I’ve been learning a lot about learning lately. Specifically, how the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves information and how different learning theories help us, as the learner, process this information. I’ve also thought about technology and how it aids our learning so for this weeks blog post I’ve found two articles that discuss both topics.
In the article “A Project-based Digital Storytelling Approach for improving Students’ Learning, Motivation, Problem-Solving Competence and Learning Achievement”, Hung, Hwang, and Huang (2012) conduct a quasi-experiment with 5th graders in Taiwan. The 5th graders were assigned a project-based learning group for science about energy and global warming. One group presented their information through a PowerPoint Presentation after collecting the data they needed while the other used an interactive tool called Photo Story 3 after gathering data and producing examples in their own life. According to Hung, Hwang, and Huang (2012) “digital storytelling has been employed to develop the learning tasks as a project-based learning activity, including taking pictures with digital cameras, developing the story based on the pictures taken, producing a film based on the pictures by adding subtitle and a background, and presenting the story.” Sound familiar? We might have some future instructional designers on our hands. The result was the group using the digital storytelling approach out-performed the group using project-based learning in learning motivation, problem-solving competence, and achievement. Scholars have identified that storytelling is an effective instructional strategy for promoting learning motivations and improving the learning performance of students (Schank, 1990).
Why didn’t both groups use PowerPoint? The article is about digital storytelling learning versus project-based learning not about one technology versus another. I have many examples of how I lower energy consumption in my own life that I could use a digital storytelling format for by using PowerPoint. By using the same technology the authors could have highlighted the differences in learning and not technology.
The next article “The Brains Behind Brain-Based Research: The Tale of Two Postsecondary Online Learners” McGuckin and Ladhani (2010) write about online learning and its relationship with the brain. This article was especially interesting to me because my brother and I are both currently attending school online. How does online learning impact encoding and storage of information? McGuckin and Ladhani (2010) point out that “in online courses, there is often the opportunity to teach our classmates about a particular theory or topic.” I have found this to be true having already added books to my reading list that were recommended to me by my fellow online classmates. The article also points out that “those who design online courses need to ensure that the abilities and knowledge that their students are asked to master continue to change” (McGuckin & Ladhani, 2010). I think this is a great point. If I am required to take the same eLearning course every year about medication administration the core concepts should be presented in a different way in order to challenge the student to encode, problem-solve, retrieve, and store information every year. This article has helped me identify a need at my own job to recreate the four eLearning lessons we require our workers to take every year.
After reading both of these articles I’ve realized that my future instructional designer self must be careful in how I use technology for my learners. Technology can definitely aid in our learning but the content and the learner must be the first thoughts in how I teach concepts and new ideas, not how cool an animation will look.
References
Hung, C.-M., Hwang, G.-J., & Huang, I. (2012). A Project-based Digital Storytelling Approach for Improving Students’ Learning Motivation, Problem-Solving Competence and Learning Achievement. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (4), 368-379.
McGuckin, Dawn & Ladhani, Mubeen. (2010) The Brains behind Brain-Based Research: The Tale of Two Postsecondary Online Learners. College Quarterly, v13 n3.
Schank, R. (1990). Tell me a story: Narrative and intelligence. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
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