Course Content

In the lesson on HCI (Human Computer Interaction) we introduced the concepts associated with how humans interact with computers and vice versa as a stepping stone to this last module in which we look at the Media Equation studies specifically: set of studies that were aggregated into a seminal book on the subject: Media Equation.
 
This is an extension to that HCI lesson in which we dig deeper into the elements of HCI. In that study the researchers presented a series of findings that indicate with some degree of certainty that people tend to interact with computers/media in the exact/similar fashion as to with other people.

Here are some of their findings:

Pollyana Effect

Our minds tend to recall/remember the ‘good old days’ from their past. However, the researchers also found they we tend to remember negative events in the short term.. negative events also tend to alter our memories about things that occur before and after a traumatic event…

Real live examples of the media equation in action:

• Television experiment: TV’s were labeled with different purposes/titles (“the following is an example of “negative news” and vice versa). What they found is that the labeling tended to set preconceived notions about the actual content
• The Concept of Negativity. What they found is that it colors one perceptions but it is also a fleeting emotion. We can become negative towards media but can be won over (“my computer hates me“)
• Pain vs pleasure (with both computers and people interactions, people tend to avoid pain and seek pleasure)
• Politeness:
  themediaequation

• The evaluations of good and bad are not equal. we tend to add more significance/pay more attention to to negativity (note media news casts and how they often begin with all the negative stuff.. the happy news is only done at the end as a filler):
  • The evaluation of negative dominates: We pay more attention to negative experiences
  • We would like to think we only remember the fun things (Pollyanna effect).. in long term memory (Good old days)
  • however, in short-term, we do actually remember negative ones longer (post trauma)…. what is remembered immediately afterwards.. And impedes recall of what came before
  • Mediated matters – evaluate the results of negative ads on television and in political campaigns
  • Thew definition of what it means to be user friendly and the definition of ‘user’ is changing… children are more and more prone to think of media as a “person”
  • People pay more attention to negative media
  • Negativity is a two-edged sword… Viewers might pay attention to wrong parts… The supposed psychological distance between reality
    and media did not cause different reactions… negative media experience turns out a lot like real experiences… while negativity is engaging.. but recall good memory=low liking

Conclusions

• All media experiences are emotional
• There is virtually no type of content/form of expression that is incapable of causing changes in emotion.
• Arousal, like valence, works
• Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain is a reasonable basic strategy in designing motivation into mediated matters
• Matching personalities is a good thing, but…
  • It seems unlikely that a person would admit that they liked a computer better if its personality changed to match theirs
  • Someone/a medium who/that adapts in a desired direction is clearly liked (people tend to give credit for trying to adapt)
  • Conversely, someone who changes negatively is NOT clearly disliked.
• OLD Brain vs NEW Brain (we will see this again later this term)
  • Left brain vs right brain  (too much of what younger children today experience is right-brained… and schools try to teach using left-brain techniques… teach to the strengths.. remediate the weakness…
  • Depictions of people, places, and things on a screen are neither physical threats nor significant opportunities and viewers know this.
  • Media can make people feel both good and bad
• The moral of all of this…
  • We should realize that no matter how we evaluate it, all media responses begin with a simple judgment: is it good or is it bad?
  • This is an immediate response..

These readings will be revisited once we take a look at Restak’s views on Old Brain vs New Media later on in this term

In the meantime…

What is jnd?

In the field of psycho-physics (that branch of experimental psychology that studies sensation and perception) a jnd (Just Noticeable Difference) is the amount that something must be changed for the difference to be noticeable, defined to mean that the change is detectable half the time. Norman’s goal is to make a noticeable difference — many jnd’s worth — in human-centered technology. You will learn that when it comes to interface design, Norman could be considered a minimalist.

• Our starting point is Wikiquote
• Q and A Session (You Tube Interview)
• Here is a link to his original Website at UC San Diego where he is Professor Emeritus
• Finally, here is the link to his jnd site.

His seminal work: the Design of Everyday Things is as important as it sounds.

• that is why we must present an opposing view

ok..ok so where do we go from here? Being a video guy, I have to show you a couple of them:

Video #1: Design and Emotional Response

Video #2: The Design of Future Things

Another good guy in this arena (mostly on good Web and usability design):

• Jakob Neilson He is now a partner with Norman but his niche seems to be web design .. take a look at why he does not include graphics on his Web site. an interesting perspective…

Do This

Write a small reflection (about two paragraphs) to tell me that have read all of this and have synthesized an opinion… I have given you some things to chew on.. plus at least one dissenting view…

1. 1. Do you agree or disagree with Norman’s basic premise?
   2. Why do you think I have included him in our discussions on interactive design?
   3. What is applicability/relevance of Norman’s ideas on just normal design to educational settings?
   4. Find one or two more individuals who also have entered into this arena (Google them) and explain their niche.. what new do they bring to the table? why should/should not bring them into our discussions in this course?

Post your thoughts in the drop box set up on Canvas.

Truth Be Told

I did not invent the term. Actually the concept of media being ‘new’ was in vogue at the turn of the century. It is remarkable to think that the concept of mediating interactions (i.e., human-computer) is still in its infancy after more than a dozen years of study. I still look at digital media as being ‘new’ (versus old, as in print journalism, graphic arts, etc.).. guess it’s my age .. but growing up professionally in a world that is becoming more and more  media centric still amazes me. I became fascinated by the concept of how the brain interacts with media and how its use has the POSSIBILITY of rewiring our brains and making us think, communicate, and learn differently. I actually wrote my dissertation on this area.

