MultiMedia Instruction

Hello everyone,

We live in a society saturated by media messages. There is a logo representing a commercial interest wherever we look. When a new animated movie production comes out, for example, it comes with a marketing campaign that offers toys, cups, napkins, clothes, lunch boxes, book bags, pencils, bed covers, youtube videos, tv commercials and anything else that can be fed into our lives. This presence makes us look at the product everyday. Knowing the effects that environment has in human development then it is only logical to think that our children, the young learners, are being influenced by the environment previously defined. The question then is, Do they understand these inputs?

I work as a Staff Developer in New York City. I meet several times a week with educators, administrators and policy makers from the Department of Education. My specialization is Digital Media Production, and my passion is Media Literacy. Recently we were discussing the design and implementation of a Digital Media Residency for 43 schools. One of the participants presented the argument that students do not need further exposition to media in school because they get plenty of that at home. I responded with the argument that they also get plenty of words at home and that does not make us think that we should stop teaching vocabulary. On the contrary, vocabulary becomes important so that they can understand how to communicate effectively. Communication skills, so essential, also include multimedia.

The power of multimedia is enormous. Not only is it important to become wise consumers but producers as well. The media is full of great examples of responsible production but in general it is biased. Commercial interests drive it, traditionally to manipulate humans into a particular interest. Today's tools make anyone with a simple device and internet access an instant producer. As educators we must consider this an opportunity to help a generation understand that they can produce responsibly. Instead of recording the fight that happened outside in the yard they could produce a video that addresses the reasons driving so many students to consider violence as an option; or maybe interview those who want to fight or already did to find out what is provoking their anger.