Prototype
Zikora and Devin
Brief Project Intro:
As neurobiology students, we have both experienced some of the most demanding and conceptually challenging courses that UVIC and university has to offer. Despite our similarity in academic interest and the material we study, our individual strategies differ in how we approach note taking, information retention, and practicing. The similarity of path, yet contrast in strategy inspired us to explore the science of effective study habits as the focus of our Open Educational Resource (OER), with the overall goal of helping students understand and improve how they learn.
POV statement:
A university student who struggles or wants to improve managing time effectively and retaining complex information needs clear, engaging, and scientifically backed guidance on effective study habits to improve overall academic performance.
Context and Audience:
Our Open Educational Resource (OER) focuses on improving study habits for university students primarily who are seeking practical and research-based ways to learn more effectively and efficiently. University life can be demanding, as students must balance courses, labs, exams, social life and other extracurriculars, while simultaneously remaining motivated and focused. This especially applies to STEM students such as ourselves in rigorous programs, where retaining and understanding complex information requires high levels of effort and effective strategies. The primary audience of our OER are undergraduate students, particularly those in first and second years who are still developing their own habits and learning routines. This resource will also benefit any learner interested in improving their academic performance whether they are in high school or grad school as well.
The typical users of our resource will be motivated students who want to perform well but feel overwhelmed by the amount of material received and academic pressure. Extreme cases may involve students who face learning barriers such as poor time management, text anxiety, and those who have ineffective note taking strategies. We also want our OER to be both inclusive and accessible to students with learning limitations such as those who struggle with attention, executive functioning, language barriers, or have cognitive disabilities that hinder their learning. Taking into account these types of students we want our OER to have clear visuals, concise language, and interactive media.
We want to provide a variety of techniques, including those that have proved effective for us and those that have not. This allows learners using our resource to reflect and personalize their own approaches to studying. This resource will also explain why the techniques that we present work, drawing on the psychology and neuroscience of studying. We want to help students understand the science behind studying, teaching them processes such as memory encoding, active retrieval, repetition, and the importance of rest. Our aim with this OER is to make studying more intentional and strategic, allowing students to take control of their learning leading to overall academic success.
Looking at our project through a psychographic lens, our target audience values self-improvement, achievement, and efficiency. Many students today have a preference for multimedia learning involving short, engaging, and easily digestible content, compared to long text-heavy formats. We recognize that attention spans are shorter than they have ever been, and that students often turn to digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok to learn new skills. The aim of our OER is to present information in a way that respects these learning preferences, focusing on delivering scientifically backed strategies in an appealing, time-conscious manner. Through this combination of educational theory and practical examples, our goal is to help students become more confident in their study habits. This is not only necessary to to better on exams, but to become more effective learners in all facets of life.
Learning objectives
- Understand the science of effective study habits
Learners will learn different tools to study like retrieval practice, active recall and spaced repetition
- Reflect and find what study methods work best for themselves
- Develop structured and realistic study plan using time management
- Recognize the role of mental health and lifestyle in learning
Sub objectives
- Develop self awareness and adaptability to effectively learn
- Promote Intrinsic Motivation
- Enhance self efficacy
Ideation
- Our brainstorming process began with us just speaking on the phone trying to find ideas that we both connected without ruling anything out. We then met in person to try to narrow down what ideas worked best. Our first idea was around sports because we both love soccer and we looked at the idea of explain the rules of soccer or how to become a better soccer player.
- However we wanted a new topic that could apply to our academic side and that we could share with friends. We then landed on study habits which from there we expanded to study habits + how to be a better learner.
Storyboard
Webpage 1
How does studying work in the brain?
- Go through the science and the pathways in the brain that help them learn
Webpage 2
Different techniques to study
- Go over different techniques to study like active recall, spaced repetition
Webpage 3
How to study effectively
- How to manage time and organization to learn
Webpage 4
How to make your body and brain prepared to learn
- Healthy daily habits like sleep, drinking water and staying in a positive mindset
Webpage 5
- Cited sources
Principles applied
Segmenting principle
By using several webpages we will be able to break down the overall idea into small chunks that the reader will be able to digest and build upon the more they read. This reduces exogenous cognitive load and increases the effectiveness of our resources.
Dual coding theory
The use of images and writing will be used in a balanced manor to reach different pathways in the brain to give multiple channels to process information.
Redundancy principle + Coherence principle
It is very easy to go overboard on a webpage with images and text all over but we are going to create a balanced page that does not overload the user with so much information they don’t know where to start. This includes only adding vital relevant information that helps get the knowledge to the user and smoothly transition to the next webpage.
ADDIE model
This model is going to be used to design the webpage to make sure that it is an effective resource that can be used. The good thing about the ADDIE model is that it is not a one time a one time cyle it can be used over and over to re evaluate, change something, test it out then reflect on what works and what does not work.
