Journal 4 - Finding Students who Learn with Media - NETS 5

Bull, G, Alexander, C, & Ferster, B. (2010). Finding students who learn with media. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25255&DirectListComboInd=D

This article is about student-created media for learning.  Student projects may be created using a suite of online tools and primary source documents accessed through Library of congress and the Smithsonian websites.  PrimaryAccess MovieMaker is one such tool; it allows students to add text, primary source images, and audio narration.  The Smithsonian American Art Museum uses this program as part of their virtual exhibit called Picturing the 1930s.  PrimaryAccess was created to keep costs down and make movie-making simple, so students focus on learning content, not how to use the specific technology.  The authors/researchers of the article realized that the PrimaryAccess program really took about three class periods for students to put a project together, so they made an extension called Storyboard, which has been used without additional class time.  Students using the tool have performed as well as those who wrote traditional essays as assignments.  On average, students spend more time on the Storyboard than essays with approximately 40% engaged in both the historical content and the activity.  Some students were engaged by the technology, but not the content, while others were engaged by the content, but not the technology.  15% of students were not engaged by either the Storyboard activity or the historical content.  In addressing student disengagement, these issues are often discussed:  authenticity, student interests, real-world importance, and degree of student choice.  The authors of this article believe that it has been shown that student engagement increases when student-authored media is introduced into the class, and that this can be done without increased time on the unit.  Students engaged by media, not content need help with time management.  One advantage of the online environment is that a teacher can access information about a student’s performance early, and perhaps adapt the assignment/instruction to meet the individual’s needs.

What degree of student choice is involved in using Storyboard?  Looks like students can make quite a range of visual changes.  They choose backgrounds, actors, talk bubbles, and props; they also have the freedom to upload their own images.  They can also add Ken Burns style motion to images.  As far as I can tell, the program looks similar to PowerPoint or maybe iMovie.  If the content is most important, for the sake of student choice and increased engagement, perhaps those students who would prefer to write a traditional essay should be allowed to do so to demonstrate their learning of the content. 

Is adding technology not worthwhile when it takes too much time?  This depends entirely, of course, on the nature of the class and the standards by which one is judging.  If the content is most important (and the content is not technology), it is good to have created a more easily used program such as Storyboard to replace the MovieMaker program.  However, sometimes it might be worthwhile to be learning the complexities of a program/dealing with software even (maybe especially) for those students who shy away from technology.  The learning could be considered interdisciplinary.