Allowing students to create
multimedia projects at the end of a lesson or unit gives them a creative and
engaging way to share their knowledge and understanding through the creation of
projects. There are many types of
multimedia projects students can create to showcase their learning. Multimedia
can defined as “he integration of
media objects such as text, graphics, video, animation, and sound to represent
and convey information” (Simkins et al, 2002, p.1).
A
project that I have completed using multimedia was with my second grade
classrooms the last two years is called "Piggy Stories". In
this lesson, students compare and contrast the different versions of the
classic story The Three Little
Pigs. They will use
what they learn during this process to write their own narrative. Students will focus on voice, sentence
fluency, and word choice in their creations. When they have finished writing, they will use the web tool Little Bird Tales. With this tool they will create
illustrations for their story and then
use the story they have written to narrate their story and produce a digital
story version. This lesson covers a multitude of Common Core standards
for both Reading Literature and Writing, as well as a variety of NET-S
standards.
When I initially began planning for this project, I had to take a variety of pieces
into account. How was I going to embed technology into this project, how
would I make it cross-curricular, and how would I create a lesson that allowed
the students to collaborate, critically think, be creative and communicate
their understanding? I also had to take into account the web tool or
program that would allow my students to present their digital story in the best
way possible and to be able to share it with a larger audience. Although
we were using the same tool for our product, this tool allowed the students to
be creative by using some choices. They could illustrate their stories
right in the program, or illustrate them by hand and upload them. Besides
using voice to narrate their stories, they could also add text so that it
became a read aloud.
The
next project I want to tackle at the beginning of school is to have one of my
third grade classes help me write and produce a video on the history of our
city. This comes as part of the third grade curriculum but the resources
are very dry. As a group we will brainstorm the important pieces to
include, how we can share these pieces, and the where we will research.
Students will each have an opportunity to create their part of the video
whether its acting, a digital story, or virtual field trip into on of our
historical landmarks. I think that this would be a great way to jazz up
the curriculum while also having the students take ownership of their work.
This will be something we can share with other elementary schools in our
town and continue to build upon in the future.
The
use of multimedia in education creates opportunities for the students to share
their knowledge in a creative and engaging way. It has really played a
key role in helping us improve and grow our curriculum. Students are more
engaged at the opportunity to create and because their creations can be so
easily shared out with the world, they take pride in their work.
Reference:
Simkins,
M., Cole, K., Tavalin, F., & Means, B. (2002, January 1). Increasing
Student Learning Through Multimedia Projects. Increasing Student
Learning Through Multimedia Projects. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/102112.aspx
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