When reading the discussion post
for this week I was interested to read more about this topic. When growing up,
going to school involved paper, pencil, and overhead projectors. However,
nowadays there is such an advantage with the advancements that have been made
with technology but also the incorporation of it in the classroom. When
students are given the option to select a modality they would like to express
their learning through, I find that it not only allows them to implement a
different method of expressing his/her learning, but it also provides the
educator with an insight into that student’s identity and how media has had an
influence in their lives.
In the article Film as Identity Exploration: A Multimodal Analysis of Youth-Produced
Films (Halverson, 2010) this provided me with plenty of insight as to why it would be
important for me, as well as any educator, to implement multimedia into their classrooms.
It is imperative for a student to be given a way to express him/herself to the
world in order to understand who he/she is as a person. Most times in school
settings students are routinely stuck with the continuous forms of learning and
unable to go beyond that. Halverson (2010) states that the “primary mechanism
we have for constructing identity is through the stories we tell […] we
construct narratives as a way to understand ourselves and our experiences in
the world” (p. 2354-2355). Giving the students the ability to explain a story,
whether it be to summarize something they read or have a multimedia production
about an event in his/her life, have an equal influence on that particular
student’s life. From my personal experiences in graduate school when I was
given the opportunity to complete multimedia projects these were the ones I enjoyed
the most. I was able to use various mediums and I was able to create it in a
way
References
- Halverson, E. R. (2010). Film as identity exploration: A multimodal analysis of youth-produced films. Teachers College Record, 112(9), 2352-2378.
Paige, I agree with a lot of what you said but one topic specifically caught my attention. You stated, " When students are given the option to select a modality they would like to express their learning through, I find that it not only allows them to implement a different method of expressing his/her learning, but it also provides the educator with an insight into that student’s identity and how media has had an influence in their lives."
ReplyDeleteI do agreed with multimedia composition is a great way for students to express their identities; however, I am apprehensive to allow student to select the modality they will use for a given project. During my student-teaching the students were assigned to work in groups to create a presentation about a character. I told the students to use Google Slides. One group asked to use Prezi. I agreed to their request, of course. Later we learned that Prezi was not the optimal tool for this presentation because unlike Google Slides, it does not allow multiple users to edit the presentation at the same time. Ultimately, one student dominated the Prezi and made all of the decisions regarding the formatting. Groupmates only contributed by telling the user what to write. Furthermore, it took the Prezi group a lot longer to finish that the Google Slides groups-- not all of the students in the group knew how to use Prezi, and they wanted to take the time to learn it (Prezi is also inherently more difficult to navigate than Google Slides). While I really do believe in giving students choice and authority in their project, I think it's best that everyone sticks to one platform for a given in-class project. I encourage students to use tools that I myself have not mastered, but not at the expense of excessive class time. That type of freedom would be better explored at home, for a long term homework assignment/project.