Does the software present valid (correct) concepts, models, and skills?
Yes, this site provides great material on learning which side of your brain is more dominate. The site also offers a variety of useful resources to enhance user understanding of the learning styles, and how the learning styles impact our worldview and thought processes.
Does the software present educationally significant concepts, models, and skills for the discipline?
Yes, the site provides a left, right brain test with a series of questions to determine if you use your left or right brain more. The site also provides a lesson for teachers to utilize to assess student understanding of the concepts. The diagrams could be implemented in a classroom lesson to enhance students knowledge base of the left and right brain dominance. The software provides links to other resources that further explain the concept of left versus right brain thinkers.
What stage(s) in the learning process/cycle could the materials be used?
Explanation or description of the topic/stating the problem
The author wants you to discover your brain dominance, by providing information/test to evaluate yourself on if you are left/right/ or equally use your brain. Once you have evaluated which side of the brain you use most, then you can better determine your learning style.
Demonstration of the curriculum/exploration of the problem
To help the reader with determining there learning style the author provides a paragon learning style inventory which evaluates introversion/ extroversion, intuition/sensation, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving.
Practice using the curriculum/analysis of the outcomes from solving the problem
Teachers can assist students with figuring out their learning styles through surveys, tests, and quizzes. Students will obtain an understanding of their thought processes and worldview. Teachers can also use the results from said surveys, tests, and quizzes to determine best practices for implementing instruction in the classroom.
Applying the curriculum to "new" problems/application of the outcomes to other problems
This curriculum will assist readers with self exploration. I think that we often wonder why we do the things that we do, and how are thoughts guide our actions. I believe that having a fundamental understanding of your learning style is essential to an individual’s decision making process. Understanding your learning style will also assist students in career planning, time management, budgeting, and life goals.
What is(are) the learning objective(s)? What should students be able to do after successfully learning with the materials?
Evaluate learning style (introversion/ extroversion, intuition/sensation, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving) and brain dominance (left, right, or equal).
What are the characteristics of the target learner(s)
It would depend on if you are a left or right brain learner, right brain learner are usually holistic, random, symbolic, intuitive, nonverbal, & fantasy-oriented learners and the left brain learners are a linear, sequential, concrete, logical, verbal, & reality based learners.
Does the interactive/media-rich presentation of material improve faculty and students' abilities to teach and learn the materials?
Yes, this presentation makes faculty and students aware of there learning styles and why they do things. Which can help there thinking process and become better teachers, when they are aware of how they are learning material and interacting on them.
Can the use of the software be readily integrated into current curriculum and pedagogy within the discipline?
The software utilized in the program is easily accessible to all users and can make teaching fun, innovative, and informative. Teachers and students can easily navigate through the resources with by clicking the buttons and links available on the homepage. The software will allow teachers the capability to implement the ideas learned easily into the classroom setting. Teachers can generate useful lessons to enhance student knowledge base of their learning style, and the impact that it has on their decision making ability.
Can the software be used in a variety of ways to achieve teaching and learning goals?
This software can be used in a variety of different ways in achieving teaching and learning goals by having students take the hemispheric dominance inventory quiz. In doing this you can alter your teaching style to see what works best for getting your information across to the majority of your students, and the minority that do not get the information you can have an alternate teaching style for them.
Are the teaching-learning goals easy to identify?
Yes, based on right and left characteristics.
Can good learning assignments for using the software application be written easily?
Definitely, you can come up with right vs left quizzes to see where students fall. Teachers can use the diagrams to create group projects for students to assess where different members of their group would fall in terms of left vs. right brain dominance.
Are the labels, buttons, menus, text, and general layout of the computer interface consistent and visually distinct?
The labels, buttons, and text are visually distinct and very easy to use, but some of the links did not open when I attempted to find more resources related to the topic.
Does the user get trapped in the material?
It would be very easy for the user to get trapped into the material while reading through all of the different links. I liked the breakdown of the right vs. left brain thinker in the pictures with the arrows. This made the program more user friendly and I was able to gain a better picture of what my learning style was.
Can the user get lost easily in the material?
I think that the user could easily get lost in the material based on where they started. If the user began with the colored pictures of the brain, it would be easy to stay on task and easily obtain the rest of the information when you click the links for the text. I feel that the text was long and somewhat confusing. The pictures along with the quiz to determine if I was a right or left brain thinker was the most helpful part of the document in terms of my understanding.
Does the module provide feedback about the system status and the user's responses?
The module provides feedback after you take the quiz to determine what type of thinker you are, which I found very helpful towards my understanding of this concept. I also liked the survey where you had to write your responses on a separate sheet of paper because this also helped me in my understanding of the learning styles.
Does the module provide appropriate flexibility in its use?
The model was helpful in that it provided alternative methods to obtain the information. The model provided opportunities for readers to read the entire text for understanding, and it provided the diagram for visual learners like myself. The diagram is what led to my understanding of the learning styles because the text was a little confusing and lengthy.
Does the learning material require a lot of documentation, technical support, and/or instruction for most students to successfully use the software?
I believe that the material was presented purposely for right and left brain thinkers with the long text and the diagrams. The materials were easily accessible and I only had difficulty with attempting to open one link which contained additional resources.
Does the material present information in ways that are familiar for students?
The material presented would be very familiar for students by providing buttons to move through the different resources, links for additional information, and the diagram for a more visual breakdown of the differences between the learning styles.
Does the material present information in ways that would be attractive to students?
The material is presented in a way that would attract readers because this information would be new to many readers, and there are many resources to enhance the reader’s understanding. I also think that readers would enjoy the opportunity to take the quiz to determine their learning style. I enjoyed taking the quiz and viewing the diagrams in the project, and believe that these two tools enhanced my understanding of the learning styles.
This does sound like an interesting activity for people of many ages.
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