My favourite project including the new media is an e-mail project. I like the idea of communicating with people from other countries. In my opinion, asynchronous communication like writing e-mails is a lot easier to practice in school than synchronous communication like chats or video-conferencing. The pupils are able to think a lot more about how to find the right words and expressions and the teacher can help them. E-mail projects were invented in order to give pupils of the whole wide world the opportunity to learn more about other places and cultures. Furthermore, they strengthen tolerance and understanding for other different cultures. I think this point is significant in our world. Another important fact is that the students get used to the new media by writing at least one e-mail once a week. Some weeks ago, I introduced one nice e-mail project to you, which is called The Teddy Bear Project. This is a good example for an e-mail project which has been worked out very well for many years. I know that it is not always easy to find a class in another country that is up for such a project, but I think it is possible to find one.

I am really looking forward to using an e-mail project with my pupils and I think it could be very fun to talk to children from other countries or to have an e-mail discussion with experts on a special topic.

As this was my last blog entry, I have to say goodbye to all my readers and thank the course instructors for the nice impressions I got during the last semester. Thank you!

Bye, bye

Lorena

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

On the homepage I could find information about a project with the topic media, but as far as I understood it, this project was only based on the negative effects media can have. After working through these the pupils made their own films as the project had its focus on TV. But there is not anything said about new media like the internet.

Friends told me that there has not changed a lot since I have left my school. There is still only one computer lab for a school with about 1500 pupils. For the students in the Oberstufe the school has another room with computers but they only use it in their Freistunden to check e-mails or to meet people on StudiVZ. I found out that there is one thing that changed: more and more classrooms for the Oberstufe have a beamer now, but they are rarely used.

Pupils still do not learn a lot about internet and computers in their lessons. The school offers so-called computer AGs, in which the children learn how to use Word and Excel, but as these AGs mostly take place between three and five o’clock in the afternoon, most of the students refuse to go there. I refused as well when I was at school. Now, I regret it, because I do not know anything about using Excel (Shame on me!) and always have to ask my father for help when I need it. I remember some homework in maths and physics in which we had to use this program, but my teachers did not explain to us how it works. In the end, my father or my ex-boyfriend did it for me (Again, shame on me!).

We sometimes went to the computer lab, in order to play educational games in Latin and some teachers at Stiftsschule still do that. We had a lot of fun and learned grammar and vocabulary – that’s what the virtual session called edutainment. Other teachers at Stiftsschule use the computer lab, in order to help their students with finding information for presentations. We did not often do that as the teachers regard it as time consuming and senseless (sometimes we didn’t search for information, we were surfing in the internet for other purposes instead (oh no, again shame on me!)). In my opinion, this kind of misuse is the reason why teachers do not often use new media in school (or why MY teachers didn’t use it a lot). Of course, that is a shame, but I can understand it.

Concluding, I can say that my old school, Stiftsschule St. Johann in Amöneburg, still does not use new media quite often. Teachers only use them sometimes for educational games or as help for presentations. But why is it like this? Is it only because of the pupils who might misuse it? Or is it because there is only one computer lab for a lot of classes which is always reserved by other teachers? Or is it because of the teachers who do not know more about new media than their students? There might be a lot of other fine excuses…

But how does The Teddy Bear Project work?

The first step when starting this project is to find a partner school in another country. Then you send a doll, for example a teddy bear, by airmail through the normal postal system to your partner class. Ideal for that are soft dolls that cannot be broken easily and that represent the culture of your country in some ways, for example it wears some clothes that are typical for your country.

When the doll from the partner school arrives, you can celebrate a welcome party for the doll.

The bears can make home visits, go on excursions, participate in class activities and enjoy social events. They take part in everything that the children in the class do. The bears send home diary messages by e-mail at least once a week. The students write these diary messages as if they were the bear describing its experiences in the new culture. Sending some pictures of the scene where the doll is having lunch, visiting the town or doing something with the students is suggested. The diary entries and the photos can make the exchange class ask questions about the events in the new culture.

