Final Exam

Analyzing Instructional Multimedia for Classroom Use

Kyle McKay

Central Michigan University

Abstract

There is a plethora of instructional multimedia tools that are currently available for instructional purposes. The basis for implementing these technologies requires an adequate level of research to support the effectiveness of its use in the classroom. This paper is going to examine two of these multimedia tools, screencasting and podcasting, for classroom use, as well as the strengths and limitations that these technologies offer. Lastly, a chemistry project that focuses on capturing chemical reactions from our everyday lives will be explained in conjunction with how the completion of this assignment runs students through the various levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. This project will use another multimedia instructional tool called Glogster to create the final product.

Keywords: podcasting, screencasting, glogs, Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy

Analyzing Instructional Multimedia for Classroom Use

            Computer assisted instruction has rapidly increased in the last decade, and its implications for teaching and learning are becoming prevalent issues in our society. The core of this issue rests its principles on research and evaluation. In order to adequately demonstrate that teaching with technology improves learning, extensive research must be completed about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness that technology provides in regards to assistance with instruction. Unfortunately, the amount of empirical research that is currently available is quite limited. Nonetheless, it is a common goal amongst the individuals who see technology as a beneficial classroom tool to ultimately prove its worth to the rest of society by continuing to implement and assess various forms of instructional multimedia. This paper is going to look at the strengths and weaknesses associated with two popular forms of multimedia, screencasting and podcasting. In addition, the creation of a Glog will be analyzed to see how its use in the classroom can be tailored to fit the various levels of Bloom’s digital taxonomy.

Screencasting. Screencasting is a process that was termed by Udell (2005) as “a way to present digitally recorded playback of computer screen output which often contains audio narration and to visually demonstrate procedural information to students.” In a more simplistic sense, screencasting is the process of capturing what is happening on your computer screen as you complete a particular task. This video that is created can now be played back digitally for students so that they can follow the steps presented to complete the task at hand. One example where this type of technology can be used in the classroom comes from teaching Microsoft Excel. The power of Excel makes it an exceptional tool for producing all kinds of data sheets that can be manipulated to produce graphs and other forms of graphic organizers that make the data easier to understand. A teacher could use a screencast program like Camtasia to record their voice as they carry out the steps on screen for turning data into a pie graph. Once completed, this video can be posted online, and students then have the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward as needed to complete this process on their own.

            Strengths. The list of strengths that can be associated with screencasting in the classroom as an effective means of instruction is quite long. “The combination of sound and images within a screencast enhances online learners’ experiences compared to the more traditional text format and can be a powerful method of communicating content in an online setting” (Sugar, Brown & Luterbach, 2010).  This aligns itself with the principles set forth in Mayer’s Multimedia Principles, which state that corresponding animations and narration are effective paths for student understanding. The key principle to understand here is that screencasting hits both the auditory and visual learning channels in comparison to printed text that explains the same process. “Technological developments and increased accessibility to the Internet and mobile media devices coupled with increased software usability and institutional support have led to rapid developments in computer-assisted instruction” (Lloyd & Robertson, 2012). This may be the founding principle for why technologies like this are increasing in popularity.

            Limitations. Downfall associated with using screencasts as an instructional tool fall into a few different areas. The first problem that plagues the implementation of technology is funding. Lack of money to bring in new technologies is often the biggest obstacle in education today. The second area of weakness associated with screencasting comes from the lack of face-to-face learning. Some researchers feel that the opportunity for someone to learn on their own pace is insufficient compared to the learning that occurs from teacher-to-student interactions. While there is validity in this argument, we must remember that not all learning institutions have a one-to-one student to teacher ratio, and therefore screencasting helps to soothe the masses.

            Podcasting. The next stop on our multimedia analysis takes us to the use of podcasting in the classroom. In relatively simple terms, a podcast is a recorded audio file that can be uploaded to the internet and accessed with a variety of technological devices. The audio file usually is a recording of an expert on a particular issue or topic. A typical example of a podcast for classroom use could be a recorded lecture from a science class that can be posted for students who were absent.

            Strengths. The strengths associated with using a podcast for instruction have the ability to enhance the way information is presented. “It frees up time normally spent dispensing information and allows teachers to deal more with student questions or dig deeper into key concepts” (Reilly & Shumack, 2011).  Because technology allows students to learn what they want, when they want, podcasts are an excellent bridge for the gap between classroom learning and independent learning at home.

