Reflect on the Method of Loci in your blog. What worked? What didn’t? How could you use such a cognitive activity, mental or visible to users, to improve the acquisition of knowledge in your designs?
The Method of Loci, was something that I had never heard of. When reading the instructions and activity requirements, I became extremely intrigued. I convinced my sister to do the exercise with me and let’s just say I was more relaxed. When counting my breaths, I didn’t realize how zoned out I became. My sister told me she opened her eyes to “make sure” I was doing it correctly and told me that I was swaying side to side and looked like I was in some kind of trans. I am someone who struggles with ADHD, and find my mind always racing. Focusing on counting my breaths and relaxing allowed me to actually step back and mentally take a break.
During the second activity, we were asked to mentally place ourselves in a room and walk around it trying to memorize what was in the room. This reminded me of an exercise my physicians had me do when recovering from a head injury I had in high school. I. With that being said, I did not find this exercise as challenging. I decided to change it up and move room to room in my house and “walked my laps” as I recalled and placed all the decorative pieces in my home.
One way I can use The Method of Loci in my design is by having the participants at the beginning “Walk the room”. Since my program design focuses on the integration of technology in the classroom, I feel like this would be a great way to start the training. When working with veteran teachers more than half the time they are closeminded when it comes to being introduced to technology or new methods of teaching. I believe this activity will open their minds and allow them to see the potential they have.
Reflect on the implementation and evaluation: What changes will you make before implementation? Why? What did you ignore in the client’s feedback? Why? What did you ignore in your peer’s feedback? Why?
After receiving the results from the training, all were analyzed. About 65% of the teachers marked that all their objectives were met. Some teachers stated in the area or suggestions to implement a course where there were different levels of rigor, such as “Beginner, Intermediate, and Advance”. The targeted area of veteran teachers showed great growth and have requested another training. After evaluating the program some areas of improvement consist of facilitator/participant interaction. Being that the course took place asynchronously, I as the facilitator felt that participants were timid when it came to ask for help or had concerns. If time was not a concern, I would like to implement a hybrid program where participants would be assigned to groups and have some group activities before breaking out. This would help uplift the environment. Overall the course was considered a success and has help the teachers in need. I feel like there is always something that can be improved or better executed. I chose not to ignore anything that the client suggested. My Client, Mrs. Gonzalez, is someone who knows what she wants and is not one to say something that she means. Mrs. Gonzalez’s feedback consisted of pairing and grouping veteran teachers with the more tech savvy teachers within the department. This is something I agree with and plan on implementing. I am greatful for my peer reviewer. I have always been one that types fast and am prone to grammar and mechanical errors. I made all the changes my peers suggested and appreciate the feedback. When reviewing my peer’s work there are a few activities that I thought were brilliant and would consider adding to my future endeavors. Overall, I had a positive experience. I enjoyed implementing and evaluating the training. I appreciated along with incorporated all and any feedback.
The One About Technology 