Interesting and Educational Podcast

For this week, we were asked to share a podcast. This was a bit challenging as I had never heard of the term "podcast" before. I guess I'm not as technologically there as I had thought! I asked around and I was surprised to hear that my father knew of podcasts! He suggested I check out iTunes and Sesame Street.

Having grown up with Sesame Street, it was only natural that I share one of the many podcasts I had found from Sesame Street.

The following podcast discusses the meaning of the word healthy. I like how Sesame Street invites well-known actors, actresses, and singers to participate in each segment. For this podcast, Ellen Pompeo from Grey's Anatomy talked with Elmo about the word "healthy." As a fan of the show, I thought her appearance made this a bit more appealing to the adult caretakers. The podcast included older footage of Sesame Street episodes from my generation and incorporated a brief music video about staying healthy. In addition, there were visuals of healthy habits and healthy eating. The podcast appeals to the different learning modalities of today's children. This podcast also fits with society's increasing focus on staying fit and healthy, especially with Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" health initiative.

Good and Bad Design

In this week's assignment, we were asked to find two websites. One website serves as an example of good design, with respect to how graphics and images are integrated into its layout, and the other website as an example of bad design.

Good Design - Brain Pop Jr.

Brain Pop Jr. is the website for younger children like Brain Pop is the website geared towards higher elementary students. As you can see from the screenshot, there are distinct sections for each academic subject as well as links for educators [located on the lower left]. The coloring changes when you hover over each section so that you know which link you are selecting. The homepage does a good job of incorporating both images and flash into the navigation. The dual coding (Paivio, 1990), or pairing a visual with text, makes it easy for even the very young to identify. The brief flash video showcases the video of the week which is "spatially and timely coordinated with text to minimize cognitive load" (Moreno and Mayer, 1999; Mayer et al., 1996). An added bonus is how an auditory narration is provided when you hover over each link. All of these features are presented in different modalities, which are processed by different cognitive systems, and do not overload working memory (Moreno and Mayer, 1999).

Bad Design - Kids Know It

Navigating this site and filtering through all the text requires more usage of our working memory. There are some images but not enough to aid in searching for where you wish to go (Larkin and Simon, 1987). The graphics that are included on this site seem to be randomly thrown together and get lost in the sea of text.

Borrowing from Traditional Text and Implementing in Hypertext

For this week's assignment, we were asked to describe features we liked and wished to borrow from traditional texts and how they can be implemented in hypertext/hypermedia.

There are several features I like about traditional texts. Two of these features are:

• the smell and feel of a book
• the ability to highlight and jot notes in the margins

Ever since I was a child, I've always enjoyed holding a book in my hands and slamming shut just so I can get a sniff of the book! [Yes, I've just reread that statement and realized how much of a crazy that makes me sound.. yet I assure you, I'm not the only person who enjoys the smell of books, especially that new book smell!] However, this feature would be difficult to implement in hypertext/hypermedia unless you think of Mickey's PhilharMagic show located at Disneyworld. The show was able to incorporate the smell of a fresh baked apple pie into their 3D film. Anyway, that was my fun but impossible and pointless feature..

The second feature I really liked from traditional texts was the ability to physically mark up a text. Personally, I try not to highlight my books because I've got major OCD issues, but that's beside the point. There are many people I know who will highlight and underline key words in texts while they're reading or studying. While we can highlight hypertext with a mouse, we still cannot jot down notes in the margins whenever we are read hypertext. Yes, with the growth of technology like SmartBoards in the classroom, it is possible to create an "Ink Layer" over the copy of the screen. Then you can highlight information and jot down notes in the margins, especially if you are teaching note-taking skills to the children. However, this option is not personal enough. The children do not have access to personal SmartBoards to highlight and jot down notes. Even then, there really isn't a way to save the page to refer back to at a later time.. unless you take a screenshot but then there's the whole hassle of saving it. Perhaps a new program could be created specifically for note-taking. All you need to do is open the program to create a frame around the current hypertext. Once you are done jotting down your thoughts and highlighting key information, you can just hit the save button to save your notes for a later time. With the growing trend of tablets and PDAs with stylus pens, this would be a great feature to implement with hypertext. With today's growing technology and children, this could be a great way to teach students to take notes in a manner that can engage them. Who knows. Maybe someone will come up with this program within the next 5 years and we will soon see them in use in the classroom, along with personal tablets for each student. I mean, there are schools who give out laptops and iPads to their students, so this idea isn't too far-fetched, right?