Gestalt theory principles can be effectively applied to multimedia design education. These principles include proximity, similarity, closure, and figure/ground relationships. The document analyzes student work from a 6th grade project designing a brochure and website about Bali. It was found that applying Gestalt principles like alignment, contrast, and simplicity led to designs that were easier to understand compared to examples that violated these principles. Teachers are encouraged to help students understand Gestalt theory to improve their multimedia works.
Does artificial neural network support connectivism’s assumptions?Alaa Al Dahdouh
Connectivism was presented as a learning theory for the digital age and connectivists claim that recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, more specifically, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) support their assumptions of knowledge connectivity. Yet, very little has been done to investigate this brave allegation. Does the advancement in artificial neural network studies support connectivism’s assumptions? And if yes, to what extent? This paper addresses the aforementioned question by tackling the core concepts of ANN and matching them with connectivist's assumptions. The study employed the qualitative content analysis approach where the researcher started with purposely selected and relatively small content samples in connectivism and ANN literature. The results revealed that ANN partially supports connectivism’s assumptions but this does not mean that other learning theories such as behaviorism and constructivism are not supported as well. The findings enlighten our understanding of connectivism and where it may be applied.
Introduction to computer animation and its possible educational applicationsRushan Ziatdinov
Musa, S; Ziatdinov, R; Griffiths, C. (2013). Introduction to computer animation and its possible educational applications. In M. Gallová, J. Gunčaga, Z. Chanasová, M.M. Chovancová (Eds.), New Challenges in Education. Retrospection of history of education to the future in the interdisciplinary dialogue among didactics of various school subjects (1st ed., pp. 177-205). Ružomberok, Slovakia: VERBUM – vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku.
Understanding knowledge network, learning and connectivismAlaa Al Dahdouh
Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and other growing theories such as Actor-Network and Connectivism are circulating in the educational field. For each, there are allies who stand behind research evidence and consistency of observation. Meantime, those existing theories dominate the field until the background is changed or new concrete evidence proves their insufficiencies. Connectivists claim that the background or the general climate has recently changed: a new generation of researchers, connectivists propose a new way of conceiving knowledge. According to them, knowledge is a network and learning is a process of exploring this network. Other researchers find this notion either not clear or not new and probably, with no effect in the education field. This paper addresses a foggy understanding of knowledge defined as a network and the lack of resources talking about this topic. Therefore, it tries to clarify what it means to define knowledge as a network and in what way it can affect teaching and learning.
These accounts explains the effects of multimedia principles and tells us that people learn more and are also able to apply the things they have learned using both words and pictures than when they are instructed with just words or pictures.
Does artificial neural network support connectivism’s assumptions?Alaa Al Dahdouh
Connectivism was presented as a learning theory for the digital age and connectivists claim that recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, more specifically, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) support their assumptions of knowledge connectivity. Yet, very little has been done to investigate this brave allegation. Does the advancement in artificial neural network studies support connectivism’s assumptions? And if yes, to what extent? This paper addresses the aforementioned question by tackling the core concepts of ANN and matching them with connectivist's assumptions. The study employed the qualitative content analysis approach where the researcher started with purposely selected and relatively small content samples in connectivism and ANN literature. The results revealed that ANN partially supports connectivism’s assumptions but this does not mean that other learning theories such as behaviorism and constructivism are not supported as well. The findings enlighten our understanding of connectivism and where it may be applied.
Introduction to computer animation and its possible educational applicationsRushan Ziatdinov
Musa, S; Ziatdinov, R; Griffiths, C. (2013). Introduction to computer animation and its possible educational applications. In M. Gallová, J. Gunčaga, Z. Chanasová, M.M. Chovancová (Eds.), New Challenges in Education. Retrospection of history of education to the future in the interdisciplinary dialogue among didactics of various school subjects (1st ed., pp. 177-205). Ružomberok, Slovakia: VERBUM – vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku.
