Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The
Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms
This article discusses the concept of multimodality through
picture books in the primary classroom. The author says that now, focus is not
only put on the text found in the book but also on the picture, graphics, and
even the sociocognitive interaction that takes place about the text to create
meaning. He then goes on to discuss how books present meaning in different
socially and culturally shaped ways. Some books text incorporates symbols for
meaning. Other books have the objects on the page speaking for themselves.
Another book changed the color of the font to represent emotions (blue to
orange to red). All of these are examples of different modes of communication.
One of the main points the author frequently referenced was
how interactive multimodal texts are. The focus does not have to be primarily
on the text with multimodal texts. Instead, the reader may choose to look at
the pictures, or graphs, or symbols, or colors of the text. Multimodal texts
allow the reader to sort through the meaning in his or her own way. The meaning
no longer lies in just the text, therefore, there is no wrong or right way to
go about figuring out the meaning of a multimodal text.
This is a great feature for students since each student has
their own style of learning. One student may learn better by simply from
reading the text where others may understand the meaning better by looking at
the pictures. Furthermore, the teacher can create lessons based on the books
that the students will be interested in. If students are interested in the
topic and way information is presented they are sure to be more motivated to
learn and stay focused. Based on these facts I think multimodal text is a
wonderful tool that every teacher should try to incorporate. It will aid in
meeting the needs of every student as they are allowed to find the meaning in
whatever way suits them best.
Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities
for Online Users
The opening quote of this article states, “Educators should
explore the possibilities of engaging and improving online learners’
motivation, thereby increasing the likelihood of achieving desirable learning
outcomes.” This is a very powerful quote and one I truly believe in. I
frequently say that a teacher must motivate the students to learn in order to
achieve success. SL is a great way to motivate the students. It incorporates
the best of both worlds in terms of face-to-face learners and online learners
based on the degree of interaction it allows.
As the article mentions, SL gives an almost life-life
environment. This is one of its best features, in my opinion. This helps the
students to relate to the given topic. If a student feels like the topic they
are learning is foreign and has nothing to do with them chances are they will
not be motivated to learn about it. However, if they can see this essentially
come to life via SL, it puts a different spin on things and allows them to make
that connection.
Furthermore, SL also incorporates the social aspect that
many online users may miss out on. In SL, students interact with other users
throughout the entire process. They can interact with each other in a variety
of ways. The article mentions the attachment that users feel to their avatars.
I thought that was quite interesting because I never really thought about that
before. They say that since the user creates the avatar to represent themselves
in some manner, they develop a strong attachment to their avatars. Furthermore,
the article mentions that there are three levels of interaction that the
students can experience in SL. “(1) relationships between students and content,
(2) relationships between instructors, and (3) relationships among students.”
To be able to establish these three relationships through a web-based learning
program is incredible. As the article states, this helps to build a strong
sense of community. More often than not the only relationship that is formed
through a web-based learning program is that of students and content and there
is no sense of community.
However, there are several challenges when using SL as the
article mentions. First, some computers may not be equipped to run the SL
software smoothly. Furthermore, there is
always the problem of schools blocking online programs. In this case, students
would have to use their computers at home. With that being said, however, if
their computers at home face the first problem discussed they would not be able
to use the software. This would make it difficult for the teacher to assign
anything using SL because not all students would have access to it.
Another good point brought up in this article is that anyone
can come on SL at anytime. There is no controlling who signs on and what they
post or do. This is a huge risk for teachers to take, as they have no control
over what their students may observe while using this program.
I really liked that this article touched on both the pros
and cons of using SL. It is important for all users to be aware of both sides. SL
has many great features that can be of great benefit in the classroom. However,
there are other elements that may cause people to think otherwise when deciding
on whether or not to use it.
