I read three articles,
1) Film projects help link students to black history, 2) Technology is music to their ears and 3) Broward schools experiment with multimedia: Schools are experimenting with multimedia projects that expand learning well beyond textbooks and computer programs.
1) The Baltimore Sun Gregory Kane column: Film projects help link students to black history, By: Gregory, Baltimore Sun, The (MD), Apr 07, 2007
The teacher was concerned about students throwing something together to meet a deadline, wanting good quality work attempted to be creative and entice students to "go with a project". The project was accomplished with 50 8th graders. These students demonstrated what they could do with music, narration, writing, computer work (using Windows Movie Maker 2.1), research and presentation.
The project turned out to take longer than the teacher had hoped, due to things such as Maryland state assessments taking time away from the students project. Even so, they were very pleased with the outcome of the project.
Student's projects were exciting and they invested so much into their topics as to embellish things like relevant music that had been discovered during their research using multimedia research tools. Another example was that one student uncovered in his research for his black history project about the Black Panther party that one of their school's teachers was married to a former Panther.
The students were so involved in the production of the project it made the research relevant and interesting to them.
2) Technology is music to their ears, By: Khanna, Samiha, News and Observer, The (Raleigh, NC), Mar 2007
This teacher set out to demonstrate that technology can be used in a meaningful way. He cashed in on student's love of music. Students came out of the project saying, Anyone can be a music producer". The music teacher at this elementary school all participate in mixing songs and writing their own compositions, using audio editing software. The particular project this article focuses on is one that required the students (3rd and 4th grade) listen to the calls of common birds and then interpret those tunes in musical form using keyboards connected to their computers.
"People walk into his classroom and say, 'Oh that's music now?' but it's not meant to replace the traditional. It's really enhancing what they do".
This article made no comments from the students perspective and it is not clear to me their response. It does sound interesting though.
On a personal note, my husband is a musician. He has traveled the world in his 'other life as a rock star' and loves to create music. However, he is facing an obstacle. With new technology he will need to learn technology skills in order to keep up with his peers in this new era. This said, I believe this teacher's projects will enhance his students ability to continue to explore, produce and understand how to create, share and sell their music as life long artists.
3) Broward schools experiment with multimedia: SCHOOLS ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH MULTIMEDIA PROJECTS THAT EXPAND LEARNING WELL BEYOND TEXTBOOKS AND SIMPLE COMPUTER PROGRAMS. Sampson, Hannah, Miami Herlad, The (FL), Mar 18, 2007
This project seemed to desire students develop "workforce skills". A focus was on how to work in teams, manage long term projects, analyze information and present it. They "experienced real-life stress they might face in the workplace. They were required to dress professionally. The community was impressed with the work these high schoolers did. This works outcome was the creation of a healthy recipe book, commercials on fitness and videotaped demonstrations of preparing snacks.
Skills Incorporated were using video, using pod casts, web design and other media.
In this article I was not convinced this project was more meaningful to student learning than traditional teaching.
At this point in class I am convinced that technology can greatly enhance students interest. I also see these projects as meaningful ways for students who are not traditional learners to demonstrate what they know and have learned as an alternative to our traditional ways.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Paula - I found it interesting that you focused quite a bit on multimedia. We're not going to dabble much with multimedia in class, only because of the limitations of the computers in the lab. But, certainly, the free programs on Macs and PCs really allow for students to display a lot of creativity. If you remind me, I will bring my laptop to class next week and we'll take a look at just how easy it is for students to create a multimedia presentation and upload it to the Internet.
The first article you reviewed mentioned the time factor - that with state assessments and other things taking up time, that this project took more time than the teacher figured. It is true as well, obviously, for Oregon schools. I wonder how one might schedule instruction so that these sorts of projects could be done in an expeditious manner (or in a manner that didn't drive the teacher crazy!)
Hi, Paula,
Wow, the first article sounded complex but really interesting. I have never created a multimedia presentation myself, and I always want to do something myself before I ask students to do it. This shows me how much I have to learn before I jump into using technology.
I was interested to read about using technology to create music. That is something I probably wouldn’t use with students but I can see where it would inspire some students who aren’t so interested in other subjects. One thing I’ve come to realize is that there is so much variety available using computer technology, that there is probably a great project somewhere for anyone.
Post a Comment