Old Brain? New Media?

We cannot possibly complete this course on interactivity without discussing how various interactions affect the ‘interactors’… regardless of whether those interactions are being mediated (that is via media/technology). So, to put all of this into perspective, we should probably start with some readings on what is meant by the term ‘old brain’. In its purest sense, your old brain is that part of your cerebrum that deals with emotional, reactive, impulsive activity, etc. (as opposed to cognitive, thoughtful enterprise). It is the part of your brain that is attacked by retailers at checkout counters (the place where they try to get you to purchase gum and other sundries , purchase the National Enquirer and other magazines, etc.).  Behaviorists play on the old brain.. automaticity and repetitive behaviors emanate from this region of the brain. It is sometimes also referred to as your brain stem… that looks a lot like the small, water-born entity that we all seem to have evolved from.

Your new brain wraps around the old brain … this is where human thought comes from…

Just what IS the relationship between new media and the brain?

There are those who believe that repetitive use of video games, work on computers, etc. somehow change the synapses within the brain, not the new brain parts. Richard Restak, a neurosurgeon and popular science writer on the brain, is one of the major proponents of this thinking. His work focuses on examining the impact new technology has on the physiology of the brain (such as MRI) and how it allows us to monitor and control a far wider range of activities than was formerly possible. Recent research holds the potential for, among other things, reducing the use of psycho-pharmacological drugs that have unpredictable side effects; substituting one sense (touch) for another (sight); and direct repair of brain and other neurological damage. Restak also demonstrates how the [old] brain is modified the old-fashioned way, such as by practicing a skill. He relates that to how (over)use to media is doing essentially the same thing. He believes that the over stimulation of our brains by modern society is giving us all ADD.He even goes so far as to proclaim that it is proven that TV violence affects our brains in ways that lead to violent behavior without even mentioning the word “censorship.”

No causal relationship has ever been ‘proven’ but his premise is certainly a good one to consider, at least anecdotally.

One proponent of such a relationship between media interactions and the effect it is on your brain is Ted Bilich:

• New Media Tools

There are several more researchers who have also wrestled with this concept:

• Ontological Implications
• Our Three Brains
• An interesting take/sidebar to all of this: Storytelling 2.0: When new narratives meet old brains
• Media’s Effect on the Brain
• This is your Brain on Media
• Brain Development in a Hypertext World

This thinking is not universal. While all of this seems logical, there are those who dismiss this as being an over-statement of the facts. I owe it to you to present some of those criticisms:

• Mind over Mass Media (Op Ed NY Times)
• How Social Media is Isolating us (Pop Matters)

So Where does this leave us?

To understand the complexity of all of this and to redirect you back to the psychology associated with media interactions I need to bring you back to the readings on the Media Equation that we introduced earlier this term. After reviewing that module, click on the second tab to review a pretty good analysis of media interactions in terms of the mind and how people tend to react to them.

Do This

There is a lot of reading in this module and a lot to absorb… To make it easier on you, all you need to do is submit a two paragraph reflection in which you describe two ah-ha! moments/takeaways of the most significant impressions these readings have had on your ideas/notions about interactivity and how you believe that media/technology affects teaching and learning. Be brief but not too brief.. I need to get a sense of what was important to you and how it will affect your instructional design/technology production efforts in the future. Post in the text area in the Drop Box set up in Canvas.

The video below is summarized in the notes below, but I wanted to make/emphasize a couple of points:

The text below is the notes from the video but with some more detail and some links so you can dig a little deeper:

Why do we care about Cognitive Modeling?

• If the goal of interaction design is to increase opportunities for cognition and learning then a study of cognitive modeling is important to our understanding of “what works”.

To wit:

Cognitive Modeling has become the basis for a series of theories found under the umbrella of brain based learning.

Perception not withstanding, there are two categories of memory: Short term and Long term. (recall our discussions abut this in the Media Equation lesson).

Factors that influence which one is reached:

• Attention = how to gain your student’s attention (the A in the ARCS motivation model is to gain attention)
• Perception/Comprehension = perceiving is a necessary but insufficient condition to learning.. there must be additional steps involved for long term memory to kick in.

Where Cognitive Modeling Fits into Interaction Design

1. Limitations on human capabilities, capacities, and preferences have historically been a decisive factor in the building effective interfaces. (This a principal element of HCI… Note that this is a recurring theme).

• This has been especially true when considering computerized tasks.
• The design of an interactive system must also be built with the user in mind because they are unwilling (and often unable) to adapt. (The ‘A’ in the ASSURE model is to analyze the learner.. the ‘A’ in ADDIE is to analyze.. this is also a recurring theme).

2. Our key focus in designing interactive learning environments, then, must be cognition: the manner in which the user acquires and utilizes information. Cognition now becomes a key focus for this course and is an important element in the study of educational technologies.

Relationship of Memory to Cognition

When viewed against the context of cognition and learning, we generally model memory in three ways:

1. Sensory Memory – Stores sensory information/perceptions… has a VERY short life span…
2. Short-term Memory –  holds & processes data from sensory memory. It too is limited. .. think Miller (seven plus or minus two) …. , 12-30 seconds
3. Long-term Memory – potentially unlimited & Indefinite.  But remember the Pollyanna effect… also think of Brainerd & Reyna (fuzzy-trace memory… Information stored must be retrieved into short term memory to be useful.. this can be  problematic… what can interactive design do to help this along????

Attention & (Sensory) Memory

• Sensory Memory is unlimited, but not always correctly perceived.
• Sensory Memory equates to Short Term Memory. The process by which things are selected in perception is typically called Attention.

During instruction, attention is often consciously directed (again, think Keller and ARCS), using:

• Expectancy – breaking with one’s expectations as to what naturally follows (i.e., surprise)
• Relevance – Making something very personal can add an emotional attachment to the content
• Demand – Changing one’s voice, changing intonation.. examples: in the military, when an office enters the room, someone yells “Ten Hut!”, everyone stands to attention until the officer says ‘at ease!”.. or in a classroom, the instructor slams hit hand on the table.. changes his or her pitch etc…

Implications for (Instructional) Design

• Attention and Cognitive Load There are lots of “tricks” instructional designers use to manipulate attention, and they are all based on how much information people can take in at the same time. Two examples:
1. Color – High contrast colors direct attention.. be careful… even good ideas can be overused .. when that happens (over stimulation.. causes opposite effect)
2. Picture and text size can also direct attention… Layouts can also be an effective way of managing attention

It appears that users alter their scan patterns in response to Templates.. note how they are used in computing… there is a correlation to this in human memory… we tend to ‘templatize’ memory through pattern recognition… the converse is that, once a pattern is established it is hard to break that preconceived notion that the user develops.. for example, once you’ve gotten used to iTunes interface/metaphor.. try using another design model (Android).. it just does not seem to be as ‘intuitive’. Another example is Adobe Digital Editions… try it.. you will make plenty of erroneous decisions as to how it works based on your previous experiences with iTunes…

Short-term memory revisited

• “Where the action is”
• Biggest problem is capacity & time limitations

7 plus or minus 2

~3 sec. rule

• Implications for design:

Increase capacity w/ multiple modalities; such as chunking

The need to reduce the recall demands on the learner

Long-term Memory revisited

The goal is to have users/learners translate information from short term to long term

• Long term memory is often overlooked in instructional design, with video games, etc. (Recall the idea of transfer and automaticity from the RETAIN Model)
• Types of Information in Long Term memory:
  

  Declarative Knowledge – Static, fact-based knowledge

  Semantic Memory – Information possessed, but not associated with a specific event

  Episodic Memory – Information that IS associated with a particular episode from our past

  Procedural Memory

• Strategic Memory

Perception & Comprehension

Even if attention is directed to an object, it will not be used efficiently in information processing unless it is 1-perceived and 2-comprehended

1. Perceived = stimulus elements are integrated into a meaningful whole
2. Comprehended = the intended concept of the object is correctly understood by the user

Information Processing Model

• Describes human cognition as sort of a “flow chart” from attention through execution
• Lots of different variants, which emphasize or one another theoretical element
• There is a tendency to emphasize prior conditions as necessary for future ones (e.g., no perception without attention)

An Example

“Hmm, there is a fat man making noise”(attention)
“He seems to be saying words” (perception)
“Hey!  I know some of those words!” (comprehension)
Is this going to be on the test?” (decision making)
“Probably.  I’ll take notes.” (Short term memory is now passed into long term)

Mental Models

• Rather than emphasizing individual elements, mental model theory suggests that users are likely to conform their behavior to existing, similar models.
• Users (i.e., learners) pick the closest model they find quickly (referred to as ‘Satisficing’)
• Only use more effortful processing if no reasonable model exists.

An example

There’s a fat man talking in the front of my classroom.  I’ve seen this before.  I should sit down and take notes”

External Cognition

• Sort of a new quasi-theory
• Emphasizes role of elements outside the user’s cortex
• Has the potential to integrate the compelling data from social cognition.

An Example

“Hmmm, there is a fat man talking in front of my classroom, what should I do?”
“What is everyone else doing?”
What does Wikipedia say?”
“I’ll Text Message my mom.  She says sit down and take notes”

This last one you should recognize from the Web…. what do you remember from making purchases on Amazon?… “those who bought X also bought Y” or what is the selling point behind sites like “Angie’s List” etc?

Modeling Cognition

• Armed with a theory of cognition and some fancy math, you, too, can make your own working cognitive models
• These are useful for predicting completion time, identifying sources of errors, testing hypotheses, or even running a system.

Modeling approaches

There are lots of cognitive modeling approaches, but they can be lumped into 2 primary clusters:

• Prescriptive- The model creates the process and seeds it with data.  The working model is then compared to actual performance
• Descriptive- Performance is measured first, then the model is mathematically derived.

Augmented Cognition

• Seeks to improve human information processing performance through the intelligent application of technology
• Lots of research opportunities in this arena… especially related to teaching and learning…

Do This

“
For this set of readings, you need to post on Canvas at least three ah-ha! moments you encountered after reading and digesting this information:

• what does all of this have to do with instructional design (interactive design in particular)?
• Do some cognitive modeling of your own and ‘connect the dots’ between this lesson content and a hypothetical mediated learning experience. that you might be asked to create as a future instructional designer. (In this case the “mediator” is media!)

Henry Jenkins is a friend and a long-time scholar in digital media. His career has spanned three decades and has become known as the eminent scholar for digital media and learning initiative sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. Just to give you a brief idea about his background, here are a couple links:

• Someone actually wrote him up in Wikipedia .
• Here is his personal blog site

But the reason we are linking to him is not about him. In 2006, he was commissioned to write a White Paper about current trends in teaching and learning. This paper is known as the seminal summery of what makes today’s media centric students tick. It is an important piece of work that we must investigate if we are to learn anything about interaction design.

Do This

Of course when you read the white paper you will have some new impressions along with things you already knew. The idea here is to post a reflection for your classmates that indicate the things that struck you as interesting and new.

A current trend in journal publishing today is the addition of what are known as practitioners’ notes. These help the authors and readers focus on the importance of the piece as well as frame the discussion. These same focusing questions are very useful for our follow up discussions on the readings. I paraphrase these three concepts below:

• What you already knew about this topic
• What this reading adds
• Implications for practice and/or policy (in our case designing interactive learning environments.

Post your comments in the drop box found in Canvas.

I am particularly interested in your thoughts about the effect of interactivity in teaching and learning and appropriation, copy rights, and remixing. Post your reflections. Next cycle you will be assigned four other’s posts to respond to. Hopefully, an enlightening dialog will take place.

From Erasmus Shums:

I don’t know what percentage of our time on any computer based project is spent getting the equipment to work right, but if I had a gardener who spent as much of the time fixing her shovel as we spend fooling with computers, I’d buy her a good shovel. At least you can buy a good shovel.

Teams that work to produce software that meet the goals of HCI must possess a wide range of knowledge about human psychology and technology.

Breakdown: This is the evaluation/assessment process associated with HCI:

• Study of the capability of the human brain and one’s senses that are used in human-computer interactions.
• A human’s ability to learn how to use computing systems.
• The context of joint performance  — which is more important? the  human? the computer? what about human-computer-human interactions? (specifically, the field of study is called digital ethnography.. check out the digital ethnography program at Kansas State University)
• Studying the structure of the communication/interface
• Human task analysis… how do humans perform normal tasks, is there a certain amount of automaticity that can be replicated?
• The actual design, implementation, and evaluation of  user interfaces GUI

On the left are the various computer disciplines that have evolved. To the right are the aligned contributions to the study of human-computer interactions that each has made over time.

Modern software developers spend as much as 48% of their design & development efforts studying HCI issues

HCI is at the core of  the following computer & psychological sciences

• cognitive science
• sociology
• ergonomics
• artificial intelligence

Interface Agents: Premises

• When you choose the characteristics of an on-screen representation, you are making very important decisions.
• Example: choosing which icons to use
• How do you presentation input screens?

The terms of the in Interface are very structured

1. There is an etiquette involved
2. People make quick assumptions about an on-line character (usually within 3 seconds)
3. This leads to very emotional responses to media
4. You need to decide exactly, What kind of emotional response do you want? (more than a simple Yes/No)

Characteristics of interface agents: Consider these terms

• Attractiveness, age, facial expressions, gender, familiarity, casting, image size, motion, resolution, closeness, engagement
• Psychological responses can be triggered by any or all of the above
• Also understand asking users what they think isn’t always an accurate reflection of true feelings. They won’t always tell the truth
• How do you measure effectiveness?
• Language is not always the reason for misunderstanding; It can sometimes be cultural differences

Mediated matters: When trying to decide how to design interfaces one must also consider many of the following

• What elements make human-human conversations work?
• What makes human-human communication work?
• Is the body language involved?
• Intonation, etc.
• Does flattery work better with people who are less confident about their work? (Is flattery obligatory even when not warranted?)
• Would it work with computers? If it flattered you you’d like it better?
• Does flattery work better with people who are less confident about their work?

Visual design: Tons of research has been done on the following

• How a picture fills a visual field affects your perceptions
• How a picture fills a field affects your perception
• Size of the screen, angles, shading, coloration, etc.

How do we measure our responses?

• Attention (how to gain/maintain it)
• The WAY we look @ media figures (I bet you are surprised when you see movie/TV actors who play different parts (do we tend to stereo-type them?)
• The distribution of personality types may influence our judgments of people in the real world (Here is where all the “does playing violent video games influence personal behavior comes into play).
• HCI is a two-way street. The computer is always doing something to you!

There are two main personalities of interfaces

• The dominant categories are:
  1. dominance/submissiveness
  2. friendliness/unfriendliness

• Examples (for those over 40 years old and can remember: JR Ewing on the TV show ‘Dallas‘
  • He’d win her over by apologizing afterwards
  • People love it when you make a change: look at political figures Example: Bill Clinton eventually apologized .. how about Trey Radel?
• Trust me when I say it is the same with friendliness/politeness… the emotional responses to computers/media is the same.. the lines are blurring more and more.. don’t believe me? how is it that moviegoers can so easily suspend their disbelief with the movie ‘Her’?

Follow-up: Media personalities are readily identified by the people who experience them

1. Can a computer/medium take on a human personality?
   • What is considered dominant behavior?
   • Can a computer seem dominant?
   • Will dominant people like dominant computers?
   • Will submissive people like submissive computers?
2. Can we apply social rules to interfacing with computers? Studies have shown:
   • People like computers if they act like themselves
   • However, they like them even better if the computer appears to change/move toward their own personalities
   • It simply creates an emotional response
     • Good or bad
     • Doesn’t matter—just get a response
     • Think Psychologically

Four human nature characteristics are evaluated in these studies to “prove the point”

1. Politeness
2. Negativity
3. Valence (good vs bad)
4. Polyanna (Halo)  Effect – how do we resolve two seemingly conflicting views of memory?

