Erin

Gilliam

March 15, 2016
Reflection on Multimedia in Instructional Design

In Multimedia in Instructional Design I learned to create audio files, animations, screen

casts, and furthered my experience with editing and creating Weebly websites. I worked
collaboratively using the Decide, Design, Develop, and Evaluate model (DDD-E) to create a 3 Act
Math lesson, incorporating multimedia elements to enhance student engagement and learning.

The element that stood out the most to me from this course was learning to create an

animation. Teaching geometry, I often say to my class imagine describing something I want
them to be able to envision. Around the time the animation was assigned for this course, I was
planning my lessons on similar right triangles formed by drawing an altitude to the hypotenuse.
I have students actually create these similar triangles using an index card, but many still
struggle with seeing how the resulting triangles are related to the original figure. By designing
the animation myself, I was able to create exactly what I wanted my students to imagine, and
then show them. Students gave positive feedback about the animation, stating that it
supported their understanding of how the triangles were related. On the assessment for that
unit, many students were able to draw the triangles separately and justify their similarity.

Using the animation that I created in my classroom demonstrated increased student

engagement and success with a particular topic. In addition to the discoveries of how to use
different software and implement the software in my classroom, I discovered these benefits for
students in my classroom. The animation made a conceptual understanding of right triangle
similarity accessible to all students using multimedia this is something that wouldnt have
happened in my classroom without this course.

I will continue to use what Ive learned in this course in my own teaching in ways similar

to the animation above. I plan to incorporate the 3 Act Math I created with my teammates later
in the school year during the unit on area and measurement. Multimedia can support my
students in creating a conceptual understanding of the topics studied in geometry it allows
me to show my students different mathematical representations, supporting a complete
understanding. Using multimedia in my classroom, I am able to reach a variety of learners and
make the content more engaging and accessible.

I have incorporated multimedia in my lessons with evidence of student growth and

understanding, reaching many of the NETS standards for teachers; however, my students have
room to grow in order to reach the NETS standards for students. I need to work on
incorporating projects in my curricula that allow students to demonstrate their understanding
using multimedia. Specifically, having students create Weebly website as a way to summarize,
synthesize, and present their understandings, is something I plan to incorporate in my
curriculum.

Using a Weebly site as a platform for students to demonstrate understandings has many

benefits. In this case, students can participate in the DDD-E model, work collaboratively in
assigned groups, and take on roles that are geared toward student strengths and intelligences.
Incorporating this type of project into my geometry curriculum would make content more
engaging, conceptual understanding more assessable, and allow students ownership over
presenting their understanding. This type of project would certainly address all the NETS
standards, as students would have to model digital citizenship and responsibility, and
technology operations and concepts