Reflecting on What I Know pg. 234. Ch.9

Using multimedia in the classroom can be interpreted many ways. It depends on what grade level you teach, what discipline and what level the child is on. I myself will be teaching Special Education and I think the use of multimedia, by the child themselves will depend solely on the fact of the level of SPED I am in, the grade level etc. I feel that, I as the educator will be the one using most of the multimedia. However, if we are speaking in terms of the general education, multimedia can be used for several projects, that will help boost children's knowledge and interest in any subject. As stated in our text, the use of technology is just a way to provide us and our students a better way to communicate through computers! Using multimedia for projects is easy, students can use photographs, graphics, clipart, video sound, animation, and hyperlinks all for projects that would be included as multimedia projects.
 Applications that would be included for this type of work would be things such as PowerPoint, which could be used as early as sixth grade. My son had a project due last week in Science. His teacher gave six ways in which to present the project, and he chose to do his in PowerPoint. I was very excited. He knew nothing of PowerPoint, but I was happy to work with him and show him the way this technology worked, and how it could make his "Grassland Biome" come to life in more ways than he could ever imagine! Adding photos, adding sounds of the running Buffalo that live in his biome, the sound of grass that sway in his Biome, in the sound of rain that falls in his Biome, the pictures of sunflower that grow in his Biome. The only thing missing was the smell of clover that also grow in his Biome! He was amazed at how PowerPoint made his project come to life! No wonder he received a B+.
You can also use Digital Video presentations, but this would really be for older groups of children, maybe 8-12th grade. This requires production, script and storyboard.  This is just like telling a story, however and can be very fun for every student involved.  iMovie is needed as well, or Windows movie Maker.
Limiting what your students can do when using multimedia is always a good idea, and say that because of this, it depends on the age group, their development level and what you know they are capable of.  Sometimes, it may be great just to have a CLASS multimedia project, to get them started, or to see how they handle the task. Mutilmedia is a great idea to keep children interested, for great research and development, but giving a child more than they can handle can also be a problem. I would make sure to have proper lesson plans on teaching the subject before "letting the children go on their own." Making sure to have properly integrated lesson plans is must when teaching multimedia.