Digging Deeper

Here are some links to reviews of the Media Equation to help you make some judgments.. keep in mind the potential affect all of this might have on developing educational media.. let’s not lose site of our mission…

• Book Review of the Media Equation
• Testing the Media Equation with Children
• Another Review Summary (Chapter 29)

What makes a good/tight research study?

The term “research,” however, is sometimes loosely used to mean the way data is collected. Politicians often say they formulate policy based on research; news agencies often tell us of their research findings; while marketers highlight the results of their research findings to make consumers believe in the products they are selling. However, all these only indicate the wide range of meanings of the term “research” in everyday usage. From the perspective of research methodology, the everyday uses of the term do not relay the true meaning of the word. This is where you must really be careful not to jump to conclusions about the findings.

Significance of the term ‘significance’

One thing to keep in mind when looking at ANY research in educational domain is to understand what the term ‘significant’ means. In general, findings are reviewed in terms of a 5% error term for educational practices. What is deemed to be ‘significant’ is that the results have an error term (possibility of being wrong) of less than 5 out of 100. This is all about risk/reward and significance in real world terms. What .05 error means in reality is that one out of every 20 examples will not fit the findings. So, if you were building a bridge, for example, if you were to allow a safety error of .05, then one out of every 20 cars passing over the bridge might crash. If this were a life saving medicine or procedure, one out of every 20 persons would die. Notice how large an error term is being allowed in the media research being shown on television (predicting election results or how many folks feel a certain way, etc.) Any error rate of more than plus or minus 1% is just a guess…. Most surveys you see advertised usually settle for plus or minus 3%… just not all that predictive….

Just keep things in perspective. What we are looking for/accepting in educational circles is not all that error free. This may be why much of the hyped new ‘findings’/methods in education are just that… hype….

Doing Diligence

Even though we are accepting such a high error rate, we still need to be doing due diligence when conducting/analyzing research findings. There are certain factors you need to look for

In research, data collection is integral to being able to draw any significant conclusions from the data. If it is not undertaken in a systematic way and with a clear purpose, it is not good/tight research. While data may be collected in many different ways and from a variety of sources that is assembled in a single document and the sources identified, it is still not considered ‘good’ research if the data are not interpreted. Thus, a good study has the following characteristics:

1. Data is collected systematically.
2. Data is interpreted systematically.
3. There is a clear purpose

Two important aspects of research are that it is systematic and aims to find out things. Systematic implies that research must be undertaken using logical relationships and not just beliefs. Systematic and logical relationships involve an explanation of the methods used to collect data, giving the reasons and meaning of the results obtained and clearly explaining any limitations that affected the results.

Sam Messick and Lee Cronbach, two noted researchers who worked together often, believe in research there are only two principles: validity and reliability. Everything else follows… they have made a believer out of me… just think about it…

• Reliability is the converse of the definition of insanity… the expectation is that the results will be the IDENTICAL if you apply the same treatment over and over… (data is collected systematically).
• Validity means you are asking the right questions or attempting to solve the correct problem (there is a clear purpose)…

All the things you study in your research classes boil down to that… all the ways to disrupt validity (wrong group of folks being tested/treated… not represented… ignoring certain portions of the population…. No randomization… meaning if participants are not systematically included the results cannot be ‘generalized’ to any larger population… etc)

Or reliability (giving away the answers by not asking them in the correct way.. not asking questions repeatedly in different ways to be sure the questions were interpreted correctly, etc)

Minding the Gap

In academic research, usually a gap is identified in the literature and this gap reflects the lack of knowledge or limitations in the current body of knowledge within a discipline. As a result, the objective of conducting a research study is to generate new knowledge to fill that gap.

Types of research

1-      Experiment – In this method, a researcher will manipulate an independent variable in order to determine whether it has an impact on a dependent variable. There are two types of experiments: laboratory experiment and field experiment. Laboratory experiment is conducted in a contrived situation while field experiment is conducted in a real-life situation. In any experiment, the factors are controlled (set constant) and only one factor is allowed to fluctuate so that its effect on the other factors could be seen. An experiment has very high internal validity.

2-      Survey – A survey is a method which investigates the opinions and feelings of people. It involves interactions between the researcher and the environment. Information is collected through questionnaire or interview in many cases. Information collected in this way may not be available under any other circumstances. The relationship between the variables discovered through a survey research does not represent a causal relationship. The researcher can only claim that these variables are correlated. They cannot be certain that there is causation between the variables. Thus, the survey method has lower internal validity than an experiment. But there are ways to increase validity. One is to use the survey and add open ended questions at the end to cross check the results. This is often called multi-modal research.

3-      Case study – In this method, a researcher makes a detailed study of a single case. The researcher usually aims to provide in-depth understanding of the specific features of the case and its related settings. Data are collected through observation, interview and document search. There are many concerns regarding the external validity of the case study method. One of them is – How could a single case be generalized or represent many more cases? However, many case-based researchers try to study a few cases in order to claim theoretical generalization. Other researchers argue that unlike the survey method, generalization is not the purpose of the study. In a survey, researchers generalize the findings to a larger population. In a case study, researchers seek to discover in-depth features of the case which cannot be acquired under any other circumstances.

So what is Action Research?

