Tuesday 22nd January 2019
We are on week 3 of Digital Technologies and in today’s session we looked the advantages of using multimodal presentations to enhance teaching and learning. During the literacy for understanding module we looked at multimodal texts, so todays session was not entirely new but I was able to build on my previous knowledge of multimodality.
A multimodal text is a way of presenting information through ICT which combines two or more semiotic systems. The five semiotic systems include:
- Linguistic
- Visual
- Audio
- Gestural
- Spatial
Using Multimodal texts can “make work more interesting or motivating” (Beauchamp, 2012, p.8). I agree with this as while I was on placement, I saw many children becoming more engaged when their lessons were presented to them in a way which was multimodal. This could be as simple as pictures and sounds included within a PowerPoint presentation. Using multimodal presentations can also highlight the relevance of work to pupils and can allow them to have a better understanding of their work through the use of visuals and sounds (Beauchamp, 2012).
Multimodal texts can be created in many different ways. A popular way of presenting multimodal texts in learning is by using interactive whiteboards (IWB). Interactive whiteboards are available in most Primary Schools in Scotland. I noticed on my placement that children seem to really like using them. Interactive whiteboards allow hands on learning and get the pupils more involved in their learning. A study done showed that pupils who used the IWB in class had more positive grades, motivation, concertation in school and satisfaction with their learning (Karsenti, 2016).
Personally, I think that interactive whiteboards make lessons more fun as they’re very interactive. Children do become more engaged when they are given the opportunity to use the IWB, whether it’s to write up their spelling words or simply match a picture to an answer. There can however be issues with the IWB as sometimes the projectors aren’t aligned well with the screen and the touch from the pen might not be accurate requiring the board to be re-calibrated. IWBs can however be used without any interactivity as these features might not work in a certain lesson and the IWB might just be used to project information (Deubel, 2010).
Today we focused on making a learning experience that could be used on an IWB. We made our interactive games on the computer programme ‘ActiveInspire’. If you’re unsure what ActiveInspire is, it is “a collaborative lesson delivery software for interactive displays” (Promethean World, 2018, n.p). Our task was to work in pairs to create an ActiveInspire slide which followed particular experience(s) and outcome(s).
In my pair we decided to build on the idea of the board we made for the Programmable Toys. We followed the same CfE experience and outcome as last week’s session, this was:
I can use money to pay for items and can work out how much change I can receive. (MNU 1-09a)
We based our learning experience around the theme of a Supermarket, just like we did with our Programmable Toys grid. Our learning experience was multimodal as we used the semiotic systems of linguistic, audio and visual. The learning experience is aimed towards level 1 and focuses on number, money and measure within the Curriculum.
In the learning experience the child is given a shopping list and they have to pull the items from the shelves into the shopping trolley. While this doesn’t require a lot of thinking it allows the children to have some fun and engage with the game while also making it more relevant to real life.
The children then have to figure out what coins they would use to pay for their shopping. This requires more thinking as they are presented with a selection of coins and they have to decide which coins they would use to get to their total. When placing the coins in the slide we inserted them so there are multiple coin combinations that can make the total. This is good as different children might get their total using different coins, and this can help develop their understanding of money and using different coins.
Before today’s session I had no previous experience of using ActiveInspire. I have learned a lot today and I think ActiveInspire is a great tool to use in the classroom to enhance learning. I really enjoyed using it as I thought it was relatively straightforward to use. I liked how there were tools such as a ruler and a protractor which could be extremely useful in a maths lesson. They also had a resource library that had a selection of images like money or things like animals which can make creating a lesson a lot quicker.
I definitely need some more practice with ActiveInspire. Although I was able to become familiar with it in the session, I was very slow. I found it easy to change the background and add text, knowing how to use these basic features proved to be very useful. It took me a lot of playing around to figure out how to duplicate a slide, but I did find it eventually. The version I had downloaded however did not appear to be the full version as we were missing key elements such as the ‘shape’ tool and we did not have full access to the materials in the ‘resource manager’. I probably will use ActiveInspire in my classroom as I think it is a great resource that can help bring learning to life and some children might be more engaged in learning if it is interactive like this. “Touch displays can become a social learning tool encouraging hands-on experiences, thereby helping children to learn by doing.” (Prandstatter, 2014, n.p).
I feel as though I have learned a lot about ActiveInspire and how it works but there’s definitely room for improvement. I plan to continue to practice using the software so when I’m a qualified teacher I’m able to make the most of this resource.
Personally, I believe the use of technology to show a multimodal presentation does enhance learning. The interactive whiteboards especially are a great tool to use in the classroom as they are captivating, personalised, engaging and motivating which has a really positive effect on pupils learning. Using IWBs children are more likely to enjoy the activity and learn more than if they were just writing from a textbook, hence why multimodal presentations and interactive tools should be used in the classroom.
REFRENCES
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.
Karsenti, T. (2016) The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB): Uses, Benets, and Challenges. A survey of 11,683 students and 1,131 teachers. [pdf] Available: http://iwb.crifpe.ca/files/Rapport.pdf [Accessed 24 January 2019].
Patricia Deubel. (2010) Interactive Whiteboards: Truths and Consequences. [Online] Available: https://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/08/04/Interactive-Whiteboards-Truths-and-Consequences.aspx?Page=4# [Accessed: 27 January 2019]
Prandstatter, J. (2014) Interactive Displays in Early Years Classes. [Online] Available: http://connectlearningtoday.com/interactive-displays-early-years-classes/ [Accessed 26 January 2019]
Promethean World. (2018) [Online] Available: https://www.prometheanworld.com/gb/products/lesson-delivery-software/activinspire/ [Accessed 25 January 2019].