Peer review
The peer review feedback was very helpful and taken into consideration when designing the project. The feedback emphasized that the overall topic and approach of the OER is highly relevant and relatable for university students, especially those juggling heavy workloads and responsibility outside of school. The reviews noted that the focus on time management and the science behind effective study habits is relatable for our audience. They also highlighted that the project was research based and easy to connect with. The main suggestion for improvement was focused on just increasing the depth and finding ways to increase engagement in line with the universal design of learning. The main suggestions for improvement was finding a way to include active learning in the project as reading the website may not keep students engaged. The suggestions ranged from adding a hook in the beginning to adding a short quiz in the end. Overall the main idea was our prototype was very strong and relevant with room to tweak to add to the final product. Furthermore the peer review mentioned an incomplete prototype which was noted and will be completed upon completion of the final project.
In response to the peer review we decided that feedback is very important especially from an outside perspective as they will be the users of our website and the fact that we could get feedback from fellow students which is our target audience was very helpful. We decided that to improve our design we would add a recording transcript of website writing to make it more accessible to a larger demographic. We also tried to make the website simple to not add to exogenous cognitive load and also added our goals in the front page of the website to make it clear the goals of the website so the student feels engaged and as if they will be accomplishing a goal when reading the website.
Team Reflection:
Throughout the creation of our OER, one of the aspects that worked particularly well was our use of clear structure and segmentation. Breaking the content into multiple webpages allowed us to apply Mayer’s segmenting principles which our peer reviewers identified as a major strength. We felt like we struck the most effective way to present information that felt digestible and organized, preventing cognitive overload for the readers of our OER. We believe that this was due to our collaborative process. Both of us were able to build on each other’s ideas and give constructive feedback. This overall created a resource that combines our scientific background with effective study strategies.
Another part of our process that worked well was our use of the ADDIE model which guided our overall design. Using this tool for our analysis helped us identify our audience and their challenges like cognitive overload, stress, and ineffective strategies. With this knowledge we were able to shape how we wanted to present the content. Our peers suggested that we didn’t fully explain how we used ADDIE to guide each step. In our updated iteration we expanded our descriptions of how ADDIE shaped choices like information chunking, design layouts and during our evaluation of our early website draft.
A major revision we included after our peer review was adding audio narration for each of the webpages to make them more inclusive and accessible. This change was influenced by the UDL’s principle of providing multiple means of representation. This directly improves accessibility for learners who benefit from auditory input, language support, or struggle due to disability. Our peer reviewers also encouraged us to improve on the interactivity of our resource in the form of quizzes. We took this suggestion in a different direction. Instead of incorporating quizzes, we added engagement elements like self reflection prompts, practical “tips” and step-by-step tutorials. These changes supported our goal of creating a resource that prompted achieving active learning and also aligned with the tone and purpose of our OER.
Reflecting more broadly we both agree that creating a multimedia resource helped us see both the strengths and limit citations of utilizing a multimedia format. Multimedia supports learning by combining text, visuals, and audio in a way that activates multiple neural pathways and reduces cognitive load. It also allows learners to direct their own studies by revisiting sections and engaging in multiple learning modalities. However, multimedia has its limitations. It can become overwhelming due to the amount of content presented at once and it requires the learner to avoid distractions that are common in a digital environment. Through our revision process, we learned the importance of intentional design, which aligns with Mayer’s coherence and redundancy principles. Our experience further highlights how multimedia can be a powerful tool when used purposefully, but one that demands careful planning to fully support accessibility and understanding.
Concluding this process allowed us to recognize the importance of intentional design and how it shapes learner experience. Applying frameworks that we have learned in this course including UDL, ADDIE, and Mayer’s principles helped us move beyond simply presenting information, and instead creating an accessible, learner-centered resource backed by cognitive science. This project also expanded our awareness of accessibility as an active design choice rather than an afterthought. Overall, this process strengthened both our OER and our understanding of effective multimedia learning design.
Zikora personal reflection
This project was very interesting. I had never created my own website so I was excited to tackle this challenge. Originally I had some fear trying to think about a topic and how we would even benign to create a website. Devin and I met up to brainstorm topics that could be useful to students and us and we thought of study habits. We then decided that we wanted to not make it the same old study habits but include actual methods that a student could act on physically and mentally. The work was split up with Zikora creating the website because one person has access to it and then Devin and I split up the 4 topics. This worked very well and efficiently and we were able to get this done without too many hiccups. After we made the project we refined a few things and we both pooled in our peer feedback to see if we could make additions to improve. In the future I would spend more time on website design and look at more options for website creations. However devin and I worked well and had a great balance which is why our project was a success. Devin did a great job doing his part of the work and I really appreciate that.
Devin personal refection
My major contribution to the project was adding the images and working on the half od the writing for the website. This involved finding images that did not deviate from the goal but yet adding more impact to the website. ZIkora and I worked really well in balancing the work load equally and effectively to be efficient and to make a project that we could be proud of. Zikora worked on creating the website and the other half of the writing. Together we looked at our final project and tweaked any minor or major details that were missing which included adding a voice transcript to the website. For this we split the 4 recordings in half again demonstrating our amazing teamwork. In the future now that we have experience in web design we would like to test our creative limits in design and see what we could create with perhaps a different program.
Final project