Hey Guys!
In another new media seminar, that I’m taking, I had to create a website. I used weebly and I think it worked out quite nicely. