Learning Reflection Report

Revisit the Plan

Throughout this course, I believe I was able to meet all of the course objectives. Some of the objectives were straightforward while others needed some learning and adaptation for me to understand and implement properly. In particular, I enjoyed applying storytelling principles in creating effective learning opportunities. The reason was that it encouraged me to be creative and think like a child, since most of the learning material was tailored towards a younger audience. I loved this experience since I don’t get to do this type of thinking and creative work in my other computer science and math courses. The course pushed me to think about cognitive flow and user experience, which is something I normally don’t think about too much when working on projects and building applications. As a result, I learned that design is not just about making things look pretty and an add-on, but it plays an integral part in how people learn, interpret and process information.  

Identify the Turbulence

Some objectives were straightforward to me, such as design thinking and learning about Mayer’s principles to create effective educational resources. Providing feedback and analyzing other’s work was also very useful to me. Applying storytelling techniques, despite being a lot of fun to work with, was a bit tricky to me at times. I had to break down the concept that I was aiming to teach and make a fictional storyline around it in a way that kids would be able to understand easily. This was easier said than done since the concept I chose was related to networks, which can be quite complex and something kids are not familiar with at all. Making the whole concept approachable was the hardest part. In the end, I was able to accomplish it using a cute fictional robot character named Cyber. Another major challenge was making the video for Challenge 2. I do not have much experience in making videos and as a result, I had no idea where to start after preparing a script for the video. My initial thought was to use GenAI (Gemini) to generate the video since I had used GenAI to create the images for the comics and they turned out great. However, Gemini has an 8-second limit on the videos it makes, ruling out the option of using GenAI. In the end, I adapted to making a simple basic animated video using DaVinci Resolve. In the end, I realized that despite having a very simple looking video, it can deliver the same impact if I implemented principles like segmenting and signaling.

Evidence of Growth

Across the entire course, I think my growth is visible in the quality of the deliverables for each of the Challenges. I think I had my biggest improvement was in how well I was able to implement the theories and principles of design and learning into the projects. Moreover, before the course, I had very little experience in making comics, videos and other creative tasks. After the course, I feel very confident in storyboarding videos, designing and structuring resources. I learned how pacing, layout, chunking can affect the way users experience forms of media.

Next Destination

I think my next destination would be to carry these into my other courses and projects as a computer science student and then later as a software engineer. Even though the applications and systems I design, and build may not always be educational, I can use the skills and theories to influence my decisions a little bit for the better. Especially, if I’m working on the front-end of an application, I can take the core ideas such as coherence, signaling and redundancy from this course and use them to create a much better user experience.  Lastly, I think there would be a major improvement in the way I write and produce documentation for any code I produce which would help any co-workers and others who are looking to understand or add to my work.

This course changed how I look at technical and creative work and I understand how much one affects the other. I am leaving with a stronger ability to explain complex ideas, a richer sense of design and an appreciation for how thoughtful learning design can empower users. These skills will shape my decision making, thinking and work long after the course ends.