Clif's Notes

Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media

I’m enjoying the North Carolina Technology in Education Society’s 2010 Conference in Raleigh, NC. I’m excited about being one of the featured speakers and having opportunities to work with and learn from classroom teachers, media specialists, administrators, and more.

Today I’ll be sharing a pre-conference workshop on Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media. This energetic session will demonstrate that with freely available digital technologies students can demonstrate their understanding of course content in multiple ways (images, audio, video, presentations, artwork, and more). Each student’s end product (learning artifact) allows them to personally self-express their understanding/mastery of the content/skills. Although teachers may not be comfortable using all of today’s technology it is important to consider allowing students to use it to communicate their understanding as they are often more naturally able to more fully express themselves with digital media. The PowerPoint presentation is below and the full workshop notes are available on my wiki. Note that the links and logos in the PowerPoint presentation are clickable.

• Multiple Representations of Understanding with Technology
• NCTIES Conference
• Day 2: MECA 2010
• Games and Simulations in Education: A Resource List for Newbies

Google Earth in the Classroom

Tom Barrett developed the below presentation. It is full of strategies and tips for effectively integrating Google Earth with teaching and learning.

• Google Docs in the Classroom
• Wordle in the Classroom
• Twitter in the Classroom
• VoiceThread in the Classroom

Thinking outside the Box

“What you are about to see is a mix of unrelated YouTube videos/clips edited together to create ThruYou” (Source). “The project consists of seven music tracks/videos that are made exclusively from video material found on YouTube. Kutiman spent 3 months in his bedroom splicing and dicing over one hundred videos for samples of singers and instruments—from guitars, pianos, drums and harps, to synthesizers, a bouzouki and even a cash register. The resulting seven tracks which range in genres—from R&B, Funk and Reggae, to Jungle, Afro and Jazz—are quite impressive” (Source).

Educational Uses

• Examples of creativity and thinking outside of the box
• Use in music classes to introduce or review concepts such as chords, progression, meter, solo and ensemble, genre, etc.
• Inspiring examples of video editing for media and journalism students

• Another Creative Video
• We the People…
• Video Resources
• ITM’s Show and Tell