Final Exam

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Final Exam

Media Technologies

Megan Endicott

Central Michigan University

 

Abstract

Instructional education has transformed tremendously throughout the years due to the incorporation of technologies in the classroom.  One increasingly popular form included in today’s classroom is multimedia technology.  Through the evolution of technology, we have now encompassed an impressive list of instructional multimedia options including, but not limited to, photography, animation, narrated lecture, music or sound effects, digital stories, movies or TV, webcasts, and glogs.  Focusing on animation and music in the classroom, we find that in comparison to the traditional approach to teaching through text and textbook images, these two technologies, like others, contain more benefits to classroom instruction than they do weaknesses; however, there are few constraints.  These strengths are confirmed through powerful research that focuses on key points supported by various empirical research and psychological studies.  Looking at two multimedia projects incorporating animation and music multimedia products, we see that students have the opportunity to gain authentic meaningful learning allowing them to fully grasp the concept that is proven through connections to Blooms Taxonomy.  There is also support for use of animation and music in instruction to aid in student learning, from multiple intelligence studies by Gardner to student dual coding theories and cognitive research. Through multimedia technologies, we find that we are teaching the whole student and providing multiple ways to reach out to the students in an engaging manner.  With such tools at hand, educators would be remiss if they were to overlook such powerful teaching tools in the classroom.

 

Final Exam

Media Technologies

As educators, we are always striving for excellence in the classroom and hoping to ensure an actively engaged classroom with learners who are excited about obtaining knowledge through authentic hands-on tasks.  With the aid of multimedia in the classroom, teachers have the tools needed to provide innovative lessons, enable students with the tools in which to better understand concepts that are unable to be grasped through text, and provide students with the needed demonstrations that may not be readily available in the classroom.  Students are “wired” differently in today’s world due to the evolution of technologies and social media.  In order to reach students and make authentic connections, educators need to adjust their teaching styles in order to ensure student success.  As defined by the Pinellas School District and the Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF, multimedia is “the integration of text, graphics, animation, sound, and / or video” focusing on “engaging students in the use of multimedia to construct and convey knowledge”.  (Pinellas School District & Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF) They go on to discuss the effects of the addition of multimedia in the classroom and list several key components of learning in today’s student centered classroom, such as; increased motivation, collaboration, attention to audience, and use of outside resources that wouldn’t normally be obtained.  As we have studied, there are several examples of multimedia technologies used to enhance education, some of which include: photography, animation, narrated lecture, music or sound effects, digital stories, movies or TV, webcasts, and glogs.  Let’s focus on animation and music in the classroom.

            According to Richard E. Mayer and Roxana Moreno, animation refers to “a simulated motion picture depicting movement of drawn (or simulated) objects.”  (Mayer & Roxana, 2002) They believe that for a multimedia technology to be deemed animation it must contain three components:  picture, motion, and simulation or artificially created objects. The simulation factor is the key feature that sets it apart from a traditional video and again from an illustration and picture as these do not contain movement.  There are several exciting ways of creating animations for educational uses in the classroom through internet websites such as GoAnimate or Xtranormal to name a few.  These sites offer ways in which you merely drag and drop features on a storyboard to create a video.  Even still, you could create your very own animation from scratch through the use of artists or computer graphic designers as mentioned by Matt Koschmann in Steph Hayden’s article on Teaching with Technology. (Hayden, 2012) There are several wonderful uses for animation in instruction.  One instructional example could be using animation to introduce a new concept through the use of animated graphics that would show diagrams and connections in logical sequencing.  What is unique about this creation is the accessibility online.  If published to a blog or website, students would then be able to use this as reference for review for assessments or to aid in keeping up with tasks when absent.

