media – Page 2 – JAMES MICHIE

Connecting With Parents Online (Part Two)

After the success of our previous online meetings with parents, I decided that the format would be a good way to help the parents of Year 10 GCSE Media Studies students understand what their exam entails and how they should be revising for it.

The Year 10 cohort are the first group studying the new OCR GCSE Media Studies syllabus and it was decided that we would enter the students for the exam in Year 10. This will allow them to focus on coursework (controlled assessment) in Year 11. The coursework element is now worth 60%.

While I can’t show the recording of the presentation due to privacy concerns, below is the PowerPoint that I used. I tried to adopt the Lessig method of presentation, although at times I didn’t manage to be as succinct as I would have liked.

[iframe src=”https://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=ddtck3wr_179ddzzwqjp” frameborder=”0″ width=”410″ height=”342″]

And here is a screen grab of the meeting room. I stick to a standard layout allowing the PowerPoint to be the dominant feature on screen. There is a chat box in the bottom left which was used by the parents to ask questions after I had finished speaking. Above that is a pod which tells me who is participating in the meeting (I have blacked out the names) and in the top left is the Video feed.

Feedback was once again resoundingly positive, with all of the parents who attended the meeting praising us for our innovative approach to keeping them informed. What’s more they echoed the sentiments put across during the previous run of online meetings that it was lovely to be able to receive the information in the comfort of their own homes.

I believe that this form of parent/teacher interaction is highly sustainable and can only see that we will continue to develop its use during the next school year.

The access to and ease of use offered by Adobe Connect (via BucksGfL) has been integral to its success as there is no sign up required by the parents. They only need the link which we send out by email and/or postcards. A link is also placed on the front of the school website.

Like truly effective ICT use, we wish to ensure that this is as easy for parents as possible – we don’t want them to be turned away at the door!

Should you like to know more about the online meetings or our use of Adobe Connect please contact me by email or via Twitter.

Flip Cameras & Post-it Notes

A fellow Media Studies teacher contacted me about a week ago to ask permission to use one of my student’s coursework pieces on his blog. I agreed and being curious had a scour of his blog to see how a fellow blogger was making use of his own class blog. While scrolling through the posts I came across an activity he had completed with his A2 students. To help them prepare for their upcoming exam, he got them to make videos using Post-it Notes explaining the skills they had developed in post production during their coursework. I immediately saw an opportunity to use the same tools to help my Y10 GCSE Media Studies students to prepare for their exam which is coming up on the 25th June.

First of all I had to assemble the tools. As this was a quick project, I decided, it would be a perfect opportunity to use the Flip HD Ultra Cameras that I had bought earlier in the year for activities such as this. I made sure that every group also got a tripod, fine liner, pack of highlighters and of course Post-it Notes.

When the class entered the room I had one of the A-Level student’s videos playing. After my students had settled I stopped the video and explained that we would be doing something similar today to help them with their exam preparation. Most of them had clocked the collection of camera and tripods as they had walked in so there was a sense of anticipation in the air.

I explained what the task was and what the expected learning outcomes should be. I then demonstrated how to use the equipment and made 10 seconds of video myself in a slightly Dylanesque way holding up and throwing away Post-it Notes one by one as I narrated direct into the camera. The students got a laugh out of seeing me on camera while also seeing how easy the equipment was to use. Next, I reminded them of a few key points and what their deadlines were. After that, I put them into groups and let them loose. I spent the rest of the lesson supporting them answering any questions they had and dealing with any technical difficulties. (Note – You will need more space than your classroom allows, I had planned ahead and new that one or two other rooms nearby would be free for the second half of the double lesson.)

Task: Explain what you need to know to be able to succeed in your GCSE Textual Analysis paper (Section A) on June 25th.

The lesson was a double and it broke down (neatly) as follows:

L1 – After the introduction and demonstration the students spent the majority of this lesson creating the Post-it Notes and scripts to be used in their videos. There are 3 questions in that part of the paper: Q1 focuses on Genre; Q2 focuses on Textual Analysis; and Q3 focuses on Representation.

L2 – During the second half of the double the students created their videos; uploaded them, making any necessary edits; and then exported a copy to be uploaded to VLE.

They had a great time and all of the students were proud of what they had achieved. More importantly the results were great with some students demonstrating an excellent understanding of what they need to do in their exam. Some of the videos are a little out of focus and one group learned an important lesson about shot distance but all in all I (like them) was very satisfied with the activity and its outcomes.

Here are two examples of the results:

And as ever, should you have any questions you can email me or tweet me!

