https://blog.elearnmag.acm.org/?p=77 Online Learning and Training Mon, 13 Oct 2014 18:45:34 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.25 https://blog.elearnmag.acm.org/?p=77#comment-698 Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:00:35 +0000 http://wp.acm.org/elearn/2009/10/12/fun-with-mnemonics-do-elvis-and-george-bush-deserve-fudge/#comment-698 Try Mnemonics Online again. This site teaches a technique using peg system and a set of symbols. TIM

]]> https://blog.elearnmag.acm.org/?p=77#comment-323 Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:42:34 +0000 http://wp.acm.org/elearn/2009/10/12/fun-with-mnemonics-do-elvis-and-george-bush-deserve-fudge/#comment-323 I am not sure if they are easlier to teach online or FTF. Remember that online also has sync web conferencing and many ways to share lessons that you might give FTF. But I do think technology is overwhelming us with information and options for learning. Mnemonics can play a role in dealing with it all. As members of the human race, we have only so muhc info we can deal with at any pt in time. Frameworks, models, pithy sayings, and mnemonics can help with it all. That is my thinking anyhow. Teachers, when they have a framework, can consider online learning options more readily I think. That was the intent of my R2D2, TEC-VARIETY, and WE-ALL-LEARN models. My recent paper, Finding that SPECIAL PLACE on gaming principles (in Tech Trends) is similar in that regard.
So, to answer your question, mnemonics can help students learn more information than possible without them. Some mnemonics are for higher order thinking (such as sequencing or rating of information) but most are for factual info retention purposes. I think frameworks and models using mnemonics push to the higher levels of cognitive processing, Teaching how to generate such higher order mnemonics is not easy–this would be teaching one to be creative. It is not easy in FTF environments or online ones. To teach to retain facts is easier I guess. The environment you teach the method in does not matter given all the tech tools that can support you today.

]]> https://blog.elearnmag.acm.org/?p=77#comment-322 Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:42:19 +0000 http://wp.acm.org/elearn/2009/10/12/fun-with-mnemonics-do-elvis-and-george-bush-deserve-fudge/#comment-322 I am not sure if they are easlier to teach online or FTF. Remember that online also has sync web conferencing and many ways to share lessons that you might give FTF. But I do think technology is overwhelming us with information and options for learning. Mnemonics can play a role in dealing with it all. As members of the human race, we have only so muhc info we can deal with at any pt in time. Frameworks, models, pithy sayings, and mnemonics can help with it all. That is my thinking anyhow. Teachers, when they have a framework, can consider online learning options more readily I think. That was the intent of my R2D2, TEC-VARIETY, and WE-ALL-LEARN models. My recent paper, Finding that SPECIAL PLACE on gaming principles (in Tech Trends) is similar in that regard.
So, to answer your question, mnemonics can help students learn more information than possible without them. Some mnemonics are for higher order thinking (such as sequencing or rating of information) but most are for factual info retention purposes. I think frameworks and models using mnemonics push to the higher levels of cognitive processing, Teaching how to generate such higher order mnemonics is not easy–this would be teaching one to be creative. It is not easy in FTF environments or online ones. To teach to retain facts is easier I guess. The environment you teach the method in does not matter given all the tech tools that can support you today.

]]> https://blog.elearnmag.acm.org/?p=77#comment-321 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:43:51 +0000 http://wp.acm.org/elearn/2009/10/12/fun-with-mnemonics-do-elvis-and-george-bush-deserve-fudge/#comment-321 Our brains aren’t good at remembering arbitrary information. Adding semantics makes that easier, hence the value of mnemonics. They should be useful anytime we need to remember things by rote, whether classroom or online.
I try to use external memory, myself, rather than trust even my recollection of a mnemonic. (Was it “in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” or “in 1493, Columbus sailed the deep blue sea”?

]]> https://blog.elearnmag.acm.org/?p=77#comment-320 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:43:37 +0000 http://wp.acm.org/elearn/2009/10/12/fun-with-mnemonics-do-elvis-and-george-bush-deserve-fudge/#comment-320 Our brains aren’t good at remembering arbitrary information. Adding semantics makes that easier, hence the value of mnemonics. They should be useful anytime we need to remember things by rote, whether classroom or online.
I try to use external memory, myself, rather than trust even my recollection of a mnemonic. (Was it “in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” or “in 1493, Columbus sailed the deep blue sea”?

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