            Limitations. Looking for a weakness in the use of podcasts in the classroom brings us to something that was proposed by Scott Carlson. He stated “value lies in people’s being able to communicate one-to-one, and something very important: the ability to share time at the same time and at the same place” (Carlson, 2012). Understanding the viewpoint addressed here calls for us to look at the meaningful connections that are made between people who are sharing experiences person-to-person. Another downfall with podcasting is that it only appeals to one learning channel, auditory.

            Glogging with Bloom’s. Glogs are a relatively new technology that has evolved blogs into something very dynamic. Aside from the input of text as used in original blogs, a glog opens up every avenue of multimedia and rolls it into one presentation source. Glogs can be very useful for classroom projects, presentations, reports, and the list goes on and on. We are going to take a look at how a Glog can be used in a chemistry classroom, and how its creation utilizes various levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

            Chemistry is a difficult subject for most students to comprehend because of the abstract thinking involved with chemical reactions. As a means to further student understanding of the chemical interactions that are taking place around us all the time, students will be asked to produce a Glog that is centered on this principle. In order to capture these occurrences, students will be asked to use a digital camera to photograph it. For example, a photograph of a birthday candle illustrates the process of oxidation. As students research, plan, and begin to compile this project, they will be going through several levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, and those will be explained as we move through the explanation of this assignment. “Between the explosion of Web connectivity and increasingly complex tools for handling information, the only valid tasks we can ask of our students are evaluation and creation of original work” (Harris, 2010).

            In order to achieve an acceptable final product for this assignment, students are going to have to begin researching the various types of chemical reactions that are present in real life examples. Because it may not be possible to photograph every chemical reaction that a student wishes to use in their Glog, they may need to find sources from another place. In this process, students will be immersed in the understanding level of Bloom’s digital taxonomy, specifically the advanced and Boolean searching subcategory. This process requires students to modify their searches to find images that are licensed for commercial modification and redistribution.

            Once a student has gathered all of the material that is needed to create their Glog, they move into the next phase of the project, editing. At this point in time, a student moves into the applying level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy which includes the editing process. During this phase, students will need to utilize programs such as Photoshop to manipulate their photographs to meet assignment requirements. With the power that Photoshop puts into the students hands, they may be able to combine images that represent chemical processes that otherwise cannot be photographed directly. Another level of applying that is hit during this process is uploading and sharing. During the photo acquisition process, students will need to upload their photos to Flickr. As students use and share content freely from the internet, they are executing a higher order thinking skill through collaboration.

            Once the images are ready to be worked into the Glog, the student will move into the creating level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. The two subcategories of the creation level that are being utilized in this step fall under directing and producing, and publishing. Students need to have a sense of vision about what their final product will look like before they begin creating anything. The main idea of this project is to get students to focus on making meaningful connections between “words they learned in chemistry” and their “daily lives.” The use of the Glog to create the final product needs to be more than just a fancy way of putting it together. “I want to be sure that the tool raises the bar and is not just a temporarily fun distraction worthy only of the attention of an elementary student” (Gates, 2010). When a student properly intertwines their creativity and vision, the result should be a coherent product that adequately demonstrates the connection between chemistry concept and real-life application.

            The last step in completing this chemical reaction Glog is publishing. As mentioned above, this is also in the creation level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. With the power of online programs such as Glogster, anybody that is moderately tech-savvy and has computer access can publish their work online. This process requires the student to adequately check and re-check their final product to ensure the cohesiveness between their originally intended ideas and what they actually created.

            Conclusion. There is no doubt that the increase in use of technology in learning will continue to expand as we are exposed to the increasing technological advances that the twenty-first century has to offer. Using screencasts and podcasts are only two examples of effective multimedia tools that can be used to further enhance instruction. However, it is important to keep in mind that while enhancing student learning is the ultimate goal, it is our job to create tasks that call for higher order conceptual knowledge in comparison to traditional instructional techniques. Using the principles set forth by Mayer and the revised levels of Bloom’s digital taxonomy should be in every educator’s conscious thought process when they are designing or implementing instructional multimedia.

