ETEC 540 Linking Assignment
1. https://blogs.ubc.ca/zhu540/2025/03/02/task-10-attention-economy/
While we shared the same frustration like time pressure and counterintuitive buttons when playing with User Inyerface, I particularly like the point Jaime pointed out as it is because web designer know too well how audience mind works that they managed to create such a not-so-user-friendly website. Jaime made her way far more than where I landed and can tell how frustrated even when she was compiling this task. A good reflection point is how easy phone could hack human psychology. This explains why and how TikTok becomes such a success to capture human’s attention by predicting what people in front of the screen would be interested in by analyzing screen time, search history, chat history, or just everything that leaves trail. The two TED talks quoted are relevant.
Further reflection, what can be the implication to pedagogy based on the terrible experience? What is the effective attention that educators shall focus on?
Students
are more likely to pay attention to content they perceive as relevant to their
lives or future goals so connect lessons to real world applications, relate
topics to students’ interests, cultures or experiences and encourage students
to think about “why” behind what they are learning to foster intrinsic
motivation. Cognitive overload can lead to disengagement. Breaking information
into manageable chunks helps students process and retain the knowledge better. For
example, we can divide lessons into smaller, focused segments with clear
objectives, incorporate short breaks or transitions between chunks to reset
attention, use visualization tools to convey the idea in a direct, transparent
and interative way. Curiosity drives attention and engagement. We can start the
lessons with thought-provoking questions or puzzles, use inquiry based learning
approach and encourage students to ask questions, explore the concept by
themselves first with the help of online tools, like khan academy, GeoGebra
etc.
1. 2. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540dj/2025/02/16/an-emoji-story/
The interesting thing I found is while it is not that hard to translate the movie I would like to present into Emoji story, it is actually very difficult to guess what my classmates are trying to express with Emoji. Why?
First,
the number of films I watched is limited. The data pool can be enormous, across
age. Second, without any clue about classmates’ age, interest, geography, there
is limited chance to shortlist movies. Third, what emoji can express is limited
and abstract with very limited vocabulary. While I can tell the writer was
trying hard to express as detailed as possible about story plot, it is still
hard to find a clue of what the movie is. Emoji is a plus on top of context but
too weak to be used alone. Emojis can be interpreted differently depending on
the context, culture, or individual perspective. The "folded hands"
emoji (🙏) can mean "praying,"
"thank you," or "high five," leading to confusion. Misinterpretation
can result in misunderstandings, especially in professional or cross-cultural
communication. Emojis are inherently vague and cannot convey specific details
or complex ideas. A "thumbs up" emoji (👍) might indicate approval, but it doesn't explain what is being approved
or why. This lack of precision makes emojis unsuitable for conveying detailed
or nuanced information. Emojis reduce complex ideas to simplistic symbols,
which can oversimplify or trivialize important concepts.
In short, emoji has to be paired with text, not replace the written communication.
3. https://blogs.ubc.ca/nicketec540/2025/01/29/week-4-task-4/
The potato printing experiment is a simple and fun activity often used to introduce basic concepts of printing and pattern-making. This exercise reminds me of one of the four greatest inventions of ancient China - 活字印刷术, movable type printing. The purpose of the invention is to reduce the repetitive work for same characters by using wood, stone with ink to copy the characters. Chinese characters are especially difficult to memorize and the different combination of strokes can be frustrating.
Just like in writing, where letters and words are formed consistently, potato printing requires consistent application of pressure and ink to create uniform prints. This highlights the importance of consistency in writing mechanisms, whether by hand or machine. The experiment demonstrates how information (in this case, a pattern or shape) can be transferred from one medium (the potato stamp) to another (paper). This is analogous to how writing transfers thoughts and ideas from the mind to a written form. The experiment shows how the tool (potato stamp) interacts with the medium (ink and paper) to create a mark. Similarly, writing involves the interaction between a writing tool (pen, pencil, keyboard) and a medium (paper, screen).
This exercise takes us back to the original point of writing, or making a mark. This is especially fun in the era of computer/keyboard .
4. https://blogs.ubc.ca/quinn540/task-1/
I particularly like the reflection of "what's in the bag if 15-25 years ago" or "what might be in the future"! The reflection also tells what stay in the bag across time. Take a step back and look back and forward, we might be in a transition period of tech era while our bag content can tell some clues!
I used twine in a group project of Digital and Mobile Game when we used Twine to create a storytelling nature of game to shed light on teenager psychology problems. By playing around "the Cursed Baker", I like the design of story plot and smooth execution by Twine. The wording is short, and straightforward. Paragraphing is clear. Well done.
The beauty of Twine lies in the effectiveness to capture the attention of audience with the engaging storytelling method and vanilla black and white style which eliminates excessive cognitive load. The key step lies in storyline drafting and the wording.
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