This blog post will discuss what are some non-digital multimedia and interactive experiences, specifically classroom discussions. What I have experienced in the past, whether or not they were interesting or engaging. If so, what made them interesting and how they can be improved to engage students time. This is also the topic of my power point in less words.
From personal experience classroom discussions are possibly the worst thing a teacher can do to students. They often get sidetracked and as a student that does not enjoy speaking up it can cause some unwanted anxiety. There are also students who enjoy speaking up too much whether or not they are correct. Which can cause misinformation. I am sure we have all been part of a classroom discussion that got a little too heated when people have different options. There are also struggles for people who have auditory issues or nonvisual leaners. On a personal level note taking can be difficult, especially if multiple people are speaking or if the information given turns out to be wrong.
However, there are ways to make classroom discussions more engaging for everyone involved. This does come down to how well the teacher is able to engage the students. Often times in TV and movies we see the “cool” teacher sitting on a desk, maybe throwing a ball around keeping it casual. This is actually a great technique to let students know that its just a conversation, much like they would have with their friends. It can help those who are less likely to speak up an opportunity to be heard without a fear of being formally rejected. Keeping it “casual” can create laughter and jokes which also further encourages students to engage. It is up to the teacher to maintain proper boundaries of the discussion though. A properly engaged class also allows students to further expand ideas and concepts in words their peers understand. In my power point I brought up a few different ways that teachers can engage students, like mentioned above, throwing a ball. Students who have the ball are allowed to speak and those without the ball need to listen. Depending on the age you can use different types of balls. For younger kids you can use beach balls for older kids a tennis ball may be more appropriate. The teacher can also turn the discussion into a game like jeopardy or kahoot. There are topics the students need to answer and once they have done so a discussion can begin about further elaborating on the topic. There are also several websites such as Teachers Pay Teachers or even Pintrest which can help teachers engage their students within discussions and beyond.
Classroom discussions and teaching methods of the past were very one sided, it was a way to get information across whether a student was able to understand or not. Thanks to technology and multimedia students are able to learn in new ways every day. Teachers can assist students with different learning styles with the use of multimedia, or in the case of classroom discussions, different methods. The future of teaching holds endless possibilities for everyone.
Hi Sarah, I think you have good thoughts here. While it’s generally agreed-upon that people learn best in collaboration with others, the traditional large-class discussion can certainly be non-inclusive for a lot of individuals.
In one sense, I’m tempted to say that it isn’t a multimedia setting, since it doesn’t really include ‘graphics’, video, or other elements we’ve been discussing. That said, I can also see parallels – the body language, for instance, of the participants, is non-verbal, and yet contributes to both the message and the learning environment. I would say that the ball tossed around, in addition to enforcing space for speakers, could help to focus the participants away from body language – including its use.
I would recommend trying to bridge your thoughts back to the course materials in future blog posts, as I believe that Luke will want to see us engaging actively with the multimedia learning theories. I think you should also include some graphics or video – not that I did a lot of it, but for instance, you could probably find a picture of a classroom discussion and a GIF of that red ball scenario.
Thanks for the read! Trevar
Thanks for the post and I agree about notetaking too. Trevar has some good suggestions for future posts. Cheers!