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What it is: ReadWriteThink provides multiple student interactives on a variety of topics and subjects. The availability of different tools allows this site to meet the needs of an assortment of multimedia formats. Why it's better: This site provides several options for graphic organizers. Some, teachers can make beforehand, while others are intended for students to create during lessons. The different formats available for graphic organizers align themselves to meet multiple needs.¬

authorSTREAM is an online tool that will convert timed or narrated PowerPoint presentations to video and retain most settings applied to the original slide show. Also, the videos can be downloaded or posted to various locations online and linked to via blogs, wikis, and other Web sites. Learners can benefit from the variety of features offered such as retaining transitions and special effects to capture attention and the use of video and narration adheres to dual coding principles. By combining those features, complex material can be presented in a manner that assists learners generative cognitive load. I found this tool to be better than others given its simplicity and the fact that it retains transitions and animations. The overall quality of the output is quite good also and the use of the tool is fairly straight forward.

Authorstream is the hosting site for uploading and storage of PowerPoint (PPT) presentations. Participants can then download these presentations as video for editing into one seamless presentation of a mixture of PPT and video for uploading to YouTube or other video hosting site. This is initially a free site for users, but you will find it soon necessary to pay the annual Authorstream Pro fee of 30 dollars or $2.50 a month that is, if you want to convert PPT presentations to video formatting. Authorstream offers other significant options in the Pro package that helps you do plenty more with your PPT creations. This is the best suited site for supporting Microsoft PPT for it is user friendly and quite common.

Like Google Presenter, Authorstream allows users to upload and share presentations. This can be used by instructors to assess student integration and generative learning. Authorstream allows users a public space for broad distribution and visibility of their shared presentation. This is important for students as they prepare to leave academia and enter the professional world. In addition, students can easily embed and share their presentations in blogs and other social media. Finally, Authorstream more easily integrates audio and animation when compared to other online presenting formats.

This site provides a PowerPoint presentation on how create the most appropriate question format for clickers. The website explains when in the lesson each type of question is most appropriate. The website provides various links that give the learner more information on each topic that pertains to incorporating student response devises in the classroom. The clickers allow for various types of question format. The instructor can choose to use true/false, multiple choice, numerical, and other various types of assessment check point tools to assess the understanding of the content. Furthermore, the website includes suggestions on using the clickers to prompt student conversation and engagement. The learner can develop a greater understanding from the instructions and information provided on this website. The PowerPoint presentation fits into Mayer's essential learning. Essential learning relates to a lack of understanding due to no previous knowledge on the given content. Several participants in the workshop may not understand which types of questions are appropriate for clickers; this PowerPoint will clarify and help pre-teach the material; thus, meeting Mayer's essential learning.

The wisemapping site offers a free online tool for creating graphic organizers / mind maps similar to those created by webspiration. However, wisemapping provides excellent file export functionality saving as .jpg, .png, .pdf, and other file formats. Also of interest are collapsible / expandable branches that could facilitate a gradual introduction of topics in a live lesson, as well as the ability to include notes, Web links, and a variety of icons in each node as needed. While much of the formatting options are present, as compared to webspiration, some items are not as robust. With more time, however, the functionality may rival or surpass webspiration or other products. In the mean time, the saving functionality, branching without termination nodes (use a line instead), and collapsibility are features that may prove more useful than comparable tools. Considering essential cognitive processing, the tool may assist with selecting and organizing complex material in order to reach a generative processing state. This may be possible by presenting information in a keyed and organized approach, which is a central premise of most mind mapping software.

Showbeyond http://www.showbeyond.com Showbeyond is a resource that I came across while I was teaching my journalism students how to create a photo essay. Even though I just randomly stumbled across this resource it has proven to be a wonderfully simple to use slide cast program. Slide casts are an online multimedia format that combines and synchronizes slideshows with podcasts. I have found this format perfect for online story telling as well as online presentations. I think Showbeyond is a resource more fit for middle and high school students and educators. Showbeyond allows students and educators to design and create multimedia presentations easily and quickly. Showbeyond is a resource that lets you select and manipulate photos and text to create a visual presentation which you can add podcasts, music, and videos to. I chose Showbeyond because I don't think you can find a more accessible multimedia to create simple presentations on. I say simple because Showbeyond is not capable of some the more advanced features such as animation and timed slides like PowerPoint and MovieMaker are capable of. However, I do use Showbeyond in my classroom often and my students really enjoy the products that they can create.

