Video Blogging - An Experiment

Multimedia Projects in the Classroom - A Video Blog

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The Transcript:

This week we will be trying something a little different;diverting from the plain old text blog to the world of video! What better way can you think of to introduce the benefits of multimedia in the classroom? I have chosen to focus on student use of multimedia in the classroom and in particular multimedia projects.

But before we go any further, what is a multimedia project? Multimedia projects are projects that combine multiple media types such as text, audio, video, pictures, graphics, etc. into a single cohesive unit. Multimedia projects can vary in both style and complexity depending on the subject, grade level and student ability. For example screen casting a presentation or student created digital stories could both qualify as multi media projects. While Multimedia projects are not entirely new to the classroom, tools are now widely available that make this type of project easy and accessible.

As we all know it is becoming increasingly more important that the students of today understand how to communicate and collaborate in a digital world. One tool we can use in the classroom to introduce this 21^st century tool set is the multimedia project. This type of project enables us to introduce many of the 21^st century skill they need to become both literate consumers and producers of digital content.While addressing 21^st century skills is a positive benefit to multimedia use in the classroom there are also several others. M.D. Robyler in her book “Integrating Educational Technology into teaching” cites several benefits to multimedia use, such as:

1. Increase Student Motivation
2. The ability to address multiple modes of learning
3. Application of higher order thinking skills

Multimedia project do this by presenting students with the opportunity to approach a project in a way that is familiar to them and relevant to how students gather, integrate, and synthesize information in the 21st century. Multimedia projects address some of the skills students need to communicate and collaborate in a digital format while challenging students to go further and apply higher order thinking skills. According to Bloom's Digital Taxonomy by Andrew Churches the actions students are taking when constructing multimedia projects such as remixing, synthesizing, editing, and mashing are all examples of HOTS in this digital age.

OK that’s all good, maybe even great, but how do we as educators assess student learning in a multimedia project? There are two ways: process and presentation. The process of planning for and creating a multimedia project requires critical thinking as we already established so it makes some sense to evaluate students not only on the product of their endeavors but also on the process: how did they get where they ended up? The final product can also be evaluated based on content. Multimedia projects offer students a creative way to demonstrate their learning and often this will shine through in their projects.

References:

Roblyer, M. D. (2006). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (4th Edition). Prentice Hall.

Churches, Andrew (2009). Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom's+Digital+Taxonomy.