When the period of time set before hand is over, the “exchange teddy bear” should be sent back to its own country with a diary full of memories about a foreign country.

What is the aim of this project?

This project was invented in order to give pupils of the whole wide world the opportunity to learn more about other places and cultures through the bears’ experiences. Furthermore, it should strengthen tolerance and understanding and break down cultural barriers. In addition to that, the children can improve their imagination by writing through the eyes of a teddy bear and describing its adventures. Another important fact is that the students get used to the new media by writing at least one e-mail once a week.

What is the role of the teacher?

First, the teacher is the organizer of the whole project. He has to find a class in another country which wants to take part in the project. During the weeks with the “exchange teddy bear” the teacher functions as tutor – helping his pupils with writing e-mails in the foreign language and guaranteeing that the partner class gets e-mails once a week.

How does the topic integrate with the curriculum?

As the teddy bear takes part in lessons and excursions, the diary entries can be seen as summaries about one week at school. Topics discussed in class can be depicted in the e-mails. Moreover the teachers could try to find classes in these countries which are topics in the curriculum in order to find out more about their culture and their life.

What do I personally think about the project?

I like the idea about sending a teddy bear to a foreign country which writes back e-mails to its home country about its experiences. I think pupils would be motivated to do this project and it could be fun. Furthermore, they could learn a lot about different cultures and improve their creative writing. But I do not know if there is enough time to do that at school, because this project seems to be very time consuming. Additionally, it is not always easy to find an appropriate class in another country. Nevertheless, I would like to try this project with my future students.

First, I have to mention that I was a little bit shocked when looking at the list with the Internet specific abbreviations. Who is that crazy to invent them? Who knows them all and uses them? I think a dictionary is needed for the huge number of abbreviations… But maybe it is funny to have a try on using them, just FYA (for your amusement) or is it NAGI (not a good idea)???

IMOH (In my honest opinion), I have never thought about different types of communication before. Therefore the part on synchronous and asynchronous communication was interesting and I think teachers should use it more in school. It might be exciting for students to write e-mails to experts or even to chat with them. BOC (But of course), it is not always easy to communicate with experts, as they mostly seem to be very busy 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) lacking time for chats with pupils. Another point I regard as critical to do in-class, are the live chats with other classes abroad. I think it is rarely possible that two classes in two different countries meet at the same time, although the idea is nice. But why not being in contact with pupils abroad via e-mail? This offers a lot of advantages: practicing a foreign language, making new friends, learning how to express oneself in written language. AISI (As I see it), asynchronous communication (e-mails, forums, NGs (newsgroups)) is a lot easier to practice in school than synchronous communication (chats, MOOs, video-conferencing). Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to use these types of communication L8R (later) as a teacher.

Furthermore, I liked the idea about having virtual office hours. Why do we not have that at university? IDD (InDeeD), it would make a student’s life much easier… Maybe professors should take this suggestion into consideration.

But I am not quite sure about the use of MOOs in school. AFAIUI (As far as I understood it), this kind of interactive role-playing game is good for learning how to construct new objects and how to perform group communication. But I think pupils could misuse it and do not see the educational purposes behind it. Is it communication to give a virtual character a command about what to say? What are these conversations about? I do not think that pupils behave seriously when they are part of a virtual world. KWIM (Know what I mean)? Maybe I am the only one who does not have that much trust in today’s pupils… BICBW (But I could be wrong)…

I think TAFN (that’s all for now) and hopefully you understood that I regard these abbreviations as BS (bull shit), SFT (sorry for that), B/C (because) they only confuse the readers and nobody understands what you really want to say. Is our generation becoming that lazy that it is too time consuming to write because instead of B/C?

ATB (all the best), GBH&K (great big hugs & kisses) and HAND (Have a nice day)

Lorena

Interesting for me was the part in the virtual session about Search Engines, Meta Search Engines, and catalogues. I think now I made up the differences and that might be helpful for my future researches on the Internet.

