Using Multimedia Design for Real

Well, Educ 525, this is it. Maybe I'll continue blogging (sometimes), we'll see. Anyhow, before I go:

Of all the things I learned in Multimedia in Instructional Design, I am most excited about learning about the resources that Web 2.0 can offer. While before this course I new what a blog, social networking site, and wiki were (and had used them all in some form or another), I had never before heard the term "web 2.0" and had to go home and look it up on wikipedia. Lo and behold, I knew what web 2.0 was without knowing it. Anyway, I think the point about what web 2.0 can really do that I found most exciting was when Dr. Kozloski showed us that website "all things web 2.0." The list and the amount of resources that were there was amazing! In fact, the site that I am using for my final project presentation (www.formatpixel.com), is one I found on the "all things..." webpage. While it seems like I could spend days and days investigating the website and all the resources it has to offer up, I can't wait to delve in and find the websites, widgets, and programs that will be useful in enhancing the education of my students. Not all the programs that are listed on the site are free, and that's ok, because for everyone that costs money, I am sure this is a similar one that offers the same service and experience for nothing. Family tree programs, blog servers, social networking sites, webpage creators, presentation programs... the possibilities are endless. At the very least, these sites will give me ideas for projects, lessons, presentations, and ways to go about all of them. I feel that using web 2.0 in the classroom provides endless lessons and invaluable experience for both students and teachers. I can't wait to start using it!

R-Directed Thinking

R-directed thinking has never been particularly easy for me. I love for things to be pretty and neat and perfect, and while there isn't anything in that that prevents me from being R-directed, it turns creating visual aids, powerpoints, and any type of multimedia into a long and tedious process. I think that to become a better 21st Century educator, I definitely need to more fully embrace the right side of my brain and further incorporate it into any and all activities and lessons that I design. However, I also need to try to loosen the grip on the left side of my brain and let things get a little bit messy sometimes - perfection can be good, but it is not always the best result. Sometimes results can mean more when they turn out imperfect!

As a current pre-school teacher, please don't think I don't let my students get messy. Please - when we paint it can become a child dipped in green and pink. But, I still think that I need to find the empathy portion of Daniel Pink's analysis of R-directed thinking a little bit more. In order to best meet the needs and interests of my students, I need to become more apt at seeing the lesson and activities from their perspectives, and include more and also new forms of multimedia, visual points, and fun activities and projects to enhance the lesson. I think my left brain has a very rightful place in being a 21st Century teacher, but, like I said, I need to loosen the grip over there and reach a little harder for the right side of myself.

Calculus... did I learn anything?

In short - no, no I did not learn a single thing in Calculus 1 the fall semester of my freshman year of college. While I have never been stellar at math, I have always been able to grasp at least the basics of the various courses I have taken and complete the homework assignments. Not calculus. I can seriously not tell you a single thing that we did the entire semester. I can define an integral as the under a curve, but, for the life of me, I cannot tell you how to find one - nor could I have told you at any point in my educational career. Do I blame myself for my terrible calc experience? Not really. I know that I tried as hard as I could by reading the book, attempting the homework, and going to office hours at least once a week. But, when your professor can only see and teach in one way, and it's not the same way as you, then you are likely doomed. Such way my calculus experience.

I stated in my learning style post that I am typically a verbal learner over a visual one, and calculus was an example of that. Drawing one graph on the board and giving one sentence about it just isn't going to do it for me. Instead, I need a full explanation with lots of examples, when it comes to math. If I could go back to calc 1, I think that the use of multimedia may have really enhanced my learning experience. I mean, seriously, the only way to go was up.

The use of graphing programs and animations would definitely have helped me to better understand the concepts that my professor was trying to get across, and would have also provided me with the explanation and examples that I needed. In the thread about open source software, Will talked about a program called KTurtle, and that seems to be a great example of the type of program that would have helped me. A computer program that would allow me to the go through the math equations step by step, and also give me instant graphical feedback would have allowed me to see and better understand the relationship between the two components of the problems. Of course, a program like the one I am talking about would have to be assessed by the professor/teacher as to its application abilities to the lesson at hand, and that may take time on the teacher's part (to find relevant programs, to weed out the best and most useful ones, and to learn how to use them - at least in the most basic sense), but isn't that part of the job? To find and provide the best ways for your students to learn? My calc professor didn't really look for a way to truly help me gain something from his course, but I would hope that if I were him I would research ways to help my students learn through many ports, both paper-based and multimedia.