            Music and sound effects too hold an important place in the classroom.  Not only the music classroom where music naturally finds a home, but in all classrooms as well.  As Chris Brewer from Johns Hopkins School of Education discusses in greater detail, music can be tied to, but not limited to enhancing the classroom  through mood setting, enriching history lessons with music connections, adding music and movement to static lessons rich with content and of course aid in making learning fun and enjoyable. (Brewer, 1995) One would be remiss if they did not mention also the importance of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and how the use of music throughout the day increases musical intelligence and reaches out to those students who are auditory learners.  (Brown & Liepolt, 2004) Music can be added to the classroom in various ways whether you are using it to make a connection between history or enhance a visual representation.  An example of an instructional strategy using music in a general education classroom was presented by Brewer in his article, in which students learn about the flow of electricity. Brewer suggests that upbeat music is added to the lesson and students act as stationary neutrons and protons while other move like electrons. (Brewer, 1995) He suggests that the music keeps them moving and engaged in a full emersion of the activity creating a student-centered authentic learning activity.  You could follow this up with a fun song that incorporates important vocabulary and its meaning to aid in later retrieval of information.

            To best explain the two technologies, we will focus on possible multimedia projects using each in the music classroom.  Looking a traditional fourth grade classroom, Georgia Professional Standard strand M4GM.6, listening to, analyzing, and describing music, students will distinguish between repeating and contrasting sections, phrases, and simple formal structures. To reach the final product of this standard and ensure student success at accomplishing this task, students will need to complete several tasks each traveling through Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning.  The final step will include students creating their very own music track and animation through an interactive website, Quaver’s Marvelous World of Music.  Looking at the steps we see the natural progression of Bloom’s Taxonomy and are able to track student progress in logical order.  First students will need to review patterns in music with auditory examples as well as tying in visual pictures to aid in success starting us at the bottom of Blooms’ Taxonomy in the Remember category.  Then students will discuss the form of the music through the use of both video and animation from the Quaver team moving us into the Understanding tier.  Next students will use laptop carts to play interactive games including various styles of music with different examples of form to aid in applying what they know, reaching the tier of applying.  Following the interactive game, students will then be asked to get into collaborative groups and listen to various stylez of music and evaluate each for its form and discuss their reasoning for their decisions moving us into the Evaluation tier.  And finally, students will create an authentic task that will be presented to the classroom through QGrooves and QDancer on Quaver’s Marvelous World of Music Website that will enable students to create their very own animation demonstrating their ability to not only create an original piece of music showing proper use of form, but a visual animated representation of the form as well putting us into the Creating tier of Bloom’s taxonomy.  Animation is key with this project not only due to the final project required of the student, but also through use of teaching strategies as well.  Animation often times provides students with a visual and audio representation that provides students with resources that cannot be replicated in the classroom, thus extending our educational world to endless opportunities for demonstration and application.

            Another instructional task using music in the classroom, strictly for the sake of auditory learning, is through the connection of music and history.  In Georgia Professional Standard M4GM.8, understanding relationships between music, the arts, and disciplines outside of the arts and Georgia Professional Standard (GPS) M4GM9, understanding music in relation to history and culture, students will be able to describe relationships between music and history, listen, move, and distinguish between music from various historical time periods, and describe the role of music in various historical time periods.  The final project would include a history research project on the students time period of choice that includes how music impacted history.  Students would choose from a list of presentation formats with attached rubric and would need to include a music sample from that time period to include in their report to aid in making the connection of music and history.  Again, in order to fully reach understanding of the importance of music in history, steps are required that lend to following the tiers of Bloom’s Taxonomy.  First, as students enter the room, play the song “Yankee Doodle” and ask questions to gain an understanding of student’s prior knowledge of the Revolutionary War song, falling in lines with Bloom’s Taxonomy of Remembering, hoping to find factual and conceptual knowledge.  Follow up their discussion on the song “Yankee Doodle” with a discussion on the Revolutionary War which is learned in the 4^th grade curriculum, and search for knowledge through proper questioning moving us to the next tier of Remembering.  Then through stories of historical merit, discuss with students the music’s impact on history and its importance during the Revolutionary War.  (Understanding)  Using their knowledge about what they have learned about music and its impact on history, think about other examples of musical impact on history or current life, for example the Harlem Renaissance, or African American Spirituals.  This higher order thinking falls in line with Bloom’s Taxonomy tier Analyzing.  Follow up this discussion with the introduction of the class project and have students in collaborative groups begin brainstorming ideas for the project.  The project would fall in line with Creating, as students will be creating a presentation that will incorporate music as a multi-media technology. 

