Multimedia offers students with disabilities alternative ways to access and represent knowledge and information. Multimedia tools can range from simple graphics to the integration of text, graphics, video, music, and sound effects. Increasingly, teachers are discovering that multimedia projects can tap undiscovered strengths and talents that enable students with disabilities to more fully participate in the learning process.
These resources were compiled during NCIP's period of funding, 1992-1998. If you have any questions about a resource, please use the contact information listed for the resource. NCIP encourages the reproduction and distribution of these materials as long as the contents are not altered in any way and credit is given to NCIP.
The following print and video profiles are overviews of this topic developed by NCIP:
"Multimedia and More: Help for Students with Learning Disabilities"
.pdf version (To access this file, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
Video Profile: "Multimedia and More"
The following resources contained in the Multimedia Collection were compiled by NCIP. They are grouped into four categories: General, Practice, and Research.
The first article in a series entitled "Beyond Multimedia" by Fred D'Ignazio. In this article Fred asks us to think beyond multimedia and discusses simple steps we can take in the classroom to begin using information in new formats.
The second article in a series entitled "Beyond Multimedia" posted by Fred D'Ignazio. In this article, Fred states "Our job as technology-using educators will be redefined from trying to install the perfect technology infrastructure to providing the perfect process of constant technology exposure, experience, and challenges to teachers and young people. Think of your classroom as a laboratory for thinking . . . Let them use the technology to connect your classroom to all the new knowledge that you and they can possibly experience."
An additional article by Fred D'Ignazio in which he discusses the transformation of knowledge from text to multimedia. Fred writes, "All our paper training has left us quite unprepared for the new ways in which knowledge will be packaged, dished up, and devoured. We have to decide really soon whether we are really in love with books (the comfortable old "wrapper") or with the ideas, the life stories, the treasures found inside."
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A description of a project in which Native American high school juniors created an interactive multimedia computer display to interpret and share their cultural heritage.
The author describes an interactive multimedia project in a high school English class, and highlights a "reluctant" student who became motivated and enthusiastic through the collaborative process of composing a multimedia essay. She points out how composition in multimedia shares many characteristics with more traditional writing forms, and lists guidelines for designing HyperCard stacks.
Describes a four day workshop in which nine artistically talented Native American students were brought together to create and publish interactive multimedia versions of their traditional Native stories.
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Highlights research projects that used technology to support reading and writing activities of students with learning disabilities.
Describes the MOST Environment Multimedia Environments that Organize and Support Text of the Young Children's Literacy Project at Vanderbilt University. The researchers use integrated media to create supportive environments where at-risk kindergartners can successfully practice "mental model building."
Summarizes three articles describing Colette Daiute's research which explores student use of multimedia tools to create personally meaningful multimedia compositions. Gives examples of three children with different types of writing difficulties who each adapt the multimedia context flexibly to his or her own strengths and needs.
Describes the Young Sherlock Project that explored methods of using videodisc technology to create effective learning environments for students. This project uses video-based stories as focal contexts for teaching general literacy skills, for background knowledge, and as springboards for inquiry in other media and other content areas of the curriculum.
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This material was developed by the National Center to Improve Practice (NCIP), located at Education Development Center, Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts. NCIP was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs from October 1, 1992 - September 30, 1998, Grant #H180N20013. Permission is granted to copy and disseminate this information. If you do so, please cite NCIP. Contents do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by NCIP, EDC, or the U.S. Government. This site was last updated in September 1998. |