Exercises in Embedding Media

This week’s assignment is to embed various types of media into our blogs.  We are required to post an image, a video, and a Google map.  Then if the muse strikes, we can try to embed other types of media as we see fit. 

Looking back to last week, I’ve already embedded mages from my Photobucket account, but here’s another bicycle that I fixed up or good measure:

Next up a Youtube video.  This is a video that I was inspired to create after video taping my friend’s band “Dr. Xeron and the Moogulators”:

And a Google map to round out the requirements:

View Larger Map



And for a little bit extra, here is an embedded audio clip from my old band circa 1993.



Also because direct linking without acknowledging the source is a web Bozo No-No, I should mention that the song is hosted on Leon's Temple.  Leon's Temple is a vast repository of Kalamazoo's '90s local music scene.

*edit*  Ah-Ha!  It would seem that the embedded audio does not work with older browsers.  I have had success with Safari, and Google Chrome, but not with an older version of Firefox.  Therefore if it doesn't work for you, you may want to try another browser.

This week, our application question tasks us to teach learners how to calculate and compare unit costs of various sizes and brands of the same product using three of the various educational learning theories summarized in the chapter.   I found this a bit challenging as I don’t have a background in teaching like many folks in this class do, however I was able to steal a tip from both the Cognitive Information Processing Theory and the Schema Theory in that as I looked at the various techniques and concepts, some of them reminded me of previous leadership training that I experienced as a boy scout.  Gagné’s Theory of Instruction resonated with me, and reminded me of ROPES.  ROPES is an acronym for Relate, Overview, Present, Exercise, and Summarize.  Essentially you catch the learner’s attention(relate), tell them what you want them to learn(overview),  teach the learner a new skill(present), have the learner practice the new task(exercise), provide feedback, and then tell them what they’ve learned(summarize).  

I know from previous experience as a youth leader and camp counselor that the technique is effective, and Gagné’s Theory of Instruction struck me as ROPES on steroids.  On the flipside, the theory of Constructivism struck me as too unstructured to be effective in several situations.  It might work well with adult learners who want to learn, and we might be using a hybrid or techniques from this theory in our class, but my experience with my children and as a Cub Master is that children often have difficulty staying on task, and often lack the prior experience or rigor to set appropriate goals.  I don’t personally see this as a fault, but just a matter of being children.  Perhaps given enough time and selective cat-herding on the part of an adult guide, the technique would yield good results; however, Constructivism seems a tough sell to a world of dwindling resources.  

Starting with Skinner, we would want to observe the learner’s behavior prior to teaching the new skill.  In this case we could give the new learners a small amount of money and instruct them to go to our school store and buy something they would want.  Parents might have a fit if they bought candy, so we could ask them to buy some pencils.  There could be several brands of pencils, and different packs of pencils to give us pricing breaks in bulk purchases.  After observing and making note of individual purchasing behavior, we could return the learners to the classroom and then study the mathematical concept of lowest common dominators, and apply it to a story problem involving purchasing a comparable good or service.  Students would get immediate feedback as they work the problem to reinforce positive behavior and correct negative behavior.  We could then have the students return to the school store with a fresh supply of money and the objective to purchase as many pencils as they can.  We then could observe their behavior to see if the learner has indeed learned the lesson.  Students who perform well could get to keep the pencils as a reward, students who don’t could be sent back to the classroom to work more story problems or get electrical shocks until they get it right.  OK, I apologize, I am joking, I would never advocate giving electrical shocks to learners, though I can tell you from personal experience as a child growing up in the country that a person usually only touches an electric fence once out of curiosity.

Cognitive Information Processing Theory appeals to my inner computer programmer.  I can relate to stimuli being called ‘inputs’ and behavior being referred to as ‘outputs’, as well as what happens in-between being labeled ‘information processing’.  In practice the learner’s routine would be very similar to the one I just presented for Skinner.   Providing examples that support the mathematical concept of the lowest common denominator, we’d endeavor to provide patterns for students to pick up in their ‘sensory memory’.  Focusing on ‘encoding’ or getting the learner to draw connections to their ‘long-term memory’  by  using the skills they may have just learned and are retaining in their ‘short-term memory’ .  We would still provide feedback so as to assure the learner that they’ve gotten the concept right, and also to correct them if they’ve not gotten the concept right.  During the process we could direct their attention to various procedures by using stimuli such as charts or graphs, or even simple stimuli/inputs like bold or italicized text.   

As I mentioned previously, I favor Gagné’s Theory of Instruction above the others presented in this chapter because it offers a roadmap of clear objectives for the teacher.  Looking through Gagné’s five major categories of learning, our task seems to fall into the second one listed “intellectual skills – applying knowledge”.  One could make the case that the task also falls into ‘cognitive strategies – employing effective ways to thinking and learning’, and even some bleed over into ‘verbal information’ and/or ‘attitudes’.  For me however the second category seems to fit best, so I’ll proceed with the nine events of instruction. 

1. Gaining attention – We could walk into the classroom and waive our school store money into the air and proclaim “Everyone gets two school store dollars, but first we’ve got to pay attention”. 
2. Informing the learner of the objective – We clearly state that we want students to be able to maximize their dollar by comparing unit cost, price per ounce of various products.  Our example may be with pencils, but we can weigh the pencils and relate the info to the students as being applicable to shampoo, tuna, and cat food, etc.
3. Stimulating Recall of Prior Learning – Hopefully these students will have already learned and practiced the mathematical concept of the lowest common denominator.  We can review the concept and work a few sample problems on the board to get it fresh in their heads.
4. Present the Stimulus – Here we provide a similar problem, say to maximize the purchase of tuna fish in various sizes, brands and quantities.
5. Provide Learning Guidance – We could provide an example of comparable products (goods/services), using the classic Econ 101 example of Guns vs. Butter and/or Margarine vs. Butter.
6. Eliciting Performance – This is the point where we hand out our school store dollars and have the students purchase the pencils.
7. Provide Feedback – In the school store we could query students who are making choices to see what their reasoning is.  This gives us an opportunity to point out good choices, and correct bad ones.
8. Assessing Performance - Using the various price points of the brands and packages of pencils as an example, we could review as a class the best purchase per unit. 
9. Enhancing Retention and Transfer - We could pool the left-over school store money and decide as a class the best purchase  in bookmarks—or some other good—that is available to us with that amount.