Unit 3

Reflecting on what I know

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1. How can my students use multimedia for their projects?
There are so many ways that multimedia can be used. Before I started my classes at ECU I would most likely say PowerPoint and not know of too many other options. In my last couple of classes I have learned about Glogster and VoiceThread which I think are great options for kids to explore. I think that Glogster is a great way for students to make posters instead of your traditional cardboard and construction paper posters. Morrison and Lowther (2010) say that the use of multimedia can help students to meet ISTE NETS goals through:
1. Creativity and Innovation - demonstrating creative thinking
2. Research and Information Fluency - using digital tools to evaluate and use the information gathered
3. Technology Operations and Concepts - demonstrate an understanding of concepts and operations.
2. What applications are available for creating a multimedia presentation?
Again, so many more than what I originally knew about, and the great thing about the applications I have recently learned about are free on the internet. PowerPoint, digital video, spreadsheet, VoiceThread, Glogster, a presentation on googledocs.
3. Should I place limits on my students use of multimedia?
There should be limits within the use of multimedia, such as a limit of animations or images are used. I'm sure we have all had to sit through a powerpoint that was over the top with animations, sounds and bells and whistles. But there should also be a limit on how much they use multimedia to make their presentations or do assignments. I think there is still some value in writing a research paper.


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This was an interesting chapter to read, when I was in school honestly the only type of graphic organizer I ever remember using was a web, which the book refers to as a spider.

1. How do you know that students understand a concept?

• Was there relevance of key components?
• Did they make meaningful connections?
• Did they use relevant graphics?
• Did they have logical organization?
• Did their creativity strengthen understanding?
  

2. How can you depict student misconceptions of key information?
If you use the assessment questions above I think you will get a picture of if they are on the right track when it comes to key information. Graphic organizers are used at the beginning of the process so it is important that they are able to identify the key concepts and information.
3. How can students capture and transfer brainstorming ideas into written thoughts?
In one of my reading classes I watched a video of a class using a gist list, it was just a list not an actual graphic organizer but it was the same idea. They took the words that they had come up with and changed them if they needed to be changed. An example of this was changing big to large. They then just took the verbs and nouns and turned them into sentences. This was done as a group and then done as individuals. Something similar to this could be done using a graphic organizer.