Reaching the student through Technology

There are three basic learning modalities. There is the visual learner, the tactile learner, and the auditory learner. Of these three learning modalities studies show that a combination of learning styles tends to be the most effective for learning, for instance a combination of video and audio will be more effective than using just one single modality alone. The instructor of a K-12 learning environment can use instructional technology and media to help reach all kinds of learning styles and preferences in distance-learning. In the following paragraphs I will provide several examples of instructional technology and media for each learning modality.

For the child that is a visual learner one interactive website would provide excellent visual learning centers for that student. This site called Glogster.EDU and it specializes in providing multimedia style visual learning centers. A teacher can create stunning multimedia visual learning centers from the site. The advantages of learning centers for the online student include self pacing active learning and as for the teacher they have opportunity to take on a coaching role rather than being the information deliver. (Smaldino p. 170-171) Another visual learning technology tool is prezi.com. A prezi is a internet based style presentation that has the ability to take one visual image and twist it and turn it and hide information in zoomable places and create moving multimedia displays. (It really turns PowerPoint on it's ear) Once again this visual presentation can offer a wonderful opportunity for critical thinking, organizational skills, artistic endeavors, and communicating through the content all in the visual learners range.

For the tactile learner, simulations and games provide the student with the opportunity to physically interact with the virtual environment. One simulation that never seems to go out of style or get old is the virtual frog dissection lab (http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/). In this lab, in a real classroom, students might object to handling the preserved squishy specimen. Therefore it is advisable to allow the student to perform a virtual dissection on a digital frog. The online student will benefit from this because they are going to receive the same experiences that a students in a traditional classroom would. The virtual frog dissection will walk the students through the steps of dissecting your virtual frog using the same tools and techniques that are generally recommended in the classroom. This will help the tactile learner experience science as it was meant to be, hands-on learning. This falls under the category of computer software and manipulatives in which the benefits are realism and interest in the subject matter. As the textbook states, "manipulatives arouse interest because they're multi-sensory." (Smaldino p.179-180)

And finally, for the auditory learner, distance education instructors can use podcasts as one way of reaching their students who preferred this learning style preference. Podcasts can be used in a multitude of ways, for example a teacher can record their lecture, a podcast can be used for English Language Learners (ELL), and podcasts can be used as dramatic pieces to re-create the scene in a play or book, or to invoke feelings through the use of sound effects, music, and the spoken word. The applications, Windows sound recorder, or Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) are two applications that allow the student and teacher to create MP3 files which can be shared online over the Internet and distributed as podcasts. Advantages of podcasts include the fact that they are relatively inexpensive, reproducible, provides current information, portable, and repeatable.(Smaldino p. 217-218) The repeatability of podcasts to me seems the most handy for the auditory learner because they could pause, rewind, and play again the selection that they need additional help on. Incidentally, the exact same software mentioned for podcasts can also create CDs and MP3 files of auditory media as well. These files can be used for visually impaired students who need a copy of the textbook that has been digitized in an audio platform. Or a musical selection can be put on an MP3 or CD for study in art history class or music classroom.