Category: edci337-app

PenPal Schools Evaluation

PenPal Schools is a web application that enables “creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and discussion” through Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and an emphasis on global-citizenship (PenPal Schools, 2020). It is used by schools in over 150 countries and allows students (8 and older) to engage with other learners in “thoughtfully designed, collaborative projects” (Wilson, 2018). These projects are offered in many of the core subjects along with others such as Environmentalism, Social Justice, and Current Events (PenPal Schools, 2020). They involve “self-guided, differentiated and mixed media” lessons based on a chosen topic (Wilson, 2018). In the lessons, learners read and analyze texts, watch videos, share ideas in a forum space, and collaborate all while “[building] empathy, curiosity, and respect” (PenPal Schools, 2020). The team at PenPal Schools curates each lesson to align with different international educational standards in the areas of “reading, writing, digital citizenship, and social-emotional skills” (PenPal Schools, 2020). Teachers sign up for PenPal Schools and receive their first topic for free (more topics can be obtained through referrals, fees, or scholarships) (PenPal Schools, 2020). In regards to safety, students can only join through a teacher invitation and the only personal information required is the student’s first names, last initials, and country. Every post is moderated and student safety is the application’s number one concern. Click here to dive deeper into the key features, safety, and cost of this multimedia app. Through the integration of PjBL, global citizenship, and multimedia, PenPal Schools provides students with the ability to connect with similar aged children around the world thus enhancing their cross-cultural respect, sensitivities, tolerance, and worldview.

In 2015, President Barack Obama said PenPal Schools was one of the world’s leading social enterprises (Wilson, 2018)! The program also received a “Top Pick for Learning” award in 2018 from Common Sense Education (PenPal Schools, 2020). 

Multimedia Principles

PenPal Schools expertly crafts a multimedia learning environment that fosters the growth of knowledge on a global scale. Since each topic includes videos and readings that incorporate a mix of visual and auditory components, the Multimedia Principle is present (Mayer, 2014, p.8). Each forum section provides potential information to be used in the writing prompts along with worked examples to help students create a resource on a given topic (Mayer, 2014, p.9). Helpful hints and worked examples guide students (Guided Discovery Principle) towards certain learning outcomes, allowing each topic to expand learners’ worldviews while teaching them critical literacy skills (Mayer, 2014, p.9). The website is designed for learners of varying abilities, evidenced by the different difficulty levels within each topic. These levelled resources establish the Coherence Principle as extraneous information and resources are left out of a students’ dashboard (Mayer, 2014, p.8). All of this creates a user-friendly learning platform that allows learners to feel confident enough to explore new topics and share their ideas with their penpal. Each pairing works through a topic at their own pace (Segmenting Principle): watching videos, doing readings, responding to prompts, and creating an end project (Mayer, 2014, p.8). PenPal Schools is a useful multimedia-based, learner-centred tool, that integrates technology organically and authentically.

Collaboration

PenPal Schools works to create a collaborative learning experience that is safe, interactive, and engaging. Through the lessons, students can “[build] on” their own existing knowledge by learning from the provided videos, readings, and experiences of their penpal (Van Den Bossche et al., 2006, p.494). Van Den Bossche et al. states that collaborative learning “…offers possibilities to learn from other viewpoints” by understanding that while another person’s views may differ from one’s own, those views are still legitimate and worthy (2006, p.496). PenPal Schools offers an opportunity to listen and share with friends across the globe and develop those conversations into collaborative projects involving both students’ new learning and their pre-existing viewpoints. A teacher, Jillian W., supports this by stating that “students [connect] globally on PenPal Schools to collaborate and learn together” (Common Sense Education, 2019).

Project-Based Learning

An important facet of PenPal Schools is its foundation in project-based learning (PjBL), a “type of inquiry-based learning” that emphasizes student choice, autonomy, and self-reliance (Kokotsaki et al., 2016, p.268-269). PjBL leads to meaningful learning experiences through its basis in the following constructivist ideas: “learning is context-specific,” “learners are involved actively in the learning process” and goals are achieved “through social interactions and the sharing of knowledge and understanding” (Kokotsaki et al., 2016, p.267-268). Key aspects of PjBL are “time management”, encouraging thoughtful learning, “establishing a culture that stresses student self-management”, connecting with community members, using technological resources effectively, and using varied assessment methods (Kokotsaki et al., 2016, p.273-274).

Tying digital multimedia tools into PjBL allows students to “comfortably engage with the process of designing and developing their project” and being able to easily share and document their creations in “a digital format” (Kokotsaki et al., 2016, p.272). For elementary ages, PjBL improves “experiential reasoning and comprehension of relations,” content knowledge and group work skills, motivation, positivity in the classroom, and literacy (Kokotsaki et al., 2016, p.269-270). PenPal Schools is an effective tool for the implementation of PjBL into any classroom.

