When it comes to my learning experiences, I believe my time studying in Canada is particularly worth sharing. When I was in China, I thought learning English was a very simple task. However, after coming to Canada, my assumptions completely changed.
When I arrived in Canada, I attended high school, but at that time, I couldn’t speak a single word of English. I had no way to communicate with my teachers or classmates, and sometimes I was even bullied by my peers. Things changed when I met my high school English teacher. Their teaching methods were very different from other teachers. They allowed students to grade themselves, which I found to be a novel approach.
This experience was a turning point in my education. It taught me the value of self-reflection and taking responsibility for my own learning. By grading myself, I had to honestly evaluate my strengths and weaknesses, which motivated me to improve. It also helped me build confidence, as I realized that learning was not about being perfect but about making progress.
This approach also encouraged a growth mindset, where I learned to embrace challenges and see mistakes as opportunities to grow. My teacher’s support and innovative methods not only helped me overcome the language barrier but also shaped the way I approach learning and personal development. It was a transformative experience that continues to influence me today.
Have you used AI applications before? If you have, what have you used them for? What apps have you come across that are not in the Explore section that you’ve found useful?
I would like to express my perspective on artificial intelligence. Firstly, as a college student, I believe that AI has brought many shortcuts to my life. I personally major in social sciences and economics, which often involves reading numerous articles. Using AI to accurately summarize the content of these articles not only saves time for other activities but also provides a clear understanding of the articles’ content. However, AI also has some shortcomings. For instance, there are times when it cannot accurately determine what you want. Sometimes, I find myself troubled by difficult-to-understand paragraphs, and I choose to copy and paste them for AI to translate into my native language. While this may seem time-saving, most of the time, AI cannot accurately translate these passages.
How might the use of these tools create a more inclusive learning experience? Who might be excluded?
The use of artificial intelligence may bring more benefits to diligent individuals, but it can be detrimental to those who seek shortcuts. For example, a high-achieving student may utilize AI to study more efficiently and gain a deeper understanding of various subjects within the same time frame. On the other hand, for students lacking motivation, AI not only assists them in completing assignments but also enables them to breeze through online exams and similar tasks. Students who heavily rely on AI for completing tasks may lack the ability to learn independently. This could have implications for their future career development and problem-solving skills.
What guidelines do you think should be in place to guide their use in an educational institution? What factors should be considered?
Therefore, some educational institutions need to ensure that each student completes their assignments independently. Similarly, schools can use plagiarism detection tools to check whether students have personally completed their assignments. As a result, educators need to carefully integrate artificial intelligence tools to ensure their use contributes to sparking students’ interest in learning and enhancing their ability for independent study, rather than merely providing an easy way out. Encouraging students to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills is also a crucial educational goal, and artificial intelligence can serve as an auxiliary tool in achieving these objectives.
What might you use AI tools for moving forward? What would you not use them for?
OpenAI. (2023, Nov. 22). [ChatGPT response about examples of advantages/disadvantage of using AL] https://chat.openai.com
Potential Uses of AI Tools:
Information Retrieval and Summarization
Language Translation
Coding Assistance
Content Creation
Data Analysis
Considerations and Limitations:
Critical Decision-Making Caution
Creativity and Originality Limitations
Importance of Personal Relationships
Privacy and Security Concerns
Avoid Overreliance in Education
I personally believe:
what he said makes sense, especially the fifth point. Overreliance on artificial intelligence can lead to a loss of direction and motivation in life. In many situations, applying human judgment is the optimal choice.
Reference
OpenAI. (2023, Nov. 25). [ChatGPT response about What’s causing teenager to become overly dependent on AI] https://chat.openai.com
We will explore whether discrimination still exists in today’s society, and up to this point, discrimination remains an issue that the world should pay attention to. Therefore, today’s topic can not only provide insight into the discrimination issues faced by contemporary society but also discuss how various countries should address them.
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to:
Understanding the Discrimination Issues in Today’s World
Starting from oneself, how to avoid racial discrimination
emphasizing the ongoing issue of racial discrimination and its impact on African Americans.
Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Justice System：
The deeply rooted racial discrimination in the United States, highlighting historical injustices and failures in the justice system to protect African Americans and other minorities.
Applications
Case Study: Participants will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of discrimination and non-discrimination in different countries.
Project: For example, what would a country with a large population like the United States or China be like if there was no discrimination.
Reflection
Reflective Journal: Students will reflect on the extent to which discrimination is a scourge on humanity.
To Do This Week
1 Understanding human rights
2 Understanding the different discrimination issues that exist between the United States and China
Question 1: Describe a meaningful learning experience that started with a story that you heard. What made it impactful for you? What senses did it appeal to? Did you recognize any of the storytelling techniques reviewed this week?
I once watched a documentary about a disabled person who had lost both arms. He had a deep passion for life and persevered in sports like soccer and swimming. His spirit of loving life deeply inspired me. The male protagonist of the documentary, through sharing his personal experiences, deeply moved the viewers, especially leaving a lasting impact on me. As an able-bodied person, there is no reason for me to complain about life.
Reflection:
ln the reading this week, 7 Storytelling Techniques Used by the Most Inspiring TEDPresenters, which of the presenters did you find most compelling? What technique(s) did you recognize in their talk?
In the reading material “7 Storytelling Techniques of the Most Inspiring Speakers,” I found the way 12-year-old Kenyan Maasai boy Richard expressed himself and told his story to be incredibly captivating. He used the technique of empathy, creating a strong sense of empathy, allowing readers to easily immerse themselves in the story.
