Unit 4: An Investment in Tomorrow’s University Students: Enhancing the Multimedia Skills of Today’s K-12 Teachers.

This article describes how one small university has designed a multimedia course to develop the skills of classroom teacher, both inservice and preservice. The author and designer of the course explains that “one way to improve the skill levels students attain in school may hinge on improving the classroom computing skills of their school teachers” (p. 100). Due to it’s low-cost, easy-to-manage design, the course could be implemented at any university. Ross reminds us that the decision to use multimedia in the classroom must be based on “reasonable expectations” by all who are involve making sure that frustration does not become an outcome. “The teacher remains the key part of the student learning equation, and they must decide how to best use multimedia within the classroom.

The course goal was “to equip educators with sufficient knowledge to select and use multimedia products and to create their own multimedia products and to create their own multimedia presentations for use in classroom” (p. 101). They were exposed to different software programs that allowed the creation of PowerPoint presentations, video and audio clips, web pages, etc). They used a textbook to gain a better understanding of terminology associated with multimedia. In reference to the design of the projects, students were advised to keep things basic, to make sure fonts were easy to read and everything should tie into the topic. The author stressed that if teachers decide to utilize multimedia in their classroom they need to “be careful not to become involved in the trappings of multimedia and loose sight of the real goal” (p. 102). Teacher need to remember that getting too elaborate and involved with multimedia presentations might take away valuable time need to plan the rest of the unit.

Reading this article I’ve come to realize how important it is to be versed in basic programs associated with multimedia. The computer is a great tool to assist in your development as a classroom teacher. I must admit, I have avoided the computer for a very long time, and if I had not decided to get my M.I.T. I might still be avoiding the computer. I feel fortunate to be in program that required a technology class like ours and have gained a certain level of confidence to utilize some of the programs in my classroom. Instead of using traditional slide carousels, which are cumbersome and time consuming to organize, PowerPoint will be a great way to introduce art images and information related to specific topics covered during class. Also, requiring students to create their own PowerPoint’s on topics of their choice will raise their level of knowledge and more importantly, confidence when working with a computer. The problem for me will be that most of my students have grown up using computers at a level far exceeding my own. This is the area I need the most improvement in.


Ross, M.J. (2001). An investment in tomorrow’s university students: Enhancing the multimedia skills of today’s k-12 teachers. Journal of Computing in Small Colleges, 52-61