Reflection 5: Multimedia Learning + Design

Learning can be really boring when a teacher is just talking at you for even 20 minutes straight. The use of visuals and other components in a classroom is important for keeping students engaged. We talk about this a lot in our other classes, and it reminds me of the concept of UDL (Universal Design for Learning).

What is UDL?

The video above gives a great outline of what UDL is, and how it helps students learn. For us as teachers, UDL gives us different tools to engage students, and takes the pressure off of us just speaking in front of a classroom, so it’s a win win. I personally learn really well with YouTube videos. As a history major for most of my degree I spent a lot of time trying to organzie different events or classes in my brain. Particularily in the semesters where I was in 4 or 5 history classes, keeping information tucked away in the part of my brain I had for each class was difficult. YouTube video summaries on historical events became my lifeline for jumpstarting my brain when studying for a midterm or final. History videos often are paired with geographical visuals that can be super helpful for keeping sequences of events straight. Here is an example of a video that uses a map to show us how the battle for North Africa in WW2 played out. (I specifically remember watching this video a couple times)

Other Multimedia Strategies

I know youtube isn’t the only way to introduce different media into the classroom, I just have found it works the best for myself in learning. In creating lessons for other classes I’ve found live polling or quizzing tools to be useful to gauge understanding for the students, or check for previous knowledge on a subject. Mentimeter being one of my favourites, as it creates a word cloud which is a wonderful visual to see where everyone is at. Here is a visual of what students see:

Using tools like Kahoot to gamify learning is also a create technology tool for the classroom. I’ve also participated in classes where we listen to podcasts together, which is a great way to calm students and bring the energy levels down. Students can just put their heads down and listen, or watch the captions on the projector.