Text: Chapter 1--Thoughts on Project-Based Multimedia Learning

I absolutely loved the way Chapter 1 was introduced. What better thing for teachers to see and hear than a "completely engrossed" classroom of students? The excitement in the air, the purposeful movement of students and the engaged discussions are a teacher's dream scenario.

As I began reading this book, I was hoping to quickly find a definition of multimedia. I had some idea but was happy when our authors explained it on page 2 as the ". . . integration of media objects such as text, graphics, video, animation, and sound." In the multimedia projects I have incorporated into my junior high business education curriculum, I have only used text, graphics, and animation. I am now brainstorming how to add video and sound to enhance my students' learning. I will be working more closely with our school's tech coordinator in these areas. In addition, I would like to go beyond the typical PowerPoint and find out how our district supports (if it does at all) Web site creation. Our LoTI discussion made my realize how important audiences are to increasing student effort and involvement. Posting student work on the Internet would certainly achieve higher-level LoTI goals.

Several other sections of Chapter 1 caught my attention. Some of the seven dimensions of project-based multimedia learning made me think as follows:

• Business educators are fortunate to have much of their curriculum contain strong real-world connections. Our Budget Project, checkbook simulation, and Business Plan units all possess this attribute.
• Student decision-making is also crucial. I intend on expanding the options available for the Entrepreneur Profile (previously just a Word document) to PowerPoint presentations or videotaped role-playing of famous entreprenuers. I will also allow my students to choose between a famous entrepreneur such as Kimora Lee Simmons, Bill Gates, Mrs. Fields, or Ray Kroc or a relative that started their own business. I will model a combination of these options by preparing a PowerPoint detailing my grandfather's entrepreneurial endeavors in the service station and hardware businesses. Even as a 46-year-old, I find these choices to be much more engaging than a research paper on Andrew Carnegie.
• I look forward to learning how to assess multimedia projects with more competency. Chapter 6 will be most helpful to me.
• I will need to investigate HyperStudio, Kid Pix, and Netscape Composer in order to expand my "toolbox" of multimedia tools. There appears to be more out there (hopefully suitable for my eighth and ninth graders) besides PowerPoint.

Finally, my retail management experience confirmed our authors' concept of "value added" when using project-based multimedia learning. It is crucial that our students learn the three skills sets (hard, soft, and computer literacy) for future job success. As a hiring manager, I saw how necessary these competencies were. Project-based multimedia learning greatly enhances the acquisition of these skills. I look forward to becoming a part of this important educational process that also places crucial emphasis on differentiation and higher-order thinking skills.