"This timely and innovative book encourages us to ‘flip the classroom’ and empower our students to become content creators. Through creating digital media, they will not only improve their communication skills, but also gain a deeper understanding of core scientific concepts. This book will inspire science academics and science teacher educators to design learning experiences that allow students to take control of their own learning, to generate media that will stimulate them to engage with, learn about, and become effective communicators of science." Professors Susan Jones and Brian F. Yates, Australian Learning and Teaching Council Discipline Scholars for Science "Represents a giant leap forward in our understanding of how digital media can enrich not only the learning of science but also the professional learning of science teachers." Professor Tom Russell, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada "This excellent edited collection brings together authors at the forefront of promoting media creation in science by children and young people. New media of all kinds are the most culturally significant forms in the lives of learners and the work in this book shows how they can move between home and school and provide new contexts for learning as well as an understanding of key concepts." Dr John Potter, London Knowledge Lab, Dept. of Culture, Communication and Media, University College London, UK Student-generated Digital Media in Science Education supports secondary school teachers, lecturers in universities and teacher educators in improving engagement and understanding in science by helping students unleash their enthusiasm for creating media within the science classroom. Written by pioneers who have been developing their ideas in students’ media making over the last 10 years, it provides a theoretical background, case studies, and a wide range of assignments and assessment tasks designed to address the vital issue of disengagement amongst science learners. It showcases opportunities for learners to use the tools that they already own to design, make and explain science content with five digital media forms that build upon each other— podcasts, digital stories, slowmation, video and blended media. Each chapter provides advice for implementation and evidence of engagement as learners use digital tools to learn science content, develop communication skills, and create science explanations. A student team’s music video animation of the Krebs cycle, a podcast on chemical reactions presented as commentary on a boxing match, a wiki page on an entry in the periodic table of elements, and an animation on vitamin D deficiency among hijab-wearing Muslim women are just some of the imaginative assignments demonstrated. Student-generated Digital Media in Science Education illuminates innovative ways to engage science learners with science content using contemporary digital technologies. It is a must-read text for all educators keen to effectively convey the excitement and wonder of science in the 21st century.

Discover how digital content creation supports 21st-century learning, providing new insights into organizing, synthesizing, and evaluating information. This practical guide will make it easy for you to engage your students through this powerful communications medium. Digital content creation supports the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and 21st-century learning skills by helping students use their knowledge to analyze, create, solve problems, communicate, collaborate, and innovate. This update of the popular Multimedia Projects in Education, Fourth Edition emphasizes digital content creation and the use of the CCSS as benchmarks to help you create cutting-edge classroom instruction. The book begins by presenting research on student learning through multimedia and digital content creation. This introduction is followed by outlines of each stage of the practical, easy-to-use Decide, Design, Develop, and Evaluate (DDD-E) model, which is designed specifically for classroom use. Content also includes discussion of multiple intelligences, constructivist learning, and cooperative grouping; blackline masters to guide you and your students through the DDD-E process; and assessment and management strategies. In addition, you'll find sample activities using an array of development tools, information on mobile and web apps, and numerous other resources to support digital projects in your classroom. The book, which is most applicable to students in grades 4 through 12, will also serve as an ideal resource for media specialists who work with teachers and students.

Discover how digital content creation supports 21st-century learning, providing new insights into organizing, synthesizing, and evaluating information. This practical guide will make it easy for you to engage your students through this powerful communications medium. Digital content creation supports the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and 21st-century learning skills by helping students use their knowledge to analyze, create, solve problems, communicate, collaborate, and innovate. This update of the popular Multimedia Projects in Education, Fourth Edition emphasizes digital content creation and the use of the CCSS as benchmarks to help you create cutting-edge classroom instruction. The book begins by presenting research on student learning through multimedia and digital content creation. This introduction is followed by outlines of each stage of the practical, easy-to-use Decide, Design, Develop, and Evaluate (DDD-E) model, which is designed specifically for classroom use. Content also includes discussion of multiple intelligences, constructivist learning, and cooperative grouping; blackline masters to guide you and your students through the DDD-E process; and assessment and management strategies. In addition, you'll find sample activities using an array of development tools, information on mobile and web apps, and numerous other resources to support digital projects in your classroom. The book, which is most applicable to students in grades 4 through 12, will also serve as an ideal resource for media specialists who work with teachers and students.

