Reflection Ch. 9

Reflecting on What I Know pg. 234 of Integrating Computer Technology into the Classroom:


1. Students at any grade level can use multimedia technology in a variety of ways. My area of certification will be in high school Social Studies, therefore, I may assign my class to create a multimedia presentation involving any important historical event during a certain timeframe. This may involve students creating a powerpoint presentation of the events leading up to, during, and after the invasion of Normandy in WWII. The students may include a brief presentation of the opening scene of the movie Saving Private Ryan which depicts this event.  They may even poll the class on whether they feel the decision to invade Normandy was a good one or not. After presenting the information, they could calculate the results of the poll in excel and present what the percentages are (for or against) for extra credit. The point of multimedia, as it is demonstrated in the Classroom snapshot on pg 234 of Integrating Computer Technology into the Classroom, is that students are researching data while learning valuable technological skills. More importantly, they are doing it while having fun. Students would better react to the aforementioned assignment than the traditional 10-page research papers of the past.

2.  Students can use powerpoint to generate a slideshow of information in a combination of text format and images. Students can even create their own movies using software like iMovie and link it to their presentations. Students can also use excel to demonstrate certain percentages that may further a point that is being conveyed. In Social Studies this may involve showing which states have traditional voted Republican or Democrat and what they percentages tend to be. They can paste these results to a picture of the US to make it more readable for their classmates.  Students can also add music by uploading mp3s to their presentations to demonstrate public opinions of a certain time. In History, for instance, artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan made songs that protested against events such as Vietnam or the misuse of the military within our own borders. This is, however, the tip of the iceberg and the direction students can go really depends on their own creativity.

3.  I would not impose limits on the use of multimedia unless it directly violates my class policies. Anything pornographic, unnecessarily violent, or containing inappropriate language is obviously off limits. All information or use of the multimedia tools must be relevant to class but as long as it follows these simple guidelines, I would allow my students to be as creative as they want. I understand that some students feel more comfortable being told specifically what do because they are unsure about themselves. I would work closely with these students and offer some good ideas to hopefully get them going and allow them to truly create something magical. Putting too many limits on their multimedia projects would cause them to not feel true satisfaction when they have a finished product and that would run counter to what multimedia presentations are all about.