            Including multimedia in the classroom, whether it is through educational instruction or student project presentations, contains mostly advantages; however, there are a few disadvantages as well as with any topic.  In comparison to traditional printed text and static images used in textbooks, multimedia as a whole has many notable advantages as discussed in article “Multimedia in the Classroom” written by members of the Pinellas School District and the Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF.  These include examples such as:

“real-world skills related to technology, value of teamwork, effective collaboration techniques, impact/importance of different media, challenges of communicating to different audience, presenting information in compelling ways, techniques for synthesizing and analyzing complex content, importance of research, planning, and organization skills, significance of presentation and speaking skills, accept and provide constructive feedback, express their ideas creatively.” (Pinellas School District and Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF)

            In addition to these advantages, as well as “capturing attention, engaging learners, explaining difficult concepts, inspiring creativity and fun”, educators are also tapping into Gardner’s multiple intelligence theories through verbal-linguistic intelligences, musical intelligence, visual-spacial intelligence, and especially through music, interpersonal intelligence.  (Pinellas School District & Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF) As discussed in “11 Reasons Why Every Educator Needs a Video Strategy”, animations reach out to the visual learners by combining short movies and lectures through the use of such strategies as demonstrations, diagrams, and how-to videos lessons. (Marquis & Rivas, 2012) Matt Koschman, is summarized by Steph Hayden in “Teaching with Technology”, as presenting that animations are more engaging and get students excited for learning.  (Hayden, 2012) Animations reach both the visual and audio learners, which as we have learned from Mayer and Swisher, taps into dual coding which aids in cognitive understanding.  Kristin Post, author of “Using Sound in the Classroom”, suggests that music has advantages to learning in the classroom as it can “establish a positive learning state, create a desired atmosphere, build a sense of anticipation, energize learning activities, change brain wave states, focus concentration, increase attention, improve memory, facilitate a multisensory learning experience, release tension, enhance imagination, align groups, develop rapport, provide inspiration and motivation, add an element of fun, and accentuate theme-oriented units.”  (Post, 2009) A few obvious but important disadvantages or should we say, constraints, of these uses of technology in the classroom would include availability of resources such as hardware and software access, the skill of the teachers or students and knowledge required to use such technologies, and time for educators to plan, execute and assess instruction and projects required for such ideas heavy on technology. 

Regardless of how you choose to use multimedia in your classroom, researchers have proven many profound reasons for the inclusion of media in the classroom.  Kristin Post found supporting research that “humans rely more on their sight and hearing than on any of the other sense”.  (Post, 2009) Swisher’s viewpoints which align with Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory suggest through empirical research various principles that support multimedia in the classroom. Why wouldn’t educators tap into a multimedia classroom to aid in teaching the whole class?

 

Works Cited

Pinellas School District. , & Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF (n.d.). Multimedia in the classroom. Retrieved from http://fcit.usf.edu/multimedia/index.html

Mayer, R. E., & Roxana, M. (2002, March). Animations as an aid to multimedia learning. Retrieved from http://ydraw.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Stop-Motion-Aids-Multimedia-Learning.pdf

Brewer, C. (1995). Music and learning: Integrating music in the classroom. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts in Education/brewer.htm

Schroeder, B. (2010, August 4). 10 reasons to use multimedia in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.globalgridforlearning.com/10-reasons-to-use-multimedia-in-the-classroom

Brown, J., & Liepolt, W. (2004). Concept to classroom: Workshop: Tapping into Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/

Marquis, J. W., & Rivas, K. (2012, September 23). 11 reasons every educator needs a video strategy. Retrieved from http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/09/11-reasons-every-educator-needs-video-strategy/

Hayden, S. (2012). Teaching with technology: Matt koschmann on animation. Retrieved from http://assett.colorado.edu/teaching-with-technology-matt-koschmann-on-animation/

Post, K. (2009). Using sound in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/5524

 

References:

Forehand, M. (2005). Bloom's taxonomy. Retrieved from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom's_Taxonomy

Swisher, D. J. (2007, January 5). Does multimedia truly enhance learning? moving beyond the visual media bandwagon toward instructional effectiveness. Retrieved from https://blackboard.cmich.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2315674-dt-content-rid-23408690_1/courses/EDU642-13700-22240806/swisher_professionalday07_paper copy.pdf

 

Concept Map "with a twist!"

