Blending Visuals and Text Brown

Blending Visuals and Text Gary Brown, Director The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology Cognitive Psychology • Images influence our attention and subsequent learning  Orienting Response  Valence  Arousal  Dominance  Pacing  Congruence Our responses to images on these dimensions are universal. • The Research Question • How do different media sources shape learning?  Synthesis appears critical to successful learning.  Better learners develop more elaborated discussion of an attribute by giving more detailed information about it.  A picture is worth a thousand words—Confucius Two Modes Two Messages Multiple Choice Distribution 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 1 2 3 4 Text Video Multiple Choice Distribution 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Text Video Media Mode & Learning 10 8 6 4 2 0 Multiple Choice Description Time on Task Critical Analysis Text Video What Students Said • I remembered the video, but I didn't think it related. culture I forgot all about the computer knowledge I learned. • When I was drawing on my knowledge of the Chinese • I did not actually decide not to use the video material, it was just more convenient to recall what I had read 1/2 hour ago. This would be somewhat typical of my pattern: "whatever comes first is what is used." I admittedly spent little time in recalling anything other than what was on my mind at the time. ―We all have had our sensibilities early deadened by an incessant barrage of visual entertainment as insubstantial as it is eyecatching." –John Updike • ―In the seventeenth century, the making of art was argued about intensely. Was painting. . . a straight forward report or a refined editorial?‖ ―All [the artist] asks is that we look hard and think as we look‖ —Simon Schama • An acquaintance once asked Picasso why he didn’t paint realistically, adding, “like this,” as he handed Picasso a photograph of his wife. Picasso replied, “My goodness your wife is small and flat.” Brain Research • ―Learning is an active process of making changes in the mind’s representations by reasoning about the world—not just taking it as it comes. Learning means breaking, making, and remolding connections in our brains.‖ ―The physical structure of the brain and the inferred representations of the mind depend not only on innate processes, but also on prior experience and knowledge.‖ ―Everyone has a different brain configuration because everyone has a unique body of experience.‖ –Spence, Change, 2001 • • The Media Literacy Course Look at the images & compare the two photographs. In this discussion, please respond to this question: what assumptions are these authors making about how we "know"? The following points may help you shape your response: What do you first notice about the photos? What cultural assumptions do we have that these authors are tapping into? What message does each photo convey, and how do they differ? How would you respond if those differences you see were conveyed through another media, such as text, or audio? Towards Graphical Literacy 1. 2. 3. 4. Identify the relationships in the following graphs. What problem does the following represent? What implications can you derive? What other data would further inform your understanding of the issues depicted here? 10 8 6 4 2 0 Multiple Choice Description Time on Task Critical Analysis Text Video Generative Learning • • Online Web Lab  Student projects to make a persuasive web site ―You can’t deconstruct unless you can construct.‖  Those who cannot manipulate the language will be manipulated by it…. Survey Findings (Flashlight GAPS) • 83% spent more time on task • 90% shared ideas with online peers • 75% appreciated the relevancy of their skills • 83% reflected on the effectiveness of their thinking • 75% developed new strategies for learning • 75% reported learning in new ways that don’t come • easily 90% felt challenged to create their own understanding Students Say… • • The course achieved a lot in a very short time, and I worked harder in a new way than I ever have done before. The class has made me look at the visual media in a much different fashion. Often I find myself analyzing how a certain piece of media makes me develop an opinion and often makes realize my own biases. Overall, I am excited about the realm of possibilities that the comparatively low level of technical mastery I did achieve can open up for me. • ―I do have to say that when I first saw the description of this class, I thought it somewhat odd to be a requirement for the business degree, but now see it as absolutely essential.‖ More Brain Research • ―We all come to a learning opportunity of course, with different memories and experiences, and we will each use different combinations of hard-wired and labile pathways to burn in new circuitry.‖ ―This fact provides a base-level model for the theory of multiple learning styles.‖ ―But the same model suggests that everyone’s learning style is, in fact, unique; there are as many learning styles as there are learners.‖ —Leamnson, Change, 2000. • • The Controlled Experiment Introductory Statistics • • We examined 9 lab sections from a large statistics course offered in the fall 2000. Measures included:  Pre and post questionnaires assessing students’ quantitative, verbal, and academic confidence and experience as well as attitudes towards statistics.  Learning preferences  Two mid-semester exams  A cumulative final exam  Laboratory activities  Homework  Two class projects.  Quantitative and verbal skills  SAT verbal score, SAT math score, and SAT total score. Findings • • • • Ease of use of the statistics packages examined in this study are inversely associated with improved learning. Factor analysis surfaced a potent association between attitude, persistence, and confidence in ability to learn—commitment to learning. Students who report learning strengths in restricted venues also reported and demonstrated a lower commitment to learning. Commitment to learning offsets the influence of selfconcept and preferred learning modes. ―COLLEGE STUDENTS who procrastinate in their academic work are also likely to have unhealthy sleep, diet, and exercise patterns.‖  Data presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Chicago More Cognitive Psychology • People generally hold one of two fairly firm beliefs about their • • intelligence: they consider it either a fixed trait or something that is malleable and can be developed over time. People who believe their intelligence is a fixed trait will avoid challenge. ―Students who hold a fixed view of their intelligence care so much about looking smart that they act dumb.‖ Dweck writes, ―For what could be dumber than giving up a chance to learn something that is essential for your own success?‖ • Emerging Understanding?