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August 1, 2001
Multimedia Projects: An Effective Use of Technology as a Tool in Elementary Education
By Richard Soos
Introduction
When I was attending San Jose State University in the late 1970s, a professor of linguistics made a stray statement: "All learning is self-taught." This created a personal revolution in my thought processes as I prepared to become a teacher. I spent a great deal of time in personal reflection and interviewed many other students to find that indeed, the statement was true. Although a lecturer can give us information, unless we act upon that information and explore the depths of the meaning intended by the lecturer, the information is not truly learned. A full and complete immersion into the material is a better means toward good learning than is the traditional sit, listen, and take notes method of teaching that had been modeled to me.
As a result of that one stray statement by a lecturer, I realized why education was failing so many. Those of us in college at that time had been able to make the transference of "notes to brain" and regurgitate the information onto a test form. I realized that many of my college classmates and I were unable, for example, to repair a car or lay the foundation of a house because those activities obviously called for a different kind of learning: hands-on. This type of learning became my focus as I prepared to teach young people. Why were so many students unable to read, write, or accomplish apparently simple math problems? I believe the answer is in the statement "All learning is self-taught." The great teacher is not a leader at the front of a classroom, but rather the motivator in the midst of a classroom. A great teacher supplies the materials and tools, gives lessons on how these tools have been used by others, and sets the students on the path toward self-teaching.
Where We Are Now with Technology
We have reached the point in time where technology is no longer just a luxury used to enhance life for the few. Technology has progressed to the point where everyone has access to the great museums and curators of the world, the great literature archived for quick electronic retrieval, and historical documents available at the click of a mouse. Even a map to Aunt Nettie's house in Poughkeepsie can be seen in any resolution we choose. We can also access information about her neighbors simply by typing in an address. Technology, properly used as an educational medium, can become the great equalizer that allows any student from any economic background to fully succeed.
Few fields of endeavor outside of education succeed today without technology. Scientists use technology in every aspect of their research. A warehouse worker must be able to input data. The UPS delivery person carries around a portable computer as a must-use tool. A store clerk must be able to access a database for many pieces of information in the process of a single transaction--from the price of an item to the current status of the customer's credit card. A police officer must access databases and input information; it is not uncommon for them to use video cameras and other high-tech equipment as necessary daily tools. In the office of any public elementary school, several computers actively keep databases current about many things, from daily attendance to the current health status of a student. It is not uncommon today for teachers to input attendance information and daily grades of students into a database.
Our entire society is participating in this revolution everywhere except the public school classroom. This will not affect the elite of society because technology for them is a small investment in their child's future. But for the bulk of our students, technology can either become the last great divide between the haves and have-nots, or it can become the great equalizer that gives all people access to the same information, which they can use to enhance their participation in society.
Integrating Technology into the Classroom
Computers can and have been used beneficially in a classroom setting. They can help alleviate excessive paperwork by transforming the "kill and drill" math worksheets into simple computer programs. The great benefit of this approach is that students know immediately whether or not their response is correct. This same concept is easily transferred to the fill-in-the bubble worksheets used in social studies and literature. Although these are good uses of available technology, one wonders if it is the most effective use of computers in the classroom. Obviously not.
A step further toward allowing students to access higher-level skills is to teach them to use word processors and art programs to express themselves. Simple projects like class newsletters and posters help students to learn the skills necessary to succeed. It is extremely valuable to discover that once a student understands the basic cut-and-paste process in word processing, the tool easily transfers in the student's mind when creating art, movies, and music. This brings us to the subject at hand: multimedia as an effective classroom learning tool.
Integrating technology into a curriculum demands a style of teaching that places the student in the center of the learning. To allow for this level of proficiency, our local Santa Clara County Office of Education, the San Jose Unified School District, and our local school site all have implemented classes in which teachers are paid to learn cooperative classroom management techniques. These forums also offer excellent classes in utilizing technology within the classroom. The support is evident and available for all teachers who are willing to participate fully in the education of children in the 21st century.
The Future Today
A charter school in Chula Vista, California, assigned classes of fourth and fifth graders to work on an Internet-based multimedia entomology project alongside Drs. Williams and Barlow at San Diego State University. With computer access, the students learned what an electron microscope is and how it can advance knowledge in the field of entomology. They were actual participants in a multilevel scientific experiment. Although this should be the norm in 2001, it is not even visualized as a possibility by many current educators. Elementary-school students have the capability of participating in real science through the Internet because of its access to scientists and the tools they are using elsewhere in the country.
