What authentic problem would you use to design a lesson using Merrill’s principles? What media or multimedia (interactive or not) would you create to support it?

I think an authentic problem would be the teacher’s knowledge with technology. Personally, I really agree with Merrill’s principles. Speaking from a student’s perspective, I would want lessons that connect to real world, and have multimedia experiences in the lessons as I am able to engage more if I were presented multimedia. However, put myself in teachers’ shoes, I think it requires additional effort to learn how to incorporate interactive multimedia learning object in my lesson. I believe it is necessary for the school to provide training and technological support for teachers, otherwise, it is putting more stress on teachers.

Moreover, before we can reap the benefits of multimedia, I think it is necessary to think what kinds of media/multimedia students enjoy the most, and have easy access. We should not assume all students as digital native, it is important to be inclusive when we want to incorporate multimedia in our lessons. Thus, technological support should not only provided to teachers, students need support as well.

The media or multimedia I would create to support Merrill’s principles are perhaps animations and simulations. These are my personal preferences of what kinds of multimedia that I enjoy, and I can picture myself benefiting from them. Therefore, this relate to the authentic problem that I discussed earlier which is that teacher’s may have subjective bias on what multimedia to use, and that is not always what the students would enjoy the most.

Big Idea   What is the big idea that the learner will walk away with at the end of the lesson that is critical for learners at this stage of their learning path?	Learning Outcome(s)What specific things will the learner know or be able to do by the end of the lesson?	Evidence of LearningWhat does learning look like for this objective? (e.g., accurate performance of a task, correct use of terminology)	AssessmentsWhat will learners do to provide evidence of their learning? (e.g., a presentation, a test, a project)	Learning ActivitiesWhat learning activities will allow learners to acquire and practice the skills necessary to demonstrate their learning and complete the assessment successfully?
The learner will understand that Mandarine can be learned using pictography.	By the end of the lesson, learner will be able to use pictography to recognize unfamilar words.	An accurate identification of Mandarine characters based on pictography.	Complete a quiz for basic Mandarine characters.	Watch video lessons on how to use pictography in leaning Mandarine characters and practice sheets.