What is Multimedia?
Multimedia is the presentation of words and pictures (Mayer, 2014). In this case, words can be spoken or written; pictures can be anything in pictorial form, including videos, animation, or even diagrams.
Research has shown that when school projects are done in multimedia format, student’s learning was enhanced. Student’s subject knowledge on the subject history was enhanced when students create multimedia projects on their history topic (Hernandez-Ramos & De la Paz, 2009). This indicates that when students use multimedia to present their school project in both words and pictures, they are more likely to ingest knowledge on history.
Google Sites
Google sites is a great multimedia tool students can use to complete projects. It is a website-building platform created by Google that is easy to use and extremely accessible, students can access it with their official school account. For instance, a teacher would instruct students to use google sites and create their own website on a history topic they learned in class. Figure 2 shows an example using the gold rush era in Australia, which Year 5 and 6 learn according to NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) (n.d.).
Does Google Sites foster creativity?
It could as it uses images and videos! Teachers would encourage students to include these while creating their website, and manipulating text and graphics is a way students use creativity to problem solve (Wheeler et al., 2022). This means that when students use images or videos to construct their google sites website, they are using creativity to make their website engaging.
However, using creativity to manipulate text and graphics might not necessary mean creativity was enhanced in google sites. A study found that when students use multimedia tools in learning, only flexible ideas were generated, not fluent ideas (Kassim et al., 2014). This means that students would successfully integrate elements of information learned, but fails to produce complete ideas by themselves.
Another limitation in students creating websites is that it requires prior knowledge. For example, in the gold rush era project mentioned earlier, student would have to know the name of who discovered the gold rush in Australia before they can apply creativity, finding an image of him for their website.
Reference List
Hernandez-Ramos, P., & De La Paz, S. (2009). Learning history in middle school by designing multimedia in a project-based learning experience. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), 151-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2009.10782545
Kassim, H., Nicholas, H., & Ng, Wan. (2014). Using a multimedia learning tool to improve creative performance. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 13, 9-19. https://doi-org.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/10.1016/j.tsc.2014.02.004
Mayer, R. E. (2014). Introduction to multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp. 1-24). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369.002
NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.). The Australian Colonies. https://www.educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/hsie/history-k-10/content/804
Wheeler, S., Waite, S. J., & Bromfield, C. (2002). Promoting creative thinking through the use of ICT. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18(3), 367-378. DOI: 10.1046/j.0266-4909.2002.00247.x
Hi Alicia,
When reading your post, I noticed some grammatical errors that if fixed could benefit your writing to be more engaging for readers. I loved that you included google sites in your post because like you said I agree that it is very accessible for students to use and foster their ICT skills and learning of various subjects. I appreciated that you linked your example to the NESA requirements as it allows for teachers to plan lessons accordingly. Overall, with some finner editing and more details on your points of creativity, this post would be an excellent read.
Margot