Chapter 9- Expressing Creativity with Multimedia Technologies

Focus Question: How can teachers create PowerPoint presentations for maximum teaching potential and learning impact?

     In order to reach maximum teaching potential and learning impact, a teacher must strategize the creation and presentation of the PowerPoint. PowerPoint gives teachers a chance to create interesting presentations, however keeping the students attention and successfully explaining information is very important.

-A teacher can generate class discussion by using images. Direct and detailed images are going to appeal to the students more so than a paragraph of words.  

-A teacher can promote visual analysis for the discussion topics. The images should create discussion in the classroom.

-Display the questions to short writing prompts in the presentation. The students can write short essays to summarize the presentation and tell what he or she thought was most important.

-The PowerPoint slides should be used to capture the attention of the students. The teacher is the one teaching the class. The presentation should be used as an aid in conveying the material. Make the slides interesting and appealing to the students in your classroom. Keep them simple and to the point. Also, keep them engaged by asking questions and telling stories.

-Create PowerPoint games with the students to help them develop problem solving and learning skills.

Digital Dialog 9.2:

1. Using short videos as a teaching tool is great because short videos could explain a concept in better detail than a teacher could. The videos are usually more entertaining for students. This could help them comprehend the information. A disadvantage would be if the videos are not educational and not useful for educational purposes. Also, if the student is not interested in the video content, he or she may not benefit from watching it.

2. If I was using video in my classroom, I would want the students to watch the full video before asking them to reflect on it in a written or group discussion. I would not want to stop throughout the video because I feel as though stopping would interrupt the learning process. When you pause the video and talk, you are taking their attention off of the video and what is going on. Continuously stopping could stop comprehension.

3. I think students would pay closer attention and learn more from videos they have created themselves. The students would take pride in their creation. They are being forced to learn new information in order to create the video about it, so they have to retain the information. When a student simply watches a video, there is a chance that they may not fully understand what the video is about.

     Multimedia is a big part of the curriculum in schools today. In most classrooms, teachers use multimedia during instruction every day. I do believe that multimedia is beneficial in our classrooms; however there are times where they can be a distraction as well. They have to be used in the correct way in order to be successful in helping students learn new concepts. Statistics show that people learn more when being taught through more than one source of information. In this chapter, it is called multimodal learning. When a teacher combines his/her lecture with the use of visuals and models, the students have a better chance of retaining the information.

     PowerPoint is well-known software program that is used by many teachers and students throughout the world. PowerPoint is a simple way to present information, but teachers can spice it up by adding different affects and graphics. In order to make PowerPoint presentations and effective tool in education, the teacher must make it interactive and engaging. The teacher must get their point across without overwhelming the students with too much information.

     I am an advocate for the use of video in the classroom. I believe it helps the students learn information in a different way. The students get bored with standard instruction, so using videos can be more interesting and enjoyable for them. The videos should stay at a shorter length so the students are staying focused. 

                               Educational Postcard, a photo by KenWhytock on Flickr. 

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 8- Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media

Focus Question: How would you describe the impact of communications technologies for teachers and students?

Communication technologies allow the students and teacher, as well as the parents, to be on the same page about information pertaining to their classroom. Email and text messaging allows electronic conversations and communications to occur. This is a quick and easy way to ask questions and bring up concerns. Classroom websites are a great source for parents and students. If they want to know what is going on in the classroom, they can all go to the same place. Blogs and online discussions encourage open communication about a wide variety of topics. Wiki’s are a great collaboration option. This allows students and teachers to work together in creating an online resource. All of these media technologies are used to enhance communication inside and outside of the classroom. These technologies let students share their ideas and information with their peers.

Digital Dialog 8.1:

1. In my opinion, texting is a popular way of communication because of how convenient it is. You can be sitting at your house in Florida and text your friend in Italy within a second. Some people are more shy and reserved in person, and communicating through texting is easier for those people.

2. Reading skills may be enhanced through texting because of the constant reading and interpreting that occurs. Writing skills, however, are lacking since texting became popular. Abbreviations and the shortening of phrases and words are making their way into classroom assignments and papers. Unfortunately, people are using their texting language in inappropriate situations. I personally write out each word and phrase how it is supposed to be written. I make sure that I am grammatically correct while texting. I have not, and will not, allow texting to hinder my writing skills.

3. Teachers are going to have to focus on the importance of grammar and spelling as texting becomes an issue in writing skills. Some of my professors have reiterated that we are not allowed to use texting language within research papers. I thought that was common sense, but apparently it is an issue in classrooms today.

As technology has become more prominent in our daily life, we have started to use it as forms of communication. Communication technology that is used in the real world can also be used in a classroom setting as well. Teachers can use a multitude of programs as a way to communicate with their students and their parents. These programs such as email, texting, bogs, and online discussions, allow students to expand their learning and exchange information between their peers. Teachers can communicate through synchronous or asynchronous communication. Synchronous is immediate. Cell phone conversations through texting or voice calls are a quick and efficient way to communicate. Asynchronous has a bit of a delay.  Reaching a professor through canvas is an example of this.

In this chapter, we learned how to integrate electronic communications into teaching. Throughout my years in school, I have seen my teachers use these. I have had to complete many discussion posts online to engage learning outside of the classroom. This blog post is another example of that. I really like the idea of sharing information with the families of the students in your classroom. A class website is a one-stop-shop for all parents to receive the same information and stay updated with what is going on. Keeping the families involved makes it more enjoyable for everyone. Below is an example of a classroom website for a 4th grade class. Teachers can use Facebook and Twitter to create classroom pages as well. These pages can be private and only available for certain people. 

                   

                                           New Class Website, a photo by BarbaraLN on Flickr.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.