Overall Glog Review

This week I created a couple of “Glogs”. Glogs are like virtual posters that allow you to link videos, add sounds, insert images, and be very creative in presenting information. It is true that Glogs have the potential to create extensive cognitive load. As I looked at some example Glogs before creating my own, I definitely felt like some Glogs went over board with too much stimulation. I made deliberate effort to reduce the cognitive load in my Glog. One way I did this was by deleting things on the template that I chose that seemed like distractions. I also tried to pick a color scheme and not use too many colors on my Glogs, while at the same time keeping them interesting through the colors I did choose. Finally, I created one of my Glogs from scratch so that I got to pick and choose everything that was on the Glog from the very beginning. I do think that I succeeded in my efforts.

I think that Swisher and Mayer would not consider a Glog as one piece of multi-media, but rather they would view them as separate multi-media elements. The reason I feel this way is because when you click a link to watch a video or hear an audio recording, those are separate pieces of multi-media that have their own set of “rules” or “guildlines” that make it a good piece of multi-media. I think the template of your Glog is one piece of muilti-media by itself, then each piece that opens up in a new tab or window would be considered a different piece of multi-media.

I think it is true that, “It is entirely likely that almost every Glog ever made breaks all six of Mayer's multimedia principles.” As I looked back at my 500 word summary of the Swisher article and specifically the multimedia principles, none of them seemed to appy, or maybe only part of the principle would apply. The Multimedia principle – Talks about how important it is to use quality graphics as well as present both text and graphic at the same time to be most effective. In a Glog, this isn’t always the case. The Split-attention principle – Focuses on the idea of keeping important information together. Because of limited amount of space in cognitive load working memory information should be kept close together and not split apart in a presentation for example. In a Glog, you may have to click on a link to see some parts of the information, so it breaks this principle. The Temporal contiguity principle – Similar to the split-attention principle. This one focused on the idea of things happening successively in a presentation and having the information and images appear simultaneously during the narration of the presentation. There shouldn’t be too much time lapse of the information so that more meaningful connections can be made. Again, in a Glog, some time will go by as you are opening different links, or listening to different types of audio. The Modality principle – Using both visual and auditory channels to communicate a type of instructional material. The research showed that when both are happening there are better retention outcomes then when just one or the other is used. In a Glog, someone may choose not to do this, or may only use one channel in a certain aspect of their Glog.
The Redundancy principle – Too much information can make one “check out” and how the same information over and over can be too much. Information doesn’t need to be presented in multiple forms, which is a common assumption. In a Glog, there is purposely lots of information to catch the learners attention. Instead of “checking out” one feels drawn in, and want to click on many images to see what they “do”.  The Coherence principle – One should leave out distractions and unnecessary items like irrelevant sounds or animation. It can be confusing and negatively effect learning. In a Glog, this could be true, but sometimes an extra element of surprise could be fun or engaging.

I agree that, “Even if a Glog breaks most of Mayer's multimedia principles it can still be used to facilitate a more complex understanding of topics than many other multimedia representations.” One reason I feel this way is because it can be a very interactive piece of media. There can be many uses of a Glog, as we saw on the online article, “40+ Ways to Innovative Teaching Using Glogster EDU.” Glogs are also “new” and “different” than many other pieces of multi-media that children are used to. When I used my Glog this morning as I taught in my Children’s Ministry classroom, none of the 13 5th and 6th graders had ever even heard of a Glog before. They were very interested in what it was, and were engaged.

I think this is another reason why they are so popular with teachers and students. They are fairly easy to create, and there are so many possiblilites of how to make them and how to use them.