Pre-Training 1. Wordle URL: http://www.wordle.net/ Description: Generates "word clouds" from text so that participants can familiarize themselves with words and terms frequently used in the workshop. Explanation: Have always wondered how advertisers managed to arrange words of varying sizes and colors into a visually appealing montage. This software makes the task exceptionally easy. 2. Voice Thread URL: http://voicethread.com Description: Allows learners to look at examples of artwork as a group and to comment freely. Explanation: This provides an ability to get impressions from participants in real time.

The assignment for Module 1 was to find three web sites for the Multimedia Workshop topic. The three web sites chosen are:

1. PBS.org. (2009). Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/index.html

This site focuses on contemporary visual artists and their art. The television series brings the art experience to audiences by observing the artist at work and discussing the artist's motivations, thoughts, and beliefs as they create their art. The site offers videos that capture what was presented on television for audiences to review and from which they can learn about the artist and his art. The multimedia technology is used as an aid to assist in cognitive understanding of contemporary art (Mayers, 2008, p. 13).

2. The Discovery Channel. (2009). Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://disc.discovery.com/ardipithecus/handbook2/handbook2.html

The Discovery Channel web site has an interesting assortment of educational topics, however, this particular site displays an interactive video on the discovery of the earliest hominid species. Its interactivity makes it a learner-centered approach where it is "consistent with the way the human mind works" (Mayer, 2008, p. 13) by answering the basic questions of who, what, where, when, and how as the learner participates in each phase of the cognitive activity.

3. Online Statistics: An Interactive Multimedia Course of Study. (2008). Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://onlinestatbook.com

The focuses on an introductory level statistics course and provides an interactive multimedia presentation that makes the subject matter much easier to understand. Mayer (2008) would appreciate the hands-on approach where technology makes the task of learning statistics enjoyable for the learner.

Clarice R Mims


Reference:
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.