Multimedia in the Classroom!

            Wow it has been a couple weeks since I blogged but this week we had the exciting and interesting topic of multimedia in the classroom. The videoconference with the Royal Tyrrell Museum as well as all the readings blew my mind on all the different possibilities that exist of using this type of technology in a classroom. Gone are the days where we are isolated in a classroom. We now have the opportunity to bring the world into our class. Before our videoconference I had no idea of all the content providers that exist and how easy it is to have these programs be brought into our class. After the videoconference I went onto cilc.org and just browsed through all of the different programs that are available. This opened my eyes to all the different opportunities that we have for our students. We are no longer confined to the four walls of our class but can use video conferencing to explore the world. On cilc.org I did a quick search using the key word ‘culture’ and I came up with over 300 results. One of the results that came up was about exploring Ancient Egypt. When I clicked on this to look more about the program one of the things that students would be able to do was to analyze Egyptian art and objects, discuss the use of symbolism in Egyptian culture and learn about the two mummies in the museums collection. When I was a student we could have learned about this only through looking at books. Now we can have our students actually looking at the real art and discussing it with an expert of the subject. This format is more engaging and will help students learn and retain more of the information. I know from my own experience with the Royal Tyrrell Museum that I have retained so much more of the information because it was interesting and engaging.

            From the readings on the website one of the other projects that really caught my attention was ePals. Gone are the days of sitting down and writing a letter to a pen pal. With 21^st century learners the old format will not engage them. I explored the ePals website and was shocked at how easy it is to communicate with a school in a place that many of the students may never have heard of. This format really intrigued me. Looking at some of the projects that educators from all over the place have posted amazed me about how easy it is to interact with people from all over the world. This is something that students will be more engaged and interested in. By implementing these types of projects I think that it will get them excited to learn and excited to be at school. These types of projects will get students interacting with students from all over and it will provide many cross-curricular opportunities. We can teach students’ proper etiquette and protocol for communicating with others, we will teach them about online safety and broaden their horizons. The way the world is going students are going to be communicating with others online and we cannot turn a blind eye to this but must teach students about this very critical skill.

            Through the videoconference this week and all the readings my eyes were opened about all of the opportunities for bringing technology into the classroom. By looking at many of these options they are relatively low in cost and will engage students at a level that was never before possible.