Questions+for+myself

Questions for myself
Does our district have the ability to print large-format images, like posters?

What is our district's or school's technology use policy? Photo release for students? How do I find out who is/isn't covered under these? //Students complete a district photo release form and technology use policy at the beginning of the year.//

What is a Mimio? How much does it cost?

//A Mimio is a portable interactive device that works much like a Smartboard. It works on a regular whiteboard (dry erase board) with a digital projector. They run $729.00 for the basic system, up from there.//

Technology grants: How can I get a Mimio for my classrooms? //Start with smaller grants on DonorsChoose, then ask for a Mimio?//

Not really a question, just something interesting to ponder: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Inglehart-Values-Map-Big.png

Some ideas about using Multimedia in a classroom for optimal learning: from http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/rpierce2/Courses/Visual_Literacy/MML.pdf {are my comments}

Research over the last two decades has revealed volumes on the subject of how people best learn. A 2001 publication from the National Academy of Sciences, How People Learn,29 outlines important principles upon which schools should consider redesigning learning: ● Student preconceptions of curriculum must be engaged in the learning process. Students have preconceptions and prior experiences with many of the areas of study included in the academic standards. These are stored in long-term memory. Often some of those preconceptions turn out to be misconceptions. Student learning is greatly enhanced when each student’s prior knowledge is made visible (that is, cued from long-term memory into working memory). It is at that point the student has the opportunity to correct misconceptions, build on prior knowledge, and create schemas of understanding around a topic. Learning is optimized when students can see where new concepts build on prior knowledge. {like when we draw a still life without instruction, then learn and practice some new skills, then draw the still life again and compare the results pre-and post-learning} ● Expertise is developed through deep understanding. Students learn more when the concepts are personally meaningful to them. In order to deeply understand a topic, learners not only need to know relevant facts, theories, and applications, they must also make sense of the topic through organization of those ideas into a framework (schema) of understanding. The development of schema requires that students learn topics in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them. This translates into a need for authentic learning in classrooms, (Note: Authentic learning is defined here to include three key concepts: depth of academic concept or deep learning, relevance to person(s) outside the classroom, and student use of the key ideas in a production.)
 * 2: How People Learn – The Cognitive Sciences**

● Learning is optimized when students develop “metacognitive” strategies. To be metacognitive is to be constantly “thinking about one’s own thinking,” in search of optimizing and deepening learning. Students who are metacognitive are students who approach problems by automatically trying to predict outcomes, explaining ideas to themselves, noting and learning from failures, and activating prior knowledge. Given appropriate scaffolding by educators and other adults, all students can learn metacognitive strategies. Despite recent advances, cognitive science is a relatively new field, and thus will undoubtedly continue to evolve as new research is conducted. New advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have enabled cognitive sciences to look into the black box (that is, the brain) to investigate what have been up until recently, merely theories that fit patterns of behavior. That work will undoubtedly continue to evolve to inform educators. The real challenge before educators today, is to establish learning environments, teaching practices, curricula, and resources that leverage what we now know about the limitations of human physiology and the capacity explained by the cognitive sciences to augment deep learning in students. Recent neuroscience research is beginning to synergistically verify the previously speculative theories of multiple researchers in dual coding, cognitive overload, and multimedia learning.30 While the field is still evolving, researchers have shown that significant increases in learning can be accomplished through the informed use of visual and verbal multimodal learning. Much has been written about the principles of multimedia listed below. Most of the published research studies have been of short duration and were specifically designed for research analysis, but have demonstrated the veracity of these principles. However, emergent research on these principles, when applied in classrooms, has had mixed, albeit positive, results. Many of the researchers have commented that such mixed results may be due to the lack of specificity of the type of multimedia intervention (for example, specific combinations of modalities, formats within modalities, learner characteristics, scaffolding of learners, learner age, complexity and type of learning goals addressed, etc.) A set of principles related to multimedia and modality are listed below. They are based on the work of Richard Mayer, Roxanne Moreno, and other prominent researchers.31 32 33 34 words alone. 2. Spatial Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near each other rather than far from each other on the page or screen. 3. Temporal Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively. 4. Coherence Principle: Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included. 5. Modality Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text. 6. Redundancy Principle: Students learn better when information is not represented in more than one modality – redundancy interferes with learning. 7a. Individual Differences Principle: Design effects are higher for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners. 7b. Individual Differences Principle: Design effects are higher for high-spatial learners rather than for low-spatial learners. 8. Direct Manipulation Principle: As the complexity of the materials increase, the impact of direct manipulation of the learning materials (animation, pacing) on transfer also increases.**
 * 3: Multimedia Design – Visual and Verbal Learning**
 * 1. Multimedia Principle: Retention is improved through words and pictures rather than through

New Web 2.0 technologies introduce some nuances to multimodal learning that warrant continued research. In practice educators are getting mixed, albeit positive trends in the use of multimedia to augment learning. Students engaged in learning that incorporates multimodal designs, on average, outperform students who learn using traditional approaches with single modes.