The formative role played by digital communication in knowledge-based societies is widely acknowledged. Not least, young people's rapid adoption of a variety of social software applications serves to challenge existing forms of communication for learning, since these innovations allow and assume users' own creation, sharing, and editing of content. This volume presents advanced research on digital content creation, its socio-cultural contexts, and educational consequences. In the midst of ubiquitous commercial hype about digital innovation, as well as policy concerns, the volume offers the sobering perspectives of theory-driven empirical research, in order to examine the complexities, highlight the nuances, and illuminate the pedagogical affordances of creative digital contents. This book brings together the work of an international group of scholars from a range of disciplines including media and ICT studies, education, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.

"This timely and innovative book encourages us to ‘flip the classroom’ and empower our students to become content creators. Through creating digital media, they will not only improve their communication skills, but also gain a deeper understanding of core scientific concepts. This book will inspire science academics and science teacher educators to design learning experiences that allow students to take control of their own learning, to generate media that will stimulate them to engage with, learn about, and become effective communicators of science." Professors Susan Jones and Brian F. Yates, Australian Learning and Teaching Council Discipline Scholars for Science "Represents a giant leap forward in our understanding of how digital media can enrich not only the learning of science but also the professional learning of science teachers." Professor Tom Russell, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada "This excellent edited collection brings together authors at the forefront of promoting media creation in science by children and young people. New media of all kinds are the most culturally significant forms in the lives of learners and the work in this book shows how they can move between home and school and provide new contexts for learning as well as an understanding of key concepts." Dr John Potter, London Knowledge Lab, Dept. of Culture, Communication and Media, University College London, UK Student-generated Digital Media in Science Education supports secondary school teachers, lecturers in universities and teacher educators in improving engagement and understanding in science by helping students unleash their enthusiasm for creating media within the science classroom. Written by pioneers who have been developing their ideas in students’ media making over the last 10 years, it provides a theoretical background, case studies, and a wide range of assignments and assessment tasks designed to address the vital issue of disengagement amongst science learners. It showcases opportunities for learners to use the tools that they already own to design, make and explain science content with five digital media forms that build upon each other— podcasts, digital stories, slowmation, video and blended media. Each chapter provides advice for implementation and evidence of engagement as learners use digital tools to learn science content, develop communication skills, and create science explanations. A student team’s music video animation of the Krebs cycle, a podcast on chemical reactions presented as commentary on a boxing match, a wiki page on an entry in the periodic table of elements, and an animation on vitamin D deficiency among hijab-wearing Muslim women are just some of the imaginative assignments demonstrated. Student-generated Digital Media in Science Education illuminates innovative ways to engage science learners with science content using contemporary digital technologies. It is a must-read text for all educators keen to effectively convey the excitement and wonder of science in the 21st century.

This comprehensive and cutting-edge book portrays a vision of how digital media can help transform schools, and what kinds of curriculum pedagogy, assessment, infrastructure, and learning environments are necessary for the transformation to take place. The author and his research team spent thousands of hours observing classes and interviewing teachers and students in both successful and unsuccessful technology-rich schools throughout the United States and other countries. Featuring lessons learned as well as analysis of the most up-to-date research, they offer a welcome response to simplistic approaches that either deny the potential of technology or exaggerate its ability to reform education simply by its presence in schools. Challenging conventional wisdom about technology and education, Learning in the Cloud: critically examines concepts such as the "digital divide," "21st-century skills," and "guide on the side" for assessing and guiding efforts to improve schools; combines a compelling vision of technology's potential to transform learning with an insightful analysis of the curricular challenges required for meaningful change; and discusses the most recent trends in media and learning, such as the potential of tablets and e-reading.