This online mind mapping software allows mobile access. Mindmeister allows real-time brainstorming and offline mode. Offline work is synced to online maps when you go back online

* MindMeister is an online mind mapping and brainstorming website used to create multiple kinds of graphic organizers. The template library provides many different kinds of examples that provide curriculum activities for essential or generative learning including prioritizing information, extending understanding of important concepts, project planning, drawing conclusions, making connections to other ideas, and making inferences.
* I found MindMeister to be better than other online graphic organizer websites due to the ease of use, variety of templates available, and it is free to create up to three maps at a time.

o Mindmeister is a mind mapping and online collaboration tool that allows learners to organize their thoughts by creating mind maps. A group of learners can collaborate on a single mind map to come up with a final product, and they can do so in real time. They can add text, graphics, links, notes, etc. to fully develop and present their ideas. In addition, learners can save final product in various formats to embed them in their projects. The interaction learners have with the content to organize it into a visual representation (as supported by Mindmeister) is the perfect example of generative processing or using cognitive processes to make sense of the material (Mayer, 2009). For English Language Learners, this tool allows learners to show what they understand even when they may not have enough English to write a paper on a particular concept/topic. o The site is easy to use and creates a clean and organized product. Some mapping programs can yield such complex products that are very hard to follow. In addition, I enjoy the ability to work offline because teachers and students alike might not always have internet handy. Finally, this is one of the few programs available not only for pc, but also for mobile and tablet.

This site provides a collection of graphic organizers available in a variety of media formats including Word, HTML, and PDF. The graphic organizers provided on the site allow the presenter to organize workshop material and provide participants with a guide and note-taking handout. The process of using a graphic organizer during instruction ensures essential cognitive processing of select material and promotes generative processing with an engaging environment. The significance of this site involves the ability to manipulate the graphic organizers to tailor the layout to specific instruction.

A collection of graphic organizers available in a variety of media formats. The development of computer simulations and games are a great addition. The ability to modify the graphic organizer to match the content.

Thinkport Graphic organizer page has examples for several different graphic organizers such as character maps, concept map, cornel notes, compare/contrast, Venn diagrams, and many more. The most interesting thing about graphic organizer section is that it allow you to open each of the graphic organizers in three different formats…HTML, PDF, and Word.

Mind42 is a browser based online mind mapping application. With Mind42 mindmapping tools are no longer needed, you can manage ideas alone, or work collaboratively

The mind42 site offers a free online tool for creating graphic organizers / mind maps similar to those created by webspiration. However, mind42 provides excellent file export functionality saving as .jpg, .png, .pdf, and other file formats. Also of interest are collapsible / expandable branches that could facilitate a gradual introduction of topics in a live lesson, as well as the ability to include notes, Web links, and a variety of icons in each node as needed. Of note, however, is the ability to include images directly into the graphic organizer by searching for relevant images online or by providing a direct link to an online image. Some basic formatting options, such as text color and size, are present. However, as all nodes other than the parent or central node are lines, no formatting of shapes is available. The tool does offer a simple approach to creating mind maps and graphic organizers, which may warrant additional investigation and use. In short, the saving functionality, branching without termination nodes (use a line instead), collapsibility, and image inclusion are features that may prove more useful than comparable tools. Considering essential cognitive processing, the tool may assist with selecting and organizing complex material in order to reach a generative processing state. This may be possible by presenting information in a keyed and organized approach, which is a central premise of most mind mapping software.

Mind42 is an online mind map that allows users to add images to their brainstorming and collaborate with others. Users have access to a gallery of mind maps and can post comments. This site can be used for essesntial learning based on its multimedia capabilities. Mind42 is a better website than other mind maps that I have reviewd because of the extra support provided through the gallery of mind maps.

Google Presentations, while not the most sophisticated of online presentation formats, makes up for its simpler approach in its ability to be shared and collaborated upon in extraordinary ways. It is easily used for students to demonstrate their understanding and integration of presented material. What stands out, is its ability to be utilized in Google+ Hangouts for instant presentation and collaboration. It can also be easily embedded and shared across multiple social platforms and blogs. Finally, with the prevalence of students with gMail accounts, most students already have this just waiting for them at their fingertips.

* Brief Description: A screen capture tool that allows you to edit images and add effects to them.  With the Snagit editor you can save it in a variety of different formats and easily add images that have been enhanced by text to create eye catching handouts.   * Brief Explanation: I really enjoy using the wide variety of editing features available in Snagit.  I find it very easy to use and use it regularly.  

