scrapblog – My Write to Learn

Multi/Media Inventory

In Module 5 of ETEC 565 (Spring 2009), the terms media and multimedia are used almost interchangeably, adding an element of ambiguity to what we choose to include in our “Multimedia Inventory”. Richard Mayer (2001) defines multimedia as “the presentation of material using both words and pictures” (p. 1). Pictures may be still or moving, and words may be print or audio. Kingsley & Boone (2008) define multimedia as “any system that combines two or multimedia-media-inventorymore media into a single product or presentation, such as a software program or a Web page.” Clearly, multimedia artefacts are those that combine multiple media objects into a single entity. As can be seen in my inventory (attached in Word 2007 and PDF formats), some multimedia entities can even combine other multimedia entities. I have chosen to separate those items that are simply media from those that are truly multimedia.

With a couple of days left to polish the mock Moodle course I’m creating for Lay Readers, I may still add some more media and multimedia files. The inventory is up-to-date as of today. I have to admit that I was surprised at just how many files I have included in the course, despite having completed only a small portion of the overall course.

At first blush, I have found that the main benefit of this inventory exercise has been to force myself to be meticulous about recording my (multi)media object sources. I have already begun to apply this exercise to my professional practice.

Multi/Media Inventory (PDF)

Multi/Media Inventory (Word 2007)

References

Kingsley, K., & Boone, R. (2008, December 1). Effects of Multimedia Software on Achievement of Middle School Students in an American History Class. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(2), 203-221. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ826093) Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ERIC database.

Mayer, R (2001) Multimedia Learning, 9th ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Creating Social Media

Well, I finally got my “digital story” finished and posted online, using Scrapblog, an online, digital scrapbooking tool. I know more than a few people who are avid (or near avid) scrapbookers. I’ve never really understood the attraction – there’s always been something missing. Scrapblog might actually fill that hole by making it easier to share your work. It does lack the satisfaction of working with the pictures, paper, stickers and sundry other paraphenalia, but it sure is cheaper and easier to change your mind about where to place elements.

This activity was a learning experience for me – I had to learn to record audio using Audacity in order to create a mash-up in Picasa of photos and audio to upload to YouTube. Otherwise, there was no way for me to get an audio narration on my pages. I learned a bit more about Creative Commons licences from selecting photos on Flickr to use. One thing I would do differently next time, and may still do, is spend a bit more time cleaning up the audio. Even though all three audio clips were recorded in identical settings, with identical equipment, the sound quality varies quite a bit between the three.

What I learned from reviewing my classmates’ digital stories was that social media enables us to move from a starchy presentation of facts to a potentially compelling human story. When the story becomes meaningful to the author/creator, the information it conveys carries more weight with the audience. The ability of some platforms to incorporate audience response into the presentation itself raises the interactivity beyond “traditional” powerpoint presentations. [As a side-note, the death of powerpoint has been declared multiple times, at least as early as 2005, and most recently with the launching of Prezi, a much more dynamic tool. Yet, it’s still here with us. Why? Because it ships with MS Office…] Scrapblog operates as a weblog, in that viewers are welcome to leave comments on the presentation page, in the same way you (my reader) might see fit to leave a comment at the bottom of this page. Presentations that use original artwork or photos can also be much more compelling than those that use stock or pirated images.

That’s enough reflection for now…here’s the scrapblog I created, with much thanks to Karrie Emms who gave me permission to use her copyrighted story.

David