Multimodal+Instruction


 * Multimodal Instruction: What it Provides **

//As a better solution for classrooms - and to fit the new Common Core-based assessments// Technical subjects will include an increasing variety of digital media, to fit the ways in which digital natives learn:

In //Computer Game Learning//, Marc Prensky outlined ten characteristics of digital learners that are best met by a multi-faceted, media-rich approach to instruction (2005). //(See table, below)// Multimodal instruction appeals a to a new generation reared in technology that learns through parallel processing, versus linear processing – combining multiple sensory cues and tracks of knowledge in a project-based unit versus the linear processing of learning that takes place in only one form, i.e. text-based.

Digital learners are connected learners, as opposed to the stand-alone learners of previous generations, who were not as familiar with networking technologies or research online.

The new generation's tendency to view technology as friend rather than as a hindrance presses educators to support the use of mobile devices and immersive technologies such as augmented reality and gesture-based computing to better engage their students.

New learning theories are needed for this new age, as well - focusing on how real-time collaboration works, and the continued shift into a world where the half-life of knowledge is such that understanding where to find the best sources may supersede what one already knows.

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// Right: Promo for // Letters alive //, an AR program released October, 2011 by Logical Choice that was developed for literacy instruction in PreK-3 following the Core Curriculum State //// Standards. It is fully interactive, runs on PC or SMARTboard (with webcam) and makes use of multiple sensory cues to help boost word-concept pairing //// and syntactical skills: movement, sound and text. // //(Logical Choice, 2011)//

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