3 Simple Tricks for Using Listicles that will Alter the Shape of Your Learning Universe!

3 Simple Tricks for Using Listicles that will Alter the Shape of Your Learning Universe!

In an interactive roundtable session at the annual SITE conference, along with two of my colleagues from Michigan State University’s Educational Psychology & Educational Technology program, we guided participants through an exploration of the potential affordances and constraints the popular “listicle” format may offer for learning. After exploring the historical roots of this form and what existing research indicates about its educational value, participants created their own listicles as a means of debating its affordances for learning, and shared their evaluation of its potential usefulness through debate and discussion.

This is the initial product I created:

3 Simple Tricks for Using Listicles that will Alter the Shape of Your Learning Universe!

  1. Let learners make powerful and relevant connections between classroom learning and their interests/identities
    • We learn more from images and text than from text alone (Mayer, 2005). Intersperse blocks of text with images, animations, memes, and/or videos!
    • Listicles can draw attention, encourage further reading, and transform situational interest into sustained interest (Hidi & Renninger, 2006).
  2. Encourage synthesis of “big ideas” through the conventions of the listicle genre
    • The process of making meaning across images and texts is more similar than different (Mehta & Mishra, 2016).
    • Incorporate links to related content. Hyperlinks can provide jumping off points for readers to connect with more information on a particular topic and thus may encourage cognitive flexibility (Spiro & Jehng, 1990).
  3. Allow learners to be playful and to share what they create with their peers
    • Listicle design helps enhance chunking and advance organizing information  and potentially benefits in terms of reducing cognitive load (Salomon & Perkins, 2005).

If You Read Nothing Else Today…Read This

When evaluating whether listicles are appropriate for a learning activity, consider:

  • Introducing a topic vs. deep learning
  • The content area/topic
  • Whether listicles will allow students to demonstrate learning
  • Learning outcomes; retention, application, engagement…

Resources

Buzzfeed Title Generator – Ravi Parikh’s Website. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ravi.io/buzzfeed-title-generator

How to Write a Listicle. WikiHow. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Listicle
7 Tips for authoring a successful listicle https://practice2269.wordpress.com/7-tips-for-authoring-a-successful-listicle/
Listicle Creators::

http://www.playbuzz.com/Create
https://www.boombox.com/make-list
Wordpress Listicle plugins