At FGCU some of you have taken or will take a course in action research. In this kind of study you are trying to apply generalized findings found in the literature to your specific (or yours and your colleagues’) circumstances. The converse is that it is Only going to be generalizable to your current activity. No claim is made that it is generalizable to a larger audience/population. In this regard it is very much like a case study. You are not looking at true experimental design (this supposedly has already been done).. you are in a way, APPLYING the research

Why do the research?

The purposes of doing research can be classified as follows:

1-      Reporting / Exploring – This is the most basic or initial purpose of research; it is done mainly to collect initial or background information. In reporting/exploring the information, statistical summaries do not give inference or conclusion. Although some say that reporting is not a research, but if the systematic process has been followed then reporting studies are called research.

A research design does not need to be complex to have inferences .. in fact, often, the simpler the better…

2-      Descriptive – The purpose of this research is to answer questions relating to who, what, when, where, and sometimes, how. Research is conducted to describe or define a subject, often by creating a profile of a group of problems, people or events. The study may involve data collection and creating a distribution of the number of times an event takes place or the characteristics of an object, or the interaction between two variables. This type of study may or may not have the potential to draw powerful inferences. If sufficient data is kept in the databases, the organization can easily conduct descriptive studies using internal information. Descriptive research is popular because it can be done across disciplines, and can be utilized easily for planning, monitoring and evaluating purposes.

3-      Explanatory – The purpose of this research is to answer questions relating to why and how; it goes beyond description and explains the reasons for the phenomenon (a fact) that the descriptive study only observes.

4-      Predictive – The purpose of this research is to predict when and in what situation something can happen. If the reasons for an occurrence can be explained, then it is also possible and desirable to predict when and in what situation the event will occur. Being able to predict the time and the situation of an occurrence makes it possible to control the phenomenon (a fact). The knowledge generated from the occurrence, called a phenomenon, can be used for other different groups of phenomena only if the researcher could take into consideration all other variables influencing the applications.

What to look for

Good research must follow a set of standards. The characteristics of good methodology are:

(a) Purpose is clearly defined to eliminate any ambiguity. The purpose may be to solve problems or to make a decision. State the purpose in writing; hence the statement to indicate the purpose should include its scope, limitations and precise specification of the meaning of all words and terms the researcher wants to use in the research. It is necessary to make sure the readers understand the research report and do not have any doubt as to what the researcher is doing.

(b) Research process is detailed so that any other researcher can repeat the research. The sources of data and the method of collecting the data should be described in detail, unless imposed by secrecy rules. If the process is not described in detail, then questions relating to the validity and reliability of the process and the data will arise.

(c) Research design is thoroughly planned so that the findings are as objective as possible.  If primary data collection is to be used, the sample must be described to show evidence of its representativeness. If data collection methods lead to ambiguity, they should be avoided and replaced with available documentary sources or a direct observation method. Sources of information should be as thorough and complete as possible. When using experiments for data collection, the control observation must be satisfactorily placed. Efforts must be made to reduce personal influence or biases (validity and reliability issue) in selecting and recording data.

(d) High ethical standards are used to safeguard participants from any physical or mental harm.  The design of the procedures and instruments should place high priority on privacy, confidentiality, dignity and no deception to ensure that no physical or psychological harm can happen.

(e) Limitations are frankly revealed and outline the affect of the constraints, or flaws in the procedure, design and data that might affect the findings. Some limitations may not have much significant effects on the findings, while others may cause the research to be invalid. If a researcher says that he does not face any limitation in doing the project, his research must be questioned.

(f) The analysis are adequate and appropriate to analyze the data and the analysis should be able to reveal adequate information to help the decision-making process. To ensure that the findings are sufficient, the validity and reliability of the data must be checked. The presentation of the findings should be restrained (i.e., not generalized more than the data reveals), clear, precise, comprehensive, and easily understood and organized.

(g) The conclusions are justified by the data of the research and limited to those that have factual basis. When sampling is used, caution must be taken not to simply make generalizations from the limited population and apply it universally.

Adding ‘power’ in research studies

This is where a good stats person comes into play. There are several things you can do statistically (or qualitatively) to add ’power’. For example, a small sample size (referred to as a small ‘N’) can be overcome with groupings of findings by common types. In a survey that has multiple ways of asking the results the same question the results of those questions that are repeated can be grouped. So, if you have an ‘N’=250 and have four questions all asking the same question, you, in essence, have similar power in the response as if you asked one question of 1,000 participants (I admit that I am over-simplifying here).. but you get my drift.. a good stats person is worth their weight in gold…

Ok, OK why are we reviewing this?

The reason for this class is that we will be looking at some studies that make some claims about human behavior and interactivity. The book the ‘Media Equation’ (the other lesson in this cycle) is making some claims here that are significant to our discussions. When I present their findings, I want you to decide for yourself whether what they claim is true (results are reliable and valid) based on their methodologies. I have my opinion… and others have theirs… I will present some of all of it… the process of interpretation that you go through may just prove the worthiness of including this stuff as a part of our class as the conclusions themselves.

What’s Next?

From here go to the lesson module on HCI in which further set the table for your review of the media equation premise.

