Digital Blog Post #H – Chapter 9

Chapter 9 in our text book goes over a lot of multimedia technology that can help teachers and students.  The first technology that interested me was PowerPoint. PowerPoint is just one of many presentation software products that can be used. As a college student I have not only seen PowerPoint presentations but I have also created them. PowerPoint is great for student because they can be fun and interesting to watch. It is also great for teachers because when you are creating a presentation you can personalize it to go with your lesson. Teachers can also add graphics, videos, pop ups, and fun fonts to make presentations fun. PowerPoint’s can also be worked on my students as an individual project or teachers can make it more interesting and let students work on a presentation as a group. Another presentation software is Prezi. It is a great alternative to PowerPoint and can be found online. Below is a short Prezi that I created.

http://prezi.com/sk2bkfx1tiu0/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

The second topic that interested me is YouTube. YouTube is a website that videos are hosted on. Almost anyone can upload videos about almost anything. I myself have looked up how to videos, movies trailers, and other things on YouTube. I never really connected YouTube as something that was educational until I read this chapter. Something I didn't know is that “Many educational organizations also have their own YouTube channel.” (Maloy, et al, 2013, p.226) Teachers can also create YouTube videos to help students with their lessons. I think this is a great way for students to be able to review what is going on in class. It would also be good for teachers who have flipped classrooms to create videos to go along with each lesson for student to watch at home.

The third topic that excited me was alphabet books. I think that allowing early education students to create their own alphabet books is a fun and creative way for student to learn the alphabet. Each book would be unique to the student and in the process of creating it they will be associating the letters of the alphabet to different objects. Something like this would be good for a student’s spelling, vocabulary, and reading skills. Teachers could also let each student show the class their finished books and have the students read the books to other students. I think this would make a great lesson for teachers to create for their students. Below I posted a video on How to Make aPop-Up Alphabet Book for Children.

In conclusion, multimedia technology is a great tool for teachers and students to use. Using presentation software, YouTube, and alphabet books are all things that can improve a students learning journey. They are also great tools for teachers to put to use to make learning more interactive and fun. All of these tools can be used to put a student’s imagination to good use and teach them along the way. With the help of technology learning is limitless. 

Resources:

100duribe. "How to Make a Pop-Up Alphabet Book for Children." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji0lKtjA7Vk>.

"Be a Great Presenter." Prezi.com. Web. 15 Mar. 2015. <https://prezi.com/>.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.