Digital storytellling is a powerful communication tool. Unfortunately, I haven't used multimedia as often as I would like at this point to tell stories and communicate information, but I am going to start using it more.
I want to use all kinds of multimedia including: slideshows, pictures, animations, video, digital books, audio and podcasts. I think storytelling is one of the best teaching tools there is because a good story keeps people interested and usually has a moral or a main point that most of us end up remembering. The other great thing about all the different types of multimedia is that their ARE so many of them and if you use it as a teaching tool it also gives you the option to provide your pupils with a variety of reasonable options for communicating their learning. If a group of students are expected to make a presentation about the planets in our solar system, for instance, they could be given the option to make a short video, a collage of pictures with descriptions or an audio recording. That would create a lot of variety and appeal to many different learning styles.
The types of multimedia and digital storytelling programs I have used include: Movie Maker, Audacity, Paint, Photoshop and PowerPoint. The one I've used the most is PowerPoint. It has been the best way (or the only way, in some cases) I could do a presentation to class as a student or as a teacher. I do like PowerPoint because you can include images and audio recordings while flowing nicely from slide to slide. You can also add in website links to quickly go to a useful website with one click and then get right back to the presentation. I am aware, however, that PowerPoint isn't the "be all end all" and while it is a good presentation tool there are many other ways to present something and communicate effectively. As for Paint and Photoshop I have only used them sporadically over the last number of years when I want to make a slight edit to an image such as resizing it, changing some colours, adding a bit of graphical enhancement and these have all been mostly for personal use, not for teaching, yet. But I am at least familiar enough with Paint and Photoshop that I would be comfortable using it or helping students use it to make a presentation better. My experience with both Audacity and Movie Maker have been brief but memorable. These tools I have actually not used in a few years but I am glad that I was interested enough in them at an earlier age that I now can realize what great teaching and learning tools they can be. When I used Audacity it was purely for fun as I included a recording of myself singing or rapping, rather, to a top chart 90s rap song, which will remain nameless, but rest assured it was popular at the time! My Movie Maker experience was trying to piece together various hockey clips to make a highlight reel with music included. At the time I didn't have the patience to make the whole 'movie' very long so I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near an expert at the program but I know it is a very easily accessible program and I would be comfortable trying it out again.
So the final statement I will leave you all with is this: Oddly enough, the multimedia programs I have used were mostly brief experiences, years ago now but from my brief exposure and from what I've observed others do using similar programs I know that they are worthwhile tools to explore more in-depth now and because technology advances very quickly, I know these programs become more and more user-friendly and that is a good thing, in my opinion!
No comments:
Post a Comment