The primary purpose of my video production is to demonstrate to the audience how to make cookies. Through this educational video assignment, I can not only enhance my hands-on skills but also foster my creative abilities. The knowledge I acquire from this class will enable me to create better videos and provide more effective explanations. In summary, college students need to focus more on their creative capabilities rather than just completing assignments.
I find Mayer’s “Coherence Principle” to be highly valuable. In particular, the “Coherence Principle” is especially beneficial for my video production, as my videos primarily involve baking instruction. Therefore, I refrain from adding any extraneous commentary. I will include all relevant notes and step-by-step instructions below, as I believe this not only enhances the viewing experience but also facilitates better learning. Mayer’s “Coherence Principle” also emphasizes conciseness and specificity, which prevents viewers from experiencing information overload.
The purpose of this video production is to help beginners gain a better understanding of how to make simple cookies. Initially, it was quite challenging to handle both the filming and the baking process by myself. Eventually, my brother was very willing to assist with the recording. The video editing part was relatively straightforward, as I used the “jianying” app to easily edit the video and add some annotations alongside.
In conclusion, I believe that in this instructional video, I applied Mayer’s continuity principle effectively, making the instructional video very concise and easy to understand. This not only improved my video production skills but, more importantly, helped me become a better teacher.
After going through the report of my first blog, I discovered that there were still many contrast errors in my first assignment. For instance, there were some issues with things like photos and text layout, and I shouldn’t have put my name below the blog. I think this report is very helpful because it can help with my future blog posts and improve their look.
Have you used Text to Speech tools before? Did you find it useful? Did you try out some of the different voices? What impact did the different voices have on your ability to absorb information?
I frequently use text-to-speech tools. As a student majoring in the humanities, I have to deal with lengthy reading materials. Reading everything can be waste lot of time, especially for non-native English speakers. Personally, I find that listening is easier for me to understand than reading. I believe text-to-speech tools are very convenient and well-suited for university life
Graphic design is inherently visual – what additions or modifications could you make to ensure that learners with visual impairments have access to the same information in an infographic in an online setting?
I believe that graphic design is not very friendly for people with visual impairments. However, this is where text-to-speech tools come into play. They can add an audio feature next to articles, allowing visually impaired individuals to experience the world within the text. While there are many visual elements they cannot perceive, at least it can help them understand the content and make them aware that they are not excluded or treated as ‘special’
In summary, when creating my infographic using Canva, I paid attention to several key design principles such as alignment, hierarchy, contrast, and balance. These principles helped me ensure that my infographic was both clear and visually engaging. I also made sure to incorporate white space and maintain a limited color scheme for a cohesive look. I emphasized the importance of customizing them to suit my content and preserving a simple and clean design.
In today’s fast-paced world, staying organized and managing tasks efficiently has become more crucial than ever. As a university student and multitasker, I’m always on the lookout for tools that can enhance my productivity and keep me on top of my game. Notion is an application that has become my to-go tool to use to keep track of my daily life.
Which principles did you have in mind when you were creating your screencast? Which were you able to employ and which were more challenging to follow?
Multimedia principles guide my script, emphasizing the combination of text and vision for better understanding. I will try to connect the visual with the web, which not only can have more learning style, but also can increase participation. This plays a better role in synchronizing the visual and narrative, ensuring that the relevant elements are better represented in time and space. This method helps people connect what they hear with what they see. According to the principle of personalization, personalized experience is also important. Facing the audience directly and using a conversational tone can help create a more engaging connection with the audience. Balancing the information provided to prevent cognitive overload requires careful planning. In addition, keeping the audience engaged throughout the performance was a challenge for me by changing my speaking style and tone.
Who did you imagine as the audience for this screencast? How did that impact your design choices?
When I created Notion videos, I used students as the primary audience. I think students have a lot of knowledge about tools like Notion. So my design choices revolve around making the screen play friendly to students of all skill levels. I built the content in a useful way for Notion beginners, providing a comprehensive introduction to basic functions such as the login and navigation dashboards. I also included chapters exploring more advanced features, such as database management and integration, for students who are already familiar with the basics. This is not only easy for the students who know the software at first, but also useful for time management and so on.
​​Provide an example of a multimedia learning principle that you have intuitively followed in the past, and an example of a multimedia learning principle that you have not followed in the past. What will you do differently now?
In the past, I have argued that“Principles of multimedia” can help create educational presentations with better visual and textual integration. For example, in a biology class, I used diagrams to illustrate the structure of cells while orally explaining these concepts. This approach enhances understanding and engagement. On the other hand, in some cases I will repeat the text word for word in slides and voice-overs, which can be frustrating for the learner. Now, recognizing the importance of this principle, I plan to avoid such redundancy. Instead, I will use vision to complement oral interpretation and reduce cognitive load. This approach will make my textbook more effective and learner-centered, enhancing the overall learning experience.
Photo by Flickr user jfchenier under CC license: BY-NC 2.0
Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:
Do you want to be online vs. offline?
Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.
First tasks you might explore with your new blog:
Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing categories or sub-categories). If you would like to add more course categories, please do so (e.g., add EDCI 306A with no space for Music Ed, etc.)
See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the course categories assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
Add pages
Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works)
Under Appearance,
Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, etc.)
Customize menus & navigation
Use widgets to customize blog content and features
Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep for reference)
Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “Multimedia Learning” instead of “edci337).
Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.
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