Multimedia and Engagement

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Campbell, T. A. (2012). Digital Storytelling in an Elementary Classroom: Going Beyond Entertainment. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 385-393. Retrieved April 3, 2018.

Student engagement using multimedia, is something that I have continued to do in my classroom. I feel that I am able to engage my students with my animated teaching style and my loud voice, but that is not the end all be all of the educational world any more.

For this blog I read an article that talks about how a class of 5th and 6th graders were engaged in their writing through the use of technology/multimedia tools. In the article the study used digital story telling to engage their students. To briefly summarize the article for the purpose of my discussion here, the use of digital story telling was very successful in engaging the students. The students were struggling writers, but when they used this multimedia, they were engaged which led to more confidence, which then led to better writing.
Now the article is quick to point out that the technology is wonderful, but only useful when implemented by a driven and engaging teacher. Which brings me to my previous point. I feel that I am an engaging teacher (most of the time), but I love to use multimedia to help further engage my students.

A big problem I have with multimedia in the classroom is when a teacher uses it to placate their students and they sit back and wait for it to end. This is not the proper way to teach, engage, or to work in general. Multimedia is wonderful, it can be loud, colorful, and dynamic. However, it is not a replacement for learning.

When I show a Bill Nye video in my class (yes, I still show Bill Nye, because he is the best) I do not turn the video on and walk away. I may move away from the screen, but I am usually setting up the next activity for my class. AS the video ends I am asking comprehension questions, I am trying to engage my students to talk about what they just saw. Bill Nye is not teaching my classroom, I am teaching, with the HELP of Mr. Nye.

Multimedia is wonderful in the classroom, I keep saying it, but the other thing that seems to keep coming up in my blogs and discussions is that tools only will take a class so far. It is up to a good teacher to lead their class to the future.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 5, 2018 at 7:05 AM

    I feel ya on the constant battle to balance technology and student engagement. We have teachers in our building who will show movies for days, while I'm struggling to cover all the content I can in chemistry. And Bill Nye is an awesome way to introduce concepts. You are doing it right.

    ReplyDelete

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