Learning Benefits of Incorporating Multimedia in the Classroom "Teachers can't teach what they don't know and without enthusiasm nothing will be transmitted to our students but a poor attitude towards learning. "
The decision to use technology in my biology classroom changed everything! I had taught for twenty-eight years and was becoming bored with the process. I had tried to be innovative with instruction, but overheads and 2 X 2 slides can only be so exciting. Labs were still motivating, but so much was changing because of molecular biology that high school budgets couldn't supply materials to investigate difficult concepts. It was a quandary and I was thinking retirement.
Now, as I begin my thirty-ninth year of instruction I am as excited and motivated as I was when I first came into the classroom. I must say that I am also working harder than I did at any time in my early career, but the rewards for the effort are much greater. This is the message that I deliver to those of you who want to use technology in your instruction. I now use the technology as I previously used chalk! It is the way that I work. It is not a side-light, or novelty. It is the essence of my instruction.
I doubt if this is what you currently do, although maybe you are as obsessed as I am.
Above you see my teaching station that is instruction central. There are four computers connected to a switch box that changes the common monitor screen with each change of the dial. Below you see the back of the teaching station. The sea of cables is the result of the system "just growing" as an idea surfaced. The great thing about technology is it is only limited by your imagination and energy.
The common monitor is connected to a presenter that goes to three large screen monitors on the far side of my classroom. Those monitors are also the displays for two VCRs, a laser disc player, a DVD player, a closed circuit microscope system.
All of these media players are also linked to a video projector.
Together, all of this technology is used for instruction. The web site you are currently on is the center of my teaching strategy. There are a great number of things to tell you, but the best strategy is for you to ask questions. I will continue to explain some of the things that I do, however, your ideas need to be developed. My expertise can help you achieve your technology instructional goals. Click on the e-mail icon at the bottom of this page and send me an e-mail with your ideas.
I'll continue with some of the things that I do to make instructional opportunities available to my students. Each of the computers in my room has a Student Presentation folder on the Desktop. In the folder are as many as 50 Power Point presentations relating to the areas covered in my courses. I can use the classroom monitors to show the presentations while students follow along on their computer. They take notes or edit the presentation for their own computers at home. Students will e-mail the presentation to themselves to be used as a study aide when they are preparing for an exam.
The website operates in a specific way that is described on the page How To Use The Homeroom D-140 Website . The students use the web pages in a specific manner that includes learning from objectives that direct them through the site's links and related materials. With all of these techology pieces in operation at the same time, it is multitasking at its best.
Contact me with your thoughts and ideas. Let's move the process forward and get you where you would like to be as soon as possible.
Art Renkwitz Links:
Web Design and Online Course Development
Teaching Learning and Technology
A Commonplace Book of Instructional Technology
The Case for Digital Projectors in Schools
