Hi Josh,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts surrounding multimedia and interactive learning!

Reading through your post, I think that you did a very good job at explaining interactive and multimedia learning through your discussion of Rich’s son’s engagement with the game Pandemic 2. I also appreciated watching your linked video about multi-modal learning and how universal design principles play an important role in creating effective materials – I can definitely see a connection between these two approaches with respect to teaching and learning.

I share your sentiments regarding the fact how varying the use of multimedia and interactive activities can help increase students’ interest and ability in learning new concepts. Reflecting back on my own experience taking EOS 120, I remember participating in a collaborative jigsaw learning model during labs as we worked through the information covered each week. Similar to the interactive teaching styles outlined in this week’s reading, I thought that the jigsaw approach would also work very well in a elementary classroom setting.

I am wondering if you have ever read the article, “To Help Students Learn, Engage the Emotions” by Jessica Lahey, which talks about the importance of emotionally engaging students? After reading A.J Juliani’s article on storytelling, I noticed a connection between using narrative explanations and personal and emotional experiences when teaching – two concepts that appear to run parallel to each other.

Looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future! 🙂

References 

Juliani, A.J. (2016, March 21). The hidden importance of teaching with stories.  http://ajjuliani.com/hidden-importance-teaching-stories/

Mayer, R. (2014). Introduction to Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 1-24). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.002

The Share Team (2018, April 6). Interactive teaching styles used in the classroom. Resilient Educator. https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/5-interactive-teaching-styles-2/