           

References

Carlson, S. (2012). Why we need the physical campus. The Chronicle of Higher
            Education, 58(42),36. Retrieved from
            http://chronicle.com/section/About-the-Chronicle/83

Gates, J. (2010). Cool isn't the same as educational.Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(5),
             9. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading

Harris, C. (2010). One-upping the web: finding our place in bloom's revised taxonomy. School
            Library Journal,56(11), 14. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

Lloyd, S., & Robertson, C. (2012). Screencast tutorials enhance student learning of
           statistics. Society for the Teaching of Psychology, 39(1), 67-71. Retrieved from
           sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

Reilly, E., & Shumack, K. (2011). Video podcasting in physical education: this method can
            expand the use of visual demonstrations for teaching and practicing movement
            skills. The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 82(1), 39. Retrieved               

             from http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/

Sugar, W., Brown, A., & Luterbach, K. (2010). Examining the anatomy of a screencast:
            Uncovering common elements and instructional strategies. International Review of
             Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(3),1-20. Retrieved from
             http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl

Udell, J. (2005). What is screencasting? Retrieved from
             http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2005/11/16/what-is-
            screencasting.html?page=2#heading2.

Using Prezis in the Classroom

The premise of this concept map includes a lot of different complicated ideas. The hydrologic cycle is pretty basic and by 6th grade most students understand that. However, most students do not see the connection between the water cycle and the effect it has on other things here on Earth. My idea for using this in the classroom would be for two reasons. The first is to show how each of these complicated processes are all connected to one another. When one thing is altered, it might throw off another process, as can be shown with the concept map that was created. The second reason I would use this in the classroom is as a modeling tool. I think in order to get students to design their own creative pieces of work, you need to show them something to start from or set the bar. By showing them a dynamic presentation, I would then assign them to create their own Prezi based on a similar concept or topic. I could also have them create a concept map based on only 1 of the 4 main concept circles that was presented, and have them go further in depth on that topic. (one side note, I am color blind, so the use of color graphics for different squares, circles, etc. are basically meaningless and so that is why none of my color circles match the original) 

Kyle's Prezi on Water & It's Patterns on Earth's Surface

Water & It's Patterns on Earth's Surface Enhanced

Click the link above to be taken to my Prezi

Concept Map - Water and It's Patterns on Earth's Surface

Image: Source
Author: NASA
License:  Public Domain

Glog Review

            The steps that I took in order to reduce cognitive load in my Glogs was based on the capacities of working memory, which state that the human brain can only handle about seven elements of information at a time. In both of my Glogs, I tried to keep the main topic areas (video, text box, image) to 7 objects or less. It is difficult to say whether or not I succeeded in reducing the cognitive load, however according to the theory in regards to rehearsal and application, the items that are on the screen are not changing, and so over an extended period of time, a student should possess the capability to comprehend the information on the Glog.

            Considering the opinion that Swisher and Mayer would have about the compilation of a Glog in the sense that it is one piece of work or several pieces put together, leads me to believe that it is one multi-media presentation. According to the principles outlined by Swisher, each one dissects how a piece of multi-media is either effective or ineffective based on research. Taking each of the multimedia principles into account, the studies always present the test subjects with different variations of multimedia. For example, in the split-attention principle, learners do better when an explanation is given alongside a visual illustration, as opposed to one successively after another. This experiment is looking at how the multimedia as a “whole” is perceived, rather than how different parts. From this understanding, it appears that Swisher and Mayer would consider a Glog to be one piece of multimedia because all of it appears at once on the screen in front of you.

            Defend: It is entirely likely that almost every Glog ever made breaks all six of Mayer’s multimedia principles. I would have to take the position of defending this statement for a few reasons. The first comes from research, if you try doing a Google search for how long glogs have been around, or the origin of Glogs, you are going to come up empty. This leads me to believe that the popularity of Glogs is relatively new, which tells us some important information. The first, when new programs like this are launched, most people are going on and creating multimedia for the fun of it, or just to get the hang of it. In turn, if people are creating for fun, then the chances that they are following Mayer’s principles is highly unlikely. The second important piece of information in defending this statement is the popularity or understanding of Mayer’s principles themselves. If I was not a student taking a graduate class that focused on using these guidelines for effective multimedia presentation, the chances of me going out and locating them on my own is slim to none. For the majority of the population that would be using this program, I can also assume it to be highly unlikely that they would take the necessary steps to follow this rigor either.