Rationalizations for Class-Based Projects
All educators, whether using technology or not, have found that students are more engaged in the learning process when they participate in a class-based project. Whether it is building a model of a 19th-century mission or using the Internet to communicate with a scientist, the students are simply and naturally learning by intimate participation in the process.
Another advantage of a class-based project is the connection between home and school. An actual product exists that parents can visualize; thus, they can aid their children in producing it, be it physically, by moral support, or both.
The teacher becomes a leader and a mediator, directing students toward resources. These resources range from the dictionary, encyclopedia, and library book to Web sites or Internet connections with experts. Technology allows students to become fully immersed in authentic content and complex problems. It also allows direct contact with the individuals who are working with the documents and problems at a professional level. Students who find a path of learning that engages their total interest will investigate thoroughly without coercion. They will immerse themselves deeply into the content standards and will see the connections between math and science, history and literature, politics and culture. They will also gain a deeper understanding of the larger connections between the sciences and the humanities. Both teacher and student are directly involved in producing practical teaching and learning.
Virtual Tours via the Internet
The Internet is only one tool that the teacher can utilize, but it is an invaluable one. For example, it is impossible for most schools to take every student on a tour of the European museums. And even if they did, the entire treasure trove would not be on display. However, this possibility does exist via a broadband connection to the Internet. It is now truly possible to see the fascinating landscapes (or mindscapes, if you will) behind the Mona Lisa in high resolution. But the Internet is not simply a giant encyclopedia. It also allows for connecting classrooms within a school, for interconnection between schools, and even interconnection between states and countries.
With the Internet, the possibility of international learning is a reality. Students have the ability, in real time, to speak directly with students in other cultures. When school districts realize that they have left their students in the 20th century, and make the firm decision to invest in broadband Internet connections, some truly exciting learning will occur. Students will both see and hear how students in other countries around the world live their lives and learn, in real-time. Experimentation with videotape and e-mail takes place today, but most students realize both the possibility and probability that material might be edited in these situations. A real-time connection allows for immediacy and a trust in the process that is unavailable in a traditional classroom setting.
Content and Standards
Current buzzwords in the educational community include content and standards. These terms usually describe what you are teaching students that will help them pass standardized tests. Students involved in class-based projects that are cross-curricular will indeed be able to pass whatever trivia test (a pick-one-out-of-four-possibilities type test is no better than a trivia game) is thrown at them. But in addition, and even better, the information students learn in a class-based project will be stored in long-term memory because the students have been intimately involved in the learning process.
Teachers who "teach toward the test" are actually teaching worksheets filled with facts that can and will enter short-term memory. Those teachers may be able to "bring up" the test scores of their students for the testing period. That may be advantageous to the system, and perhaps even advantageous to the teacher (there are movements to reward such teachers financially). But is it advantageous to the student? We cannot decide the answer here, but the question must be kept in mind as various reward systems are discussed in your local districts.
Projects Should Be Cross-Curricular
A class-based project should be cross-curricular. In other words, students are creating graphs (which requires math skills), reading literature, studying culture, digging into source documents, and studying the art and music of a time period to create a class project. Analyzing how much food could be stored in a covered wagon crossing the Oregon Trail is as valuable and necessary in a real-world setting as is reading a diary of a child who traveled on the journey.
By developing a class project across the curricula, the content goals and standards become intimate knowledge in the classroom culture. All students are participating, sharing, and becoming a part of the project and thus a part of the project's culture. This deep immersion into the subject matter will give each student a fuller realization of factual information. A side benefit is that better forms of ongoing student assessment are available beyond the fill-in-the-bubble standardized tests.
These class-based projects do not need technology to succeed. However, technology adds another dimension to the project, which good teachers will use. It allows for setting goals visually, it is another form of communication, and, if used effectively, it will help to close the gap for underserved and underachieving student groups. Students willingly participate in technology because it is the one area in which they have control over the product. Students who previously were seen as underachievers will invest whatever time is necessary to participate in an Internet research project with their group.
