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Multimedia in Instructional Design Reflection Paper Drexel University Robert Mcwilliams

The document discusses how a teacher reflected on incorporating multimedia and technology into lessons after taking an instructional design course. Some key points: 1) The course helped the teacher understand how to better teach 21st century students by incorporating digital tools to allow students to analyze, learn, and explore. 2) One project had students apply slope concepts by observing handicap ramps in their community and designing their own ramp using multimedia. 3) The teacher discovered new educational technology resources like Code.org and plans to implement a videogame design elective course. 4) Models like DDD-E provide a logical framework for designing multimedia lessons and projects for both teachers and students.

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70 views5 pages

Multimedia in Instructional Design Reflection Paper Drexel University Robert Mcwilliams

The document discusses how a teacher reflected on incorporating multimedia and technology into lessons after taking an instructional design course. Some key points: 1) The course helped the teacher understand how to better teach 21st century students by incorporating digital tools to allow students to analyze, learn, and explore. 2) One project had students apply slope concepts by observing handicap ramps in their community and designing their own ramp using multimedia. 3) The teacher discovered new educational technology resources like Code.org and plans to implement a videogame design elective course. 4) Models like DDD-E provide a logical framework for designing multimedia lessons and projects for both teachers and students.

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Reflect

Multimedia in Instructional Design Reflection Paper


Drexel University
Robert McWilliams

Reflect

Teaching is a profession in which skills are developed over time. All teachers are masters of
the content area they teach, but it takes years to master the art of teaching that content. Even
when we think we have it mastered, there will always be things that we can improve on. For
many teachers, todays students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to
teach. Students today grew up with the internet, touch screen computers and phones, and 3-d
movies and video games just to name a few. As a result, the educators have to keep in tuned to
effectively teach the students we have today. Students of today need to be able to use technology
to analyze, learn and more importantly explore. Digital age skills are important in preparing
students to work, live and contribute to the social and civic fabric of their communities. This
course has really helped me to gain an understanding of how I can incorporate technology and
multimedia into my lessons in order to effectively teach the 21st century students.
One component of Constructivist learning is that people learn by actively constructing
knowledge (Ivers and Barron, p. 12). Utilizing multimedia enables students to develop concepts
and ideas. Our group project was one in which they applied a real life situation to develop the
concept of finding slope. Students are active participants in the lesson by going out into the
community and observing the slopes of different handicap access ramps. They are to utilize
various multimedia and technology to gain knowledge about the American with Disabilities Act
and the standards that handicap access ramps must meet. Finally, students are required to design
and develop their own ramp that meets these standards. This project requires students to work
cooperatively and use a variety of media to express their understanding. This type of project and
incorporating a constructivist learning atmosphere is something I aspire to use as much as
possible in the future.

Reflect

At the beginning of this course, I felt that I was fairly up to date on all of the technology
available to me to enhance and have my students incorporate into the classroom. I discovered
that the resources available to me far exceed what I originally thought. One of my favorite
discoveries is the site http://code.org/learn. This site enables student to discover a real world
application of mathematics by writing computer programs. Within the content of that site I
discovered www.bootstrapworld.org. Bootstrapworld is a free site that lays out a curriculum
that teaches students the mathematics behind videogame design. I quickly went to my Principal
and showed him this site. He had previously expressed an interest in starting a STEM
curriculum. I am happy to say, due to this class, I am attending training at The University of
Penn this summer, and videogame design is going to be an elective for 8th and 9th grade algebra
students next year.
One of the main reasons I became a teacher is that every day is a new learning experience for
me and my students. The challenge with all of those different personalities and learning styles is
to create lessons that benefit all learners. The utilization of multimedia is a way students can
construct and communicate knowledge in various ways. Throughout this course I created
various multimedia artifacts that can incorporate numerous learning styles. Linguistic and
spatial learners would benefit from the audio and graphic elements I created.
Other than all of the technology that I have been exposed too, I found the DDD-E model an
invaluable tool for designing lessons and or projects. Being a math teacher, my brain works very
logically. I like to break things down into chunks knowing what needs to be done first and what
comes next. This model does exactly that. In the past, I have always just known what I wanted

Reflect

the end result to be and I would just give the students some background knowledge and tell them
go do it.
The DDD-E model not only gives teachers a guide to follow when creating a multi-media
project, but I also found it to be beneficial to students as well. Just as it is a logical guide for
teachers, it is also a great model for students to follow. Students must first decide what their
project is going to be about before they can design it and likewise they must design it before they
can develop it.
The National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETSS) encourages teachers
to model and apply the use of technology to engage students and improve learning. These
standards require us to expose our students to as much technology as possible, using technology
in creating lessons that will stimulate our students and make them actively involved in the
teaching learning process. My district and I personally, are big proponents of utilizing
technology and multimedia in the classroom. In grades 9-12, each student is provided a laptop.
Approximately 90% of the classrooms are equipped with a Smartboard. We also have many
other digital tools such as video and digital cameras that can be reserved when needed. Where I
would like to see my district improve is to somehow loosen the network filters enabling students
and teachers to take advantage of all of the learning tools available on the internet. This can
sometimes be difficult since the number one objective of any school district is to keep their
students safe.

Reflect

5
References

Ivers, K. and Barron, A. (2006). Third Edition. Multimedia Projects in Education:


Designing
Producing, and Assessing. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN: 1-59158-2490

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