Author: hraye757

Hi! My name is Hannah. I grew up in North Vancouver until I was 4, then my family moved to Tsawwassen, where I spent most of my childhood. Tsawwassen is a small beachy town right by the ferry terminal. I’m currently going into my 3rd year studying social sciences majoring in economics.

In my free time, you can usually catch me outside doing something active. I love going hiking, biking, going on trips to Sombrio Beach or Tofino to go surfing, and during the winter I love going up to Whistler to go skiing. I also really enjoy playing beach volleyball with my friends and going to the gym.

A fun fact about me is that I’m really good at horseback riding! I used to own my own horse throughout all of high school. I always looked forward to the end of the school day so I could go spend time with my horse. Riding became a huge part of my life and something I did for most of my childhood and teenage years. The barn I used to keep my horse at is called Country Lane Farms located in Ladner. My horse and I also competed in many showjumping competitions 

I’m really interested in exploring new themes and perspectives in the course. I hope I will gain a better understanding on how different forms of media can be used for online learning. I’m also interested in learning about how different online designs and platforms can influence how a learner learns. 

For one of the ideas from the readings that I disagree with, I would say it’s the idea that motivation mostly comes from the design of the learning environment rather than from the learner themselves. I definitely agree that the course design can affect motivation. If a course is confusing, isolating, or has multiple technology difficulties it will be much harder to stay motivated. 

For example, I’ve had classes that were really well organized, flexible, and supportive, but there were still students who didn’t put effort in or were engaged. At the same time I’ve also had difficult classes with boring lectures or unclear instructions where I still stayed motivated because I cared about doing well. I think that shows how motivation doesn’t just come from the design, but it also comes from the learner’s own goals, discipline, habits, and mindset.

I also believe social media and technology have affected people’s attention spans a lot, which affects motivation too. Even if a course is designed perfectly, students can still struggle to focus because there are so many distractions all the time. The reading talks a lot about how learning environments should support motivation, but I think it doesn’t really take into account how many personal choices and outside factors influence whether someone actually engages in learning.

Something I agreed with though was the idea that learning can feel uncomfortable, especially when you have to unlearn something you thought you already understood. The backwards bicycle example showed that really well. I thought it was interesting because it demonstrates how our brains rely on muscle memory, patterns and habits.

A Plan for My Adventure

For my Multimedia story adventure, I’m planning to paddle board across Thetis Lake in Victoria BC and make a sandwich on the little mini island in the middle of the lake, with my best friend, before paddling back. I picked this adventure because I know it’s something I will actually enjoy doing. I predict it will feel relaxing but also still kind of adventurous at the same time. I also have a good feeling that it will let me naturally collect different types of media without making the whole thing feel super staged or forced.

For equipment I’ll need my paddle board, paddle, phone for filming and recording audio, my dry bag and all the ingredients to make the sandwich. I also plan to check the weather to pick the perfect day before going out.

Before going on the adventure, I want to do a small trial adventure just to test filming angles, audio quality, and to honestly see if fitting two people and the equipment while paddle boarding is even manageable. One challenge I think I’ll run into is balancing filming with actually enjoying the experience. Since paddle boarding involves movement and water, I’ll also have to be careful with my equipment.

The shape of my story will follow a beginning, middle, and end structure. The beginning will show me packing everything up and getting ready to go out on the lake. The middle part will focus on the paddle boarding itself and the experience of being out on the water. Then the ending will show me getting to the other side, making the sandwich, relaxing for a bit, and maybe getting a little bit tan before heading back.

I want the story to feel calm and peaceful (which the experience should hopefully be). Storytelling is powerful because it helps audiences emotionally connect with experiences and imagine themselves in the story. Instead of just explaining what happened, I want my audience to feel like they’re experiencing it through the visuals, sounds, and narration. Some storytelling tactics I can use could be: showing the water moving, the paddle sounds and little close up shots.

To help make the story easier to follow and be more engaging I will be using Mayer’s Principles of Multimedia Learning. One of the principles I plan to use is the Coherence Principle, which basically focuses on removing unnecessary information, i need to watch that I don’t overload the project with random effects, loud music, or unnecessary clips.

I also plan to use the Segmenting Principle by dividing the story into smaller sections like preparation, crossing the lake, and the picnic. I think this will make the story easier to follow and help it feel more organized.