Technology Integration

Without a doubt, "After the Bell, Beyond the Walls" encompasses the essential conditions for technology integration. Eric Langhorst seems well deserving of being calling a pioneer in middle school education, and education as a whole. His discussion on the influence of technology as an expansion of education and learning is exeptional in its forsight and its realism. I found most exciting the creation of the StudyCast, which allowed Langhorst's students to prepare for tests while doing everyday tasks like walking the dog and riding the bus. It allows students to embrace school in a technological form that they have already incorporated in their daily lives. As so many educational philosophists have encouraged - education is not preparation for life, education is life, and Langhorst's combining of test reviews with accepted and enjoyed technology makes education a constant part of the lives of his students, rather than just a designated section of Monday through Friday.

The second point in the article, about the online book club set up through Blogger is a terrific idea that I now plan on using in my future classrooms. While Langhorst teaches 8th grade and I want to teach mid-elementary schoool, I can also use this system of assigning students an age-appropriate novel in the "traditional manner" and incorporating technology to enhance the experience through discussion with classmates, but also with readers of the book from around the country. Having the author be involved to answer questions and discuss the novel with the students is also a wonderful point. Giving students the ability to question the writer and discuss specific point of the writing process and the novel itself gives students the ability to better assess the meaning of the text and all to feel involved in their own education. The assignment is no longer just literature or history homework, it becomes a comprehensive discussion and interactive experience. Students from every ability level and interest level are able to keep up, get involved, and drive their own experience through the use of multimedia. No one is left out or left behind, and everyone feels like that have gained education in literature, history, reading ability, technology experience and ability, personally from their experience.

Like a said, without a doubt, Eric Langhorst has found a way to encompass all the essential conditions for technology integration, and he has done so by taking education out of the school walls and into the lives of his students.

What's in the News?

Article: High Pitched Teen Repellent
"High Pitched Teen Repellent." CNNVideo. CNN.com/Tech. ITN. 12 Feb. 2008. <http://www.cnn.com/video/#/tech>


Summary: This video discussed a new technology that is becoming all the rage for small shop and business owners in England. The Mosquito, a device that can be placed outside stores, projects a high pitched squeal that is meant to be annoying to young people and, therefore, prevent loitering. In the video, various people are interviewed on their opinion of the device. All of the young people interviewed found the device's sound to be extremely annoying, if not downright painful to their ears, and some noted that the placement of the mosquito in public places was an infringment upon their rights. The adults who were spoken to noted that teenagers tend to hang around constantly and cause trouble, and so they supported the placement of the mosquito outside stores. The reporter, ITN's John Sparks, noted each of the interviewed's opinions, but, at the end of his piece wondered allowed whether a device like the mosquito is fair when every young person is subjected to its noise.


Response: The creation of a device like the mosquito is one that seems to have been in the works for a while. Various types of anti-loitering measures that are commonly taken by store owners seem to do nothing to stem the flow of teens and young adults from lingering outside of their businesses. From simple signs posted by convenience stores to the playing of loud classical music outside of malls, many businesses find that the amount of noise, trash, and disturbance created by loitering young people is not worth the amount of business that these groups may provide between their boisterous hanging around. I find it slightly humorous that the same technology that produces the "silent ringtone" for students with cell phones in school (a buzzing ringtone that usually cannot be heard by adults over the age of ~25), is likely the same basic technology that has produced this mosquito sound for adults to use against teenagers. It seems that so called "Digital Immigrants" are taking some matters into their own hands. While they may be new to the field of technology, these technological-newbies are using the products of the "Digital Natives" to ward the internet generation off (physically, that is).


My View: Personally, my ears just about bled while watching this video. I could hear the sound that the mosquito produces very well, and found it annoying and almost painful. I can definitely see how this device would be effective in preventing loitering. However, I also agree with the boy who noted that the makers and buyers of the mosquito are assuming that young people are the only people who cause trouble - are there not people over the age of ~25 who cause social problems? What is being done to stop them? Implicity, the device's popularity also assumes that all young people are there to cause trouble. Those young people who linger outside a store for 5 minutes are likely not there to cause any problems at all. Furthermore, the video also notes that the devices are being installed outside parks and other public spaces - any place where young people might gather, in fact. I understand why business owners do not want people to loiter outside of their stores; however, installing the mosquito in so many public areas seems ridiculous to me. Where are young people supposed to gather at all? Are they only safe indoors? It seems that the mosquito could be useful in moderation, but already this news broadcast implies that it is being taken too far, to quite unfair proportions. In addition, Sparks notes that because the sound targets an entire age group, any passerbys of the mosquito are also subjected to its noise and forced to suffer. Is it really fair to punish a group en masse for the crimes of a few? I don't think so. I believe that a better way to stem problems of loitering should be found. Technology, I am sure, can provide a less biased, less painful solution.


