Blog Post 2 - Assessment

In the current age of social media and sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat and Instagram, it is becoming increasingly evident that digital media is fast becoming the new way to express feelings, ideas and convey messages. Due to this, education surrounding visual literacies and digital media has moved to the forefront of pedagogical approaches in many classrooms.  Digital media is said to pertain to any platform relating to videos, images or audio. There are many studies that show the effect that visual cues have in retaining and remembering information. Kouyoumdjian (2012) states that this is because words are difficult for the brain to retain due to their abstract nature however visual representations are concrete and more easily remembered. I have taken the time this week to explore different sites and their ability to be used in an educational format and enhance the use of visual literacy within the classroom. An example of this is logos, it is extremely common for the human brain to retain the image used to promote a business rather than remembering the name. Creating a logo could be a potential activity for students, a site such as Wix Logo maker could be used to do this. 

Within education, images can be used to support creative thinking and engage students in analysing what they see. An activity that I really like is See, Think, Wonder, I believe this is a great activity as each person will see something different in the same picture, so this can assist students in developing critical thinking skills along with collaborating with others on their interpretations  (CQUniversity, 2019). 
(See website for more information https://thinkingpathwayz.weebly.com/seethinkwonder.html).

While photographs are the first thing that comes to mind when analysing images, other forms of images include graphic organisers and concept maps. These can be great to use in the classroom instead of taking notes as students can begin to form links and present their information in a different way increasing their ability to use critical  and creative thinking skills. Websites such as Wisemapping and Coggle are free websites that can be used for this activity.

Another great site I spent some time with this week is 'Photos for Class'. This website would be a godsend for teachers when enhancing their lessons with pictures as these are already referenced and safe to use without breaching copyright laws. I have inserted a few in this post, all taken from this site in different subjects. 

Photos for Class: https://www.photosforclass.com

Teachers could use this site to engage students in an image manipulation activity whereby each student would recieve a different picture and  use a site such as befunky.com to alter the picture then explain their changes. This engages Bloom's by requiring students to create, apply and analyse their choices and SAMR at the augmentation and modification levels. 

Video is a common tool seen within classroom and has a range of uses such as communication, observation, analysis and reflection (CQUniversity, 2019). Many school's have access to a platform such as ClickView for teachers, these sites contain a wealth of educational videos and I myself have used this platform when on my prac's to both introduce a topic and extend content taught in the lesson. Below is a snap shot of Clickview (ClickView, 2019).  

Example of a video found on Clickview. 

Another use for video within the classroom is reflecting, students are able to use tools such as Ipads and cameras to document their learning in a video format rather than say, an oral presentation. Platforms such as MovieMaker and iMovie are good for students to use to edit their videos or organise their pictures into a short presentation (below I have added a video on how to use MovieMaker). Because I use a MacBook, I downloaded Wondershare Filmora9 Video editor to have a go at video editing ( https://filmora.wondershare.com/video-editor/). This site was free to download and easy to use, in no time I was able to figure my way around the editing tools within the site. I used an image of Bloom's Taxonomy obtained from the website 'Centre for Teaching',  but you are able to edit videos and images along with media and photos from Facebook, Instagram and Flikr alike within this program (Armstrong, 2019). 

However, when working with videos in the classroom, it is important to give students parameters and ensure that they are creating story boards and plans prior to filming to avoid any excessive lengths or incorrect interpretations of the task at hand. Tasks related to video creations engage Bloom's Taxonomy as students create by producing new work, analyse by organising their ideas prior to filming and understand the content as they need to explain their ideas or concepts. Videos can be used at all stages of the SAMR framework, for example: 

S: create a video to document different soil types 

A: Students use MovieMaker to edit and add text to their video

M: Students find a partner or another group, share their video and both give and receive feedback. 

R: Students go back and make changes based on the feedback received.

The third aspect of digital media is audio, essentially this is a singular sound file that is shared with others such as a podcast. There are copious amounts of podcasts available on the internet on just about any subject, they can be found on platforms such as Audacity, iTunes and many more. While audio literacy is important to the leaners in the classroom, I don’t know that this tool could be used effectively without the visual component. In saying this, creating audio files could be a great way for students to document their learning, reflect on information given by their teachers or hand in oral assignments for those students that don’t cope with public speaking. Teachers could redefine an assignment by taking a written task and requiring students to create an audio file along with the written piece. 

There are a few things that may be beneficial to teach students prior to allowing them to engage to deeply with images, video and audio files, especially in the creation aspects. Image types and size along with copyright are just a few of the important aspects that students need to be aware of.

Digital Media is fast becoming necessary in classrooms and it is in the best interest of teachers to keep up with the different sites that are available and integrate them into lesson plans. 

Bibliography

Armstrong, P. (2019). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from Center for Teaching: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

ClickView. (2019). ClickView: Create a deeper understanding through Video. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://www.clickview.com.au

CQUniversity. (2019). Topic 4: Digital Tools 2 - Simple digital media. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=838532&chapterid=57295

H, K. (2019, April). Learning Through Visuals: Visual imagery in the classroom. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/get-psyched/201207/learning-through-visuals

Hasper, A. (2018, September). Why Images are Powerful for Learning. Retrieved from National Geographic Learning: in focus: http://ngl.cengage.com/infocus/index.php/2018/09/07/images-powerful-learning/

Naturalvita Tutorials and Cryptos. (2019, April). Movie Maker Tutprial: Learn Movie Maker in 9 Minutes.Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXr_kzfnCM4