            Refute: Even if a Glog breaks most of Mayer’s multimedia principles it can still be used to facilitate a more complex understanding of topics than many other multimedia presentations. I have to refute this claim because the research that has been provided in the multimedia principles has been backed by experiments and studies that prove that adhering to this set of guidelines is the most effective method for learning. If a Glog breaks all those rules, then it is hard for me to believe that this is a more effective method of understanding complex topics. Specifically referring to the cognitive load theory, regardless of the “curb appeal” that this visual array of images may have, if you are overloading one’s working memory, then complex or not, you are diminishing your chances of retention and comprehension. Therefore, based on research, my opinion stands in that this is not more effective than other multimedia presentations. However, my disclaimer to this statement is that in regards to being able to compile a variety of different multimedia formats (.mp3, .mp4, .wav, etc.) without any trouble, this is the best method for bringing those different facets into one place.

            It is easy to see the popularity of Glogs in the classroom (even though I had never heard of a Glog before this week.) After reviewing the top 40 things that Glogs are used for, I started to compile a list of what topics I could apply to what ideas. I was astounded at the length of the list I was able to put together with ideas right off the top of my head. Using a Glog in the classroom moves away from the “traditional” PowerPoint presentations that are commonly created for school projects, and gives a whole new avenue to incorporate creative style into a students’ work. In addition, the ease of bringing in various types of multimedia makes this a teacher’s dream program in the sense that errors from converting and transferring files from one format to another is eliminated due to the wide acceptance that Glogs cater to. It can be a frustrating thing for a student and a teacher when time and effort are put into creating something that will not work (first-hand experience here.) Another reason I can see the popularity associated with Glogs is their adaptive style. Literally, you can almost use a Glog to get your ideas across about anything, which is perfect for providing your students with the ultimate imagination tool. Overall, I can see the popularity of Glogs growing tremendously in the near future, or at least to the 125 sixth grade students that will be entering my doors in the fall.  

Cookie Dough Fundraiser Glog Activity Facilitation

The second Glog that I decided to create stemmed from the idea of Parent Teacher Organizations, or in this circumstance, fundraising. Every year, our 6th grade class sells cookie dough to offset the cost of our trip to 6th grade science camp. It is my duty to spearhead this fundraiser, and so I thought I would implement some new technology into the process. 

 Every year, we take all the kids down to the auditorium and do a big kick off to start our sales. With the kids excited about going to camp, they fail to comprehend much of the information that is pertinent to their sales. In addition, when most parents call the school to find it out, it wastes a lot of precious time fielding their inquiries. Therefore, this year we are going to be using this Glog to transcend the necessary information about cookie dough sales. We will be able to post a link on our school's website, share the link through Facebook, and furthermore we can do private prints of the posters and automatically it generates a QR code that visitors to the school can scan with their cell phones to check out the Glog for themselves. There are a couple different avenues that I could take when using this in the classroom. One, this could be the information Glog that the students use to gain knowledge about selling (as I did) The second idea would be to have students create their own Glog in the form of an advertisement in order to help propel the cookie dough sales. This second avenue would remove the selling tips and tricks and focus primarily on the products themselves. Either way, the use of Glogs in this scenario is a helpful tool for both providing information and presenting it in a fun format that students will be genuinely intrigued by (or so that is the goal.) 

Cookie Dough Fundraiser Glog

Pure Michigan Image Attribution: Author: PunkToad Source: Image All others images: Public Domain

Teaching with Superhero Elements

The Glog that I created was based on the assignment idea from the top 40 things to use Glogs in the classroom for. The premise for designing this Glog came from a project that I created for use in my science class in the fall. I want the students to do a research project on a particular element, but did not want a boring 5 page paper from each student about the properties of their element. Rather, the students are going to be creating their own Glog that exemplifies and personifies a fictional character that they are going to develop on their own. Each student is going to use the following questions to facilitate their project: 

• What is your element's boiling point, freezing/melting point?
• What is the atomic mass?
• Atomic number?
• What family are they in? (Alkali, Transition, etc.) 
• What is the density of your superhero? 
• Are they malleable, ductile, or brittle? 
• Are they a conductor of heat and electricity? 
• What is their state of matter at room temperature? 
• Are they highly reactive or non-reactive? 

By using this set of information that might guide students when writing a paper, they can use their imagination and creativity to design a fun way to present facts about their element. In addition, they are going to be using the Super Hero Machine 3 lab, a program from Wordpress, that allows them to design their character. The idea I have in mind for using this to facilitate the lesson would be to give them a copy of the questions (or I could embed them on the Glog) and use the model one I made as an outline for what I want them to create. My main goal is for this Glog to do as much facilitating on it's own as possible. Once the students have been given the parameters of the assignment, my hope is that through exploration and curiosity, they will be inspired to come up with their own marvelous format for presenting through the powerful tools that Glogs provide them with. 

