Adapted from Technology with Intention by Suzanne Kelly and Elizabeth Dobler. See the previous post on background knowledge and media literacy for more.
To expand beyond what they already know, learners rely on background knowledge. That push and pull of previous and new understandings requires teachers to be nimble at providing the right background knowledge at the right moment. Of course, this is a challenge because rarely do two students have the same background knowledge on a given topic, let alone an entire class. In a highly functioning literacy classroom, students access a variety of texts to build their background knowledge, and technology offers increased access to background knowledge from a variety of authentic contexts and multimedia resources.
This is a habit many students have cultivated in their home tech life, consulting with YouTube, social media, and Google to get cheats to video games, new dance moves, and even cooking tips. We can tap that habit and bring it into our classrooms to apply to more academic background knowledge needs. Students know that adults do this all the time, making this particular move not only effective, but also authentic. Students can build background knowledge by more than just reading a conventional print text. They can learn information from different formats (audio, video, visual) and have those formats scaffolded (print to audio, captioned videos) to access information, experiences, and experts that are not present in our physical classroom. On the All About Birds website (TheCornellLab n.d.), students can view the bird cam as it livestreams a bird’s nest throughout the egg-hatching and chick-growth processes. Viewers can collect, analyze, and report data just as ornithologists do. As historians, students can visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture (n.d.) via their digital resources to read and write about race, history, culture, and current events. There is an abundance of high-quality content.
Prompts for Understanding Multimedia
Of course, reading digital texts needs to be taught! Imagine being a young learner who is still developing word recognition and comprehension skills and then finding yourself reading websites with text written at various reading levels, along with working to understand information shared through graphics, videos, and podcasts. Kids need to be explicitly taught how to comprehend the wide variety of text formats presented, and how to create a mental model of the information or story, no matter the multimedia format in which the ideas are presented.
Below are some suggested prompts for students to engage with before, during, and after interacting with multimedia sources.
Print:
- Before reading: Preview the text; look over the headings to see how the information is organized. Notice any hyperlinks on the page and decide when you would like to navigate to them.
- During reading: Pause at strategic points to check your understanding while forming a mental model of the text’s meaning; take notes if it’s helpful.
- After reading: Synthesize the text into a few sentences that include the kernel of meaning.
Image (photo, graphic, symbol):
- Before viewing: Identify who created and/or published the image, their credibility, and possible biases. Notice where the author decided to place the images and ask yourself why. Is there not enough text? Is it adding to the concept being discussed? Is it presenting a visual summary of the text?
- During viewing: Look over the image as a whole, then zoom in on smaller details.
- After viewing: Consider how biases may have caused information to be presented in a certain way or why information may have been left out. Synthesize the images with the text for a bigger and better understanding of the text.
Video:
- Before viewing: Identify who created and/or published the video, their credibility, and possible biases. Decide on the order in which you will read the text. Should you watch the video before or after reading the text?
- During viewing: Pause at strategic points to check your understanding while forming a mental model of the text’s meaning; take notes if it’s helpful.
- After viewing: Consider how biases may have caused information to be presented in a certain way or why information may have been left out. Synthesize the information in the video with the text for a bigger and better understanding.
Audio:
- Before listening: For podcasts, identify who created and/or published the podcast, their credibility, and possible biases; for audiobooks, listen to the introduction or preface to gain insights (typically gleamed from the book cover) to activate background knowledge and create anticipation. Make a thoughtful decision on when to listen to the audio. Will it be before the text or after?
- During listening: Pause periodically to check understanding and to jot down notes.
- After listening: For podcasts, consider how biases may have caused information to be presented in a certain way or why information may have been left out; for audiobooks, synthesize the text into a few sentences that include the kernel of meaning.