Dr. Barrett's (n.d.) webpage presents an introduction to the types of ePortfolios in a learner-centered approach. The website requires cognitive activity and capitalizes on the use of multimedia to present the essential content; and it does so following instructional design principles as recommended by Mayer (2009). Beginning with an anticipatory set to activate the learner's prior knowledge, the lesson page begins by asking learners to think about their own personal use of portfolios. Immediately following, the essential material elements are presented in a cartoon image, capitalizing on the benefits of dual coding (Id.), using both images and key words to help learners pay attention and select appropriate information. The image also relies on spatial contiguity (Id.) in its presentation format. This webpage itself would fit into Mayer's (Id.) use of multimedia as "information acquisition." However, coupled with a reflective activity, learners would be able to make more integrated sense of the types of portfolios available and which types would be most suited for their particular needs. References: Barrett, H. (n.d.). ePortfolios and Google Apps. [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/overview/blog-entry-eportfolios-and-googleapps Mayer, R. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

SpicyNodes is a website that allows users to create node-maps (similar to mind maps) through an interactive, multimedia platform. Creating a node-map requires users to engage in highly complex cognitive tasks as users must create a hierarchal order for the information they want to present. As a teaching tool, each node can be designed to include both pictures or videos and text to highlight content, consistent with Mayer's (2009) dual channel processing principle. Designed effectively, a node-map can be an effective learner-centered approach for presenting information as the concise format of a node naturally aligns with the "limited capacity" of working memory (Id.). As a learning tool, learners can use node-maps to organize their thinking and developing understanding of complex subjects. Creating a node-map requires the user to carefully consider the relationship and interconnectedness of information and to organize that information in a meaningful manner. Reference: Mayer, R. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Wordle also features a gallery of multimedia content in which words are displayed as a form of art.

* Wordle is a "word cloud" generator from text that you provide giving greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. The clouds can be tweaked with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes, and the images can either be printed out or saved to the Wordle gallery to share with others online. Wordle can be used to introduce key vocabulary for a lesson or unit providing a visual of important terminology. * I found Wordle to be better than other "word cloud" websites I looked at because it is simple to use and there are many excellent examples created by others that are provided for ideas.

o Wordle provides already established wordles or word maps around numerous topics. In addition, users can create their own customized wordles to demonstrate they have key understanding of a particular concept. To enhance generative learning, not only can students try to make sense of the concept but also work with others to compare wordless and discover other ways of viewing concepts, characters, books, and just about any topic being discussed. o Wordle provides an easy way to create wordles and instantly change format, colors, fonts, and look and feel.

Webspiration allows the user to create various forms of mindmaps with unlimited design features. The website allows users to work individually or collaboratively online. It also gives you the opportunity to visualize your ideas creatively. All work can also be downloaded and printed if needed. I chose this site because it is very user friendly and can keep the learners interested with its hands-on capabilities.

This site allows you to create custom graphic organizers. There are many templates and lots of clip art to choose from. I like this site because you can upload your graphic organizer as a word document or save it to a web page that others can access.

* Webspiration allows a teacher to create a free Webspiration classroom. The site allows users to create collaborative mind maps that lend themselves to generative learning.

The topic of my multimedia workshop is on How to Utilize Multimedia to Create Effective Instructions. I plan to use PowerPoint as my multimedia artifact. In Jones (2005) article she establishes the fact that the technology of choice for most projects was PowerPoint. The main reasons for selecting PowerPoint for my multimedia project coincided with what was discussed in this article. PowerPoint is accessible and familiar to most educators and students. It is simple to use, can be created on desktop, visually stimulating, sounds or auditory stimulation can be added and can be use for cognitive abilities. In addition, PowerPoint has presentation versatility because it can be used as an original file, PDF format, and html format. It can also run with videos and have narration added. Finally, the software allows for interactivity. The focus of the multimedia workshop is to create a learner-centered approach to learning instead of a technology approach to learning; the software is used to facilitate this process (Jones 2005, p. 1). Mayer's (2008) active processing is when meaningful learning occurs and learners are engaged in the active cognitive processing during learning and instructors must figure out ways to prime the learners to pay attention to relevant material, and mentally organize the information and integrate the information based on their prior knowledge. The ability to actively process information can be associated students dynamic, collaborative and synergistic construction of significant knowledge within a multi-learning environment. Jones, D. (2009.). PowerPoint with a learning point. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater--19th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Retrieved July 10, 2010, from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/03_37.pdf