Wednesday, March 11, 2015

EDU6215 Article 1: Multimedia



Reference:
Schrand, T. (2008). Tapping into active learning and multiple intelligences with interactive multimedia: A low-threshold classroom. College Teaching, 56 (2), 78-84. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=20bbd1bf-52fc-403e-9f24-b1b1432b865c%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=32013591

The article by Schrand gave several insights into the benefits for learning when using multimedia in a classroom.  The article was written by a college professor who teaches liberal arts courses.  The article focuses mainly on interactive technologies, such as an interactive whiteboard, flash program, or similar products that allow manipulation to occur easily. 
            The professor took two different activities from two of his courses and reworked them to allow the introduction of multimedia into his course.  The first activity was to separate a list of phrases into two columns based on similar characteristics.  Without multimedia, the professor would teach this lesson by collecting the list of terms from the students, writing them on the board, and then erasing and rewriting until all terms were in the correct category.  Note the majority of this lesson involves the instructor being at the head of the class, and directing the discussion.  The second activity was for students to show cause and effect relationships between several topics using arrows.  Without technology, students would break up into groups, create a poster with large paper and markers, and then post their result on the wall. Students would present their ideas to the whole class, and comparison and discussion would ensure regarding each groups choices.  Not in this case, the students not in the group presenting had a very passive role in their learning. 
            After reworking both lessons, the professor noted some interesting changes.  For the first activity, the professor used a manipulative board, in which all phrases were listed in the middle of a 3 column chart to begin with.  Each column on the side represented to the common characteristic that students were meant to put each phrase.  The lesson then progressed with students working in groups to discuss where each phrase should go.  After discussing each group was responsible for going to the board and moving a few phrases into the column they thought fit best.  After the first round, students from each group were given a chance to argue or challenge the choices made by some of the other groups.  Students were allowed to again go to the board and move the phrases around as the arguments progressed. 
            There are several large benefits to the change in this activity.  First, it removes the teacher as the expert in the classroom. Students become responsible for their own learning, as they themselves must go up to the board to rearrange the phrases.  Since this was done in groups though, it was a very low risk action for the students.  Also, the teacher did not need to lead the discussion anymore, and students could argue and rearrange the phrases as they saw fit.  This resulted in very good discussion, with critical thinking skills being developed along the way.  A second benefit was that because the teacher was removed from facilitating the discussion, he could observe and moderate the lesson more effectively.  Paying attention to how the discussion progressed, the professor was better able to judge the learning outcomes that occurred.  Finally, multiple modes of learning were accomplished during the same lesson.  Kinesthetic learners were able to move around, go up the board, and interactive with the phases.  Visual learners we able to clearly see the separation of the columns on the board.  Audio learners were able to participate in the discussion that followed each move.  The multimedia created a very diverse lesson, in which students were actively engaged in their learning.
            The second activity had many similar benefits as the first.  By creating an interactive lesson, again students took control of their learning, and the teacher was not the main focus.  The movement of the arrows to show cause and effect created a very fluid lesson that was allowed to develop naturally with the students understanding of the material.  Students were much more engaged with the interactive technology as opposed to posters on the wall because the entire classroom was responsible for creating a final flowchart.  Instead of each group creating their own, a final productive was produced.  This means as other groups were making arguments about particular viewpoints, other students had to be actively listening so they could refute the arguments if they chose to disagree.  Again multiple intelligences were addressed during the lesson, including kinesthetic, visual, and audio learners. 
            In conclusion, the use of the interactive multimedia allowed for a classroom that was student centered.  The technology created a great environment to collaborate, investigate, discuss, argue, and adapt.  The multimedia used to create these two activities were not significantly difficult technologies for the professor to implement into the lesson, yet the benefits resulting from the change was impressive.

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