Group 2 Technologies focus on “multimedia” technologies such as images, video and audio tools and considering that today’s students are bombarded with this kind of stimulus all day, every day it is strange that learning managers don’t incorporate this kind of technology into classrooms more often. A report from the 21st Century Learning Summit (2005) also discusses this issue, “Schools do their students a disservice when they fail to teach literacy in the expressive new language that their students have already begun to use before they even arrive.”
So as an experiment, let’s attempt to find multimedia resources that can be easily included into a lesson and speaks in our learner's 'language'. A quick Google search for the National Geographic website (link below) and a mouse click on their Education tab links me with hours of video footage on all manner of topics from Critter Cams (cameras capturing action footage of animals in their native habitats) to a behind the scenes look at Barack Obama’s administration. A piece called Earthquakes 101 catches my eye and upon further investigation I see that the page not only includes a web video on how, where and why earthquakes occur but also focus questions (with answers!), fast facts and vocabulary words.
The video is also far more interesting than the boring graphics I remember from high school as it includes real footage and photographs taken as earthquakes happen. Students can then use the National Geographic Online Library to find information on earthquakes in the encyclopaedia or newspaper articles from around the world. The site even has blogs and vlogs (video based blogs) made by students for other students. In ten minutes I have managed to find quality educational information in a multimedia format that my students can use for research activities or other classroom situations and put them in touch with students and scientists from all over the globe. This is a truly amazing resource and there are many others out there depending on the subject matter required.
Above: screen shot of the video and resources tab.
The video is also far more interesting than the boring graphics I remember from high school as it includes real footage and photographs taken as earthquakes happen. Students can then use the National Geographic Online Library to find information on earthquakes in the encyclopaedia or newspaper articles from around the world. The site even has blogs and vlogs (video based blogs) made by students for other students. In ten minutes I have managed to find quality educational information in a multimedia format that my students can use for research activities or other classroom situations and put them in touch with students and scientists from all over the globe. This is a truly amazing resource and there are many others out there depending on the subject matter required.
To be honest, I didn’t even put any real effort into conducting that short experiment and it certainly wasn’t because I don’t care about the topic. Group 2 technologies are so widespread that learning managers simply need to narrow their searches to pathways that would be specifically useful to their student cohort and lesson topic. The benefits of images and video to learning should also be already evident to learning managers. Psychology Applied to Teaching (2009) outlines research that shows that asking students to generate visual images as they read words or sentences produces higher levels of comprehension and recall than simply reading the text alone. Actually seeing the physical impacts of an earthquake would then help cement the factual information relating to earthquake strength.
However, when using multimedia technologies like these it is important to remember to follow school privacy guidelines when using or taking images. Learning managers may need to seek special permission to take photographs even if no students are shown in the shot or footage and students should never be identified online. It is also essential to remember that not all information provided online will be factual or useful, learning managers should ensure that they have thoroughly examined websites, blogs or videos before they ask their students to access them.
Finding a goldmine of information like the National Geographic website inspires me to do more to include that kind of technology into my own classes. While searching I also found a link to image galleries for the Australian Geographic magazine and there were some truly amazing images that could be easily used as English writing stimulus. I can’t wait for the opportunity to use these!
Stay tuned for more fabulous adventures in e-learning!
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