Understanding knowledge network, learning and connectivismAlaa Al Dahdouh
Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and other growing theories such as Actor-Network and Connectivism are circulating in the educational field. For each, there are allies who stand behind research evidence and consistency of observation. Meantime, those existing theories dominate the field until the background is changed or new concrete evidence proves their insufficiencies. Connectivists claim that the background or the general climate has recently changed: a new generation of researchers, connectivists propose a new way of conceiving knowledge. According to them, knowledge is a network and learning is a process of exploring this network. Other researchers find this notion either not clear or not new and probably, with no effect in the education field. This paper addresses a foggy understanding of knowledge defined as a network and the lack of resources talking about this topic. Therefore, it tries to clarify what it means to define knowledge as a network and in what way it can affect teaching and learning.
These accounts explains the effects of multimedia principles and tells us that people learn more and are also able to apply the things they have learned using both words and pictures than when they are instructed with just words or pictures.
Inaugural Lecture
John Cook
Date: Tuesday 3rd of Feb, 2009
Time: 6pm
Venue: Henry Thomas room, Holloway Road, London Metropolitan University
Introduced by Brian Roper, Vice-Chancellor London Metropolitan University
Presentation given at the SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education) conference, December 2015, Newport, South Wales. How has digital literacy been defined in different ways in the last 40 years? Is it a way of confirming authority, or redistributing it?
Inaugural Lecture
John Cook
Date: Tuesday 3rd of Feb, 2009
Time: 6pm
Venue: Henry Thomas room, Holloway Road, London Metropolitan University
Introduced by Brian Roper, Vice-Chancellor London Metropolitan University
Presentation given at the SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education) conference, December 2015, Newport, South Wales. How has digital literacy been defined in different ways in the last 40 years? Is it a way of confirming authority, or redistributing it?
Media Design 101 details how to make courses interesting, engaging and interactive through information presentation, usability, graphics, storyboarding, interaction and flow.
Its a reflective presentation on Insightful Learning Theory. The basic principles/features of gestalt school of psychology is highlighted through the explanation of the theory of insightful learning. It reveals the implication for classrooms. Perception of the whole situation, perceptual reorganization and aahaa experience are clearly mentioned by explaining the experiments with Sultan
Slides from lecture given at podcamp philly 3, introduction to basic color theory and very simple graphic design, and accessibility tricks for websites
SAMPLE GED 501 RESEARCH PAPERTechnology Based Education How.docxagnesdcarey33086
SAMPLE GED 501 RESEARCH PAPER
Technology Based Education: How can theories of learning and/or development be used to guide the use of technology in schools?
Introduction
Twenty first century learning environment is no longer a goal, but an educational reality. We are deep into the midst of a paradigm shift that spans across our entire globe. The technology we live with as a society has exponentially grown at an increasingly rapid rate. This is illustrated from the integration of computers in every facet of our lives. This includes televisions, phones, cars, and even coffee makers which all contain a microprocessor, they all think. Even more startling is how connected we all are. Access to information is available at a finger’s touch. We can connect to people, we can shop, and ask for directions from anywhere at any time. We are tethered to the world by social media such as Facebook. Google has mapped out the entire earth. We can send a text message from the middle of Antarctica. Even more startling is how corporations and the government collects data as they track our ever movement as we go online. All this is reflected upon education, which mirrors this new 21st century society. No longer is the classroom isolated from the world, but it too is connected. Learning technology is critical more than ever because it impacts skills and productivity (Hall, 2011) for both the student and the teacher.
Background
Incorporating technology into the classroom has been around since computers were invented, but it has been only recently been the norm in the last few years. This revolution no more pointedly reflected in our education system, than it is today. Johri (2011) states that although digital information technologies in education has become commonplace, there are few guiding frameworks or theories that explains the relationship between technology and learning practices. Bennett and Oliver (2011) share that view. Research has focused on practical implementation versus the theory and application of the technology. They explained once theories are developed, a better understanding of effective technology based pedagogy would occur.
Technology in Education
I believe however, all the theorists play well with technology. Technology is merely a tool. Its strength is the ability to facilitate. John Dewey is a prime example. He believed in “learning by doing”. With an iPad there is an App where by students are able to see the stars and the constellation. With the use of satellites and GPS held within the piece of technology, students are able to view exact locations of stars. Where the iPad is directed in the sky, the stars would be in that location on the handheld screen, no telescope necessary. The students interact with the material to gain knowledge.