Global Citizenship

PenPal Schools promotes global citizenship by connecting students around the world through the exploration of various topics that build a “global awareness…[and] interconnectedness with others” (Katzarska-Miller & Reysen, 2019, p.26). While traditional classrooms may overlook current or social justice events, PenPal Schools provides educators with opportunities to tackle global issues that “[are] simply too important to be dominated by other curricular imperatives” (Schweisfurth, 2006, p.47).

Learning about different countries around the world allows students to gain a better understanding of humanity and appreciate the similarities and differences between one another. The goal of globalized education, and PenPal Schools, is to form “a greater understanding of interconnectedness between self and world, skills and values” (Katzarska-Miller & Reysen, 2019, p.31). By connecting with other cultures, students can learn to empathize with others and work towards “sustainable development and peaceful societies” (Schweisfurth, 2006, p.42). PenPal Schools makes it easy for teachers to integrate global awareness into their classrooms by increasing their “global content,” “[supporting] the idea of student-perceived awareness,” and “[encouraging] student connections” (Katzarska-Miller & Reysen, 2019, p.28). While global citizenship may not be a concrete part of the BC Curriculum, teachers must integrate PenPal Schools or other similar multimedia technologies to work towards a more inclusive world.

Alicia M. from Saraland Elementary School says PenPal Schools “creates an understanding of culture differences!”

PenPal Schools provides opportunities to connect with other learners around the world, share experiences, and explore project-based learning collaboratively, all of which are “key to becoming an educated global and digital citizen” (Bjelde, 2020).

– Ms. Bjelde, Ms. L. McLean, Ms. A. McLean, Ms. Gustavsson

References

Katzarska-Miller, I., & Reysen, S. (2019). Educating for global citizenship: Lessons from psychology. Childhood Education, 95(6), 24-33. doi:10.1080/00094056.2019.1689055

Kokotsaki, D., Menzies, V., & Wiggins, A. (2016). Project-based learning: A review of the literature. Improving Schools, 19(3), 267-277. doi:10.1177/1365480216659733

Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2014). The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning(2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369

PenPal Schools. 2020. A Global Project Based Learning Community. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2020, from https://www.penpalschools.com/index.html

Schweisfurth, M. (2006). Education for global citizenship: Teacher agency and curricular structure in ontario schools. Educational Review: Global Citizenship Education, 58(1), 41-50. doi:10.1080/00131910500352648

Van den Bossche, P., Gijselaers, W. H., Segers, M., & Kirschner, P. A. (2006). Social and Cognitive Factors Driving Teamwork in Collaborative Learning Environments: Team Learning Beliefs and Behaviors. Small Group Research, 37(5), 490–521. 

Wilson, L. (2018, May 03). Everything You Need To Know To Get Started With PenPal Schools. Retrieved June 13, 2020, from https://hundred.org/en/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started-with-penpal-schools

Out of the four apps that each of our group members researched, “PenPal Schools” “Peekapak”, “Padlet”, and “Canva”, we have come to the consensus that for our final evaluation we will be diving deeper into PenPal Schools. As a group, we are all looking forward to learning more about the web application and how it incorporates many different Multimedia learning principles.

Photo by Kelsey Knight on Unsplash

“PenPal Schools is a website and Multimedia program that is used by thousands of educators in over 150 countries (PenPal Schools, 2020)… It allows students (8 and older) to connect with other similar aged learners from different countries and cultures through “thoughtfully designed, collaborative projects” on a variety of subjects including Literacy, Social Studies, English/Language Arts, Science, Math, Music, Art, Spanish, Environmentalism, Social Justice, Current Events, Cultures, Civilizations, Virtual Reality and much more (Wilson, 2018; PenPal Schools, 2020). The lessons that learners participate in are “self guided, differentiated and mixed media” which motivates [them] to stay engaged (Wilson, 2018).”  (Bjelde, 2020).

This app utilizes a variety of multimedia principles such as collaboration, modality, segmenting, personalization, and many more that will be further explained in our full evaluation.

Photo by Luis Cortes on Unsplash

One of our main concerns with the other three applications was how their information was stored and used. The privacy settings in Penpal Schools allows students to remain protected and relatively anonymous throughout their use of the webpage and application. Each student is linked to a class code (set up by their teacher) and their only personal information given is their first name, last initial, and country.  We had concerns with our other apps’ privacy policy because there were varying degrees of third-party data storage.

In addition to the fewer safety concerns, PenPal Schools feels relevant and authentic to 21st-century learners and modern-day global citizens. By fostering connections to others around the world, promoting digital literacy, and hearing different worldviews, students become more culturally-sensitive, aware, and understanding. With the plethora of learning opportunities present in this app, each of us found it to be a dynamic and inspiring multimedia application for students.