When technology is properly integrated as simply one of the many tools used in a class project, we see demonstrable improvements in students' learning, depth of research, and time commitment to complete the project. By saving the project in a multimedia format, the entire project becomes useful to others. When students see that their work is useful to a group outside of their immediate surroundings, their sense of self is widened to become a fully participating member of a larger culture than their classroom.
Developing Skills
A multimedia class-based project requires that students understand and use a variety of technology tools. Students must synthesize a wide variety of information into a form with which they can create a multimedia presentation. This information will consist of pictures, tables, graphs, charts, diagrams, music, audio, dance, video, and poetry, as well as cold, hard facts.
This communal approach toward cooperative learning allows students to learn real-world skills. A 21st-century business is run by teamwork. Each member of the team must have the ability to communicate effectively and work productively with others. A class-based project helps students develop those skills.
A multimedia approach has other advantages. Because students have the ability to contact experts outside the classroom via e-mail or live conference calls, the small classroom becomes filled with teachers providing the students directly with the exact information they need to be fully engaged in the learning process. The role of the teacher is to manage the information by eliciting responses from students and encouraging them to continue on a proper learning path.
Collaboration Among Students
In the class-based project mode, students are directly involved in many conversations in order to reach a group consensus. As each group member devises a personal method of presenting information, that member must also be able to explain the process and value of his or her approach to the other group members. That discussion leads the other members of the group to understand a process they previously had not considered. Students are thus intimately involved in the process of learning the best method of presenting the information that they want to convey.
In the class-based project mode, students are constantly discussing content, especially when visualizing the different representations of information presented in their group. They may discuss, for example, whether a particular fact about a rain-forest frog should be presented as a song, a comparative graph, or a story. Because of these dynamics, students are also involved in negotiations about how to present their information. They learn to not only construct their own presentations, but also to value the different methods of presentation that others devise to present the same information. Students learn that some types of presentations work better than others for some activities within a project.
Perhaps the most meaningful learning occurs when students realize that each specific decision made by the group directly affects their future activity as a group. The decision to present the information about the rain-forest frog as a song may affect the time line they have to complete the rest of the project. Discussions such as why we will use song, who will sing it, what instruments we will use, and how and where we will record it will abound. Each decision will present a new opportunity for learning.
Tools for Learning
In a multimedia class project, students have a variety of tools to help them learn. Tools include calculators, rulers, pencils, papers, video cameras, scissors, word processors, Internet browsers, desktops, scanners, crayons, digital cameras, and digital recorders. Students also find other tools on their own. One of my fourth-grade students did not have access to a drum set, yet was able to use the bottom of a trash can to make a sound file that was further synthesized to become a vital part of a completed multimedia project. In a good project environment, the exact tools that students use need not be proscribed. All tools should be available so that each student will be able to use those that are necessary to complete his or her particular aspect of the project.
Computers (each of our third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms have six computers in each room) give students a handy tool to access, capture, manipulate, manage, and store information. Once a computer becomes as common as paper and pencil, and not a novelty, it allows for reflection about information, as well as the ability to make higher-order connections between concepts within the content of the class-based project.
The main goal of making technology available as a tool is that all students will learn to use the tools that are most appropriate for the task at hand. Participating in many class-based interdisciplinary curriculum projects during a school year allows students to appreciate the usefulness of various tools, gives them the opportunity to use each tool many times, and helps them determine the best tool for each presentation.
In traditional education, students are presented with extremely isolated, usually short, always teacher-centered activities. Class-based projects, on the other hand, are interdisciplinary, long-term, and student centered. Class projects motivate students by allowing them to pursue their own interests, develop their own questions, and make their own decisions about how to find the answers and present their findings to the group, the class, and the world. Presentation to the "world" can be as small as sharing with another class or making a presentation to parents, or as large as creating a Web site and inviting others to participate in and learn from it.
Advantages of Multimedia Projects
In a multimedia class project, students are
- intimately involved in the core curriculum.
- intimately involved in decision making.
- involved in a long-term effort.
- challenged to think in an interdisciplinary manner.
- encouraged to collaborate.
- able to make real-world connections.
- able to learn uses and advantages of different tools.
- encouraged to share their presentation outside the classroom walls through presentations to other classes and/or through the World Wide Web.
- learning that technology is not the main focus of a project, but simply a tool to give form to content.
- taking advantage of technology and multimedia as a communication tool.
