Multimedia Strategies to Education and Training

MULTIMEDIA STRATEGIES TO EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ABSTRACT

This research work tries to respond to the issue concerned with the relationship between Multimedia and the Teaching-Learning processes. The central questions are the following:

- To what extent is Multimedia susceptible of stimulating and improving the Teaching – Learning processes? What Teaching-Learning methods and strategies should be used for the development of the multimedia applications addressed to Education and Training?

The response to these questions is complex and involves the following methodological options:

- The analysis of the learning processes and the analysis of the Interactions between Teachers and Students.

In the context of this thesis such processes are enhanced to the prejudice of the model prevailing in the past. The change of educational paradigm implies a change in the pedagogical-didactic dialogue, in the capacity to learn and to know how to use such knowledge in order to respond to the present cultural, social, economic, technological changes.

The 4 pillars of Education of the XXI century: To learn how to acquire knowledge, to learn how to do, to learn how to live together, to learn to be are structuring components of any individual life project.

The lifelong learning to obtain more and better competences requires new pedagogical practices and the emergence of new scenarios for the Schools in the Future where multimedia shall play a predominant role. However, although computers and multimedia have arrived to most of the schools they have not yet took the privileged place of the teaching-learning process: the classroom. In fact, they keep playing a similar role to that of the cinema, radio and later the television. It is assumed that when the digital media and the networks have been improved at level of ergonomics, portability and cost, they will take a place in the classroom. In this new classroom, cooperative learning networks are built and new methods and search and Teaching- Learning strategies are used to complement the classroom classes and help the students with learning difficulties.

The 1st. part of the thesis concludes with the systematized analysis of the theoretical models that shape the multimedia projects for Education and Training. They are viewed as integrated into the constructivist theory since it is considered that the Interactive Communication Systems may in specific situations: to add value; to help getting learning capacities; to help getting knowledge; and to provide a significant learning.

In the 2nd. part they are analysed, in different perspectives, the interactions between Teachers and Students, as well as 4 Case Studies:Lírica de Camões,Teatro de Gil Vicente,Rede de Centros de Recursos em Conhecimento(Knowledge Resources Centres Network) ande_Tutor. The two first didactic products intended for Teaching have been evaluated through the sample survey method that has covered six schools belonging to the NUT II- Lisbon and TagusValley. Were selected, 564 Students and 52 Teachers of the10 th grade, to respond to the Questionnaire Survey and the results were very positive.

It is then concluded that the Communication Interactive Systems are based on the theoretical principles of the constructivism as it was formerly formulated by Piaget and later developed with the constructionist theses of Papert and Resnick; they provide the students with a space for knowledge that shall help them in the learning processes i.e. to search for information and build knowledge. The multimedia applications for Education and Training, whenever they are developed according to Teaching–Learning methods and strategies, are pedagogical–didactic instruments that facilitate and motivate the learning process.