Multimedia

By Steve Feld

Multimedia is a term which encompasses the use of not only computer technology, but also individually or in tandem radio, sound/recording, video clip, videocam, desktop publishing, film, digital photography, handheld photography, scanning, and other media rich applications.

The use of multimedia in education historically started with radio, filmstrip projectors, reel movies, vinyl records, double reel tapes, and other technological innovations. Therefore multimedia is not a l980's or l990's phenomena, but rather represents the evolving emergent technology tools of a metacognitive educational and creative movement.

Multimedia is inherently a collaborative battery of tools which lend themselves to interpersonal and intrapersonal exchanges, efforts, ideas and talents. Use of multimedia in the classroom and education accesses excellence, content knowledge and achievement to a broad range of ELL, special needs, visually, musically, and kinesthetically gifted learners, as well as linguistic and mathematical learners.

Multimedia education is the quintessence of constructivist learning. It affords students the possibilties for creating products and processes, which are inherently interactive. It invites further configuring.

It challenges the teacher's capacity for assessment, mentorship of the student creator, and ability to allow student centered learning, teaching and creating to truly go forward.

It expands the parameters of education for student leadership and student products. But it requires the creation of appropriate student self assessment rubrics and alignment to ELA, Mathematics, Science and SS Standards. Use of multimedia also necessitates higher order thinking and web savvy analysis /deconstruction of existing resources to separate those with valid insights from those which are compellingly rendered. With this enhanced potential student leadership, comes enhanced teacher accountability, responsibility, coaching/mentorship requirements, and teacher/educator research.

Visual literacy is a key component of multimedia, but the emphasis must be on higher order thinking, scientific method driven observation, and mathematical precision in this content domain.