1. Explain how you could you use digital media resources in your instructional design processes to make yourself a more critical thinker.

 

As a teacher and an instructional designer, my primary aim is to create effective educational content, for my target learners, such that it is both comprehensible as well as empowering at the same time. Up until I took my LDT300x course in Digital Media, New Tools and Technology, I used to incorporate the simple tools at my disposal (which primarily were textual content, charts and images) and create as good instruction out of it as possible.

 

Now, through this course, I have learned about a number of digital media tools, such as audio (podcasts), video (presentations, screencasts, etc.), rapid e-learning authoring tools (Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, etc.), editing software (Camtasia, Premiere Pro, etc.) and Storyboards. I now feel that I have a vast repository of knowledge and tools at my disposal.

 

As my knowledge base has now expanded, I can now think about instructional design processes in a whole new way. I am no longer limited to mere text and images, and can be much more creative at providing learners with more interesting and challenging learning environments. Given a specific learning objective, I can come up with ideas in which learners will be far more engaged with the content (such as through videos and gamification techniques), and through which learning can be more effective (such as through interactives and simulations).

 

Hence, the use of digital media tools in my instructional design processes would, I believe, not only enhance my learners’ experiences, but will also increase my critical thinking skills in judging the relevance and benefits of using different types of media in different learning scenarios.

 

​2. Explain how you could use digital media in a learning environment to develop your learners’ critical thinking skills.

 

In today’s day and age, education is no longer the mere transfer of ideas and information from an instructor to a student. Education, today, focuses on helping learners evolve into “thinkers”, who can use information they receive to solve problems that might come their way in daily life. It strives to develop not only their lower order thinking skills (such as retention and comprehension), but to also develop their higher-order thinking skills (such as application, analysis, evaluation and creation).

 

The use of digital media in creating enriching experiences for learners has brought instructional designers a lot closer to this aim. Today, learning experiences are filled with videos, simulations, games, audio, images and collaborative tasks that focus not only on the transfer of concepts and facts, but also on helping learners apply this knowledge in different scenarios. This is helping transform more and more learners into critical thinkers and problem-solvers.

 

Digital media tools have made possible the incorporation of learning theories such as constructivism, project-based learning and gamification in simple learning modules, turning them into challenges that learners enjoy solving. History lessons no longer need to be long and boring texts, and language lessons no longer need to be mere practice sessions that reinforce a certain behavior into the subconscious minds of learners over time. Lessons today are large projects, group tasks, engrossing games and enchanting videos that inspire learners to learn more about these topics, and also leave them with questions to ponder over later.

 

3. Create a plan to incorporate 21st-century skills and technologies within a learning environment and how digital media tools can help. Explain how you will use these tools to enhance learner participation. What would these tools do? How would these tools be incorporated?

 

EXAMPLE 1:

One example of how I would incorporate 21st-Century skills and technologies within a learning environment is my E-LEARNING MODULE PLAN ON “HOW TO USE THE TRACK CHANGES FEATURE IN MICROSOFT WORD. (Click here to read the full plan.)

 

Digital Media I Used: In this plan, I have incorporated digital media tools such as videos, interactives and discussion forums to help reach the objectives of the module.

 

How These Tools Can Help/What These Tools Would Do: The use of video in my module plan aims to delivering the targeted content to learners in small, easily digestible chunks that show them how to practically use all the features of the software. The interactives keep learners interested in the module and the discussion forums help create a collaborative working atmosphere for learners. The various tools, in summation, help effectively incorporate cognitivism, constructivism, project-based learning and microlearning into the module.

 

How These Tools Would Enhance Learner Participation: The interactive atmosphere of the module, the grasping nature of short videos and the collaborative challenging (but not too challenging) assignment task would help keep learners try the module and complete it all the way through.

 

How These Tools Would Be Incorporated: The interactive environment of the module would be incorporated through the use of an effective Rapid e-learning Authoring tool, such as Adobe Captivate or Articulate storyline, the videos would be created using PowerPoint presentations and Screencasting software  and the discussion forums would be created through twitter hashtags and Facebook group pages.

 

EXAMPLE 2:

Another example of how I would incorporate 21st-Century skills and technologies within a learning environment is my COMPLEX LEARNING PROJECT PLAN – LET’S PLAY ‘ALGEBRA’!! (Click here to read the full plan.)

 

Digital Media I Used: In this plan, the digital media I have mainly used is a Game on Algebraic Reasoning.

 

How This Tool Can Help/What This Tool Would Do: The incorporation of this game can help turn an otherwise dull and hard lesson into an engaging atmosphere, where learners would be eager to participate in the activity. The lesson would also help learners understand “WHY” they need to learn this topic, and not only “HOW” this topic works. The lesson aims at developing learners’ problem-solving and analytical skills.

 

How This Tool Would Enhance Learner Participation: The game would serve as a positive reinforcement to learners and make them eager to solve more and more algebraic problems.

 

How This Tool Would Be Incorporated: The gaming tool can be incorporated in the lesson through the use of minimal resources, such as a computer and a projector screen. The tool plays a role in the lesson from its beginning, all the way to its end.