Week 7: Assignment 1


In the article “Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms" Dawnene D. Hassett and Jen Scott Curwood present the idea of multimodal texts and how they can get a child’s mind thinking without any words involved. A multimodal text can be described as a way to get a message across without words. An example of this for elementary students can be a picture book. In the article, one point that was interesting to me  was when they explained the situation where the kindergartener was reading the story Froggy Gets Dressed and he explains how he feels froggy’s mother gets more and more angry with froggy because the colors used for his mother saying the word “Froggy” start with a cool blue and gradually turn to a burning red. I find this concept of multimodal texts particularly in elementary school students to be very interesting because it allows the children to interpret the story being told in their own way to encourages them to use their imagination. 


The article “Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners” By Shiang-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsu goes in depth describing the details of the game Second Life and gives us the advantages and disadvantages of using this game for educational purposes. This game is in an interactive online virtual world where each player can create their own avatar. This article tells us that more and more classes are beginning to use second life, especially classes that are offered completely online. The article talks about the importance pf having a social presence in the classroom, and Second Life can be used for that. Second life allows teachers to hold virtual meetings and the class can use their own voices or text to chat with each other. This to me was very interesting because it could definitely be beneficial, especially as more and more classes become completely online. One downside to this game that stuck out to me was that anyone can join in on your meeting or class at any time, if the teacher doesn’t lock the class. This could be a real interruption if you come across someone who is looking for trouble. The big benefit of Second Life is students being able to interact and collaborate with each other. I believe collaboration is a huge part of the learning process and having this so easily accessible to students is definitely a great asset.