There is a category in this blog for the course Instructional Message Design (edtech506) and I am already reflecting (in Portuguese) on the course since the first week, including a review (in construction) of the book Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance (the Google gadget can help a little on the translation).
I am interested in understanding a little deeper the difference between performance and education, suggested in the first chapter – I hope the books touches on that on the next chapters. I am also very much interested in Edward Tufte’s work. I still did not feel that the 4 characters used during the book are being really helpful. The definition of edujunk was very interesting. Selection, organization, and integration seem to be helpful and practical guides for the work of an educational designer (I do not like to use the expression instructional designer because it points only to instruction, leaving behind the learning side of education).
Although the differences among sensory, working, and long-term memory are interesting and useful, I was a little bit upset while reading chapter 3 because of the insistence on memory, as we live in a net society, storing information in external objects and people. In this scenario, should learning be considered simply the adequate transference of information from short-term to long-term memory? In this sense, I believe connectivism is more useful for a learner and designer than the theory of how we process information. Anyway, the load categories (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane) seem very interesting to the work of an educational designer.
This seems funny to say, but I do not find some examples and even images on the book illustrative of the concepts they try to support learning.
Richard Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning were a great discovery and I plan to read this author more.
The way the book deals with the difference between readabily and legibility will also be helpful for my work.
