Blogging Monks in the News

Well not quite the monks themselves but certainly a blogging reference. Here is a link to BBC News online and that will take you to an article about how blogging is literally helping to change the world. "Burma's cyber-dissidents" by Stephanie Holmes, is a very intriguing article. Burmese Monks have been protesting against their government and unlike the past where the government could handle an up rising how ever they pleased, this time around the government has to deal with the information age. I quote, "Thanks in part to bloggers, this time the outside world is acutely aware of what is happening on the streets of Rangoon, Mandalay and Pakokku and is hungry for more information." It goes on to describe how a blogger from Burma based in London has set up a social network over the Internet and phone to gain picture and video for a blog dedicated to reporting what has and will happen over the time of protest. The blogger's name is Ko Htike and his blog is: http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/ Check it out. Real interesting pictures. I picked to write about this this time around because it was something in the news which I felt was somewhat relative to this class and I thought who ever is reading this might be interested. Let me know what you think.

I have a lot to write today.

We'll start with a little review. For my other class, Instructional Message Design, we have been reading Multi-Media Learning by Richard E. Mayer. I have completed the first three chapters and this will be the first review I will do on this book. Each time i finish a section for my class I will post a new review.

This is a very insightful book. Click on the book title to see a digital copy. The first three chapters lay down some ground rules and background for the book. "The Promise of Multimedia Learning," Mayer's first chapter, covers his definition of multimedia. This boils down to any instructional material presented in different forms, such as a written document with pictures incorporated or an animated video with a narration. He then breaks down views of multimedia design, learning metaphors, learning out comes and types of active learning. To sum it up, the best route according to Mayer would be to have a learner centered design which could lead to the knowledge construction metaphors, which intern fosters understanding, or transfer. That all leads to meaningful learning which Mayer states should be the objective of most learning.

Chapter 2, "Multimedia Instructional Messages" gives examples that reflect Mayer's definition of multimedia. Using three different models Mayer explains what a basic multimedia message should entail. This helped me with the definitions he had mentioned.

Chapter 3, "A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning" was the most informative chapter yet. It started with three known assumptions on how we learn. Dual channel processing, limited capacity and active processing are the assumptions that motivate learners and if designers do not keep these in mind the true cognitive learning cannot take place. Mayer then goes into the five steps a learn goes through when they gain a cognitive understanding of any subject. This helped me place behaviors that I have seen in my students. I feel I'll understand why they act like they do, at least some of the time.

This is the review to date. The next chapters are all dedicated to certain techniques on how to enhance this learning medium. I'm all the more confident in this book and what it can teach me because of the sound base of theory laid down in these first three chapters. Stay tuned for more posts. Below is an APA citation for the book.

I plan on updating my links and setting up a couple more links leading to some cool things my classmates are doing. I'm also reading an article on e-learning from a readings list that I will be making comments on soon.



Mayer, R E (2007). Multimedia Learning. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

post test

And He's OFF!!!!

I picked my first paper to review. "Leadership and management in e-learning for teachers and trainers: An introductory guide, " by D. E. Gray. I've almost finished with the reading and so far its good stuff. Some highlights I've liked so far is how Gray breaks down each major step needed for managers and e-learning designers to successfully produce an e-learning production. Grey gives the how as well as to why each step needs to be done as well as some help tips to overcome obstacles. I'm going to go back through it and post some of the major points I found most interesting. The paper its self is a good piece of multi-media design and there are even sporadic questions and a test at the end to test retention. I might even use this paper for my other class in Multi-Media Design. Here is the citation for this review. I will say more at a close date.

Gray, D. E. (no date). Leadership and management in e-learning for teachers and trainers: An introductory guide. Online: http://www.oph.fi/attachment.asp?path=1,439,3739,7557,38404,38405,38414

I also have set up an interview with a lead instructional designer at Echostar (my work). I will be conducting that interview this Tuesday morning so I should have that out on this blog soon too.

OK... back on track

Thanks to the help of my team I finally found the list of journals in the course shell. (I'm new to this online learning) All the other sections look great and thanks to that list I feel much better about my end of the project.

I have a habit of over thinking and re-thinking then not asking for help. I'll learn.

Well I finally got around to adding a link to Brent's Blog. I'm adding a couple more links tonight when I get off work. A couple more journals and then I think I'll set up a team blog section. I love this work in progress stuff. I've never actually kept a journal but this makes it fun.