SNOW DAY!!!!

"THE STORM OF THE CENTURY" hit Tuesday, November 23rd.  Because of this storm...the entire University of Utah closed down!!  I was very grateful for the cancellation of class, because I hate driving in snow!

Olympic Park Visit

This week we had a field trip to the Olympic Park Calderon. I was excited to do this, because I have never been to the Olympic Park.  I thought there was a lot of cool things that visitors could use to remember the Olympic experience. 

After the "field trip" we came back to class and discussed the pros and cons of the design of the park.  I felt kinda lost, because I thought that the experience was great.  After listening to the other comments, I realized that my thinking and the class thinking was not the same.  It was totally different!

It was a great experience, and I'm glad that we were able to visit and see "INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN" in life.

VISUALS in the Classroom

Tonight in class we had two presentations on visuals.  As the two groups were presenting, I started thinking back to my "younger days" and the visuals that my teachers used.  I remember having teacher's use overhead transparencies to answer tests, worksheets, or to demonstrate math problems.  Teachers used to show pictures using slide projectors, and now you can download, scan, and show pictures using a PowerPoint presentation.  I remember teachers creating posters for projects, and having them displayed in the classroom.


It has been fun to take a little trip down memory lane.  It's cool to see how visuals have changed within 15 years! 

Media vs Method...which is best??

Last night we had a great class debate between media and method.  Each group was responsible for reading an article either by Clark or Kozma.  Our small group had an article by Clark titled “Media Will NEVER Influence Learning.”  As I was reading this article, before class, I thought, “Man this guy is right on.  It doesn’t matter the type of media that is used in instruction, the instruction relies on the method of teaching.”  I have had a professor in the past that would involve the course in great discussion without using any media.  This professor’s method of teaching was straight forward, lecture.

Now I work in a department where all the professors for one particular course teach the same material and have one standard test for the course that every student takes, no matter which section they are in.  I know that some professors teach using PowerPoint, some involve class participation, and some just stand up and lecture.  No matter which media was used in the classroom, the average on the test across all sections was similar.  PowerPoint didn’t influence one section to score higher, and lecture only didn’t make one section score lower. 

The debate last night really brought this example to mind…after the fact of course, and makes me think how much does media really play a role in instruction and learning?