The Tool

For my microlearning project, I wanted to learn the tool Doodly (https://www.doodly.com/). Throughout some instructional videos that I have watched, I have noticed that many instructional designers utilize a whiteboard-like program to make their videos. I have liked these and I wanted to learn how to use this tool for future instructional videos because I think it is an engaging way to view information being conveyed in videos.

My Final Product

Here is a short video that I put together using Doodly that I thought might be useful to virtual middle or high school teachers.

Learning Theories and “Ah-ha Moment”

As I created this video, I used a variety of learning theories. I mainly used andragogy, cognitivism, and constructivism to learn this tool.

To begin with, I found myself embodying the assumptions about adult learners as laid out in the andragogy learning theory. I was self-directed and in charge of my own learning decisions. I was able to determine what skill I wanted to use and I deliberately chose one that I had been wanting to learn, which I saw as being something that I could apply in a professional setting immediately. I also found myself tapping into my prior experience (which is also prevalent in cognitivism and constructivism). Particularly, I have used video editing programs (such as Camtasia) before and I was able to utilize what I knew about these programs to understand Doodly.

I also found that constructivism was a learning theory that I utilized. Instead of watching tutorials or reading “how to” guides, I decided discover solutions and solve the “problem” of creating a video by constructing my own understanding of how Doodly worked. It was especially useful to be able to explore my own interests and learn something that I found useful. I also created natural scaffolding for myself as I learned the program. First, I learned how to record the audio, then I learned how to add in text and then images, and finally I learned how to adjust the timing so that everything in the video flowed together.

Lastly, I used cognitivism. I was very metacognitive about the process and was thinking about how I was learning and which strategies were and were not working. Before setting out on this learning experience, I had set a goal for myself which was to create a full Doodly video about virtual classroom entrance procedures. I then determined that I would learn this by using the different features of Doodly, previewing my video, and asking myself if the feature or tool had the result that I wanted it to have. I reflected a lot during this process about what I was learning and if I was getting the intended outcomes that I wanted. I also considered if my learning strategy of not reading any manuals or watching any videos, but instead using trial and error was working. I also chunked and scaffolded the process into smaller pieces such as scripting the video, recording the audio, putting in animations, and then editing.

I realized in my approach to learning that I like to discover what works and what doesn’t work. I did not want to read any tutorials or watch any videos about the tool. Instead, I wanted to try a variety of different buttons and pay attention to what happened when I put in different elements. I liked using trial and error as I learned to us the tool. I found myself clicking on a new feature or putting a new element into my video and then watching the video to see if I liked the results. I would then adjust the video and try new tools based on what I observed. This made me realize that I enjoy the discovery-based nature of the constructivist approach in my own learning along with the self-regulation and reflection components of cognitivism.