New and Improved – What is Multimedia Learning?

My Goals

I am extremely excited to get this blog back up and running as I learn about the importance of multimedia learning. One thing I hope to get out of the class is an enhanced ability to provide students with opportunities to learn and share their knowledge using a variety of modalities. I had the opportunity to observe a day in Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt’s Kindergarten classroom and she shared the importance of providing students with choice and giving them their own voice in their learning journey. This point really resonated with me because I believe that students learn best when they are self motivated and interested in the work. Much like Rich mentioned in his video lecture, the student-centred approach that accompanies multimedia learning is crucial due to the way it is created based off of how people learn. I hope this class provides me with resources and support to implement student voice and choice through multimedia learning and instruction into my future classroom.

This video I found highlights the importance of empowering students through voice and choice. It is also a great example of multimedia resource due to the amazing stop motion artwork and the voiceover. Please take a look!

Personal Experiences

After reading the article written by Richard E. Mayer, I spent time reflecting back on my personal experiences with the multimedia principle. I always have a hard time learning new material when it is presented verbally only. For example, when a professor’s computer won’t load to show a powerpoint, I find it virtually impossible to stay engaged listening to them speak alone. With that being said, I also would have a hard time learning if a professor simply put up slides and left the room without any explanation. This is reflective of Mayer’s quantitive rationale; by offering information using two different mediums, the learners are getting double the exposure and therefore, are more likely to retain the information.

One example of a positive multimedia learning experience that I have had was when I was in middle school and we were asked to create a project to summarize our learning about Ancient Greece. There was no criteria or limitations and our teacher encouraged us to try out something new. My friends and I created a 20 minute documentary that acted as a tour through all of the city states. Of course, I learned a lot about Ancient Greece through this project but I learned even more about video making and editing! Similar to Rich’s son, I was learning without knowing I was learning! This acts as an example of our teacher adapting to our needs and giving us the opportunity to explore a type of multimedia that interested us. To this day, this one of my fondest memories from school.

“Instead of adapting technology to the needs of human learners, humans were forced to adapt to the demands of cutting-edge technologies” (Mayer, 2020, p.15)

This is a quote that really resonated with me because it highlights the importance of meeting our learners where they are at, rather than forcing all students to meet you somewhere else. By structuring lessons using a student-centred approach, we are much more likely to see successful outcomes. To all of my learning pod members: I am curious how you would use this quote to influence your teaching practice?

References 

Mayer, R. (2020) “Introduction to Multimedia Learning.” The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, Cambridge   University Press, p. 1–14.

McCue, R. (2020) EDCI 337 Topic 1 – Introduction to Interactive & Multimedia Learning [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V39sIKsRpUI&feature=emb_logo

Spencer, J. (2017) 7 Things That Happen When Students Own Their Learning [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=N7S9kyk-odA&feature=emb_title