You don’t always have to be the author of the multimedia that is helping your students learn. Consider assigning a project wherein your students create a multimedia asset to demonstrate their knowledge of a concept. Instead of having students write a paper on a topic, you can invite them to explore different media that will better help them to meet your learning objectives for the assignment. While you could ask them to use a particular medium or set of media, you can also invite them to be creative with the media they choose.
Asking students to analyze an assignment and its goals and choose the media that will best meet their needs will prepare them for a changing workplace where they may be expected to “wow” an employer who hasn’t given them specific instructions for a presentation. Assessing the requirements of an assignment and finding the tools to assist them encourages critical thinking skills and develops maturity as they take ownership of their work in both form and content.
You don’t need to be an expert in multimedia to ask students to be creative! There are many web tutorials available for them to develop proficiency with a tool, and we’ve provided some ideas below for you to consider. Check out the eLearning Toolbox for a number of helpful tools you could use.
If this sparks an interest to do more with multimedia projects and you’d like some guidance, feel free to make an appointment for a one-on-one consultation with an Instructional Designer at Simmons Online.