Moreover, it is always important to know how to quote online sources, because a lot of students have problems with that. I think this information about how to quote correctly should be taught at school. I did not learn that and my teachers never told me when I did it wrongly.

Another aspect I liked in the virtual session was the presentation of the three different search levels, the guided, half-guided, and the free search. They tell us when a teacher should use which kind of search. As far as I am concerned, it is significant to help pupils with their first Internet researches until they can do it alone and correctly.

The information about WebQuests was not new for me. I had to do one last semester and I liked it. In my opinion, it is a nice alternation to writing essays at home and I think pupils would like to do it as homework, as they like working with the Internet and get to know which online sources are reliable through a linklist given by the teacher.

Although some information was repetition for me, I liked the presentation on Internet researches, because it is important that we know the different possibilities in order to guide our students and to show them how to use information on the Internet the right way. Hopefully, we will learn more about that on Wednesday…

A 1996 poll of US teachers found that they ranked computer skills and media technology as more ‘essential’ than the study of European history, biology, chemistry, and physics; than dealing with social problems such as drugs and family breakdown; than learning practical job skills; than reading modern American writers such as Steinbeck and Hemmingway or classic ones such as Plato and Shakespeare. (The Atlantic Monthly, July 1997.)

The group that created the poster shows on the poster what would happen if computer skills and media technology were the most important things to learn in school. Are computer skills and media technology more important than history, biology, chemistry, and physics? What would schools look like if they were? Would there be empty classrooms? Everything could be done from home; no one would have to go to school anymore. What would happen to the teachers? Would they be needed anymore? Maybe they only would become tutors and would not have to teach anymore. But what would happen then to the pupils that need help and support during their learning processes? What would further happen to the pupils’ social competences? Is it enough to get in touch with friends only via the internet?

Although I regard media competence as important I do not think that it is the most important thing to learn in school – not more important than the traditional subjects like history or biology. As we live in a digital age it is necessary to teach media competence in school, but I think the other subjects should not be neglected. Therefore it is essential to integrate new media into the existent subjects in school.

Furthermore, I think social competences cannot be achieved through the internet via e-mail and chats only. Real communication and interaction in order to express thoughts and feelings are important to get along in life. Pupils have to learn how to behave in companionship with others, how to deal with social problems such as drugs and family breakdown. In my opinion, the internet does not always provide the right information about such things and pupils could be guided wrongly.

How could pupils profit from excellent computer skills and media technology if they had no knowledge about other things? What would their researches and presentations be about, if they did not know anything about literature or natural sciences? What would pupils do after school, if they had no practical job skills? As far as I am concerned it is not sufficient to have good computer skills in order to find a job. Knowledge is a precondition for success.

I think new media become more and more important and therefore have to play a bigger role in schools, but does the German curriculum offer enough time for them? Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a lot of time, but teachers should invest as much time as possible into teaching computer skills and media technology by combining them with the other subjects.

Behaviorism can be seen as the oldest approach which was on the daily programme in schools of the past. Especially in foreign languages teachers took and still take their preferred method drill and practice for vocabulary learning. In this case the teacher gives input and the pupils have to repeat it. In my school time this approach was used a lot and I really liked it because it was helpful for efficient vocabulary learning. For me it is important to hear vocabulary more than once to remember them and therefore the drill and practice is the best method for me. Unfortunately, this approach is regarded as obsolete today and rarely used in today’s schools. One argument for that is that it cannot be used for all kinds of learning.

Today’s teaching methods are mostly based on the cognitivism approach, in which the learner himself is responsible for his learning process by searching for information in order to solve problems. Through explorative learning the pupil exposes himself understandable information which assumes the curiosity and interest of the learner. I also like this approach, because the pupils become active and learn by doing. They gather information by themselves which makes them learn facts and strategies. Explorative learning takes real problems drawn from life, which arise the pupils’ interest, and the learner has to research information himself. But in this case, too, I think it cannot be used in every lesson and for every topic discussed in class.