Superhero Elements

Images: Public Domain Superhero: Created by Kyle McKay at Hero Machine 3 Audio: Taken from Soundbible.com  Astronaut: Mike Koenig Source

Reflecting on Instructional Videos

Reflecting on Instructional Videos

            This semester has taken us on a journey through the complex set of principles that have been outlined by Swisher. As we have moved from using still images to represent our thoughts and ideas to animations, and finally to videos, the difficulty level has increased in regards to applying Swisher’s theories. Video differs from using still images or digital storytelling in several different ways. The first idea taken from the temporal contiguity principle discusses how students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively. In order to achieve this goal in digital storytelling, the images on the screen needed to be directly correlated to the animation that was being spoken. With the ability to overlay your voice on top of the images, this was achieved quite easily. In the creation of the instructional video, it was much more difficult to be constantly showing a demonstration while providing narration at the same time. The use of still images along with the video and narration would have made it easier to fulfill the requirements of this principle; however it would not have properly addressed the parameters of the assignment.

            The modality principle also plays a role in the difference between still images and video use. In this circumstance, both processing channels, visual and auditory are being utilized to present information. The research supports the mixed use of both channels as opposed to just one. The difference lies in that students retained more information when given a narration and an animation, but in this instance we are actually using video instead of animation. Ideally, creating a situation where students could actually do hands on practice with whatever it is that you are teaching would be the best practice.

            Another principle that I see that applies across the projects is the split-attention principle. Integrating both the explanation and the demonstration together in one source effectively increases learning. In this video, I tried to give an explanation of how a wind generator works, and then followed by an additional explanation with the demonstration. (I ended up editing out the first slide in my final video due to size restrictions) It is very difficult to truly adhere to this principle in the strictest sense. This brings me to my next topic of discussion. When searching the internet for a variety of instructional videos, I noticed that the videos that followed any of Swisher’s principles are few and far between. In fact, it seemed like most of the videos I searched for went directly against Swisher’s rationale. Specifically, I saw a lot of the redundancy principle in various videos where the text on the screen was being read by the narrator. In addition, I saw a lot of videos that went against the temporal contiguity principle in the sense that words were presented on one slide and then pictures representing the words were on the next slide. Overall, I have found that as our project difficulty increases, so does the ability to properly follow Swisher’s theories. My conclusion is that it is much easier to just create something that looks nice and is fun, than it is to create something that adheres to the multimedia principles. 

Instructional Video Wind Turbines

Instructional Video Assignment Part I

I have selected 6^th grade as my target group for my instructional video assignment. Since I will be returning to teach science in the fall, and we are going to adopt the next generation science standards, I selected physics as my topic area. The specific area of physics that we are going to be taking a look at is potential and kinetic energy. The student population in this area is very low socioeconomic status, and therefore we qualify for all kinds of funding, particularly in the area of technology. The funding made available was used to purchase laptops for every single middle school student, which allows for our classrooms to be one-to-one student to laptop ratio. This provides the opportunity for me to post videos, links, etc. for students to work through at their own pace. 

Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K4V0NvUxRg

Using this video in my classroom to help give an introduction to both kinetic and potential energy would be very useful. The rationale for using this video comes from the “story” like method that it follows to tell the story. I like the way they use a character to explain what is going on throughout the presentation. This would help the students make a more meaningful connection because when the video is finished, I can ask them about what happened to the character at different points in the film. I have found that because of student’s innate fondness of video games and movies, characters are important to them. Instead of referencing something like, “What type of energy was involved when the rock was on the cliff?” I could phrase it as, “What type of energy did our character need to be worried about when he was standing underneath the rock?” I feel that this puts more emphasis on the active character in the video and students would be more likely to remember the part in the movie where this took place.

Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ASLLiuejAo

This video would be helpful in introducing energy in my classroom for a couple reasons. The first being, its Bill Nye the science guy and kids just love this character. The second reason this video is excellent to use is because of the demonstration that he does to demonstrate the amount of kinetic energy an object has. It is one thing to explain to your students that there can never be more kinetic energy than potential energy, but to actually take a bowling ball and swing it out and back is a powerful way to represent that for kids. I also really like how he quickly shows how energy transformation can occur in a way that is simple enough for 6^th graders to understand, but still contains all the complexities associated with the transfer of energy. Additionally, I feel that this video would provide a firm basis from which to spark a discussion about energy transfer, and then ultimately get into the conservation of energy.