If you feel you need a review, go ahead and click the plus sign to open up the tabs. SOME of the premises of our discussions on ‘gamification’ in this course are based on your general understanding of the design of video games and reason why they have been less successfully adopted by teachers. It is not the design of the games that has failed educators.. it appears that it is a lack of an instructional design focus on the part of game designers. In some cases designers who create off the shelf games tend to be smug about it … to the point that they feel they know more about teaching and learning than do their educator counterparts. But game designers have figured out motivation and engagement through their knowledge of narrative fantasy and player interaction (i.e., game play) techniques. Nevertheless I challenge you to find a variety of standalone video games that actually teach academic content.

To repeat: video games do offer plenty of opportunities for educators to integrate terrific motivational, gameplay, and interactive techniques into their classrooms. Thus the ‘teachable moment’ presented this module.

Classical Theories of Play

We cannot begin any discussion of gamification and games in education without first taking a short look at play theory, as one certainly needs to evaluate the efficacy of all of this in terms of what has been shown to work in informal learning environments. Most theorists (except for Piaget, who believe that informal play does not necessarily equate to learning (because cognitive development requires both assimilation and adaptation, while play is assimilation without accommodation (look this up if you are unfamiliar with the terms)), there are some good readings out there to help you assimilate some of this:

• Classical Theories of Play and Recreation
• Child’s Play: Computer Games, Theories of Play and Children’s Development
• Theories of Play – Historical Perspectives

Ok… if you haven’t taken Instructional Design or need a refresher, click the plus sign below to open up a new dialog box

Key Takeaways

Your takeaways from this lesson should include:

• The definition of what a 'game' is/not.
• Gamification is the application of game-based mechanics, aesthetics, etc with the idea to motivate and engage to promote learning (motivation is a key principle in interactive design)
• Gamification is adding fun to the learning experience without trivializing it (affect on interactive interface design?)
• While these concepts are valuable, not all teachers are ready to automatically adopt games or the concept of gamification.. they must be taught to learn these concepts (how do you design an activity/lesson/interface that encourages engagement?)
• While all games teach SOMETHING, it may not be what the teacher or instructor intended. Games need to be evaluated and assessed to be sure they match the lesson goals set forth
• Game designers can learn from educators. In turn, educators can be informed by game design... but this symbiosis is not automatic or always apparent.
• Based on the review of the module on the educational value of video games, you should understand at least why teachers do not tend to adopt games (at least on a standalone basis), and/or what need to be added to games to make them more educational (at least from the perspective of teaching academic CONTENT).

• • "What is Gamification from an interactive design perspective?

• Here is a great Poster you can use that summarizes this entire lesson
  

Defining Interactivity in terms of Remediation

In Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997) Janet Murray explores ideas of interactivity in terms of user control and participation (McMillan, 2002:164, 173). Murray considers the essential properties of digital environments to be that they are procedural, participatory spatial and encyclopedic, the first two properties composing what is usually understood by the term interactive, and the last two comprising what is meant by immersive. She notes that procedural environments are appealing not only because they display rule generated behavior but because the user can induce the behavior. She states “…the primary representational property of the computer is the codified rendering of responsive behaviors. This is what is most often meant when we say that computers are interactive”

Murray coins the term “interactor” to describe the relation of the user to a narrative in computer games… By choosing a set of alternatives from a fixed menu, the user believes he or she is collaborating in the invention (p.78-79). She distinguishes between playing a creative role in an authored environment such as in a simulation game and being author of the environment itself, describing the pleasure the interactor feels not as one of authorship but of agency (152-53). To demonstrate the difference between agency and activity Murray provides examples from different media. For the first she cites board games where the user throws dice, turns a dial or moves counters or in a digital environment clicks a mouse or moves a joystick. In both cases the player’s actions achieve an effect but these actions are not chosen by the player nor are they related to the player’s intentions. By contrast, agency occurs in a game such as chess when the player’s actions are autonomous, selected from a wide range of choices and determine the course of events.

Since Murray considers agency to go beyond participation and activity to include aesthetic pleasure, she believes that a successful digital storytelling environment needs to possess this quality. In “From Game-Story to Cyberdrama” Murray extends this notion of agency to include dramatic effect or “dramatic agency.” The examples she gives are from playing the SIMS. If altering an actor’s clothing alters the mood of a scene, or navigating from a different point of view reveals a change in physical or emotional perspective (as a director might do so with a stage play or film) then the player is experiencing dramatic agency.

The idea of remediation initially referred to a process whereby new media technologies improve or correct earlier technologies in a linear vision of technological development and progress. I use the term as defined by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin to be “the formal logic by which new media refashion prior media forms” the two main strategies being hyper-mediacy (where the viewer is reminded of the medium) and transparency (where the viewer can forget the presence of the medium). They are not interested in linear history but in tracing historical affiliations or resonances (1999: 21). While their definition focuses on formal design, they also discuss how remediation reworks implied use patterns and ideological assumptions by refashioning economic, social and political beliefs (1999, p.77).

What not to do

One of the most difficult aspects of designing instruction (regardless as to whether or not it is mediated by digital media) is how to remediate incorrect responses, answer, attitudes, or behaviors. A ‘knee jerk’ reaction is to simply state that the response was incorrect without regards to leading the student/participant to the correct solution. All too often the instructor/discussion leader/instructional designer will inject invective into the mix and/or lose focus as to where the question/comment/discussion should be leading.

Take a look at this exemplar scenario to demonstrate the point:
remediation

Remediation in Gameplay

In an ideal world, you call on the person who you suspect DOES NOT KNOW the correct response and work it through with them to lead them to a correct response. These are tr tricks of entertainers known as interactive actors…. those who do improve on stage with the audience instead of with other professionals on stage. These are the exact techniques game developers use.