- personally involved in performance-based, authentic assessment.
- accessing higher-order thinking skills.
A social advantage of class-based projects is that students learn that every group member has a role and makes a contribution to the group. Each student is given the opportunity to collaborate and make decisions, which builds cooperation skills. Each student is given the opportunity to self-assess and receive peer assessment. All students have an equal opportunity to participate, learn the content material, and share their knowledge of the content in a personal way.
Another advantage is the fact that the skills developed by students in analyzing, negotiating, and communicating through presentations are the exact skills they will need in the workplace. Class-based projects allow students to take initiative; make decisions; work well with others; and solve complex problems by planning, creating drafts, explaining prototypes, and creating finished products as a group. During the planning and draft stages, students learn various resources and how to integrate those resources into a form that is presentable to others and encourages feedback. All phases of a class-based project encourage students to focus on self-reflection, revision, audience, etc.
A Key for Success
One key that opens the box to a successful multimedia project is the realization by the teacher that there are no boxes. The format for a successful project, if it is to be truly student-based, is not prepackaged. The project, if truly open-ended, will have multiple points of entry, multiple paths of understanding, and multiple possibilities for presentation of the content. No single person involved in the project, including the teacher, knows everything about the final form of the project. Each participant, however, is relevant and valuable and will add to the final creative output that is the project.
If the students are allowed control, then when a problem arises they will be able to backtrack to discover the source of the problem and revise earlier content to correct it. In a student-led project, students work with others to learn what they need to know to be successful at their task. With all students involved, all learning styles are discovered and utilized, and no student is singled out for being unable to accomplish every single class exercise. Each student contributes his or her best effort toward a final project, which, quite simply, could not be a fully realized and complete project without input from every individual in the class.
Assessments
In a class-based project, assessments take on many forms. The most valuable assessments--self-assessment and peer assessment--are built into the project. Teacher assessment will in most cases follow peer assessment, with minor refinements. For example, a teacher, as observer, can assess how well groups work together and incorporate that assessment into a final grade if need be--or better yet, use that knowledge when forming groups for the next project.
Although teachers do not dictate the paths followed during a project, they can and must dictate the content of a final project to ensure that, indeed, the curriculum is being discussed and learned. A teacher will insist, for example, that "the following must be included," "spelling and punctuation must be correct," and "neatness and clarity count toward a final grade." These important skills, about which teachers must always remind students, remain in the teacher's realm. In a multimedia project, many other forms of assessment can be used. For example, videotaping presentations and discussing them as a class is very helpful.
At every juncture in a class-based project, questions that elicit self-assessment are necessary. Do you understand what you're doing? How do you feel you're doing? Have you learned something new? Should you give a mini-presentation for feedback and, if so, how and to whom? These and other such questions are great for journaling activities.
The Web and the Community
The Internet has been called the information superhighway--an apt description. The information on that highway is super when one has access. The information is available for retrieval and sharing by anyone who has, at the core of their knowledge, an understanding of and the ability to use computers and analyze the information gathered in a meaningful way. Within the Internet is an inherent promise of a quality education on demand. If we accept the premise that all learning is self-taught, then the ability to follow a thread of information to many varied sources makes for a quality of education never before dreamed possible. Inherent in this premise is the true possibility of education becoming individualized for all students, no matter their age, culture, race, or creed.
A distinct possibility exists that students in locations that are considered low-performing can have exactly the same access to libraries and museums via the Internet as students elsewhere. The lines drawn by politicians and real-estate agents would disappear, and the ability to gain deeper knowledge would be open to anyone.
Local universities have already discovered the advantage of offering classes in the evenings and on weekends. Similarly, the people who pay the taxes that keep the schools open for their children can, at any moment in time (preferably today), decide that those institutions can and should remain open 24/7 for community use. Thus, for example, any community member could use the 200 computers connected to the Internet at my elementary school when school is not in session. The possibilities expand from there. The cafeteria could be used for dance classes on the weekends. Classrooms could be used in the evenings to hold classes for community members in history, math, literature, plumbing, etc. The computer lab could be used in the evenings and early mornings and on weekends for community research, computer skills classes, and many other activities. Expand the idea of opening the one school I'm discussing to include other elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools. Imagine the sense of community that could be built if any community member were allowed to use the resources of the school near his or her home at any convenient hour.