The Harlem Renaissance

I find that my students are constantly struggling with making historical connections between music and history.  Often times, intriguing stories will draw their attention to particular details to aid in making those connections; however, I feel there is still a large gap missing between students linking the two.  In order to fully understand how music is created and the lessons learned from the music notation to lyrics students must first understand how music relates to history and not only the historical impact of music on culture, but culture on music.  Each year my 4^th and 5^th grade students learn about Blues, Jazz, and Swing.  I hope that this concept map will aid in showing students how music, art, and literature each played a huge role in the development of the Harlem Renaissance thus enabling students to understand the scenes behind the music.

My inspiration for this concept map came from this WebQuest which listed a bare concept map model.  After reviewing this model, I began to find several ways in which this concept map could enable my students with a clearer understanding of music and history.

Reflection on Glogs

Reflections:

 

1.        Given that Glogs have the potential to create extensive cognitive load, what deliberate efforts did you make to reduce cognitive load in your Glog? Do you think you succeeded?

Knowing that a glog has the potential to overload cognition of material, it is important that the content is free of redundancy, offers connections to one another in addition to the relationship in placement to one another, all facts present in Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning.  As we have learned, the working memory can only simultaneously process a limited amount of information; therefore it is important that each experience have meaning and hopefully connections to prior schema.  Glogs offer the opportunity for a wide variety of learning possibilities, which is good to ensure you are reaching each learning type through multiple intelligences, but dangerous as you could possibly overload working memory.  I worked hard to ensure that the material presented was both interesting and provided connections to familiar topics in addition to learning new material; unfortunately, I am not sure I succeeded 100% as I feel there is a huge variety of information available as well as the need for a pleasing look to the page.  Part of what I enjoy about my job, is experimenting with new ideas.  I have created a glog on instrument families and felt great success, possibly due to the fact that it was geared for a younger grade level.  As we work with older grade levels, I find that the material is more complex and therefore perhaps a variety of options for learning could be present.  I won’t truly know the impact of my glog on my students until I try it out.

2.       Do you think that Swisher (and Mayer) would consider a Glog one piece of multimedia, or a collection of separate multi-media elements? Why or why not?

       I think that Mayer and Swisher would consider a glog as several multi-media elements even though they are included on one source due to the fact that glogs can easily contain video, graphics, text, audio, and documents all on the same topic on the same page.  Mayer and Swisher both focus on the importance of cognitive load and this type of “overload” are not supported by the following principles:  mulitmedia, modality, redundancy, and coherence principles.  They feel concise and keeping to the facts are best.  I feel that Swisher and Mayer would consider glogs by each media content.

3.       Defend or refute the following statement: it is entirely likely that almost every Glog ever made breaks all six of Mayer’s multimedia principles.

I would say that yes, this statement may present a good argument as the majority of the what Mayer states, involves concise information that is full of meaningful learning, does not duplicate the same information with different forms of media, and avoids the glamour that sometimes is needed with a “digital poster” to make it important for learning as well as visually pleasing and interesting to look at.  This goes against the mulit-media, modality, redundancy, and coherence principles.  I feel that in order to really defend Mayer’s support for media learning through sources like Glogster, you would really need to stretch the meaning of what he is discussing with dual coding.  The only possible way of refuting this statement is through split-attention theory, which really isn’t enough to refute an entire statement.

4.       Defend or refute the following statement:  Even if a Glog breaks most of Mayer’s multimedia principles it can be still used to facilitate a more complex understanding of topics than many other multimedia representations.

