I have had the opportunity to both participate in and teach
numerous train-the-trainer courses throughout my career. In each of those courses I learned that through
the use of various teaching aids and multimedia we are able to keep our
learners engaged. It was this
foundational tenant that kept running through my mind as I was reading the text
this week. Almost without fail, if we
can incorporate the use of multiple media formats into our content, there will
be a positive learning outcome. I do
recognize that we need to be careful not to overwhelm our students and there
are certainly some other things that we need to be aware of, so I will cover
those a little later.
The various technologies mentioned in this week’s reading
provide an opportunity for instructors to reach students with varying learning styles. Asynchronous audio communication (AAC) is defined as delayed digital audio technology used to deliver verbal communication through a computer or other electronic device (Oomen-Early, Bold, & Gallien, Tara, 2011). In Chapter Four of our text the authors did a very good job in Table 4.1 (pg. 53) of providing online Instructional Strategies and Tools corresponding to Blooms Taxonomy of Learning Domains (Bloom, 1956). This table can serve as a menu of technologies an instructor could use in an online environment. Several case studies also provide support demonstrating the effectiveness of AAC. One study found that 91% of the students found AAC to improve their understanding of course content and 82.4% believed it improved the instructor-student relationship (pg. 59).
Digital video is simply another tool that can also improve
student understanding of the content, as well as making that content more
interesting. Just a few of the
advantages of all digital media are:
·
available on demand
·
can be retrieved as often as the student wants
·
reaches those with visual and audio learning
styles
·
able to serve the needs of both teacher-centered
and self-directed students (Cox & King, 2011)
I
really don’t want to say there are cons related to the use of any digital
technology, I would prefer to say there are simply some things that are very
important to watch out for. Obviously
when we are incorporating any media into our course content we must abide by
all copyright laws related to such use.
One other thing we need to be aware of is the learning curve related to
the use of technology. In a little while
I will discuss the process that I went through to upload my audio podcast to
YouTube. Not everything works out just
the way we expect, however with a little perseverance it is possible to succeed
in integrating various media into our content.
A final word of warning related to digital content. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post,
it is possible to overwhelm our students.
It is far better to “chunk” material into no more than 10 minute long
segments (Donavant, 2011)
Donavant, B. W. (2011). Narrated Digital Presentations. In
K. P. King, & T. D. Cox, The professors guide to taming technology (pp.
105-119). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Oomen-Early, J., Bold, M., & Gallien, Tara. (2011).
Using Online Asynchronous Audio Communication in Higher Education. In K. P.
King, & T. D. Cox, The professors guide to taming technology (pp. 51-65).
Charlotte: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Audio/Video/Podcast Activity - Multimedia Interview Assignment
I won’t spend a lot of time talking about the in’s and out’s
of my Interview Assignment, what I will say is that the Government Shutdown
torpedoed my entire project. I’m not
really complaining, because it did force me to simply go a different route and
so what I ended up doing was an Asynchronous Audio Communication (AAC) in the form of a podcast. I was able to accomplish this with pretty
minimal effort related to downloading the appropriate software or purchasing
additional equipment. Much of it was
simply trial and error but in the end it worked out very well. Below is a step-by-step process on how I
completed the project.
1.
Download Audacity which is a free, open
source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.
2.
Using my computer and an inexpensive external
speaker, I conducted the interview with a co-worker
3.
Using there very easy to understand controls in
Audacity I edited the interview and exported it as an MP3 file
4.
I used PowerPoint to add introductory slides and
I inserted the MP3 file and formatted the transitions. I then saved the entire PowerPoint as a
Windows Media Audio/Video File (this is simply done in PowerPoint)
5. I then uploaded the Windows Media Audio/Video File into YouTube
5. I then uploaded the Windows Media Audio/Video File into YouTube
How to Upload a Video into YouTube
