Educational Discourse

Today my Communication Production Technology (CPT) class is working on their final project. We looked at some of the history of communication and the different tools that were standard in communication production. Much of the curriculum is still focused on using tape for recording so we have had to substitute and make changes to use digital recording and editing.

The class started by using various sounds they found on the net to create a short sound blurb in which they experimented with various effects. We have been using Audacity for our editing and recording and it has been very user friendly. Right now I am editing the different sound recordings together into one podcast for people to listen. The students spent a good deal of time just working with effects and the sounds.

Next we moved on to creating an audio production. Here the students did have trouble. They wanted to move into just recording and not worry about scripting or editing. They were to discuss a topic of their choice for 2 to 3 minutes. Some chose a band and played a song for most of the time, not spending time talking about the band. They also found out that without a script, they had to do more editing because of all the dead space.

Our final project is a group project. Now, I borrowed the idea from Christ Betcher which he described on one of his Virtual Staffroom podcasts. I gave the students a rubric from which to work and gave them the opportunity to again talk about topic of choice for 50% of the time and they had to do an interview and talk about a school topic for the other 50%. They also had to write their script for any of the talking they were going to do. For the interview, they had to identify who they would interview and what they would ask. They will then take the individual portions and create a 50 minute podcast. Right now they are into interviewing with 3 days left. We’ll see how they all turn out!!

I’ve found the recording to be the easy part. The students do not want to write the scripts but, after their last work, they realize the necessity to do this. They also have trouble planning the whole podcast out before they get to work. They like spending time look and listening to music or trailers but getting down to work is more of a challenge.

I’ve also begun a wiki and blog assignment in my grade 9 social. We are go to look at the topic of Change in relation to the fall of the Roman Empire and the ensuing changes in Europe and then reflect on how these have impacted on our present society. I’m using blogmeister for the blogs. We’ve just started so I’ll report back how this is working. What I will have them doing with the blogs is reporting in on what they did that day and what they found out. I am also using a wiki – which is private now – for recording of information and group assignments. I also want to try writeboard with the class to have them share ideas and gliffy to share any charts or drawings. I will spend time going through each with the class, explaining the use of each and how they will be assessed during the different projects. I’m recreating my assignments so that, instead of them doing a written copy and handing it in, they can share their knowledge on the wiki and use the other tools to communicate amongst themselves. I’m also hoping to use screen snapshots instead of URL’s when using diagrams and maps so that they can add comments. I’m not sure which tool we will use for this.

I’m not completely replacing the print and written assignments but I will have more than 50% of the work being done using these methods. At the end of the unit, they will have a few options for a project of which two will involve either a podcast or a vodcast depending on where I am able to get our technology to in that time.

One of the reasons that I am doing these different things is to demonstrate to teachers that, not only it possible to use these different tools, it allows one to track individual student time on task, contribution to the group assignment, focus on assisting the students instead of getting them to work since their time is, in a sense, being monitored and getting them to work collaboratively without having to have all of them crowded around one desk or table. We’ll see how this works out and I’ll keep you posted on how things are working.

Oh, one other thing we will be doing is learning how to do a search for information and then deciding what information is reliable and what information is questionable. Because much of the information on the fall of Rome is written at a university level, they will have to look for information they can understand. We’ll then work on creating personal summaries that they can use for their work. I’ve noticed that students have a very difficult time finding information and, when it doesn’t pop up in front of them, they tend to give up like there is nothing available for them. I’ll be assisting them to narrow their searches and look for information and we’ll discuss how to summarize and such. Again, we’ll see how things come together as we progress.

As students work, I notice that they have difficulty with the technology once it goes beyond their knowledge base, like most people. They become easily frustrated and have difficulty problem solving to figure out what it is they might do next – which is a normal characteristic of most people I know. It does, however, make me question the whole “immigrant/native” assumption (see my last article for how I really feel about this) since they seem no different than many of the adults that I have worked with who have the same problems. (Still think it’s a digital intelligence!)

I’ll keep updating as we move along.

Kelly