Reflecting on Digital Storytelling for Teaching and Learning

                The theories that I relied on for creating my digital story drew from dual coding, the multimedia principle, and the modality principle. The basis for creating my digital story ties into dual coding because of my goal to try and present students with a visual representation to correspond with the auditory component. By triggering meaningful connections between the images that I displayed and the format in which I was speaking. For example, when I was discussing the different types of renewable energy, I did not come out and specifically say, “solar panels” when I was narrating, I said, “harness the power of the sun.” Because most people are familiar with at least what a solar panel or a wind turbine look like, there was no need to address what the image was exactly, rather I was able to trigger a connection between the idea a student already has about solar panels, and assimilate it with a new understanding that renewable energy could help save our planet.

                Touching on the multimedia principle, research has shown that students perform better on retention tests when given narration and animation at the same time. Although this was not a “true” animation in the sense of an animated GIF, the concept still seems to remain the same. By presenting pictures to my students with no text, and using narration, I hoped to prevent the cognitive load from becoming too great to handle. In addition, the graph that I used in my story was used to “convey relationships between variables” (Swisher, p21, ¶ 1.) The idea was to have students quickly see the graph, but with little text to fully explain it, I was able to draw a connection between the growing world population and the demands on energy. Lastly, I hit on the modality principle when creating this story by presenting the words in a spoken format rather than a written format. One thing that I will consider for future digital stories is a concept from the coherence principle, in that all extraneous material should be removed from the presentation. In this circumstance, I felt that music played a powerful role in accompanying the message that I was trying to get across. However, this may not always be the case, and so depending on what type of message or information that I am trying to convey, the consideration for removing the music would take place.

                The process of selecting images for this presentation was slightly arduous, just because there were so many pictures that I came across that did not have information clearly stating the licensing information. Because I was unable to positively identify whether or not the image was in the public domain or had a creative commons license, I did not take the chance, and was unable to use those images. My process for selecting my images took a different format than what I have done in the past. After I wrote my first script, I went through and made a PowerPoint presentation with each image, the author, the source link where I retrieved it and the category that it fell into. Using this process helped me keep track of each image that I wanted to utilize, as well as it made the attribution process a lot easier because I was able to quickly pull the information I needed from one source and was able to compile it in the credits portion of my video, as well as include all the links in the description box when I uploaded it to YouTube. Even the pictures that were in the public domain were given attribution in my presentation. The only thing I was unsure of was there were a few images that I used that I personally took when I went to the zoo. When I used those in my presentation, I wasn’t sure if I needed to post those to a website like fotopedia, or Facebook so that they had a source on the internet to be linked too. My assumption was that because it was my own work, I was able to use it in my presentation as I saw fit, and if I wanted to protect those images from being used again, then I would need to upload them and assign a creative commons license to them if I did not want to place them in the public domain. The one thing that I really like doing when I use images for projects that will be made public is to hyperlink each image with the source it came from as well as the author information. In this format, this is not possible because the links would not be active in windows movie maker or the converted YouTube file. Personally, I don’t like the look of long web address links or strange author names, but the process of adhering to the attribution license requires it, so until I figure out how to display the information differently, the process I used will have to work.

                On a side note, I just wanted to say that I was very intrigued by the process you used to have us create this project. When you described that you wanted us to make something that influenced students emotionally or intellectually, it instantly got me thinking about what topics would influence me in one way or another. After I put some thought into it, my passion and intensity to create a dynamic presentation dramatically increased because it was something that was of interest to me. I have noticed that I am more likely to put 110% into something when it is being created for a purpose, as this video was created with the intentions of emotionally altering the way students feel about energy consumption. 

Do You Care? A Digital Story

The attribution links for each image that was used with a creative commons attribution license can be found in the description box on the youtube home page.

