Month: June 2025

The video chosen for this assignment comes from the TED-Ed channel on YouTube and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Sl8LyI7k8

1. What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?

The video does not inherently have interactivity; more so, it takes a constructivist approach to its presentation. The video starts with a few examples of things that keep people up at night and are relatable to most people (e.g., exciting event, big test, etc.). This relatability aspect encourages engagement as it may trigger self reflection – “what keeps me up at night?” This is user-generated interaction.

2. What activity could you suggest that they do after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?  

I think there are points where an instructor could stop the video and ask questions to a class about the topic. For example, before starting the video, the instructor could ask the class for their experience with being kept up at night and why they think it kept them up. This could help build better critical thinking skills. Another example of stopping the video could be at 3:40 where it mentions Circadian Rhythm. The instructor could ask the class about things they could improve in their bedtime routines to improve their sleep quality given what they’ve learned. This activity could help develop the skill of applying their learning from the video.

Another activity could be a small group breakout after the video to summarize the learning. 3-5 students could get in a group to write down a summary of what they have learned from the video and how it could apply to them. This would require just require a piece of paper and a pencil. Some prompt of leading questions may be useful for encouraging further discussion in groups.  

3. How much work for you would that activity cause? Would the work be both manageable and worthwhile? Could the activity be scaled for larger numbers of students?

The instructor-led activity would not require any extra work as it is low stakes and seamlessly applies to the flow of the content. The summary activity may take some extra work to provide and collect papers. However, both activities would be worthwhile because it encourages discussion and could be scaled to any number of students.

4. How could the video have been designed to generate more or better activity from viewers or students?

One way the video could have been better designed better is to have these moments to reflect built in to “stop and think,” similar to the instructor-led activity mentioned above. Another way the video could be more interactive is short multiple choice questions throughout the video, for example “which of these options is a sign of insomnia?”

Overall, I think the video is well-paced, has interesting visuals, and clear explanation. The explanation of the biological implication of insomnia is useful for relating to wider audience as our content does not include this aspect of insomnia.

Prompt 1 – Besides curb cuts, there are many examples of universal design in engineering. Choose an example of universal design in engineering and explain how it can be used as inspiration for a learning design.

Another example of universal design in civil engineering relates to pedestrian crossings. Often, pedestrian street crossings at controlled intersections have features that promote inclusivity, including:

• Countdown timers – relay information to the pedestrian for how much time they have to cross the road. They are typically designed to provide adequate time for those with impaired movement to safely cross in time. Cross signal may be designed to activate ahead of the traffic signals to give pedestrians a head start to cross before cars begin to move.
• Button activation – the button that activates the crossing signal is at a height that’s accessible to children, elderly, and adults. Additionally, it takes little effort to press.
• Auditory cues – the “wait” sound cue when pressing the button and the “pew” countdown timer sounds let those who have visual impairment navigate appropriately.

Similar principles could be applied to learning design:

• Countdown timers – The time for required completion of a particular module and its contents could be provided to students for time management purposes in an online/self-taught or flipped classroom environment. However, it could invoke feelings of uncertainty or inadequacy in students who take longer to learn the material than the recommended time. This time recommendation would have to account for these students. To reflect the ‘head start’ principle, pre-learning activities could be designed to introduce the topic in an easy way. This could be a specially crafted video, a practical demonstration, or a group exercise. Just as a signal light tells a pedestrian to “go”, a pre-learning activity could get a learner to “go learn.”
• Button activation – In this case, pressing the button is analogous to activating the learning process. So, similar to the concept above, pre-learning activities should be designed at a level where it is intuitive and easy to follow at any age. Clear, concise and simple language should be used to make it easy to engage.
• Auditory cues – Finding way to support impairments. As mentioned in this module, lecture transcripts and recordings can help those with barriers of auditory impairment or language. If the material requires reading, having an option for audio reading (like an e-book) could help those with visual impairment, but could also be useful for those who prefer that style of learning.

Although the connections in this post could be a bit of a stretch, I think that both types of design aim to empower and support the users, whether they are a pedestrian or student.

Cooperative learning [1] [2] is a learning approach that emphasis socialization and collaboration amongst students to facilitate learning. Typically, this involves moving students into small groups to work towards a common goal, whether it be a project, assessment, or just to share knowledge. Cooperative learning could be informal (in-class ‘breakout groups’) or formal (group project/assignment) [1]. There are various benefits to this approach [1] [2]:

• Practice teamwork and communication skills
  • Working in small groups can help build important interpersonal skills as group members need to learn to work together to achieve their shared goals.
• Improved understanding and consolidation of learning
  • Allows students to discuss information, share their knowledge, challenge one another’s ideas, and learn from different perspectives. Also, it may require students to explain their thoughts and understanding, which supports consolidation of information for both parties (explainers and listeners).
• Promotes higher-order thinking
  • Encourages students to use the higher levels of learning from Bloom’s Taxonomy [3], namely applying, analyzing, and evaluating information.  

To name a few. Additionally, there are key elements at the basis of collaborative learning: positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction interpersonal and small-group skills, and group processing/reflection [1].

This approach aligns with our chosen topic as our pod plans to use informal collaborative learning by creating breakout groups for students to discuss their bedtime routines with one another (our topic is about insomnia). The goal of using collaborative learning in this way is to allow students to explore the idea of what good quality sleep through different perspectives and lived experiences, then reflect on their own habits ahead of the lecture. This enables students to demonstrate a higher level of thinking as it requires them to analysis themselves. In turn, this would hopefully motivate students to want to learn more about the topic and how to improve their own routines and habits. Although, this exercise does not align as much with the key elements of cooperative learning mentioned above, it does invoke promotive interaction and group reflection.

References:

[1]         The Education Hub, “An introduction to cooperative learning,” theeducationhub.org.nz. [Online]. Available: https://theeducationhub.org.nz/an-introduction-to-cooperative-learning/ (Accessed : June 1, 2025)

[2]         Education Endowment Foundation, “Collaborative learning approaches,” educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk. July 2021. [Online]. Available: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/collaborative-learning-approaches (Accessed: June 1, 2025)

[3]         University of Arkansas, “Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives,” tips.uark.edu. Jul 26, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/ (Accessed : June 1, 2025)