On Wednesday, we will have a field-trip to Landschulheim Steinmühle. Hopefully, we will get an insight into the use of new media at this school. When talking to experts I want this questions to be answered:

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using new media in school?

2. Are there projects at your school which focus on new media?

3. Is new media used in every subject by every teacher?

The field-trip to Landschulheim Steinmühle was interesting and gave a nice insight into the use of new media in school. We were shown the school with its classrooms, the computer lab and the teachers’ working room.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time for every question to be answered in detail. Therefore, the answer to my second question is left out as I did not have the time to ask it.

Concerning my first question, both teachers we met in the discussion see a lot more advantages than disadvantages in the use of new media in school. They told us that most of the pupils regard working in the computer lab as a nice alternation to the normal lessons in their classrooms. This kind of alternation makes the pupils be motivated and the teachers get positive responses to it. As a disadvantage the teachers mentioned the technical aspects, because sometimes the computers do not work and some teachers have difficulties in finding the error. Furthermore, the teachers see another problem in the texts that can be found on the internet. Some pupils tend to copy them without thinking about their content and doing further book research. But the teachers are not afraid of the pupils doing other things in the internet instead of the given task, because every computer in the computer lab can be observed by the teacher.

A lot of teachers at Landschulheim Steinmühle use new media in different subjects. At an early age the pupils are taught new media in the subject informatics. Teachers who do not know much about the use of computers are helped by others or they take part in computer training programs. For example, in English lessons new media are used quite often. They have e-workbooks and software with grammar exercises. In a lot of subjects the pupils use the new media for presentations and researches. These are part of the curriculum in the natural sciences and maths and therefore have to be done. The teachers help their students with the researches by giving guidance and feedback. Moreover, the so-called Förderstunden in maths, German, and English often take place in the computer labs.

This field-trip has shown that the use of new media in school can work very well and that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Happy new year to everyone!

Lorena