VinFormation

Examples: http://amps-web.mit.edu/public/sloan/2008/simon_johnson/sloan-simon_johnson-financial_crisis-mit-E51345-02dec2008-350k.html 

http://baselinescenario.com/2008/12/03/recorded-webcast-of-yesterdays-mit-class/ 

Advantages:

• Boost retention
• Enable students to review complicated material repeatedly at their convenience
• Teach once and reach multiple audiences

Can be a recorded interview/guest appearance. If by phone/audio only, can present a photo of the speaker as they do on TV news broadcasts.
Guest interview – the instructor interviews a guest on a preselected topic.

Examples:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/_graphics/civilwarcamp/flash.htm 

Tell stories that develop over time, historical themes

Example: http://vinformation.famvin.org/history/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/abu_ghraib/flash.htm

Documentary-style, audio drives the narrative, and photos are edited to fit the story. Transitions between photos are essential to a good presentation. 

Examples: http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/smokies_save/flash.htm 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/multimedia/olyss/flash.htm 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/graphics/dogmatchgame/flash.htm 

http://vinformation.famvin.org/Systemic_Change/Think_files/mini-quiz.swf 

Crossword and other puzzles can be geared to a more literary or well-read type of audience.

Examples: http://vinformation.famvin.org/Puzzles_files/st-louise/index.html 

http://education.jlab.org/elementwordscramble/index.html 

http://www.biblequizzes.org.uk/wsearch.php?006 

• Appeals to aural learners
• Stimulates mental conceptualization and learner imagination
• Humanizes and personalizes student-instructor interaction
• Adds credibility/authority to the presentation
• Provides audio cues
• Focuses student attention
• Effective use of learner’s time

Music and sound effects can be used to enhance podcasts.

Over 3,600 education-related podcasts exist in iTunes library.

Can be used as the sole means of content or as part of a blended approach.

Peer-to-peer podcasts: Students can create their own podcasts to share with classmates. For example, podcasts were used to teach fractions to sixth graders. Maximizing their creativity, the students created an audio file (or podcast) for the problem of the day to share with sixth-grade classes. The project was called “Let me tell you how to solve it.” Applies to adult learning as well.

A series of photos with text captions in slideshow format. Sometimes photos are the best way to tell a story.

Example: http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/day/flash.htm 

http://alabamamosaic.org/ 

A contrived, simplified version of an object or concept that encapsulates its significant features. Models can be made interactive if desired, thus requiring active participation by the students and promoting active learning experiences which are superior to passive modalities such as traditional lectures.

Job aids are recommended:

• When performance is infrequent
  
• When the situation is complex
  
• When the consequences for error are high
  
• When it becomes necessary to access vast or changing bodies of knowledge
  
• Where there is high turnover or task simplicity
  

Example: http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/jaortrain/index.htm 

Interactive maps – Who, what, where, can be used to show movement and change over time. 

Example- using Google maps http://americanpast.richmond.edu/voting/interactive/ using Flash

http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/fema_aid_map/flash.htm 

Instructional Qualities

• Provides visual cues
  
• Engages learners

Videogames allow the immersion of the student in richly recreated environments with a relatively low cost per student. Also, videogames support many educational approaches such as collaborating and/or competing within the game or, alternatively, simulating artificial peers in order to achieve similar results to collective playing in a cost-effective way. In short:

• Games are fun
  
• Games are immersive
  
• Games stimulate cooperation/competition
  
• Games provide innovative assessment mechanisms

Provide users with several nonlinear paths of traversing content through the use of cases, themes, and multiple perspectives. Explore an ill-structured (ill-defined) knowledge domain through multiple representations of the content. The Internet is an ideal medium for this, due to its hyperlinking feature and access to widespread resources that add richness to content.

Using digital media such as video or audio to tell a story. Can be used to create personal connections at the beginning of online courses. Good at conveying emotion and grabbing attention.

Examples: http://www.storycenter.org/stories/ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw4lEdsd_fo 

PowerPoint, or similar programs such as Keynote, can be used as an aid to engage a class– if designed properly. 

Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM 

http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2005/09/whats_good_powe.html 

A talking animated character, you type a question, the chatbot answers. The chatbot could also ask a question, for example in the form of a quiz. 

Examples: http://www.chatbots.org/chatbot/jenn 

http://www.chatbots.org/us 

http://www.yourhealthyeyes.com/ 

Mixing a photo gallery with audio clips for selected images. Allows for self-directed navigation.

Example: http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/darfur/flash.htm 

• Inexpensive 
• Easily duplicated

Disadvantages:

• Require specific device to listen
• Hard to modify the recordings once produced and distributed

Instructional Qualities

• Builds accurate mental models
• Represents relationships graphically (theories, cause/effect, etc.)
• Illustrates processes, flows, and structures
• Several learning channels (visual, auditory, tactile) are used
• Active participation in the teaching/learning process is maximized
• Allows for experimentation
• Engages the learner
• Allows for practice in controlled environment
• Provides feedback to learners
• Gives learner control and choice
• Facilitates learner reflection

In these games the player is the main character in a story, and drives it forward by speaking to other characters, finding objects, combining them in creative ways and solving riddles and puzzles. The game progresses through a storyline in which performing some actions unlocks some other potential interactions. Elements such as a slow pace, reflection, study of the environment, and problem-solving make point and click adventure games relevant from a pedagogical perspective (a clear bias for content instead of just plain action).