New iPod! New Blog!

I have been thinking about creating a blog, not for my Media classes or English classes but for me; about me; my thoughts on education, media and technology. A place where I can wax lyrical on the joys of my job, the love I have for learning and the path that I am forging – seven years into my career as a “21st century educator”.

What finally tipped me over the edge? My new iPod touch! Having finally bought one after clinging to my iPod classic for some time now made me think that I need to set-up this blog and jump right in. The simple fact of the matter is this, the iPod touch is like all good learning, in that to really get to grips with it you simply need to download some apps and experiment; see what works and what doesn’t. I have decided to approach this blog in the same way! For a while, it will go one way, then another (changing themes, adding/removing apps and widgets) but eventually it will find a form, some sense of structure and hopefully a sense of self.

Since it was my iPod touch that caused me to be writing this post, I thought I would add some info on the progress I have made in getting to grips with it over the last 48 hours. Below is a picture of the apps that I have already installed on to it. Underneath the picture I have tried to offer some explanation as to the reasoning that went behind my decision to download and install each app.

I was a good new iPod user and began by syncing my Google account with the iPod – linking my mail, calendar and contacts. My next priority was to pick a Twitter client. This is a very important decision as Twitter is to me: the most useful and invaluable communication tool since the invention of e-mail. I have been using Tweetdeck on my Macbook Pro for some time now, so I naturally gravitated towards their iPhone/ipod app and I am reasonably satisfied. I did briefly (45 minutes to be exact) try Twitterrific but I really did not like the GUI at all. Next I wanted access to the rest of my Google stuff, I say stuff because I use so many different Google features that I have lost track. I knew that I definitely wanted to be able to access/read/update my tasks, docs, reader and photos, so I installed the Google mobile app for iPhone/iPod. It works, like Google products usually do, beautifully.

With the most important features sorted yesterday, I spent today focussing on the other things that would make my use of the iPod touch the experience I hoped it would be. I knew that I would want to be able to store, read and transfer files. This is quite important for me as an educator and life-long learner. Having gotten a £15 iTunes gift card free when I purchased my iPod touch I was prepared to pay for the right app. I went for Files in the end, the GUI is simple but clean and the process of copying files on a Mac is simple and clean also. I went for the pro version as I did not want adverts and I also wanted plenty of storage capacity. Next I installed the pro version of Instapaper as I use this almost as much as I use Google reader. I read a lot! And I don’t always have time to read an entire article right at the moment when I find it. Furthermore, I spend a lot of time in front of the screen so I wanted to be able to take stuff away and read it at my leisure – able to take breaks when I want to help with my eyesight/headaches and I also wanted to be able to read offline. Instapaper for the iPhone/iPod touch does of all of this with ease. Installing this app also led me to learn more about the functionality of the iPod touch; learning to install “bookmarklets” into Safari in order for me to be able to copy web pages to Instapaper from with the iPod touch’s web browser. I used the same process to add a bookmarklet that allows me to save web pages to my delicious bookmarks as well.

After I had added and set-up those apps I set about looking for and adding some apps that are simply for my pleasure. I added BBC iPlayer as I was extremely impressed by the pixel quality of the video, streaming it on the iPod touch. Then thanks to Doug Belshaw (more about Doug further down in this post) and his post here (very timely indeed!), I added TVcatchup which allows you to stream live British TV including BBC 1, Channel 4, E4 and Channel 5 amongst others – the quality is again awesome over a wifi connection. Finally I two apps that reflect my thirstfor knowledge. I added Stanza so that I could download and read books. I found it after looking for apps to read pdfs on. And I added Wikipanion so that I could search Wikipedia in a more user friendly way than through Safari which on the iPod is not bad but does have its limitations. Come on Google, I want Google chrome for the iPod touch and I want it now!

There, I hope that was neither too painful or too boring. It was a little self-efacing but hey this blog is about me so I’m not going to appoogise too much. Before signing off I need to say thanks to Doug Belshaw for some sage like advice. As I am want to do nowadays, I consult before I do and I have admired Doug’s blog for some time now – he answered my questions with interest and honesty. For this I am grateful. He is always the provider of excellent ideas and useful information, his blog is well worth following! You can also buy or download for free a really useful book that he, I and many other members of our Twitter network collaborated on called “#movemeon”. The original blog post suggesting the idea is here!

Well that is all then, I’m off. I may not blog every day but when I do I intend it to be with purpose and hope that others find it interesting and useful.

Goodnight!