The purpose of my Screencast tutorial was to simply explain how to use the software OneNote for the goal of writing and reviewing class notes. From this tutorial, I hope people learn that this software is very useful for organizing and reviewing notes all in one place. The main takeaway from my tutorial is that using OneNote can help learners effectively manage and organize their class notes.

Below is the Screencast tutorial that I made earlier outlining how a learner can use OneNote to create and review class notes.

A review of my previous Screencast tutorial

Upon further reflection, I determined that my Screencast tutorial follows Mayer’s Segmenting Principle. Viewers can pause or re-watch the video tutorial as needed, which helps manage their intrinsic load because they can directly control the pace of the tutorial.

It also follows Dual Coding Theory, which outlines that our memory stores verbal and visual stimuli in two independent channels. Although they are independent channels, they interact, and our memories associate words with images, which improves our retention. Thus, in my tutorial, the learner receives both verbal and visual stimuli simultaneously, which helps them improve their working memory capacity and lowers their cognitive load.

My new Screencast tutorial

Note: at the timestamp 2:36, I said “click” instead of “write”

Below I have outlined some modifications that I made to the previous tutorial using YouTube Studio. It was my first time using YouTube Studio, and it was fun to explore all the design and editing options available.

  • Captioning
    • For the first time, I added automated closed captions to this video, which generated text that almost perfectly matched what I said. I added closed captions to make the tutorial more accessible for those who are hard of hearing or deaf. In the tutorial, I noticed that I used the word “so” quite frequently to begin my sentences. It appeared that the automatically generated closed captions were not able to detect the ends and beginnings of most of my sentences, so the generated text had very long sentences. After identifying this, I edited the closed captions to clearly outline the sentences. I also corrected some small grammatical errors that the auto captioning made. Additionally, I added quotation marks to certain words and prompts to help better guide the learner in the video, and to make certain key words stand out more than others. Incorporating distinct sentences and adding quotation marks to certain words in the closed captions helps form a clear connection between the video and the closed captions. This makes it easier for learners who are using the closed captions to follow the tutorial. I incorporated the Temporal Contiguity Principle, in which there is simultaneous presentation of corresponding narration (e.g. the closed captions) and animation (e.g. the visuals in the video ) (Mayer, 2014).
  • Description of the video
    • I added a video description (found directly below the YouTube video), which outlines the content that is covered in the video. In the description, I added a list of timestamps, or chapters, which outlines what is being taught at a particular time in the video. I made sure to give each chapter a descriptive name so that the learner can easily understand the different parts of the video. The chapter function is easy to use in that learners can simply click on a timestamp in the video description, which will automatically direct them to the video chapter that they have selected. Adding a video description follows the Signaling Principle because the overview and the chapters represent cues that outline the organization of the tutorial video. Using this principle in the tutorial means that people can determine key information and find important material without using cognitive resources, allowing them to learn more deeply (Mayer, 2014). Having a list of the key information in the form of chapters in the video description is a good example of signaling, and this reduces extraneous load. The presence of these chapters also incorporates the segmenting principle, which argues that people learn best when multimedia is offered in learner-paced sections compared to a continuous unit (Mayer and Pilegard, 2014). My tutorial followed this principle because the video chapters allow the learner to break up the tutorial into manageable learner-controlled segments. The video description also prompts the viewers to post in the comment section if they have any questions about the material. I also added the link to my WordPress blog for those interested in learning about what multimedia principles I integrated into this video.

What was not changed/added to the tutorial video and why

  • The video itself
    • Although the beginning of my Screencast video outlined what will be covered in the tutorial, I realized afterwards that I did not include a conclusion that summarized the main points that were taught. A conclusion at the end of the tutorial would have been very helpful because it describes the significance of the learned material. Next time that I create a Screencast video tutorial, I will make sure to include a conclusion because it reinforces the main takeaways of the material.
  • Music
    • I decided to not add music in order to follow the coherence principle, which outlines that people learn more deeply from multimedia when tangential or irrelevant material is excluded (Mayer, 2014). Music in the screencast could be distracting to the viewer, and thus could take away from their learning.
  • Narration of the video
    • I contemplated re-recording my narration for the video because I had used the word “so” quite a lot which is not very formal. However, I decided not to re-record because it allows the tutorial to exhibit personalization. According to Mayer’s Personalization Principle, people experience deeper learning from multimedia presentations when conversational language rather than formal language is used (Mayer, 2009).
  • Text additions to the video
    • I did not manually add any text such as headers or important words to the tutorial video in order to follow the Redundancy Principle. This principle argues that people learn most optimally from narration and graphics, compared to narration, graphics, and on-screen text. Excluding these text additions ensures that the viewers are not overwhelmed or distracted.

References

Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2009). Personalization, Voice, and Image Principles. In Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 242–262). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811678.018

Mayer, R. E. (Ed.). (2014). Principles for Reducing Extraneous Processing in Multimedia Learning, from The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp 279 – 315

Mayer, R. E., & Pilegard, C. (2014). Principles for Managing Essential Processing in Multimedia Learning: Segmenting, Pre-training, and Modality Principles. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 316–344). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369.016