Chapter 9 Reflections

How can my students use multimedia for their projects?
Students, even in the elementary grades, have a broad scope of what they can do with multimedia for their projects. The possibilitie are endless and only limited by our imaginations. Examples of multimedia, then, could include:
1. Students using Mocrosoft Excel to record data and produce charts when comparing different cities' temperatures for a unit on weather.
2. A class website that displays digital photos of their artwork.
3. A  group of students creating a digital movie that they wrote and produced together.
4. Students using Microsoft PowerPoint for a presentation about the life cycle of butterflies.
5. 5th grade students using Webspiration Classroom to brainstorm.
6. Students using VoiceThread to share their poetry and artwork.
As seen in the above examples, the various multimedia activities encourage students to work in groups and express their knowledge in multiple ways. It can empower students that might have learning styles or might be shy to shine through their creativity.
Love this video found on youtube:


What applications are available for creating a multimedia presentation?
Like the endless ways to use multimedia, it seems there are endless tools that can be used to create multimedia projects. Glogster seems to be a worthy one to use. It is a free applicationa and is safe. Students can use this in a variety of ways,  including creating multimedia projects within groups, daily journaling, or creating storyboards. Voicethread is another multiuse application. Again, it is free. What fun its it for students to write poems and read them into a microphone, and then put them all together for one class presentation. Students in the early grades can use Microsoft PowerPoint for a variety of presentations, including their presentation on endangered speces. Googledocs is a wonderful way for students to collaborate on papers or presentations. Microstof Excel is a wonderful tool, for young students even, to create craphs and compare data. Teachers can also use all these tools and more for their instruction. Can you imagine students using Microsoft PowerPoint to create something like this (of course with more age approprate content!):


Should I place limits on how my students use multimedia?
I do think that studens should have limits placed on their use of multimedia, especially when creating their presentations. Students should not have free reign to add every animation possible within one presentation. It can be distracting to the point of losing the audience from the exercise. Students should also adhere to the rules of the school and copyright when creating their projects. However, as society moves into using more and more technology, students will need to increase their knowledge of technology. Let's not forget that there is still value to the more traditional forms of work, such as handwriting in a journal or drawing a picture with crayons instead of using the computer.