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

We can all definitely envision ourselves using this app in our own future classrooms as it can be used in many different ways for a number of different grades. The accessibility of the application and the excitement of having a pen pal creates a very engaging and motivating learning environment. 

– Ms. G, Ms. L. McLean, Ms. A. McLean, Ms. Bjelde

References

Bjelde, S. 2020. EDCI 337: Evaluating an Interactive Multimedia Learning Web Application. Retrieved from https://sarahbjelde.opened.ca/2020/06/17/edci-337-evaluating-an-interactive-multimedia-learning-web-application/.

Canva

For my individual app review, I have decided to explore the use of the web application “Canva”, a multimedia graphic design tool that allows users to create various designs using a combination of images, shapes, and words (Canva, n.d.). Canva comes pre-set with a variety of templates and free images that users can utilize to create digital projects such as posters, journals, cd covers, presentations, and infographics (Canva, n.d.). Over the past several years, I have relied on Canva to create an assortment of posters and projects to exemplify my understanding of topics. I find it is easy to and would be a perfect tool for students to use in the classroom. I love that they have pre-made templates already designed to the size of what you need. If I were an instructor, I would encourage students to possibly use the Instagram sized template and have them create a post on a subject. As a teacher, it is important to engage students and use technology that is relevant to the student.  

Created by Heather Gustavsson using Canva in Lab #4

Through this website, users can create their own multimedia design object as it includes many of the multimedia learning principles. These principles were developed by Richard E. Mayer, the author of the book “The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning”. The first one evident through Canva is the Multimedia Principle, where “learning with words and pictures is more effective than learning with words alone” (Butcher, 2014, p. 174). If a teacher wanted students to recall something in the future, they could use Canva to create a poster or brochure combining words and pictures together. This also ties into the Split Attention principle when creating a design object, one must  “avoid materials that require learners to split their attention between, and mentally integrate, multiple sources of information” (Ayres & Sweller, 2014, p. 206). It is more effective to create a design with the text and images combined as opposed to separate as it forces people to remember the information from another source and then apply that to the new source.  The next multimedia learning principle is Signaling. In chapter 11 of the handbook, Van Goh (2014), discusses how a design should explicitly indicate the key parts you want the learner to grasp (p. 206). An example could be highlighting, bolding, underlining, or change the font of a word to make it stand-out. On Canva, they utilize bolding by creating categories for people to find the templates, and when creating a design, you can alter the text size, colour, transparency, and font. Furthermore, this ties into the Spatial Contiguity principle as it suggests “words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen” (Mayer & Fiorella, 2014, p. 280). Through Canva, you can easily re-configure both text and images on the same page to keep information concise and together. The final multimedia learning principle exhibited in Canva is Collaboration. The “share” features on Canva allows users to work on a design with one or more people, or simply share their creations with others. One thing to note is that in chapter 23 of the handbook, the collaboration principle is only effective if the task is cognitively challenging (Kirschner et al., 2014, p. 547). If a user considers all 5 of these principles when creating their graphic design, they will be creating a more effective design tool that supports cognitive development.  

Below, I used the University of Western Ontario’s education evaluation rubric to evaluate Canva as a multimedia design tool. Feel free to click on the rubric to see how I assessed the app in more specific categories. Overall, the app has a lot of positive aspects, however, the concern lies with the privacy of user’s information and where it is stored. I read through the privacy policy and they do store your information provided when registering for an account, so I believe more research is necessary before allowing use in the classroom. Other than privacy concerns, this application has a lot of positive benefits and could be an excellent resource for students in regard to multimedia design!  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O-BFNoeB_kZEeBMH1ffiiHPBzGBX46O3/view?usp=sharing 

 – Ms. G 🙂

Reference List 

Ayres, P., & Sweller, J. (2014). The Split-Attention Principle in Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 206-226). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.011 

Butcher, K. (2014). The Multimedia Principle. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 174-205). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.010 

Canva. (n.d). Homepage. Canva. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from  https://www.canva.com/ 

Canva – Design Anything. (2019, December 9). Introducing Canva – Graphic Design Has Changed [Video]. https://youtube.com/watch?v=CE7KTszVCRU&feature=youtu.be

Kirschner, P., Kirschner, F., & Janssen, J. (2014). The Collaboration Principle in Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 547-575). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.027 

Mayer, R. (Ed.). (2014). The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369 

Mayer, R., & Fiorella, L. (2014). Principles for Reducing Extraneous Processing in Multimedia Learning: Coherence, Signaling, Redundancy, Spatial Contiguity, and Temporal Contiguity Principles. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 279-315). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.015 

Rubric for eLearning Tool Evaluation by Lauren M. Anstey & Gavan P.L. Watson, copyright 2018 Centre for Teaching and Learning, Western University is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Van Gog, T. (2014). The Signaling (or Cueing) Principle in Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 263-278). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.014