Blog Entry #7: Multimedia Presentations

        Multimedia presentations are a great way to be sure that we are preparing our students to become truly literate in the 21st century.

Resource: https://www.imaginewebsolution.com/multimedia-presentation

        I have had various experiences using multimedia presentations in my secondary classroom.    When I decided to become a history teacher, I vowed that I would never make history seem boring.  I tried to do this in many different ways.  My goal was to avoid becoming a lecturer that simply made them copy down notes I wrote on the board.  One way that I was able to do this was through the use of multimedia presentations.  For example, if I did lecture, it involved powerpoint with images, sound, and even video clips to engage students.  This way, if I was explaining complex ideas, I could offer students images and graphics to help them understand the material.  

        One multimedia project that my department had students complete was a Virtual Museum using powerpoint.  After studying the birth of civilizations in our World History course, students had to research and create a Virtual Museum about a specific civilization.  This was a very fun multimedia project for students to share their individual research.  Aside from researching their civilization, students also had to really engage with all of the functions of powerpoint to create their museum.  These functions included:  typing, formatting, drawing, creating hyperlinks.  While there was a pretty steep learning curve in the beginning of the project, once students started working with powerpoint...they began to really have fun!  Below is a video that shows how one teacher helps students/teachers learn how to build the museum.  There are many other sources to help create these types of museums.  

Resource:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj4rSiRKb7I

        I really enjoyed examining all of the other ways that we can use multimedia in our own classrooms.  One of the ideas I thought would be neat was to examine the way students read by using Screencasting apps.  I could have students "Talk to the Text" while they read along with an assigned passage.  I could model the activity in class, and then have students complete the reading independently.  This could show me how individual students are actually processing what they are reading.  I also really liked the idea of using screencasting as an assessment tool to deliver feedback to student written work.  I think it could be really powerful to actually narrate our grading process so that our comments are less ambiguous.  

        I do have some concerns when using multimedia in the classroom.  One major concern is the time it will take to actually have the students learn how to use some of the tools.  For example, it took some students a considerable amount of time to figure out how to build their museum using powerpoint...even with scaffolding.  One way that we can deal with the issue of time is to perhaps make the project interdisciplinary.  For example, we could work with school technology specialists to either use technology time to build projects, OR they could help us to streamline the process in our own classrooms.  

        Another issue with using these tools was the varied experiences students have with different programs.  One thing that was really interesting during the Virtual Museum Project was the way that some students actually became quite savvy very quickly within powerpoint.  Once I recognized this, those students were able to help other students.  It was really neat to see students take on a mentorship role for other students. It was a great way for some students to exhibit leadership skills.  

        We cannot ignore the fact that technology is here to stay.  Furthermore, it is going to continue to evolve, and we, as educators, must prepare our students to engage with this technology.  School multimedia projects allow students a great way to safely begin to engage with the technology they will be required to use in the future.