Artifact #5- Tool Review

Description:

The Tool Review assignment was an assignment that was completed individually in the Summer of 2022 in the course Developing Digital Multimedia with Professor Cai.  In this course we were able to develop and design digital multimedia learning materials for various environments and learn basic principles of visual design. Through this course, we were able to learn about different digital tools in the multimedia world, explore them, and evaluate them. This assignment was an evaluation of a review game called "Balloon Pop Subtraction" on ABCya.com. This game has been used as an extension to our learning for an audience of beginning of the year first graders of various learning abilities in Harford County Public Schools.

This assignment used Mayer's Multimedia Design Principles as a checklist to evaluate the effectiveness of the game. A reflection of the game in regard to each principal is given along with examples in the game and how it meets that principal. The principles used for reflection include the principles of coherence, redundancy, and multimedia. Areas of improvement according to these principles are also given along with a reflection on the game has examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and has strategies to meet diversity or cultural perspectives. These multimedia tools that were evaluated based on our learning, were shared to other educators in our cohort and feedback was given based on our overall learning and perspectives. 

 

Standard Alignment:

Standard #3-Collaborator

3a. Establish trusting and respectful coaching relationships that encourage educators to explore new instructional strategies.

This artifact encouraged me to look through lessons and explore new instructional strategies that include digital multimedia and are effective based on Mayer's Multimedia Design Principals. Using the principals and thinking about learning in regards to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, I was able to consider and use new instructional strategies to support learning of my students. The digital tools that were evaluated were shared with other educators and we were able to learn about and explore new effective multimedia tools from each other.

3b. Partner with educators to identify digital learning content that is culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate and aligned to content standards.

The sharing of the different multimedia tools amongst our cohort was helpful in identifying content that is culturally relevant. Each tool review gave a reflection of how the tool meets diversity or cultural perspectives. The use of Mayer's Multimedia Design Principals helped to evaluate whether the tool was effective and developmentally appropriate based on our learning of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

3c. Partner with educators to evaluate the efficacy of digital learning content and tools to inform procurement decisions and adoption.

The sharing of the different multimedia tools included an evaluation of the tool in regards to the Mayer's Multimedia Design Principals which help to determine the efficacy of the digital learning content. Based on the evaluation of the tool, decisions of the use of the tool in the classroom with students could be made. 

 

Reflection:

The Tool Review assignment was beneficial in determining which digital tools are considered effective tools in the classroom. The effectiveness of the digital tools being used for learning were evaluated based on the Mayer's Multimedia Design Principles and our learning in regards to motivation and diversity based on research based on the book Interface Design for Learning by Dorian Peters. This evaluation was based on a subtraction game used as an extension in a beginning of the year first-grade math lesson for students of varying abilities. The game "Balloon Pop Subtraction" from ABCya.com helps students represent and solve basic subtraction problems. A reflection of the game in regard to each principle is given along with examples in the game and how it meets that principle, along with giving examples of how it meets intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and cultural/diverse perspectives.

This assignment addressed many of the ISTE collaborator standards including indicators a, b and c.  It met these indicators by allowing for the ability of exploration of new instructional strategies relating to digital tools and allowed us to learn and build trusting relationships with other educators in this program. It also allowed us to work together to identify and evaluate content that is culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate and effective in terms of the Mayer's Multimedia Design Principles and learning based around motivation and diversity.

According to the review that was given based on these principles, the game was overall effective in supporting and helping young learners with subtraction. The digital tool review completed was shared to other educators in this program for learning and feedback. Other educators agreed on its effectiveness and were able to relate to its usefulness in the classroom to reinforce skills being taught. This game has been used as an extension to support student learning and the students are very engaged while playing it. This will continue to be used in the classroom to support the learning of students.