Glog Review

            The steps that I took in order to reduce cognitive load in my Glogs was based on the capacities of working memory, which state that the human brain can only handle about seven elements of information at a time. In both of my Glogs, I tried to keep the main topic areas (video, text box, image) to 7 objects or less. It is difficult to say whether or not I succeeded in reducing the cognitive load, however according to the theory in regards to rehearsal and application, the items that are on the screen are not changing, and so over an extended period of time, a student should possess the capability to comprehend the information on the Glog.

            Considering the opinion that Swisher and Mayer would have about the compilation of a Glog in the sense that it is one piece of work or several pieces put together, leads me to believe that it is one multi-media presentation. According to the principles outlined by Swisher, each one dissects how a piece of multi-media is either effective or ineffective based on research. Taking each of the multimedia principles into account, the studies always present the test subjects with different variations of multimedia. For example, in the split-attention principle, learners do better when an explanation is given alongside a visual illustration, as opposed to one successively after another. This experiment is looking at how the multimedia as a “whole” is perceived, rather than how different parts. From this understanding, it appears that Swisher and Mayer would consider a Glog to be one piece of multimedia because all of it appears at once on the screen in front of you.

            Defend: It is entirely likely that almost every Glog ever made breaks all six of Mayer’s multimedia principles. I would have to take the position of defending this statement for a few reasons. The first comes from research, if you try doing a Google search for how long glogs have been around, or the origin of Glogs, you are going to come up empty. This leads me to believe that the popularity of Glogs is relatively new, which tells us some important information. The first, when new programs like this are launched, most people are going on and creating multimedia for the fun of it, or just to get the hang of it. In turn, if people are creating for fun, then the chances that they are following Mayer’s principles is highly unlikely. The second important piece of information in defending this statement is the popularity or understanding of Mayer’s principles themselves. If I was not a student taking a graduate class that focused on using these guidelines for effective multimedia presentation, the chances of me going out and locating them on my own is slim to none. For the majority of the population that would be using this program, I can also assume it to be highly unlikely that they would take the necessary steps to follow this rigor either.

            Refute: 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 presentations. I have to refute this claim because the research that has been provided in the multimedia principles has been backed by experiments and studies that prove that adhering to this set of guidelines is the most effective method for learning. If a Glog breaks all those rules, then it is hard for me to believe that this is a more effective method of understanding complex topics. Specifically referring to the cognitive load theory, regardless of the “curb appeal” that this visual array of images may have, if you are overloading one’s working memory, then complex or not, you are diminishing your chances of retention and comprehension. Therefore, based on research, my opinion stands in that this is not more effective than other multimedia presentations. However, my disclaimer to this statement is that in regards to being able to compile a variety of different multimedia formats (.mp3, .mp4, .wav, etc.) without any trouble, this is the best method for bringing those different facets into one place.

            It is easy to see the popularity of Glogs in the classroom (even though I had never heard of a Glog before this week.) After reviewing the top 40 things that Glogs are used for, I started to compile a list of what topics I could apply to what ideas. I was astounded at the length of the list I was able to put together with ideas right off the top of my head. Using a Glog in the classroom moves away from the “traditional” PowerPoint presentations that are commonly created for school projects, and gives a whole new avenue to incorporate creative style into a students’ work. In addition, the ease of bringing in various types of multimedia makes this a teacher’s dream program in the sense that errors from converting and transferring files from one format to another is eliminated due to the wide acceptance that Glogs cater to. It can be a frustrating thing for a student and a teacher when time and effort are put into creating something that will not work (first-hand experience here.) Another reason I can see the popularity associated with Glogs is their adaptive style. Literally, you can almost use a Glog to get your ideas across about anything, which is perfect for providing your students with the ultimate imagination tool. Overall, I can see the popularity of Glogs growing tremendously in the near future, or at least to the 125 sixth grade students that will be entering my doors in the fall.