Main Body
The Curate / Modify / Create Model for Professional Development
A strategy for introducing instructors to teaching with rich media
This chapter is intended for use by training managers who are considering an enhancement to basic training for instructors preparing to teach online.
Some instructors may think that teaching with rich media requires knowing how to create rich media from scratch – an impression that implies undertaking an impossibly monolithic commitment to learn ICT skills that are exceptionally advanced for them. The following model describes how it is possible to use rich media in instruction at all levels of ICT skill.
The Curate, Modify, Create model shows that rich media can be used as effective instructional content even if the instructor is not able to create their own media from scratch. The most important factor in learning to teach with rich media is to surround the rich media content with good pedagogical design. Each level of the model below builds upon the prior skill level, cumulatively. Below is an example referring to video resource:
Curate: Locate a high quality video resource, provide access to it for instruction, implement the principles of the pedagogical wrapper.
Modify: Locate a high quality video resource, modify it (edit, remix, annotate, integrate with other content, etc.), provide access to it for instruction, implement the principles of the pedagogical wrapper.
Create: Create an original video resource, provide access to it for instruction, implement the principles of the pedagogical wrapper.
Here is another example using Twitter:
Curate: Locate a useful Twitter hashtag or search term, provide access to it for instruction, implement the principles of the pedagogical wrapper. (No Twitter account is needed).
Modify: Locate several useful Twitter hashtags or search terms, use TweetDeck to create a dashboard to view all of them, provide access to it for instruction, implement the principles of the pedagogical wrapper.
Create: Create a Twitter hashtag for your course or course topic, place a Twitter widget in your course based on the hashtag, provide instructions for students to tweet to the designated hashtag, implement the principles of the pedagogical wrapper.
Key takeaways
In presenting the principles of teaching with rich media, it is vital for instructors-in-training to know that they can begin teaching with rich media right now while they are still learning about it.
Training managers may wish to offer incentives to instructors-in-training to climb the ladder of proficiency as their foundation skills mature.
Employing instructors to serve as peer mentors for new instructors-in-training can elevate the credibility of using these new instructional communication strategies.