From week 5 and week 6, I have learnt certain useful and effective theories of media to help teachers approach interactive and multimedia teaching. It is important for them to use instructional design models to ensure the multimedia lessons go well.
There are certain obvious characteristics of instructional design models. For example, it is a must for teachers to design the class as learner-centered, goal-oriented, empirical elements with team effort (Kurt, 2015). Teachers should take these elements into consideration when they design a lesson. During the process of making multimedia lesson plan, teachers should also remember some rules of making PowerPoint. For example, we have to remember that we can never try to put more than two ideas or six objects in a slide, which actually relates to cognitive load theory. When teachers keep these in mind, they would improve students’ effective learning in the class.
What impressed my most is to create an infographic with Canva. Canva is a popular tool to create infographics (McCue, 2021). After practicing the activities based on the requirement, I created a poster as below.
When I was making this infographic, I paid more attention to its information source, visual layout as well as background and font colors.
Firstly, I added the information source under the title. It is basic to respect for the original and tell readers where the information is obtained. In this way, I can show readers that I have done related research by listing source and raise the reliability of the poster. Secondly, I added larger white space between each characteristics. According to Merrill’s the sixth design principle, white space is like the silence part in the musical composition. In the poster, the design of white space can make characteristics distinguished from each other. Thirdly, I have changed the background and font colors for many times. In the end, I decided to use red-like and white colors. According to Merrill’s eighth principle, bright colors can make certain elements or information pop. Also, I designed the title letters into white with colored background flames and used black font colors in text. According to Merrill’s second principle, colors can be used to stand out the contents form the background, emphasizing the main ideas to make sure readers can see it at first glance.
References
Kurt, S. “Instructional Design Models and Theories,” in Educational Technology, December 9, 2015. Retrieved from https://educationaltechnology.net/instructional-design-models-and-theories/ Dr. Serhat Kurt, Instructional Design Models and Theories. February 17, 2021.
McCue, R. (2021, February 20). Introduction to Infographics with Canva & Related Multimedia Learning Principles [MP4]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1k3deWbw2c
Merrill on Instructional Design – (5 min)- Merrill is one of the pioneers of modern instructional design thinking from a problem-centred perspective. He reflects here in particular on multimedia design and delivery.
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