The third approach, constructivism, focuses on primary concepts instead of isolated facts. For constructivists learning is a search for meaning, in which the pupils construct their own meaning. As a result the meaning is never objective as it is created by the individual. Therefore knowledge is constructed by the learner and not instructed by the teacher. I like the idea about the teacher being a coach cooperating with the students. But as far as I am concerned this approach as the pupil is regarded as an individual who searches for his own meaning does not leave space for the correct answer or solution to a special problem. Another problem is the time that this approach demands being put into practice. I think the curriculum does not leave enough time to use this approach often in German classrooms.

All three approaches offer different definitions of learning and knowledge. In my opinion, it cannot be said which approach is best to do in class. Therefore I think successful learning can be gained by the combination of all three.

Moreover the virtual session Learning Theories and Principles of Learning was about the important facts of lifelong learning, which is a form of pedagogy often accomplished by distance education. Further, lifelong learning means all learning activity undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving competence, skills, and knowledge. As distance education is mostly based on new media, e.g. the internet, I think it is indispensable to acquire media competence. This competence includes methodological (to obtain, structure, store, format, edit, interpret, evaluate and present information), scientific (professional proficiency, knowledge, and experience), and social skills (to communicate, to cooperate, teamwork, fairness, commitment, independence, self-confidence, compassion, knowledge of human nature, and critical faculty).

Looking at these various types of skills it becomes obvious how important it is to introduce the pupils in the new media and to help them with their use. Therefore it is necessary for us, the future teachers, to have media competence in order to teach our pupils the right use of new media, as they are regarded as the basis of distance education and lifelong learning.

The main topic the first session in the course New Media in Foreign Language Education dealt with was an interview with Mark Bauerlein, who wrote the book The Dumbest Generation – How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (or: Don`t Trust Anyone Under 30).

One important argumentation we find in the interview with Mr. Bauerlein is the misuse of the internet by American teenagers, who only communicate via the internet with their friends after school, instead of regarding the internet as media which contains a lot of information about things that might be important at school. Because of chatting, playing online games or watching TV almost the whole day the pupils do not spare any time for more important matters – studying for school. As a result the teenagers get dumber and dumber and do not know anything about literature, history and politics, in which they do not take part by missing elections.

In Mark Bauerlein’s opinion the students’ attitude towards learning has to be changed by the teachers, who should remind their pupils of the importance that lies in reading books, in order to gain more knowledge that is essential for their future life.

Although Mr. Bauerlein gives a detailed argumentation throughout the interview, I think he is too general in his research by saying these failure can be found in every American student.

Of course there are many teenagers who spend most of their leisure time in the internet by chatting with their friends from school. This fact can be seen as a group pressure because a lot of pupils do that. Unfortunately Mr. Bauerlein does not make a distinction between the lazy children and the pupils using the internet for researching the topics discussed at school.

I think it is important to have communication via the internet with friends you cannot see every day because they live in another town or even in another country, but as some of the children mostly are in contact with their friends from school, I regard chatting as senseless. Although the pupils learn how to express themselves through written language, in my opinion it would be better to meet their friends after school in order to have real face-to-face conversations.

As far as I am concerned teachers and parents should clearly show the children what other things one can do with the internet instead of chatting and playing online games. The importance should be made on researching facts, in order to aim knowledge. Therefore it is the teachers’ task to introduce a more important way of using the internet to their students.

To put it in a nutshell it can be said that Mark Bauerlein talking about his book The Dumbest Generation is too general in his argumentation, although all of his statements seem to fit to most of the American teenagers. The course New Media in Foreign Language Education will be helpful for students who want to become teachers, in order to gain information about how to use the internet at school the right way. It is important for us to learn how we can show our pupils the different ways of researching special topics or events, because the teachers are the ones who have to explain to them why it is significant to have a wide knowledge in their future lives.

Welcome to Lorenarausch’s blog.