This is further illustrated by this second example. The best way to learn about Mayan pyramids is to actually visit one in Central America. With the use of laptops, students can connect to the Discove.
It is all about what we have learned and what we can learn more in considering Educational Technology. You'll learn things about Educational Technology that knowing little things what we already knew can make us understand what is Technology really is.
What shapes what? Technologies and their relationship to learningMartin Oliver
Although there is a considerable body of work that explores educational uses of technology, and highly developed accounts of what learning is, surprisingly little research in education has asked what technology is, or what its relationship to learning consists of. When these matters are considered at all, they tend to be framed in technologically deterministic ways, with technology either 'causing' or at the least 'offering' and 'constraining' learning. In this talk, I will provide an overview of this way of framing technology and identify problems that follow from it. I will outline alternative positions that could be adopted, including Communities of Practice, the Social Construction of Technology and Actor-Network Theory, and discuss their points of connection to this debate. Using examples drawn from a JISC-funded project on digital literacies, I will draw out the implications of these positions for research.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical FuturesBhaskar Mitra
The field of Information retrieval (IR) is currently undergoing a transformative shift, at least partly due to the emerging applications of generative AI to information access. In this talk, we will deliberate on the sociotechnical implications of generative AI for information access. We will argue that there is both a critical necessity and an exciting opportunity for the IR community to re-center our research agendas on societal needs while dismantling the artificial separation between the work on fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in IR and the rest of IR research. Instead of adopting a reactionary strategy of trying to mitigate potential social harms from emerging technologies, the community should aim to proactively set the research agenda for the kinds of systems we should build inspired by diverse explicitly stated sociotechnical imaginaries. The sociotechnical imaginaries that underpin the design and development of information access technologies needs to be explicitly articulated, and we need to develop theories of change in context of these diverse perspectives. Our guiding future imaginaries must be informed by other academic fields, such as democratic theory and critical theory, and should be co-developed with social science scholars, legal scholars, civil rights and social justice activists, and artists, among others.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered Quality
Denae Fiez 2444537 EDGE903 Assignment 4
1. Gestalt theory in multimedia design: a guide for teachers Denae Fiez 2444537 EDGE903
2. Background This presentation is designed to assist teaching effective digital multimedia design in the classroom. We look at several of Gestalt’s principals and how they can be applied in multimedia education. I have included examples from my own teaching in order to further illustrate how student’s can apply these principles in order to further develop their design techniques. Examples come from a year 6 class who were asked to design both a brochure and a PowerPoint based website based around Bali. The students received little to no instruction into Gestalt principles.
3. Gestalt Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) state Gestalt theory as being “a family of psychological theories, that have influenced many research areas since 1924, including visual design issues.” They note that “The Gestalt laws explain how the individual elements from the environment may be organised into fields or structures. Traditionally the Gestalt laws are used to suggest how static visual elements should be presented in order to achieve effective visual results.” Jackson (2008) suggests that Gestalt theory has to do with the brain’s “self-organising tendencies.” He states that “although the individual elements may contain some meaning , the coherent whole will have a greater meaning than the sum of the parts.”
4. Gestalt Williams Brosnan and Swan (2008) note that “Gestalt theory states that learning is best achieved if based on understanding”, also known as ‘insightful learning’ “and occurs when the student has understood principals behind the material to be learned, rather than just memorising specific information.” Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) found that Gestalt theory is “one of the foundations for instructional screen design.” and that “it is generally accepted that Gestalt theory may be used to improve educational screen design and thereby improve learning.”
5. Balance / Symmetry “A visual object will appear incomplete if the visual object is not balanced or symmetrical” Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) You can see here the difference between the two examples. In the first figure the page looks very busy and disorganised, as though the pictures do not relate to each other or the overall design. Whereas the balance in the second example makes it seem neater and more complete.
6. Continuation “Continuation is the eye’s instinctive action to follow direction derived from the visual field” Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) You can see here in the first example that the eye has trouble following the visual field, thus the elements look confusing. In the second example, the line of links on the left hand side give the eyes a visual path to follow and thus makes navigation much easier.
