Dewey

Experiential learning does in fact align with my group’s chosen topic, “sociology’s perspective of health inequity and how it resulted in social murder” because:

• According to our assessment plan, we plan on using peer quizzes as a formative assessment and a unit test, group or individual project, and final exam as a summative assessment.
• Since we learn by doing, taking a test and interacting with other students through peer quizzes will help the learners grasp our topic and think about different perspectives to health inequity they may not have thought of on their own.
• Additionally, we will provide feedback for our students after each assessment so they are reassured when they are successful and can understand where they may have gone.
• Feedback is helpful because we learn from our experiences and with this guidance, we are making sure our students don’t make the same mistakes and can expand their comprehension of our topic.

Learning Pod Blog Links

Kyla’s blog:

Jialong’s blog:

Yixuan’s blog:

Community Contributions

This week I read and commented on blog posts written by Kate and Zhiwen.

References

Marmot, M., Friel, S., Bell, R., Houweling, T. A., Taylor, S., & Commission on Social Determinants of Health. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. The lancet, 372(9650), 1661-1669.

MTa Learning. 2018. “What Is Experiential Learning?” Experiential Learning. Retrieved October 16, 2021 (https://www.experientiallearning.org/about-mta/what-is-experiential-learning/#a-definition).