Learning Reflection Report
Revisit the Plan
Throughout my time in this course, I have learned how to create educational content in different media types that are suited for all individuals. I have also learned how to create engaging educational materials and how to implement various techniques, such as interactive activities to incorporate active learning and multimedia principles to decrease cognitive load. I feel as though I have met all the course objectives through the substantive posts and the design and creation process of the challenges. However, for the GenAI course objective, I think that I did not take advantage of that as a tool as much as I should have. Due to my other classes forbidding the use of any AI, I think I have a tendency to stay away from it most of the time. I did use it to help me brainstorm ideas at times, but I definitely could have utilized it more and hope that I get other chances to explore what it can do as a tool in other contexts.
Identify the Turbulence
For me, the most challenging concept to master was figuring out how to present psychology-related information and concepts in a way that was accurate, engaging, and did not overwhelm the cognitive load of the learners. Applying principles like the coherence, signaling, and the redundancy principle became very important, but also surprisingly challenging as I became much more aware of how more scientific information can overload a learner’s working memory. I often struggled to decide what concepts to simplify, what to leave out, and how to phrase scientific/psychological ideas in plain, accessible language while still presenting accurate information.
Evidence of Growth
Over the course of the semester, I have become increasingly aware of how learning actually happens within multimedia environments, especially in my other classes as well as everyday contexts outside of courses and school. I began thinking about how my current courses could be improved by incorporating active learning techniques to help learners engage with the material more, in order to learn and understand content better. I have begun thinking about how to make the learned materials into interactive activities to help myself study the content, leading to better study habits after creating flashcards, quizzing myself, and creating matching games to memorize the content. I also notice how concepts learned in the class can apply to social media content. For example, I’ve become more critical of content that feels overwhelming or cluttered, and this awareness has changed the way I evaluate information that I see online. I also find myself looking for accessible features, such as captions and transcripts, and am more aware when they are missing. I think that my substantive posts and challenge reflections demonstrate this shift, as I moved from focusing on looks to focusing on clarity, accessibility, and learner needs. Overall, the changes I have made demonstrate how the principles and concepts from this course influence my coursework from all my classes, how I study, evaluate media, and how I understand learning in everyday digital contexts.
Next Destination
As a psychology major who hopes to work with children and adolescents, I can easily imagine integrating some of the skills I have learned in the course in my work. When interacting with them and teaching them new skills, concepts, and activities, I can use theories of multimedia, such as the personalization principle, the signaling principle, the contiguity principle, and segmenting, as these will all help me get my point across better and keep younger audiences more focused while emphasizing important information. Integrating active learning by having interactive games and activities can also help children and adolescents engage with the material more and create more entertaining content for them. Lastly, having accessible multimedia, as well as accessible materials in general, is important in all contexts, but especially in the field of psychology. By using techniques of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and planning for equity from the start, I am confident that I will be able to create fun, engaging content for all individuals, even those with different strengths, backgrounds, and needs. I can especially see myself using techniques such as using a more plain language rather than technical terms, allowing users to have control over playback features, and adding captions for videos, as I think this is especially important for a younger audience, where it is common that individuals are learning and developing skills at a different rate.
Overall, this course helped me better understand my strengths, the areas I still need to improve, and what I can do to continue to grow moving forward. It has also deepened my understanding of multimedia learning and taught me principles and techniques that I hope to continue to incorporate in my studies and my future career.