Stop, Look & Listen: Digital Audio-Visual Resources
Participants will explore new audio-visual resources found today on the web: digital images, podcasting, and streaming video. We will discuss how to utilize these materials in the classroom, across grade levels and subject areas. Teachers will acquire the tools necessary to find quality content online and become savvy users of multimedia resources for the classroom.
Using audio and visual resources in the classroom is not something new; overheads, projectors, and VCRs have all been used by teachers for quite some time now. However, thanks to the Internet, finding free audio, visual, and video materials has never been easier. The web has proven to be a fertile ground for posting, sharing, and distributing multimedia.
The Internet provides many rich opportunities to uncover high-quality audio and visual materials for the classroom. Many multimedia resources are available online that enrich textbook learning—or which can render textbooks obsolete altogether. Providing students with a multi-sensory experience to learn concepts and facts goes a long way to ensure that material is truly absorbed, while also providing greater stimulation and motivation for multiple intelligences.
In this one-credit course, participants will explore digital images, podcasting, and video available for free on the web. We will discuss how to utilize these materials in the classroom, across grade levels and subject areas. Participants will acquire the tools necessary to find quality content online and become savvy users of multimedia resources for the classroom.
Objectives
Participants will be able to
Explore digital images, podcasting, and video on the web.
Overview It's amazing when you think about all of the images that are now online--with a few clicks, you can find a picture of almost anything or anyplace you need. Image portals, such as Google Images or Flickr, make it even easier to locate images on almost every subject. With a few well-planned clicks, you can easily find pictures of almost any location in the world, maps, historical documents, paintings and artworks, and much more.
You can take these images and then print them for students, import them into PowerPoint slide shows, or just show them in the classroom using a projection device. You can also use a digital camera and create your own digital images, sharing them via Flickr or other image sharing sites. In this session, we'll look at both Google Images and Flickr (we recommend creating an account), as well as high-quality resources found on the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress web sites. Then we'll look over some teacher-created tutorials for using digital images in the classroom.
Readings
On the Making the Most of the Web with Your Students CD-ROM, read the section on digital images (under “Making the Most by Technology”). Read through the section, and look at the curriculum units. Look at three of the units, choosing those that are most appropriate for your grade level.
Reflection Using Flickr, find a digital image that could be a jumping-off point for a classroom assignment and post the link if possible. Describe how you would use this image as a teaching tool. How might you use a feature of the Flickr site (notes, sets, descriptions, etc.) to enhance a classroom assignment?
Overview
The Internet makes the sharing of audio files very easy. Most of us are familiar with music-sharing sites, most of which are illegal. The same technology is used to share legal, educational audio files as well. It's very easy to find and listen to audio files on just about every subject. Podcasts, especially, are usually free and primarily educational. A podcast (the word is derived from the explosion of Apple iPods onto the technology scene) is really just an audio file structured like a radio broadcast. You can listen to a podcast on almost any computer and on any kind of portable MP3 player. You do not need an iPod to listen to one.
Podcasts can be highly educational. You can easily find free lessons on foreign languages, math tutorials, grammar lessons, test prep, spoken word, and more. Many news programs also release free podcasts of their broadcasts as well. Students can also listen to student-produced podcasts on multiple topics. Video podcasts are also available, which combine the two mediums.
If you have a newer model Mac or PC computer, downloading iTunes can help you find podcasts via Apple's Music Store, and almost all of these podcasts are free of charge to download. If you do not want to use iTunes, there are plenty of other places to look--check the resources section for some links to podcast portals.
Readings
1) Read the following wiki, "What¹s a Podcast Anyway," http://mhmsmedia.wikispaces.com/podcasting, which provides a good overview of podcasting as a medium and discusses some classroom ideas for podcasts. On the Making the Most of the Web with Your Students CD-ROM, view the teacher video on podcasting, which is linked from the main menu. Also be sure to visit the section on podcasting, located under the ³Making the Most by Technology² section.
2) In the How to Use the Internet in Your Classroom book, read "Reaching an Audio Learner with MP3 files," on pages 45-46. Consider how multimedia resources may help reach diverse learners in your classroom.
Reflection
In what ways are podcasts being used as tools for the classroom? Provide 3-5 examples that you feel are some of the strongest uses you have seen for the medium. In what way(s) can you imagine using podcasts in your classroom? How could podcasting supplement and enhance your curriculum?
Overview With an Internet connection, speakers, and a projector, you can easily convert your classroom into a screening room. Forget about special-ordering that VHS, or screening a DVD for hours to find exactly the clip you need, or paying a hefty premium for an educational video. There are now many video portals on the web which allow users to view and download short clips (usually only a few minutes long). There are several sites which provide educational videos only, such as United Streaming (http://www.unitedstreaming.com), but most require a subscription by a school or district. We'll be looking at only free video portals here, which contain both high quality educative resources as well as materials that are likely to be inappropriate for the classroom.
The most popular video site on the web today is You Tube, but it can be a challenge to find classroom-appropriate materials. Always be sure to find videos beforehand and screen them ahead of time. Use the search function and search for videos on a particular subject. Clicking around randomly will not usually point you to the best content. It's easy to find footage from Hurricane Katrina, poetry readings, Civil War re-enactments, footage of solar eclipses, and more, all for free.
On the Making the Most of the Web with Your Students CD-ROM, read the section on Digital Video (under “Making the Most by Technology”). Choose two of the curriculum units listed in this section to see how each teacher made use of video as a tool for instruction.
Visit either You Tube (www.youtube.com) or Teacher Tube (www.teachertube.com) and locate a video that would be an appropriate tool for your classroom. Be sure to use effective and specific search terms to find videos that would be valuable for your students.
Reflection Provide a rationale for using online video as a resource in the classroom. Why do you think video, especially clips found on the web, can be a valid instrument for instruction? Discuss video as a tool in general, as well as the availability of web video.
Outline a unit of study that includes each of the three media discussed in this course. Make sure to include links to the online media sources so others are able to reference them. In what ways are audio-video materials effective tools for instruction?
