Chapter 9 Reflections

Multi...what?  Until this class, I had no idea what the term multimedia really meant and even less knowledge on how to use it in my classroom.  I have learned a lot from this chapter so lets see how I do on answering some reflection questions!

1.  How can my students use multimedia for their projects?
Spreadsheets, powerpoints, video, oh my!  I teach preschool and kindergarten, so a lot of these uses are a little above my students capabilities.  They can watch them and learn from them, but cannot create them themselves.  However, if I were teaching 3rd grade and above, ohhh, what fun we could have!  For examples, my students could design a spreadsheet of date on a topic we were researching in class.  Let's say, the history of North Carolina.  Students could make a spreadsheet to record the data that they are researching online and through books.  Next, they could use the data collected in the spreadsheet to create their own powerpoint project on North Carolina History to present to the class.  Lastly, to take the assignment one step further, they could either find video clips on-line that relate to the subject, or import video that they created themselves by visiting historical sites around our local area.  The benefits to using this technology in the classroom are many.  In fact, Morrison & Lowther (2010) state that using multimedia in the classroom can help students to achieve ISTE NETS goals through:
1.  Creativity and Innovation - demonstrating creative thinking
2.  Research and Information Fluency - using digital tools to evaluate and use the information gathered
3.  Technology Operations and Concepts - demonstrate an understanding of concepts and operations.

2.  What applications are available for creating a multimedia presentation?
If you're ready to for your students to put their computer skills to work and design their own multimedia presentation, you could use the following software:
* Powerpoint - allows students to make a slide show and insert graphics, text and video into their
          presentation.
* Googledocs - although I am not a huge fan of this application, it is a time saver in order to be able to share
          your presentation to other people with the use of a URL address.
* Excel - a great place to make your data bases or spreadsheets.  It's a little tricky to use at first, but well
          worth the time it takes to learn! 
* Moviemaker - I personally love this application to make photo slide shows set to music.  You can even
          insert video into it! It's a great tool to use when asking students to reflect on a recent field trip.
There are many, many more applications that you can use to create a multimedia project.  I would ask your schools media or technology specialist for a list of applications that they have on their computers as well!

3.  Should I place limits on how my students use multimedia?
When developing a multimedia project, sometimes less is more.  It's easy to get caught up in all the "extras" that you can throw on a project, because believe me, there are a ton out there!  However, you do need to set limits on how many images the need to have as well as how much text and video.  Teach them how certain colors and fonts can hurt the viewers eyes and how bigger text that gets straight to the point is better than two or three paragraphs of information.

References:

Morrison, G. R. , & Lowther, D. L. (2010). Integrating computer technology in the classroom. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.