Author: yixuanzhang

My primary consideration for introducing this video into the learning design is that it actively covers the interactive modes of learner-learner, learner-instructor, and learner-self. First, the video vividly demonstrates the value of time management, which is conducive to engaging learners. Secondly, instead of presenting sleepy and dull content, this video is clear and persuasive to train learners to think actively. Compared with passive studying, active thinking can effectively enhance the degree of response between individual learners and between teachers and learners in the teaching process. In other words, the video requires students to stay on top of their instructor’s thoughts, which forces them to respond proactively.

Maheshwari’s video is engaging, providing the basis for a variety of forms of response. In my opinion, learners can use various forms of interaction to respond, including summarization of knowledge points, extraction of key issues and outline after thinking about the topic, forming a team to discuss, etc.

It is necessary to design students’ activities after watching videos reasonably to consolidate the learning effect. For me, I will first ask students to do active thinking while watching the video. Following that, I will request a reflective summary based on their notes on the draft points after watching the video and give them a grade. This aims to strengthen Learner-self interaction and improve students’ reflective ability and knowledge association ability. Then I asked them to discuss in groups and report the results. In my opinion, the ability to reflect and collaborate is crucial to the development of this activity. Students can use the medium of VOIP, video, picture presentation, and online conferencing to conduct the learning interaction I have designed.

Although this learning and design activity will bring me a lot of work, its process is easy to manage. Because the reflective steps I have designed give students time to deliberate, they are more likely to participate in the interaction. Students who completed the reflection were less likely to worry about the awkward situation of not knowing what to talk about during the interaction. The benefits of the reflection step are difficult to achieve in face-to-face learning interactions, which lack sufficient reflection time.

This activity helps to broaden the scope of student participation. As a learning designer, if I can guide students to complete the interactive involvement and give them a sense of achievement by setting reasonable incentives, students will be more willing to participate.

Videos I chose for learners:

Maheshwari, S. (2016, July 1). Smart Work & Time Management – By Sandeep Maheshwari I Hindi. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeAcRFIrKFY

Cooperate learning refers to a set of teaching and learning principles and strategies that encourage the interactions between the learners. Some characteristics of this learning approach include “positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interactions, appropriate use of social skills, and group processing”, as explained by Johnson and Johnson (2009, p. 366). More specifically, the learners using this approach will be interdependent on each other to achieve success. Besides, all of them are accountable for the learning outcomes of the whole team. Moreover, all members need to work and interact in ways that could promote the learning of others. They should also be equipped with, or learn interpersonal skills about how to work as a cooperative group in this process. Furthermore, the group should monitor their working process so as to make improvements.

This approach aligns with the topic that our team has chosen, health inequity. More specifically, using this learning approach, all learners will be clearly aware of their own accountability and the tasks that they should complete to make this project a success. Besides, they will be independent, which means that they will seek and provide help for each other so as to help each other succeed in learning about this topic. For instance, they might explain to each other some theories and concepts that they fail to clearly understand, and search for new information for all the other learners to learn more. In this process, these learners might apply the interpersonal skills that they have already mastered to collaborate with each other. They will also be asked to monitor their own learning process and identify areas to make improvements, which could help them learn about other topics more efficiently in the future.

References

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2009). An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning. Educational Researcher, 38(5), 365–379. Retrieved from JSTOR.

I have overcome many learning challenges. When I first learned English, I overcame the challenge of memorizing many English words. This was a great challenge because the words that I need to memorize were numerous, and my time and memory were limited. I was required to memorize as many English words as possible in order to study abroad and better adapt to the new environment. This was very challenging because I had to take many other classes at the same time and achieved high academic scores. Therefore, I only had very limited time and energy to learn English. I overcame this challenge by using effective reinforcement, which is a key concept in behaviorism (West, 2020). More specifically, I gave myself rewards, such as watching a film, hanging out with friends, and so on, after memorizing a certain number of words.

Learning about the concepts of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism is very helpful for me to better understand learning. When a high school social study teacher is planning a class on climate change, a behaviorist would suggest the teacher ask students some questions as feedback so as to understand their learning efficiency. A cognitivist will guide the teacher to help the students relate the new knowledge to some previous knowledge that they have learned. A constructivist will suggest the teacher require the students to observe some changes brought by climate change in the real world. These concepts could be applied to understand my own learning experience. My parents taught me how to use chopsticks by giving me some candies if I used them correctly, and this is an example of behaviorism. I was taught about multiplication by relating it to my previous knowledge about addition, which is an example of cognitivism. I was taught about sexism by interpreting this concept and related theories based on my personal experience, which is an example of constructivism. I consider my current instruction style more cognitivist because the new skills or knowledge that I am learning are associated with my existing knowledge or skills, and I always made connections between them in the learning process.

Hi, this is Yixuan’s Blog, and I’m going to make a brief self introduction here today. As my title shows, my name is Yixuan Zhang, you can call me Yixuan or Gwen. I come from Shenzhen, which is a coastal city in the south of China, but in fact, I am not a native of Shenzhen, I was born in Harbin, an ice and snow city in the north of China, when I was two years old, I followed my parents to live in Shenzhen. This is my third year in UVic, and my major is economics. I’m extremely happy to meet you here, and hope we spend an enjoyable semester, thank you.