Thoughts on Multimedia

 My first exposure to multimedia projects was in a computer class. I went to a small Catholic elementary school where one of my weekly specials was this class. We learned typing skills, how to use Microsoft programs, and practiced using a variety of online tools. One of these tools was a GIF creator. I don't remember the name of the program, though the fact that I was using it in 2007 leads me to believe that it either no longer exists or has been replaced with something much more advanced. We used Microsoft Paint to create images and this GIF creator to animate them. Because I went to Catholic school, our GIF was an animation of an Advent wreath being lit. For anyone who is unfamiliar with an Advent wreath, I have attached a Youtube video below. Just a quick note that the video ends at 2:13 and continues playing music on a black background until the end of the video. 


For this blog, I recreated the process using current day applications. To create the images, I used JS paint. This site is a very close replica of Microsoft paint and was as frustrating to use today as it was back in 2007. To create the GIF, I added a a flame to each candle, saving the image before I added the next. I put all of these images into EZgif and simply hit create. As a teacher, I often think about the impact that my school projects had on me. I think about if the projects that I do with my students are going to have the same mark on their memory. As educators, we are expected to follow the standards set by the Department of Education and as a consequence, I sometimes become too focused on ensuring that everything I am doing relates to a standard. Media literacy goes beyond the standards for me, however. I think about which media literacy projects will set my students up for success in the future. 

In keeping with this ideal, I incorporate the most technologies that students will find most useful and where I believe they need the most direct instruction. I remember having a conversation with a parent where she said, "if my son can turn on his Playstation and learn all the controls without them being read to him, I believe he has the capability to learn to read." It is true that students born in the digital age are more tech savvy than the generations before them. However, I do believe that a portion of instructional time should be dedicated to teaching students how to use applications, format spreadsheets and papers, and how to find sources. These are all skills students will need as they continue into higher education. In terms of an assessment tool, Indiana has an ELA standard related to multimedia. It states that students can "create oral presentations [...] using multimedia to [...] engage the audience. My main concern lies in instructional time needed to do this. If I was going to have students create an oral presentation with a Google Slides presentation to accompany it, I would need 1-2 weeks to help students craft their oral presentations and to teach them how to create a multimedia project on Google Slides. I am expected to follow a district-wide curriculum map that does not leave a lot of wiggle room. I would have to plan this project for the end of the quarter, going over each step mixed in with curriculum lessons. It is definitely manageable, however, I would have to be incredibly intentional.



Comments

  1. Rachel HockinFebruary 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM

    You are so right Anna, my students today are so technologically advanced that sometimes I forget they may not be familiar with certain applications we are using in class. Even today while working on a Google Classroom assignment I kept having student come up to my desk saying they couldn't type on their assignment. The first thing I asked was did you submit the assignment already. All of them said yes, they didn't realize that if they submitted the assignment, they couldn't edit the Google Doc anymore. Love the meme by the way!

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  2. MiahFebruary 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM

    Hey Anna, it for sure take a lot of dedicated time to get students through a multimedia project. It is time that is often not allotted for in a pacing guide. It can often take even longer because students lack many pre-req skills when it comes to tech and multimedia. I had to dedicate like half a class period at the beginning of the year to teach my students how to bookmark my google classroom on their bookmarks bar and get the bookmarks bar to be visible.

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