I can defend the above statement because I feel that each student learns differently.  Through Glogster, educators have the power to offer a wide variety of options for learning that will reach out to each learner in a way that is meaningful and will impact student learning.  I do believe that there is merit to Mayer’s modality principle and that a glog is a great example of providing maximum cognition through the visual channel and the auditory channel, which is one of few examples that could support glogs from Mayer’s multimedia principles.

5.       Glogs are very popular in K-12 classrooms. Why do you think they are so popular with teachers and students.

I feel that this form of media is new and exciting for both educators and students.  Students are able to easily access information to learning outside of the classroom in an interactive fun way that actually puts the student at the drivers wheel.  This concept is exciting for both the student and the teacher.  I feel that program is also easy enough for the student to create their own unique work of art that teaches or depicts their version of a concept or topic.  There is a multitude of information at the student’s fingertips online including graphics, videos, interactive games or activities, assessments, and projects, to name a few!  This “one-stop-shop” idea is great for allowing students the ability to enhance learning in one place rather than spending time hunting the internet.

 

Constructed Glog - Get to know the Teacher!

I created this Glog from original material as a "Getting to Know the Teacher" or "Meet the Teacher" and included information about the music classroom as well in aid of providing a "one-stop" location to find out basic classroom information covering the beginning of the school year.

Web Inspired Glog

Using media from the web, I created a glog that can be used as an icebreaker homework assignment to prepare students in the music class for an exciting day of sound experimentation.  The glog features video clips that gradually break down sound as vibrations, then sound waves, and finally how that translates to music or sound through YouTube videos.  I've also included a preview into the sound experiments that we will be working through in class.  In addition, I've included a visual image with details on identifying sound waves with definitions in the form of text.  For fun, I have included an interactive activity with sound waves from Quaver's Marvelous World of Music.  You will need to create a free account, go to the map, and finally lab to find the QSynth and play with an oscilloscope.  Lastly, students can participate in an online quiz to test their understanding of sound waves.  The answers are provided to aid in instant feedback.  This lesson is followed up by an instrument creation project and moves us into learning about pitches high and low and notation.  Perhaps I will have students in addition to creating their instruments, create a glog that can be linked to a class glog for online sharing!

Swisher Article - Differences Between Videos and Still Images

What is the difference between video and still images in classroom instruction?

 

Now that I have had the opportunity to create both an instructional digital story and a digital video (which still contains many still images), I begin to see Swisher’s article and discussion on multimedia theory elements coming to life.  Now that school is out of session, I found that creating a full video was a little difficult without my resources readily available, but chose to use GoAnimate.com; a fun website that has been wildly popular with my students in video instruction.  I was able to splice in video from Go Animate with MovieMaker. 

I find that the video instruction has more of an impact on learning due to the entertainment factor; however, with both modes, I feel that the coherence principle is effective as Swisher states, it puts “focus on key elements and mentally organizes them in a way that makes sense”.  The videos are great ways of presenting the basic facts while the teacher then elaborates with hands-on activities and may delve further into the concepts to ensure each student is fully grasping the information.   The digital story focuses on the connection of graphics and narration, while a video puts the main focus on narration and delivery. I feel that one would be more appropriate then the other depending on the concept.  When teaching a song with movements, a video would make more sense.  Or perhaps demonstrating the proper technique for music, while a digital story makes more sense when working with the learning basic music theory. 

In order to avoid the redundancy principle, I found that limiting the animations and focusing on the pictures of notes was vital for the students’ ability to transfer the concept into long term memory.  Music is a visual language in itself and requires pictorial representations in order to understand.  I felt there would be too much interference if I shot a video of myself with a whiteboard or Velcro board of the staff and music notes.  I felt that students could possibly focus on other things, perhaps what I was wearing, verses focusing on the facts.  Perhaps this could fit in with the temporal contiguity principle as the need to focus on graphics and narrations work well in the music world.



Instructional Video

 

This video is intended for students in 2nd or 3rd grade music class learning intervals on the staff to aid in note reading and solfege pitch identification.

 

AGE: 2nd/3rd Grade

Topic: Music / Staff-Intervals