Assignment # 1

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.