Multiple means of engagement and multiple means of representation are essential if there is any chance of connecting with all learners, or of meeting the diverse learning needs in any given classroom. With the rapid proliferation of digital resources, there is less excuse every day for educators who do not encourage learners to use resources and tools that work for them.
It is paramount that teachers recognize and remember that most of their students do not learn in the same ways that they themselves learn. Simply trying harder doesn’t work if you learn differently!
I’m especially pleased when I discover new resources that put multiple means of representation together in one place! Here’s one that gathers text, images, and videos into one place. Of course, you can add an audio version of the text as well, with one of many readily available text-to-speech options.
Navify is a service that combines Wikipedia articles with related videos from Youtube and online images. So, when a topic is entered into the search bar, it brings up the pertinent Wikipedia article along with videos and images on the same subject. With the multiple means of representation offered, there is a far greater chance of engaging a wider range of learners.
The first screen shot below shows the Wikipedia article that opens when ‘tiger’ is typed into the search box. You can see the tabs above the article for Images and Videos. The second screen shot shows what appears when the Images tab is clicked, and the third shows the videos.
It should be noted that it is up to users to select the images and videos that are associated with an article. For all of the search terms I entered, I was offered an extensive collection of images and videos to choose from. Since Navify is a relatively new service, there were relatively few videos associated with any of the topics I searched.
Two other features of Navify are also worth mentioning. The first is that users have the opportunity to comment on topics. Secondly, related topics are suggested with search results.