Digital Story Script Final

• Hi, my name is Sukari, I am a polar bear cub currently living in the Toldeo Zoo with my sister Suka and our mother, Crystal
• In my short 6 months of life, my curiosity has peaked about why the Zoo has created a carbon footprint exhibit with us as the main attraction
• With the help of some of my animal friends, I have learned that “carbon footprint” is the term used to calculate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that each person produces
• Currently, our largest source of power comes from burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas which are the cause for greenhouse emissions
• The result of these emissions is thought to be a known cause for the temperatures rising on our planet, which is known as global warming
• Emissions from factories like this rise into the atmosphere and create a thick blanket of what we call “greenhouse gases” that reflect heat back towards Earth. The gases create climate conditions similar to what you would find inside a greenhouse
• With the increasing demands of the world population, and predictions of future population growth indicate that there will be over 9 billion people on Earth by 2050 and the amount of fossil fuels needed to supply everyone with power will have to grow to match that demand
• So, how does that affect polar bears like me?
• Well, us polar bears require a few things to survive, a cold climate, plenty of ocean ice, and the ability to travel across this ice to find food
• The changes in global temperature are causing the ocean ice caps to melt more and more each year
• And when your survival depends on swimming from iceberg to iceberg in search of food, we run into some problems when the distance from one iceberg to another keeps increasing
• Polar bears are natural swimmers but we have a limitation to how far we can travel at one time
• Sadly, some of my brothers and sisters set out to find food and never come across another iceberg to serve as a resting place
• Luckily, there are a lot of people in this world who can see the devastating effects of our rampant energy consumption, and are trying to do something about it, we call these people environmentalists
• They are trying to influence world leaders to invest in alternative sources of energy that do not cause greenhouse emissions
• With the efforts of the environmentalists, some parts of the world are looking to harness the power of the sun as a means to supply electricity
• Others are looking to exploit areas where the wind is constantly blowing
• And some are even pushing for the generation of electricity from falling water
• Nonetheless, the number of people on this planet who rely solely on fossil fuels greatly outnumber those who are interested in preserving its pristine beauty
• The rest of my life is going to be spent staring through this glass at the people who have the ability to make the changes necessary to preserve the existence of my species in the wild
• I just hope that it isn’t too late for everyone to realize that we only have one planet that supports life, and when it’s ruined, there is nowhere else to go, this is not a suitable habitat by any means for us polar bears to survive
• My worst fear is that someday in the near future, my polar bear species is only going to exist within the confines of these glass walls
• So, do your part, help us out, turn off the lights when you leave a room, ride your bike, walk more places, write a letter to your senator about how you feel, because in the end everyone deserves a little happiness

Digital Story Script One

Do You Care? 

• Hi, my name is Suka, I am a polar bear cub living in the Toldeo Zoo.
• I am only 6 months old, but I have learned a lot about how my species is being threatened by global warming
• Currently, our largest source of power comes from burning fossil fuels
• The emissions from these factories rise into the atmosphere and create a thick blanket of what we call “greenhouse gases” that reflect heat back towards Earth. The gases create conditions similar to what you would find inside a greenhouse, hence the origin of it’s name
• Now this creates some problems for polar bears because we require a few things to survive, a cold climate, plenty of ocean ice, and the ability to travel across this ice to find food
• Our way of life is being threatened by the increasing demands of the world population, predictions of future population growth indicate that there will be over 9 billion people on Earth by 2050 and the amount of fossil fuels needed to supply everyone with power will have to grow to match that demand
• The changes in global temperature are causing the ocean ice caps to melt more and more each year
• When your survival depends on swimming from iceberg to iceberg in search of food, we run into some problems when the distance from one iceberg to another keeps increasing
• Polar bears are natural swimmers but we have a limitation to how far we can travel at one time
• Sadly, some of my brothers and sisters set out to find food and never come across another iceberg to serve as a resting place
• Luckily, there are a lot of people in this world who can see the devastating effects of our rampant energy consumption, and are trying to do something about it, we call these people environmentalists
• They are trying to influence world leaders to invest in alternative sources of energy that do not cause greenhouse emissions
• With the efforts of the environmentalists, some parts of the world are looking to harness the power of the sun as a means to supply power
• Others are looking to exploit areas where the wind is constantly blowing
• And some are even pushing for the generation of electricity from falling water
• Nonetheless, the number of people on this planet who rely solely on fossil fuels greatly outnumber those who are interested in preserving its pristine beauty
• The rest of my life is going to be spent staring through this glass at the people who have the ability to make the changes necessary to preserve the existence of my species in the wild
• I just hope that it isn’t too late for everyone to realize that we only have one planet that supports life, and when it’s ruined, there is nowhere else to go
• My worst fear is that someday in the near future, my polar bear species is only going to exist within the confines of these glass walls
• So, do your part, help us out, turn off the lights when you leave a room, ride your bike, walk more places, write a letter to your senator about how you feel, because in the end everyone deserves a little happiness

