Final Reflection

Over this semester in EDCI 337 I stopped thinking about multimedia as “add a picture or a video so it looks good” and started seeing it as part of how people actually learn. When I look back at the course objectives and my three main artifacts, the comic, the Big 3 lifting videos, and the interactive booklet on carbs, fats, and protein, I can see a pretty clear progression. I moved from just trying to explain content to asking what the experience feels like for the learner and whether the design helps them make sense of it. That is how I would describe “contextualizing how learning informs interactive and multimedia experiences” in my own words. The comic was my first real shot at using storytelling as a teaching tool. At the beginning I thought of story as something extra, something you layer on top of content. As I worked through the panels, I realized the characters, the conflict, and the resolution were doing the teaching work. Storyboarding pushed me into design thinking without me really naming it at first. I had to think about who the learner was, what specific problem they had, and how to show that problem clearly from frame to frame. I stripped out background clutter, used consistent colour choices, and tried to make it so someone could understand the idea just by following the images and speech bubbles. That was my first time really applying multimedia principles like coherence and signaling instead of just reading about them.

The Big 3 lifting videos were where the design principles became a lot more concrete. My instinct at the start was to cram in every cue I knew for squat, bench, and deadlift. Through the course I started to understand cognitive load in a way that actually changed what I did. I cut the videos down into smaller chunks, focused on one or two key cues per clip, and kept on screen text short and matched tightly to the visuals. I thought harder about angle and pacing, not just what looked cool but what made it easier for a beginner to see the movement pattern and then try it themselves. That is where I feel I started to meet the objective about applying multimedia design principles in planning educational resources and beginning to describe what “effective interactive multimedia design” looks like in practice.

The interactive booklet on carbs, fats, and protein pulled everything together and exposed some gaps. Unlike the comic or a single video, this one forced me to think about the whole learning path on a web page. I had to decide what order the content should come in, how much text was too much, and where images or simple visuals would actually help. I tried to build in different ways of engaging with the ideas, short explanations, simple graphics, and small check in style questions so learners could test if they were following. This is where I intentionally tried to connect what I knew about representation and engagement to a real product for students. I do not think I completely nailed interactive design at the webpage level, but I now understand what needs work instead of just feeling vaguely unsure. The main turbulence for me throughout the course was balancing content and clarity. I like knowing a lot of detail, especially around technique and science, and my first drafts always tried to squeeze too much in. The hardest concept to live out was managing cognitive load. It is one thing to say “do not overload the learner” and another thing to cut sentences and visuals you personally like. I worked through that mostly by revising and paying attention to feedback. When people said a section felt busy or they drifted halfway through a paragraph, that was a sign I needed to simplify the layout, shorten the explanation, or give them a pause point. Over time I got more comfortable with the idea that leaving things out can actually respect the learner more.

My perspective on multimedia in education has shifted a lot since the start of the semester. Before this course, comics, short videos, and interactive pages felt separate from “real teaching.” Now I see them as ways to scaffold understanding, especially for students who need different entry points. I can see myself using comics for social and emotional topics like conflict resolution, technique videos for skill development in PE and net games, and interactive booklets for health topics like nutrition. For social studies, I can already imagine using a similar booklet format to walk students through a case study or historical event with small checks for understanding built in along the way. Looking ahead, I have some concrete ideas for how to use what I learned rather than just saying it will be useful one day. I want to treat my Big 3 videos as a baseline template for future videos on other movements and skills, adjusting the cues and visuals but keeping the structure. I also want to refine and reuse the nutrition booklet with real students in practicum, tightening the explanations and adding stronger opportunities for them to respond, not just read. More broadly, I plan to keep using storyboarding, chunking, and simple visual signaling any time I build a resource, whether that is for PE, health, or social studies. This course did not just give me a list of tools. It gave me a way of thinking about design that I can carry into teaching and any future multimedia projects I decide to build.

For the end of the class I will end off with my favourite surfs up quote.

“You know, it’s hard to soar with the eagles when you’re surrounded by turkeys.” – Chicken Joe, Surf’s Up 🏄‍♂️🐔