A Typical Project for Grades 1-3
This technology project for Grades 1-3 lasted a total of 12 weeks. The purpose of the project was multifaceted:
- Learn basic computer art skills.
- Learn basic word-processing skills.
- Learn to save documents and to open saved documents from server.
- Learn to use two different programs to complete one project:
- Kid Pix (art)
- Web Workshop (word processing and HTML).
- Learn the seamless interaction between programs using cut and paste.
- Practice developing and keeping momentum for a long-term project.
The project was a challenge for both teachers and students. These students visited the computer lab every other week for 12 weeks, for a total lab time of approximately 5 hours. Teachers were asked to encourage the students to write during class about themselves, their interests, and their communities and to be prepared to type their writing projects during the brief lab time.
For many students who were new at our school this year, this was their first time facing a keyboard for the purpose of composition. Those who had been here previously were obviously better prepared to type, save, and open files.
Several students, especially the third graders who have now been involved with technology and Web pages for three years, met and even exceeded all expectations.
Expectations (5-point rubric):
- Draw a picture of yourself using Kid Pix and save the file. (1 point)
- Open the Kid Pix file and enhance the picture of yourself by
- using stamps and/or
- drawing favorite objects, friends, etc., and/or
- drawing or typing your first name. (Third graders were expected to complete a full sentence.) (1 point)
- Open Web Workshop, import the Kid Pix drawing from the server, resize the drawing, and place it on a background. (1 point)
- Type in your class writing assignment. (First graders were expected to type one complete sentence. Second graders were expected to type one complete paragraph. Third graders were expected to type three complete paragraphs.) (2 points)
As you visit the student pages you will notice that few of the students were able to complete every expectation, especially the writing expectations. This observation has been noted and will allow us to further enhance the program next year by requiring that the writing be completed first and the art second. Almost every student was able to complete the art portion of the project, even the highly technical aspects of importing, resizing, cutting, and pasting. The fact that the technology is easy for the children to understand and use is very encouraging. I encourage you to revisit the project next year to see if these same students are better able to complete all the expectations.
A Typical Project for Grades 4-5
This technology project for Grades 4 and 5 lasted a total of 3 weeks, 45 minutes per day. The previous project for these grades was to visit the lab for a 3-week keyboarding skills class. The purpose of the project was multifaceted:
- Practice learned keyboarding skills.
- Practice learned cooperative-learning skills.
- Learn to create a project as an entire group using the various skills of each member of the group.
- Learn basic computer art skills.
- Learn basic word-processing skills.
- Learn to save documents and to open saved documents from the server.
- Learn the seamless interaction between programs using cut and paste.
- Practice developing and keeping momentum for a long-term project.
These students visited the computer lab every day for 3 weeks, for a total lab time of approximately 12 hours. Teachers were asked to encourage their students to write during class about themselves, their interests, and their communities, and be prepared to type their writing projects during the brief lab time.
The project was to create a multimedia CD using sound files, artwork, video, and photographs. Students chose which part of the project they wished to specialize in and worked in small groups to accomplish their specialty. The sound files are the main content of the project and include student-written poetry, stories, drama, essays, and songs.
Expectations (5-point rubric):
- Record the content in the appropriate format (photo, video, art, or sound file). (1 point)
- Analyze with your group how your personal contribution aided in the overall impact of the project. (1 point)
- Create a Web page using your class writing. The page should focus on the main theme and include a brief essay on your role in the overall project. (2 points)
All students had a role in successfully completing this project. Not all students were successful in the Web-page creation, but all made a discernible addition to the actual product, the multimedia CD.
Sample End-of-Project Student Evaluation
Room 20 Multimedia Project Evaluation
Date:
What I did on the project:
Who helped me with the project:
The most important thing(s) I learned doing this project:
I will use what I have learned to:
I would like it better if:
If I did the project again, I would like to:
I would like to say:
References
Web Links
Research and other information on the class-based project approach to learning can be found at the following Web sites:
Books
Books about the class-based project approach include:
- Katz, L.G., and Chard, S.C. (1989). Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach. Ablex Publishing.
- Chard, S.C. (1992). The Project Approach: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta.
- Chard, S.C. (1998). The Project Approach: Developing Curriculum with Children. New York: Scholastic, Inc. (an excellent set of two books).
E-mail: Richard Soos
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