Understanding Multimedia, Humanity [Peers] and Oneself

Using Your Senses

“Human beings are sensory creatures – that is, we operate not just through what we know but through what we see and hear and feel. Reading about something brings us understanding, but our senses of sight, hearing and touch deepen that understanding. Multimedia – combinations of words, sounds, images, video and animation – can provide that sensory input. Multimedia productions can take many forms, including an encyclopedia CD-ROM, a television commercial, a full-length movie, a short video on the Internet or an animated introduction to a Web site.” [Technology Applications, Grade 7/8, Pearson Education, Inc., New Jersey (ISBN 0-13-036333-2)]

Project 1

Incorporation and visualization/interpretation of “Teen Poems” [100-poems.com] to comprise slide shows created with the authoring tool, Windows Movie Maker. Students are assigned poems to read, comprehend and visualize/interpret as 15-slide, WMV movie presentations. The text is incorporated throughout the visualizations.

This exercise places the students “in the shoes” of their peers to begin to understand their [peers’] feelings about life and look for similarities/differences. As the students hone their skills with the authoring software, they also explore the psychology of their age group and develop a deeper understanding of compassion for others. And the reading/comprehending and visualizing/interpreting of the poems enhance cognitive/creative skills for better performance in core-subject areas.

Project 2

Incorporation and visualization/interpretation of self-generated poems to comprise slide shows created with the authoring tool, Windows Movie Maker. Students are asked to conceptualize/write their own poems to visualize/interpret as 15-slide, WMV movie presentations. The text is incorporated throughout the visualizations.

This exercise places the students in the situation to begin to understand their own feelings about life and compare themselves to their peers. As the students hone their skills with the authoring software, they also explore their own psychology and develop a deeper understanding of themselves. And the conceptualizing/writing and visualizing/interpreting of the poems enhance cognitive/creative skills for better performance in core-subject areas.

Project 3

“ME”

Visualization/interpretation of self [self-portrait] to comprise a five-minute WMV movie that approximates self-exploration movies for the Arts at the college/university levels to open/enhance creative thinking and create a greater awareness of self.

The students are asked to venture … one at a time … outside the classroom and within the campus environs to utilize the “Jazz DV 151” Internet movie [320X240 pixels] camcorders to generate [with narration (auditory)] several movie clips [20 to 30 seconds each] in keeping with self exploration. The clips are then uploaded to the student computers to be used with the authoring tool, Windows Movie Maker.

As the students hone their skills with the authoring software, they also explore their own psychology and develop a deeper understanding of themselves. And the narrating [auditory] and visualizing/interpreting via the movie clips enhance cognitive/creative skills for better performance in core-subject areas.


Tom R. Chambers
Teacher, Technology Applications
Junior Academy
Raul Yzaguirre School For Success
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.