To further explain what I am getting at here, you need to read an article I published a couple of years ago with a professional interactor, Jeff Wirth. We utilized his book “Interactive Acting” to devise a series of prescriptive concepts to help with consequence remediation as an alternative.Kenny-wirth

Interactive Design and Pedagogical Practice

Take a look at this article. It should help you formulate your ideas for your reflection/written activity for this module.
 interactiondesigandpedologicalpractice

Box title

There is a lot to absorb in this module. The reflection you are being asked to write is intended to determine whether you understand the basic premises behind game design and its relationship to our main focus (defining what the term ‘interactivity’ means). You do not need to write a term paper or fully cited white paper. On the other hand, you need to be precise in your responses:

• List in bullet form at least 5-6 elements identified in gamification and consequence remediation readings that you believe to be the most important/influential when designing a unit of instruction.
• Follow with a rational as to why you chose these in terms of instructional design principles or learning theories. (You may need to look up a few or offer some that you are already familiar with). Think: mediated/interactive learning environments as they relate to consequence remediation, motivational models, and critical thinking. The unit does not have to contain an actual game but should rely on some of the gamification principles described in the readings provided in this cycle.

  Post your entries in the drop box set up on Canvas.

First of all, I realize that this MAY be your first course that you take in our Educational Technology program. The last thing I want to do is freak you out if you have a fear or a predisposition to think that ‘coding is not your thing’. Generally speaking, coding is not our thing either. But there is a rising tide of support in favor of increasing the level of knowledge of technical subjects (you know STEM….!). The landscape of technology is changing rapidly. Our over-arching goal includes empowering you to realize that learning how to build/construct products/artifacts needs to become a part of your skill set. After all, coding is really not all that big a mystery. We submit that there is the need to have you dig a little deeper into the backbone of some of these products.

The analogy we like to use is that of a traveler versus a tourist. There is a BIG difference between being a tourist and a traveler who goes to a foreign country. A tourist is always dependent on someone else for showing/teaching him or her about the culture, where to go, foods, etc. On the other hand, the traveler decides on their own what to do, and what to learn. Perhaps an recent article in the Huffington Post says it all:

a tourist as “one that takes a tour for pleasure or culture”. A traveler is “one who goes on a trip or journey.”

In this case your journey is to travel into the world of educational media/instructional technology.

Said another way:

“A tourist is an amateur traveler, and a traveler is a professional tourist.”

Perhaps it can be best summed up by a fellow ed tech student in their final reflection for another course in the program (emphasis is mine):

As we moved into using editing software and content management systems, I initially questioned the relevance of the HTML and CSS lessons. That fear and sense of loss has been overcome and replaced with a sense of pride in what was accomplished in just 16 weeks. In addition to comfort with using editors for website design, I also rely on simple code for marking up our Moodle based LMS that we have switched to this semester. Being as I am the only EMS instructor with this skill, the timing was impeccable and allowed the transition to a new system to occur relatively seamlessly. This has increased my passion and appreciation for educational technology as a professional discipline that greatly contributes to effective delivery of otherwise less engaging content.

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In short, we are looking for a transformation here .. a subtle but significant one… we want to empower you to change from being a consumer of technology to becoming a user/producer.

Here is a simple self-test you can take to determine for yourself if you are a traveler in ed tech or a tourist. Mind the analogies and substitute for yourself the appropriate wording/phrase from technology courses you have taken or tutorials you have sat through when learning a product:

The Educational Value of (learning) Coding

It is not enough for us to simply WANT you to learn how to code. There has to be a significant amount of evidence to back up its educational value. Lucky for us there is a site out there that does just that: http://code.org. There is so much here that, instead of reinventing the wheel, we simply send you there and point out a few stopping places (remember we are not your tour guide… we are helping you to plan your trip… but you are in charge of your own decisions):

First off the bat, here is a short promo video with lots of cameos of folks who think coding has tremendous educational value:

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[one_third] Click Here to Watch the Video [/one_third]
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This is a short follow-up on the same topic

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[one_third] Click Here to Watch the Video [/one_third]

Some Other Places of Interest

• Districts expand computer science instruction to give students critical job skills
• The Coding Curriculum
• What is Computer Science (ok this is not a computer science class but there are some relevant facts here)
• Computer Programming in Education (again we are dabbling here but there is some value to be mined out of the article)
• The Cognitive effect of Learning Computer Programming
• Article that asks the rhetorical question: Should every school classroom be a computer programming class?

What is coding anyway?

So I think we have made our point here. Now let’s take the next step and learn some things about what coding is and how it works:

• First some stuff on Curriculum (this is where you really start to become a traveler and search things at your own pace/interest)
• Some exemplar tutorials on coding

Digging Deeper

For those of you who wish to dwell on this a bit longer.. here are some mini courses you can sign up for:

• This one is a 20-hr job but you can go into as far as you want to
• Last but not Least, take a look at all these languages. Pay particular attention to the Children’s section

Do This!

When you are ready, go to our little coding activity to test yourself and your basic level of critical thinking.  NOTE THAT THIS IS A TEAM ACTIVITY. TEAMS WILL BE FORMED AT THE END OF ADD/DROP (AUG 25) BUT YOU SHOULD TAKE THE TIME TO REVIEW THESE MATERIALS BEFOREHAND