Reflecting on Digital Images in the Classroom

The GIF presentation that I put together for this assignment was based on the multimedia principle. The basis for my presentation relied on using words and pictures to help students learn better than just words alone. My primary goal was to use the temporal contiguity principle and use animations with narration, however the version of Photoshop that I was using did not allow for the input of audio. I later discovered that the new version does have audio capabilities, which I intend to explore in the future. It was my intention to try and place the words and diagrams together on each slide to prevent any non-successive information; however this is not always feasible when working with large images that take up most of the screen space. It was very difficult to navigate through this program, as this was my first time using it. I learned a great deal the longer that I spent working on my GIF file, and if I had not spent ten hours writing my final GIF, I would have gone back and made some changes to the way that I tweened the animation. Trying to make sure that any images I included in the presentation were relevant and not decorative was another guideline of Swisher’s that I tried to adhere too.

The process of locating images for this presentation was fairly easy. After adjusting my settings in Google to only pull up images that were available for commercial use, I found that all of my images were available through the Wikimedia commons website. Each image that I pulled up was licensed to be in the public domain and free for use by anyone. The primary reason I think this part of the project was successful is the nature of the content that I was working on. Most images that are based on some sort of scientific principle can be found in the public domain. I could see this as being a real challenge to find images that are available for use if I was creating something for pure enjoyment or entertainment. Because I was able to pull all my images from the public domain, I see no issue sharing my work through any form of social media. Overall, in the future I think if it was physically possible, I would like to use a digital camera and capture my own images so that I could manipulate and use them in whatever fashion that I saw fit. The drawback to following an idea like this might arise when you are dealing with a topic that it would be impossible to photograph, such as particles on a subatomic level.

My Animated GIF for Teaching

This is the first GIF that I created, I am not very pleased with the result of it, however the second one that I created is 1092 frames and will not save to the web format, cannot be converted, and so I have lost hope on it.

My Animated GIF for Teaching

The animated GIF that I created for my classroom is based on the importance that one atom possesses in the world of chemical reactions. Students are required to learn about the categorization of the periodic table and the properties associated with each element. One of the biggest misconceptions in this topic area is the idea that all substances on the periodic table are separated by one atom (or one molecule of that element.) Trying to get students to wrap their minds around this distinguishing factor is a rather difficult task, especially since we do not truly know what the atomic model looks like. The gif that I created helps students grasp the concept of putting two different elements together to form a well-known compound, water. When students can visualize the changes in atomic structure that occur during a chemical reaction, their level of understanding should increase dramatically. As students watch the addition of one more atom to water, and the dramatic changes that it undergoes as it turns into an entirely new substance, they can better understand what “one more atom” exactly means. When students can grasp this concept of chemical change, they can broaden their understanding once they have made the realization that all the elements are different from one another because of one more atom or one less atom.

A Thousand Words About Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources

Images: Source Author: USGS
The images were featured on the website of the U.S House Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
All images were taken from wikimedia commons

5 points for energy!
- There are 2 different categories of resources that we use for energy, renewable and non-renewable. They are separated by the thick black line.
- The yellow side shows all the renewable sources of energy and is intended to be "full of life and color"
- The black side shows all the non-renewable sources of energy and is intended to be "dark and colorless"
- The image representation in this collage is intended to send a message that non-renewable sources of energy are bad, and the renewable sources are good!
- Each of the images represents a type of power that we use

Use in the classroom
I will be returning to 6th grade science in the fall and one of my content expectations is energy. Specifically understanding how energy is transferred and what sources of energy we utilize the most. In addition, I need to educate the students on the demands for energy that the 8 billion people in this world are currently in need of. Because of the strain on these resources that cannot be renewed, it is imperative that we educate the future generation in the hopes that they will one day make the necessary changes at the government level to put a stop to the planet destroying methods we are currently using. My goal in using this image is to get students to see the "thick black line" that separates the two different types of resources. (As an extension to this activity, I could incorporate a social studies lesson where we discuss the methods associated with lobbying for a new bill, and the process involved in seeing that it is passed.)(You could even dive further into the economical portion of this debate and discuss how "big oil" is in control of everything)

Produce Man