The array of possibilities for modern multimedia classrooms for what sort of audio and visual materials can be shared -- is almost limited by your creativity and gumption...

Much of our precious faculty and class time can easily be wasted in inefficient multimedia gimmicks/toys that ultimately contribute little to student success.

The trick is to determine where to focus energy and time to make multimedia a powerfully ally for learning!

"5 Conditions for Effective Multimedia Presentations:
1-Spatial Contiguity
corresponding words-pictures near each other on page or screen
2-Temporal Contiguity
corresponding words & pictures presented simultaneously rather than successively in time
3-Coherence
minimize extraneous words, sounds & pictures
4-Modality
words presented as speech rather than text
5-Redundancy
Words presented as speech rather than as speech & text."
-Mayer, "Multimedia Learning" (2001), pg 187

"there is nothing like the real thing... If the content consists of sound and motion, show sound and motion."
-Edward Tufte
http://tinyurl.com/tuftepresent

Videos Can be used powerfully:

- Indirect active learning --Illustrating class material/ theory/ machinery in action that it is not practical for class to experience in person.

- Keys for best practice:
1) Limited clips if possible [slide time slider to specific time(s) or DVD chapter(s)]
2) Set context/active previous content and what is objective/focus student need to concentrate on in clip
3) Offer specific worksheet/ Qs to come up with inidvidual answer(s)
3) test beforehand to make sure audio-light levels acceptable in classroom.
4) Pause/interrupt video to emphasize key points
5) Leverage as a group activity/discussion to process answers afterwards

"FUNCTION of Graphics =
* Surface (format/type of visual -- not as important)
* Communication Functions
* Psychological Functions

Psychological functions of Graphics: -Support Attention
-Activate or Build Prior Knowledge -Minimize Cognitive Load
-Build Mental Models
-Support Transfer of Learning -Support Motivation Communication

Functions of Graphics:
-Decorative
-Representational
-Mnemonic
-Organizational
-Relational
-Transformational
-Interpretive"
-"Graphics for Learning", Clark & Lyons (2010) Pfeiffer

"And there is nothing like the real thing; show your audience the actual physical object you are talking about."
-Edward Tufte
http://tinyurl.com/tuftepresent

Utilize document cameras (as available) to...

* Show detail on a 3D artifact/widget when there are not enough for each student

* Apply broad theory/ideas to illustrate content/material with a specific real world instance
(eg - Marketing theory or Graphic Design with a cereal box design)

"PowerPoint slides ...simply present too much information for the human mind to handle. Typical slides filled with busy backgrounds, endless bullet points, and a tangle of diagrams clearly shut down understanding, instead of opening it up."
-Atkinson & Meyer
http://tinyurl.com/po4n5ml

* Don’t include irrelevant illustrations, animations, transitions or sounds
* Minimize ONSCREEN text – Less is better Narration is better than written words for learning and retention in a classroom context. Clarity, not comprehensiveness, is your primary objective. In most cases, this means using short phrases rather than full sentences in your bullet points. Move text to notes or nouns & verbs in sentences handouts.

"Overhead projectors and PowerPoint tend to leave no traces; instead give people paper, which they can read, take away, show others, make copies, and come back to you in a month and say 'Didn't you say this last month? It's right here in your handout.' The resolution of paper ...must be ten times the resolution of talk talk talk or reading aloud from bullet lists projected up on the wall. A paper record tells your audience that you are serious, responsible, exact, credible. For deep analysis of evidence and reasoning about complex matters, permanent high-resolution displays are an excellent start."
-Edward Tufte

"Lecture time is more effective when used to model the kinds of thinking the instructor wants students to engage in. The instructor can simply perform that kind of thinking in front of the students by analyzing a text or showing them how to solve a problem...The instructor does not simply give an example, but in addition, provides metacomments about the why and how of doing it."
-Indiana U. Bloomington Ctr. for Innovative teaching & Learning
http://tinyurl.com/iulecture

"It is better to:
1. Talk than read
2. Stand than sit
3. Move than stand still
4. Vary your voice’s pitch than speak in a monotone
5. Speak loudly facing your audience rather than mumble and speak into your notes or blackboard
6. Use an outline and visual aids than present without them
7. Provide your listeners with a roadmap than start without an overview"
-Columbia Grad School of Arts & Sciences Teaching Ctr.
http://tinyurl.com/colectips

"... for the first time in my life... people actually coming up to me and saying,'Good album, good songs.' That hadn't happened to me before. It was like, 'Ah, I'm getting it, I'm finding my feet. I'm starting to communicate what I want to do. Now: what is it I want to do?' There was always a double whammy there."
-David Bowie