Rich Media
I have found that using Rich Media can greatly enhance engagement in learning...after all, this is the world that most of our students are living in. For instance, when I taught 7th grade ELA, we made abundant use of YouTube and TeacherTube in our classrooms. For poetry, we would create pathfinders containing YouTube videos about literary elements in the real world. For instance, there are some fantastic YouTube sites about literary elements in music today. For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5KYxu_TSeQ
I would then let students work in partners to find more examples in their own favorite songs and often times would have students either create their own poems or songs or rewrite a song so containing literary elements that would fit their lives. The final presentation method was their choice, so I would often have students create their own YouTube videos and/or plays of their own. I would love to learn how to implement animation better. I'm getting started on this endeavor with computer lab in my librarian duties, but interestingly enough, the students are starting to teach me how to implement animation...much more fun for both of us...and talk about deeper learning!!
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is by far what I utilize most...both as a librarian and formerly as an ELA teacher. I love, love to get my students interacting on the web so that they are driving their own learning. Most feel more comfortable participating in class via the internet and so get way more out of the class than if I had just had traditional type practices and discussions with them. For instance, my upper grades are making use of Edmodo social networking for class discussions, quizzes, and reviews. Students log on each day...at home or during focus time in class...to watch videos, discuss key points of class information, ask questions, take quizzes. Yes, we realize that kids can "cheat" on quizzes and tests when accessing online (especially at home), but all teachers feel that this just enhances the learning experience. The students will either be discussing with other students details of the quiz or will be searching online...both of which build on their life-long learner skills. We also make use of such interactive sites as Voki, Glogster, storybird, polleverywhere, googlelittrips, littlebirdtales.com. We have just gotten 2 carts of iPads and have started using such apps as puppetpals (for writing activities in all subject areas). One fun resource we have found for some lesson ideas on iPads is www.apptivities.org.
And of course, Movie Maker is always a fanstastic choice for extending learning and creating presentations.
Digital Games or Simulations
Games and simulations are a way of meeting kids in their own world...their interests. And kids do not balk at practicing objectives via games and simulations instead of worksheets and even review exercises on the SmartBoard. Some games are great for reviews of objectives already introduced. My school makes use of Istation and Think Through Math quite regularly. Brainpop is another great resource for practicing with objectives. Mathmovesu and mathplayground have been utilized quite frequently in our math classes and in our computer lab...both by teacher and student request...to practice with math objectives. Other game sites we use regularly in our K-6 elementary school are pbskids, primarygames, whyfiles.org (science & math), icestories.exploratorium.edu, amnh.org/ology (all different sciences). When I taught middle school English, one of our assignments was a research activity on how humans were impacting global warming and what they, as students in Allen, Texas, could do to help reverse the effects. Several governmental websites had games to teach the materials to the students. I can tell you that the depth of research projects I received those years was so incredibly refreshing. The information was totally integrated into the students' own words and fit right into their experiences. This year, we dove into the realm of simulations to practice with some of our science skills and terminology. One such site was toadhaven.com where students can take part in virtual eye, brain, knee, etc surgeries. For our younger students, we would limit the surgeries to the cartoon versions where there wasn't any gore, but the older students could utilize the realistic versions. Both versions have students practicing with science terminology and location of parts of the anatomy. We also introduced our students to virtual tours in computer lab via such sites as www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/ (Smithsonian) and www.nmusafviruatltour.com (US Air Force museum).
I do feel that these sites help facilitate the attainment of learning goals better than the traditional instruction. Students are way more engaged in the learning and so taking more ownership in their own learning. They are getting more involved in manipulating the materials of the objectives, participating more in questioning and discussing information, and even driving their own instruction! Many times they take the lesson in directions I would never have dreamed of because my life experiences and even experiences with technology are way different than theirs. They take the information we are studying, and through the use of games, online social discussions, rich media choices, and virtual worlds making the objectives and learning fit their own worlds. Our students even asked if they would be able to access our list of sites over the summer so they could "play" outside of the classroom!! Little did they know they were extending their learning and practicing of instruction out of the school environment...every teacher's dream for the summer!!!
Issues in Instructional Design
Yes, there will be many issues that teachers must address when introducing these media into the classroom. There is always the issue of copyright infringement. Many teacher and student alike have not idea how prevalent copyright infringement is...how easy it is to break the law. It is our job to help make sure this does not happen. We have to educate them about the laws themselves, how to find information that can be used in their projects and learning, and how to site the sources when they are used. At my school, we are starting this one step at a time by introducing students to the Creative Commons. We realize that there are other sites out there, and will build on those throughout the next year. With edmodo, our teachers have a discussion with their students about the appropriate types of interaction on the site. Since edmodo is more geared toward educational use than Facebook, parents are allowed to sign up to view what is being assigned/discussed in the class. The only caveat for parents is that they can only see what their student posts in the class. The teacher must check in regularly to monitor student discussion...both that there is no confusion on subject matter being discussed and also that students are only discussing educational content on the site. Our teachers have had to remove certain students' access for several weeks after students used the site inappropriately. Before the students could regain access, the parents and student had to have a discussion with the teacher and an administrator. We even made sure parents knew in advance that we would be introducing the virtual surgery sites to students in case anyone did not want their child viewing that type of information. By letting parents know in advance, they had plenty of time to let us know of any trepidations they might have and we could have alternatives available. On that note, I think that is one of the positives we have going in our school. Every time we are going to introduce digital games, rich media, or web 2.0 sites, we always offer our students several choices to peruse and utilize in their studies. By offering all these choices, we are able to meet the differing needs and experience levels of our students, we can help address cultural differences, and we can meet the interests of all. I think it helps meet different instructional objectives by allowing students to drive much of the instruction. They have the opportunity to share how the subject matter touches their life, sharing their experiences, and question how it works differently with the experience of their peers. Allowing students to teach us about different media they have used in the past makes the learning much deeper for all in the class. The learning and the media now becomes real for the students. They become totally engaged. They are learning how to become life-long learners.
