Use Multiple Media to Diversify the Online Course Content

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The use of diverse range of non-mainstream topics and perspectives in academic online teaching might depend on diverse contextual and personal factors. One of them is definitely the availability of digital technologies that offer innovative teaching opportunities. However, the crucial issue remains: how to find them and incorporate into our teaching methodology repertoire? Some institutions or programmes specialize in purely online teaching and learning, while for some – the classical on-site education seems to be the only choice. However, periods of mixed online, on-site, blended and hybrid teaching and learning which all of us experienced lately have created unique possibility not for some – but for all of us – of using diverse online and hybrid methods. Even if they were used at the beginning just to survive the emergency remote teaching era, they have a great potential to stay with us in the academia and immensely improve the quality of online or hybrid teaching and learning.

Information

Online, hybrid or blended education is not only an innovative teaching fashion, but it has been deeply rooted in the pedagogical science of teaching and learning. Benjamin Bloom’ taxonomy of educational objectives points both to the significance of remembering, understanding and applying knowledge, but also at drawing connections among ideas, justifying stands and producing original, creative works. Online learning environment is not an exception – these goals can be met also there.

In contemporary academia teachers are no longer owners of knowledge. Knowledge is

not only in teacher’s minds and notes, but it is dispersed in many various sources. Having this in mind, it is useful to employ into the online or hybrid teaching the model of flipped classroom, a methodology which is favoured by the use of internet.

In a flipped classroom model emphasis is placed on teaching students active learning: they are encouraged to inquire, search for information, analyse a content and then express their point of view. Students, after being given a topic or a set of questions are asked to search for knowledge (usually in internet sources) and while meeting with their teachers on live sessions they are sharing their sources, discuss the results and exercise in practical situations. Teacher is more a tutor or a mentor than a master. This enables to introduce into the classroom a diverse range of topics, students’ experiences and perspectives, as diverse – as every class today is.

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/technology/flippingtheclass/index.html

Thanks to learning in a flipped way students accept more challenging tasks to develop more meaningful skills and experiences. It also encourages interaction among student body, stimulate mutual learning and creativity. The flipped model of teaching and learning can be used in diverse settings, both on-site and online or hybrid. It seems it is of a particular significance for digital courses, as students can be encouraged to act even more freely in looking for sources of knowledge, not being restricted by geographical, language or financial issues – as this video explains: Online Flipped Classroom @ Online Learning and Teaching Short Video Series

In depth resources

Multimedia learning resources might be a great source of both mainstream and non-mainstream topics and perspectives. Traditional academic learning reading resources might be accomplished with materials for listening and watching available at university libraries. Useful sources of video content are typical for every programme, but more generic sources might be found and used for free on popular channels or platforms, like the following:

YouTube, 

Box of Broadcasts, 

TED, 

Khan Academy, 

WatchKnowLearn, 

BBC Video, 

National Geographic Video, 

NASA TV, 

Open Culture  

World History playlist 
Physics playlist 
Economics playlist 

Education is not only about learning for free and thus it is also wort mentioning that online sources contain other valuable materials that might be useful, though sometimes rather costly, like e.g. databases with journal articles, images, videos and books, multimedia case studies, company reports, podcasts of own production, psychology tests, property software, statistical data, video games, online simulations/serious games, etc.

Diverse range of perspectives and topics arise not only in the teaching materials of the input on the teacher’s side, but also at the stage of student activities, when they are to present their knowledge and skills. Students create a body for diverse perspectives and viewpoints. However, it is not easy to provide space for everybody’s voice in online setting using only the traditional way of asking for a voice – letting somebody speak. Even the break rooms seem offer too little space for sharing the students’ viewpoints. New tools are necessary to give the learners the possibility to share, comment, discuss and follow online. Useful learning tools for online practices aiming at sharing multiple perspectives might include:  

Miro 

https://miro.com/ 

Teachfloor 

https://www.teachfloor.com/ 

Nearpod 

https://nearpod.com/ 

Notion 

https://www.notion.so/ 

Zoom 

https://zoom.us/ 

Slack 

https://slack.com/intl/en-in/ 

360Learning  

https://360learning.com/ 

Padlet 

https://padlet.com/ 

Tips

Further resources

Abdulrahaman MD, Faruk N, Oloyede AA, Surajudeen-Bakinde NT, Olawoyin LA, Mejabi OV, Imam-Fulani YO, Fahm AO, Azeez AL. (2020). Multimedia tools in the teaching and learning processes: A systematic review. Heliyon, 2;6(11):e05312.   doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05312. 

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning, 43-71. 

Eastern Connecticut State University Knowledgebase Module 8: Multimedia: How can I make it, find it, and use it in my online course? 

Sirakaya D.A.,  Özdemir S. (2018). The Effect of a Flipped Classroom Model on Academic Achievement, Self-Directed Learning Readiness, Motivation And Retention. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology, 6,1, 76-91.  

Torres-Martin C., Acal Ch., El-Homrani M. (2022). Implementation of the flipped classroom and its longitudinal impact on improving academic performance. Education Tech Research Dev 70, 909–929. 

References