7. Closure Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) note Fisher and Smith Gratto (1998-99) when they point out that “open shapes make the individual perceive that the visual pattern is incomplete” and “the sense of incompletion serves as a distraction to the learner.” Moore and Fitz (1993) note that “If an area is not closed, readers search in the local context of the page to see what the area belongs to and then they fill in the gaps in order to complete it.” Thus even though part of the rear picture is obscured, the readers brain automatically fills in the gaps to finish the picture. This is an example of clear closure.
8. Figure / Ground Moore and Fitz (1993) note that “we cannot perceive figures unless they are separate in some way from their backgrounds.” We can see from the above examples that when a similar background colour is used, it makes the content very hard to read. When an appropriate contrasting colour is used as in the example to the right, you find the information a lot easier to read. I have found this to be one of the most common mistakes made with primary school students.
9. Focal Point “The focal point catches the viewer’s attention and persuades the viewer to follow the visual message further.” Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) Whilst in the example on the left, your attention is initially drawn to the heading, your focus then goes upon the links placed randomly around it. The contrasting colours of the heading and links do stand out, but unlike the second example, your attention is not drawn to the important information that the page is trying to convey.
10. Isomorphic Correspondence Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) note that “all images do not have the same meaning to us, because we interpret their meanings based on our experiences.” Using our Bali assessment as an example, it would have been appropriate for the students to use the picture of a Balinese hut as the “home” icon as it is a common symbol. However the use of a random element such as an elephant or orangutan would cause confusion for the user, as they would not be able to readily relate the two.
11. Good Form (Pragnanz) Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) explain good form as “a simple design or a symmetrical layout.” There is much to learn here for primary school students, who, as you can see from the example on the left, often try to fit as much onto a page as possible, particularly when using technology. Simple designs such as that on the right however, are often much more effective.
12. Proximity “The law of proximity states that items placed near each other appear to be in a group” Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) As you can see from this example, the image on the left shows a distinct grouping of the hyperlinks along the top of the page, establishing them as a group and allowing the user to recognise their relationship to one another. Even with the links slightly out of alignment as in the example to the right, you can see that the objects do not appear immediately linked.
13. Similarity Moor and Fitz (1993) explain the law of similarity as “units which resemble each other in shape, size, colour, or direction will be seen together as a homogenous grouping.” This can also be seen in the previous example, where all of the links are of one font type, size and colour. Simply by changing the font of the text immediately removes some meaning from it.
14. Simplicity Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) note Fisher et al. (1998-99) when they state that “when learners are presented with visuals, there is an unconscious effort to simplify what is perceived into what the viewer can understand.” In this example, the information is being cluttered up by the busy background, and the the loud text. If the image and text were presented in a simpler fashion, it would be a lot easier for the user to take the information on board.
15. Unity / Harmony Chang, Dooley and Tuovien (2001) note Lauer (1979) in explaining that “unity implies that a congruity or arrangement exists between elements in a design; they look as though they belong together.” The above example shows three pages from the one website. You can see that whilst navigating through this site, the user would have a large degree of confusion and would not feel comfortable navigating as the pages do not work together to form a site.
16. Recommendations The use of these principals can be quite useful in the primary classroom, particularly in technology, but also in general creative arts and design. As you can see from my examples, by not using the principles, you can end up with some very interesting designs, which are often very hard to read and interpret. Hopefully by keeping these principles in mind, you are able to create an environment of awareness in your classroom when developing multimedia design projects.
17. Reference: 6B Bali Website and Brochures, Grose View Public School, Grose Vale, NSW. Chang., D., Dooley, L., & Tuovinen, J.E, (1001) Gestalt Theory in Visual Screen Design – A New Look at an Old Subject. Seventh World Conference on Computers in Education, Copenhagen, July 29 – August 3, 2001. Jackson, I., (2008), Gestalt – A Learning Theory for Graphic Design Education, International Journal of Art & Design Education, v27 n1 p63-69 Feb 2008 Moore, P., & Fitz C., (1993) Using Gestalt Theory to Teach Document Design and Graphics, Technical Communication Quarterly. Vol 2, No. 4., Fall 1993 Williams, M., Brosnan, S., & Swan, J., (2008) SkillQuests: Bringing real life to the classroom with a collaborative computer-based instructional tool. Proceedings ascilite Melbourne 2008.