PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AND MULTIMEDIA

WHAT IT IS?

INTRODUCTION

       Project-based learning redefines the boundaries of the classroom. No longer are students confined to learning w/n four walls. After learning that we need to make use of a combination of learning resources or media to make our teaching as concrete as we can so abstractions will be clear and meaningful, let us learn a method of learning that utilizes multimedia, project-based learning.

ABSTRACTION

       A class that effectively employs project-based multimedia learning is highly animated and actively engaged. Together w/other students, every student is absorbed in task in line w/the goals and objectives made clear at the start. Time has wings. It flies so fast that students don’t feel the passing of time. Teacher does not just stay in front of the class lecturing. She monitors students as they work. Students consult her for guidance and comments. She does not impose her will on students. With her guidance, she allows students to make decisions for themselves. She has more time for those students in need of greater help and attention. By going around, she can sense if students are on the right track and if the goals and expectations set at the start are not set aside but remain to be the governing factor behind every activity. The student’s intellectual powers are very much challenged as they read, research for basic information and as they analyze and organize these bits of information.

      Much of their technical skills learned from their computer courses and creativity and imagination are demanded when the students produce multimedia presentation by using multimedia produced by others. ÒA question that may be asked at this point is: Won’t the content be sacrificed? I don’t think so. This project-based multimedia learning is most of all anchored on the core curriculum. This means that project-based multimedia learning addresses the basic knowledge and skills all students are expected to acquire as laid down in the minimum competencies of the basic education curriculum. Let us know more about project-based multimedia learning in the paragraphs that follow:

PROJECT-BASED MULTIMEDIA LEARNING

    -Is a teaching method in w/c students “acquire new knowledge and skills in the course of designing, planning, and producing multimedia products.”(Simkins, et al, 2002) Dimensions of Project-based Multimedia Learning -Project-based ,multimedia learning (PBML) ha seven key dimensions:

Core curriculum

      - at the foundation of any unit of this type is a clear set off learning goals drawn from whatever curriculum or set of standards is in use. We use the term core to emphasize that PBML should address the basic knowledge and skills all students are expected to acquire, and should not simply be an enrichment or extra-credit activity for s special few. Often, these projects lend themselves well to multidisciplinary or cross-curricular approaches, 

Real-world connection

        - it seeks to connect students work in school with the wider world in w/c students live. You may design this feature into a project by means of the content chosen, the types of activities, the types of products, or in other ways. What is critical is that the students- not only the teacher- the perceive what is real about the project.

Extended time frame- 

    a good project is not a one-shot lesson: It extends over a significant period of time. The actual length of a project may vary with the age of the students and the nature of the project. It may be days, weeks, or months. What’s important is that students experience a succession of challenges that culminates in a substantial final product from w/c they can derive pride and a clear sense of accomplishment. 

Student decision making

     - in PBML, students have a say. Teachers look carefully at what decisions have to be made and divide them into “teacher’s” and “students” based on clear rationale.

Collaboration

     - we define collaboration as working together jointly to accomplish a common intellectual purpose in a manner superior to what might have been accomplished working alone. Students may work in pairs or in teams of as many as five or six. Whole-class collaborations are also possible. The goal is for each student involved to make a separate contribution to the final work and for the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts. Collaborative projects not only involve many features of typical cooperative learning strategies but also transcend them in this focus on synergy and the production of a jointly authored multimedia product. 

Assessment

      - regardless of the teaching method used, data must be gathered on what students have learned. When using PBML , teachers face additional assessment challenges because multimedia products by themselves do not represent a full picture of student learning. Students are gaining contents information, becoming better team members, solving problems, and making

` choices about what new information to show in their presentations. We consider assessments to have three different roles in the PBML context: Activities for developing expectations. Activities for improving the media products, and Activities for compiling and disseminating evidence of learning. 

Multimedia

       - in multimedia projects, students do not learn simply by “using” multimedia produced by others; they learn by creating it themselves. The development of such programs as Hyperstudio, Kid Pix. And Netscape Composer has made it possible for students of all ages to become the authors of multimedia content. As students design and research their projects, instead of gathering only written notes, they also gather-and create-pictures, video clips, recordings, and other media objects that will later serve as the raw material for their final product.

WHY USE PROJECT-BASED MULTIMEDIA LEARNING?

         Because it is “value added” to your teaching. It is a powerful motivator as proven in the classes of Teacher Nachielle and Teacher Nicolle described above. It actively engages students in the learning task. Students are likewise engaged in the production of multimedia presentation.

WHAT CAN BE SOME LIMITATIONS OF THE USE OF PBML STRATEGY? 

        One limitation that we see is the need for an extended period of time. You need time to orient the students on what are expected of them, guidelines, goals and objectives of the project, and more so for your students to gather and organize their data, work on their presentations and the like.

This strategy require technical skills on your part and on the part of your students. Remember, they will be using a combination of several media, which includes, of course, the computer. If the basic computer courses did not teach them these skills demanded by this strategy, there will be a problem. To address this problem, some days need to be devoted to learning the technology.

This can be another limitation. A third limitation can be a tendency to lose tracks of the goals and objectives of your lesson because the technology aspect has gotten the limelight. You may get so occupied learning the multimedia presentation that your lesson objectives get derailed and your project ends up as mere technology lesson. So, you've got to be sure that the technology aspect of your lesson does not eclipse the academic content w/c is equally necessary.

MAKING THE CONNECTION

   What principles of teaching discussed in the subject on Principles of Teaching are very much illustrated by project-based multimedia learning? Recall the psychological theories of learning and cognitive processes that you learned in the subject “Facilitating Learning”. Is there any connection b/w project-based multimedia learning and processes?