Questions: Are there many places for these digital natives to gather and use their modern, technology-driven lifestyles freely? Or do they feel suffocated by the world of the digital immigrant, their natural technology not welcome? Is there a less destructive way to use technology to ward off loitering? Would providing more common, technologically advanced places for teens and young people to gather help to stem the loitering problem?

Text Response for Chapters 1 and 2

The topic of cooperative learning stood out in chapter one of the Ivers and Barron text. Here, the authors discuss the difference between cooperative and traditional learning and also the benefits of cooperative learning over the traditional forms. Cooperative learning is a system that includes positive interdependence, individual accountability, group processing, peer responsibility, and heterogenous membership. In reading through the text, I saw that these aspects of cooperative learning are also those that support a happy, respectful classroom environment and encourage students to discover their own interests and find a love of learning in general. However, the tendency for "pitfalls" in a cooperative learning environment that are noted by researchers are true, and must be avoided in any way possible. No one in a class can truly succeed if either the more capable group members or the less capable group members are doing more work than anyone else in order for someone to receive a free ride. Individual accountability seems to be one of the most important aspects of cooperative learning in this respect, in that, each group member must complete their share of the work and cannot receive a complete grade or "easy A" just because the other members held up their own ends.

As for chapter two, I found the most helpful section to be the DDDE style of creating lesson plans. Every teacher seems to have, at some point, created the lesson plan that simply didn't work: whether the students were bored, the lesson didn't really "reach" the students, the lesson didn't fit the topic, or the students didn't really get an worthwhile understanding out of the lesson, they exist somewhere in everyone's file. The DDDE lesson plan allows for the teacher to basically test the lesson on themselves before subjecting their students to what could ultimately be all but a waste of time. By planning activities, determing structure, finding and creating the elements of the lessons, and reflecting on the desired possible results all before the students even see it, a lesson has a much better chance of being engaging and truly educational.

Me and My Learning Style

I am trying to figure out how to put a picture of my learning style inventory results in this post... I may be a digital native, but I really don't know much about this blog stuff.

Anyhow, when looking at my learning style results, you can see (well, I can see) that I am a slightly reflective learner (3) in the active vs. reflective learning category, I have a moderate preference for sensing learning (5) in the sensing vs. intuitive learning group, I lean slightly toward verbal learning (1) in the visual vs. verbal class, and I have a highly moderate preference for sequential learning (7) in the sequential vs. global sorting. When considering how I have preferred to spend my educational career, I realize that my learning style inventory is quite correct in deciphering how I like to study and learn. The ideas that I prefer to work out problems in my head, usually without discussion, that I work methodically and practically (and neatly) in a sequential form, and that I slightly prefer verbal lessons are all true. Even while I was in high school I remember knowing that I was an auditory learner above visual. I have always benefited greatly from hearing an explanation and taking notes, though seeing the example in addition to hearing it only helps me.

Because of my learning style preferences, I believe that any multimedia lesson that is filled with charts and graphs and provides little verbal, or at least written, explanation of these graphs would be very challenging for me. In addition, a lesson including before and after results projects, experiments, or even just the problem and solution in a mathematics class would also be difficult for me. Since I am a sensing and a sequential learner, I only really understand information when I am given step by step examples – meaning I need all the information that goes between the start and the finish to grasp the concept. Furthermore, without any verbal or written explanation, I also find it difficult to understand certain ideas. While I am practically balanced between visual and verbal learning on the inventory, I have always found myself to be more successful in courses that provide more than just a visual example. Because of all these points, I always disliked courses in college that were powerpoint-based. First of all, I cannot write as fast as a professor can talk through and click toward the next slide, so I was always falling behind in notes. But more importantly, perhaps, powerpoint presentations often contain little more than a lot of charts and graphs and simple initial & final info outlines on the slides. If a professor did not go into much detail verbally or through additional writing on the blackboard, I often was unable to understand the concept because I wasn’t given the middle information. While my learning style has certainly expanded through the different teaching styles I experienced in college, I still find it difficult to learn without some sort of supplemental explanation of the steps within a concept.


I think that I would like to gain more information about multimedia in terms of student webpage production. I really like the idea of elementary school students being able to create world wide multimedia as a project – I believe that if students are able to take the information that they are gaining, and turn it into a coherent, readable, and accessible form for others to learn from, then they are gaining a true understanding of the concept. I firmly believe that you really only know and understand a topic when you are capable of teaching said topic to someone else. Therefore, I think that through webpage production, students are not just gaining information to put together on a poster, but that they are also forced to turn that information into a comprehensible format for others, thereby demonstrating their own understanding.