Educational multimedia Unit 7 Unit 7 Educational multimedia What is multimedia? Multimedia can mean many different things. Taken literally, the term multimedia really only means to communicate in more than one way. Jumping up and down while singing praise for the winning rugby team is providing onlookers around you a multimedia presentation (movement + sound). In education multimedia might be the presentation of line graphs with an overhead projector to support the oral delivery of an economics lesson. It could be using e- mail to supplement communication in a face-to-face group-work activity. Students downloading and revisiting audiotaped lessons on their iPods are using a form of multimedia to reinforce what they have been assigned to read in their course textbook. According to Wikipedia, „multimedia is the use of several different media (eg text, audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity) to convey information.‟ Educational multimedia is understood to be multimedia which provides learning resources by using a variety of media in an integrated way for the purpose of instruction. By doing so we provide resources to students in ways that best suit their learning needs and capture their interest. This chapter will provide: An overview of the main types of educational multimedia A rationale for the use of multimedia in teaching including examples and Good practice guidelines. 1.0 Why use multimedia? Incorporating multimedia into teaching requires extra time and effort – so, really, why even bother? The case for multimedia in education is quite simply an enhanced learner experience. If implemented thoughtfully multimedia can facilitate a richer learning experience and promote deeper understanding. Using multimedia also supports students with different preferences for how information is presented. In other words two formats for presentation are better than one (Mayer, 2009). Pictures convey information more quickly than words. Virtual worlds enable learners to actively participate in authentic tasks, empowering them to do things in an environment that provides a level of complexity and information representative of the actual setting rather than be passive onlookers. Interactive animations can create more exciting and captivating learning experiences. Students can choose, start and stop simulations at their own pace. They can view and scrutinise images as often as they like, repeat practice quizzes or audiotaped lessons for clarification of topics. Presenting information by using more than one format © Edinburgh Napier University 105 Unit 7 Pedagogy and learning technology: a practical guide caters to the different ways in which students learn. In addition by providing more than one way for students to gain information we are improving accessibility. Unfortunately, the past has seen many inappropriate uses of multimedia in teaching due to a preoccupation with the technology rather than with the learner. Technologically dazzling multimedia has rarely lived up to the expectations of its creators and has hardly influenced the learning process or transformed practice or effectiveness of teaching. When considering multimedia for teaching the aim must not be to showcase cutting-edge technology, but rather to adapt technology to enhance the student learning experience. A range of stunning animations created to deliver vast quantities of information can easily become distracting, whereas one semi-interactive tutorial has the potential of maintaining attention while helping consolidate knowledge and skills introduced to the learner elsewhere. 1.1 When to use multimedia Some subject areas lend themselves seemingly naturally to the incorporation of multimedia. Contemporary lessons in art design have never been only text-based, of course. Chemistry students benefit hugely in their spatial understanding from building and manipulating 3D computer graphic models of molecules (eg Figure 19) and are better prepared for actual quantitative analysis by calculating appropriate concentrations of reactants in virtual lab experiments. The health field sees everything from heart sound tutorials to digestion video clips support understanding and provide opportunity to practice key skills. But how might English as a second language, history, law or business studies benefit? Let‟s explore just a few examples which might give you an idea or two of your own. Case Study Doris, a French studies tutor, is frustrated by the poor aural comprehension skills of her students. She feels limited in what she can do to support them better given the sheer number of students and a bare minimum of contact hours with them. After consulting the faculty‟s online learning adviser she feels encouraged to create weekly audio- introductions to lessons online in addition to uploading written lecture notes. Using freely available audio recording software she records weekly lesson outlines but soon adds announcements and „phrases of the day‟ to the VLE for students to correctly translate in the following face-to-face lecture. Doris has not only incorporated multimedia meaningfully into her teaching but has managed to link online activity directly to the face-to-face lecture adding relevance and purpose to both. Her students are pleased about the additional and flexible opportunity to refine their listening skills. Now is the time to reflect on your teaching and ask yourself: Is there a complex process you would like your students to see? Are there problem-solving skills your students need more opportunities to practice? 106 © Edinburgh Napier University Educational multimedia Unit 7 Do your students need to become better prepared for labs or for workplace related assignments? Have you considered the benefits of engaging your students in an otherwise inaccessible authentic environment (such as on the moon, at the bottom of the ocean)? Would your students benefit from more interactive self-assessment opportunities? Have you been thinking about making your students feel more comfortable learning online? If your answer to only one of the questions above was yes, then you may very well find that a form of multimedia could enhance your students‟ learning experience. 2.0 Educational multimedia technology Let‟s take a look at some of the most frequently used technologies and review key educational benefits of incorporating these into your teaching. Through examples you will see how each might be used to accomplish a specific learning outcome defined beforehand for that particular multimedia application. The main elements of multimedia applications include graphics, video, audio, animations and interactive technologies, which are described below. Also find a short introduction to the emerging technologies of m-learning, wireless technologies, podcasting, augmented realities and educational gaming. Figure 18: Map of Europe from pics4learning repository at http://www.pics4learning.com/details.php?img=europe.jpg © Edinburgh Napier University 107 Unit 7 Pedagogy and learning technology: a practical guide 2.1 Graphics Graphics are visual elements that include everything from still images, icons, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, photographs, artwork, to maps and more. 2.1.1 Benefits of graphics Information presented in an alternative format enhances written text; aids visualisation and supports conceptual learning. Object analysis is enabled. 2.1.2 Teaching example Writing composition students are sent to pick one painting of their choice by Paul Cezanne at http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/ and describe it in a written essay. 2.1.3 Web resources for graphics SCRAN at http://www.scran.ac.uk/ (Edinburgh Napier subscription) JISC BIO Science Image Bank at http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/imagebank/ Flickr at http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/ 2.1.4 Implementation tips To save an image, right click on it with your mouse and click on „save image as‟ Download Picasa from http://picasa.google.com/ to find and organise all your pictures on your PC. Use Picnik at http://www.picnik.com for easy editing 2.2 Video Video refers to the „technology of capturing, recording, processing, transmitting, and reconstructing moving pictures‟ (definition in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). 2.2.1 Benefits of video Portrays authentic learning situations enhancing the authenticity of computer- based learning environment; presents scenarios otherwise inaccessible to traditional classroom (operating theatre, historic landmark etc). 2.2.2 Teaching example Link a descriptive video clip to a written paragraph about the shortage of potable water in Lesotho (eg countries around the world video clips at http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/multimedia/videos/ 2.2.3 Web resources for video Visit the Moving Image Gateway (MIG) for educational video and audio resources at http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/gateway/ 108 © Edinburgh Napier University Educational multimedia Unit 7 HERMES is the British Universities Film & Video Council‟s (BUFVC) central database at http://www.jisc- collections.ac.uk/catalogue/coll_hermes EMOL (Education Media Online) database with over 300 hours of film related to every subject area at http://bufvc.ac.uk/ (completion of licence agreement required) 2.2.4 Implementation tips Use Viddler (http://www.viddler.com/) or Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/) to create video presentations yourself. Figure 19: Ball and stick model of methane, CH4. Image from http://treefrog.fullerton.edu/chem/mog/ch4.htm 2.3 Audio Audio refers to sound recording and its reproduction where