Is Your Tutorial Pretty or Pretty Useless? Creating Effective Tutorials with the Principles of Multimedia Learning

ABSTRACT

With the proliferation of free and easy-to-use tools to make online tutorials, many libraries have been creating online tutorials for their users. These cover everything from showing users how to navigate the databases to covering issues like copyright and evaluation. While the tutorials range from entertaining to rather dry, many of them, regardless of their entertainment value, do not employ the methods that can lead to deeper learning. Mayer (2014a Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2014a). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]) has explored the concepts and research around online tutorials in The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. The principles covered in the handbook and in the related research can be quite counterintuitive for those of us who create online tutorials. This article explores these principles as they relate to tutorials created for library instruction. Additional research to expand on and support Mayer's principles will be discussed to provide evidence-based strategies for deepening learning and reducing elements that detract from learning.     

Targeted Support for Using Technology-Enhanced Science Inquiry Modules

Designing effective professional development experiences for technology-enhanced inquiry instruction is the goal of the Technology Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) NSF funded Center for Learning and Teaching. In order to provide this type of support to a large number of teachers, we devised a targeted professional development approach. Participating teachers implemented short inquiry modules that featured interactive scientific visualizations. We collaborated with 16 schools in eight districts and five states. This paper reports the design, implementation, and refinement of the targeted approach. Findings from interview data show that teachers faced challenges that are often associated with enacting technology innovations in K-12 classrooms. The targeted professional development approach addressed the challenges and allowed teachers to successfully implement the modules in their classrooms. The interview data clarify teachers’ perspectives on how using technology impacted their teaching practices and their ideas about student learning. This work contributes to a growing body of literature that identifies and addresses barriers to integrating technology into K-12 classrooms.     

Leadership and the law

Law‐related education has not only broadened the content of the social studies curriculum but its goals are highly compatible with those goals for teaching gifted children.     

Audience involvement in the epideictic discourse of television talk shows

This study examines the popularity of television talk shows by linking the manner in which they are practiced to a theory of epideictic discourse. Four principles of epideictic discourse are laid out and then applied to television talk shows. The argument is presented that today's television talk shows are resonating with viewers because the epideictic form of the genre rhetorically invites the audience to perceive of the viewing experience as meaningful at more than one level. This essay concludes that television talk shows fill a timeless need for human beings to feel involved in civic discourse.     

Implementation of Educational Provision for Children with Severe to Profound Intellectual Disability in the Western Cape: From Rights to Reality

Children with severe to profound intellectual disability have been excluded from education on the basis that their impairment makes them ‘ineducable’. The Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability challenged this notion through litigation against the South African Government. The ensuing judgement asserts the right to education of these children and outlines action steps for government to this end. We describe the actions taken by the Western Cape Education Department in responding to the requirements of the court by means of a document review. We then reflect on the implementation process, highlighting key learning points of relevance for others engaged in implementation. We note critical factors to be considered for the child, their families, special care centres, and the broader educational and legal systems. We conclude by outlining important considerations for the inclusion of these children within the education system in South Africa.     

The ABCs of family mealtimes: observational lessons for promoting healthy outcomes for children with persistent asthma

Family mealtimes have the potential to promote healthy child development. This observational study of 200 family mealtimes examined the relation between child health in a group of children (ages 5 to 12) with persistent asthma and 3 dimensions of mealtime interaction: Action, Behavior Control, and Communication. Percent time spent in Action and Positive Communication varied by asthma severity, child quality of life, and sociodemographic variables. Positive communication during mealtimes predicted child quality of life. Significant interactions between demographic variables and behavior control suggested that higher levels of behavior control affected child quality of life in the context of lower maternal education. Guidance is offered for practitioners and policy makers toward promoting healthy family mealtimes as a public health priority.