Chapter 5

Chapter 5 was about multimedia. I really enjoyed this chapter because the technology discussed was very useful to me as a future teacher. I had heard the term "multimedia" before but I didn't know the exact meaning of it. However, I learned that a power point presentation which incorporates "more than one media" such as audio, text, and video could be considered a multimedia presentation. One of the most interesting things I learned about was E-books. It's so interesting to me to think that e-books will probably one day soon be the primary way for students to read books. I for one have a hard time reading things online. I usually print articles I have to read on the computer, but a whole new generation of kids will probably grow up using solely e-books. I also thought the information on distance learning and online courses was particularly informative, as they seem to be a growing trend in education. I remember reading a fictional book in elementary school about students in the future who went to school on their computers. It seemed so far fetched at the time, but only 10 years down the road it's already a reality. I also really liked the idea of educational games. Kids seem to really connect and focus when they work with computers. Educational games would be a fun "reward" for students, while introducing them to technology and educating them!

I really liked learning about the wikis last week. I've used wikipedia before and had a basic idea of what a wiki was, but I learned a LOT more about it from the lesson. I am studying elementary education so I'm not so sure that a wiki will be the best resource for my students- but I thought it would be a really great way to get parent's involved in the classroom! I can post about what we're doing in class and they can respond with any ideas, comments, suggestions or concerns they have. It would also be a neat way for the parents in the class to interact with each other and share their comments, advice, and concerns about their children with other parents. I'm really looking forward to using wikis in my classroom!



I was actually rather surprised with how much I learned from this week's lesson. I was able to put together a very basic power point before the lesson, but I learned a lot from it as well. I also found that power point 2007 is SO much more user friendly than the earlier version. I learned how to do so many new things and learned a lot of new terminology about power points. I learned how to insert hyperlinks (which would be a really great to reference other webpages in a lesson!), put "animations" or transitions between slides, and a number of other things! Last semester I had a hybrid class where we met one day a week and did some stuff online, however most of the learning took place in the classroom and pretty much the only thing we completed online were discussion boards and assignments. I was pleasantly surprised by how simple the online material was to access and how much I learned. I am relieved now because I am taking two entirely online classes this summer at a community college back home in Orlando- so this online lesson helped to ease some of my fears about those classes!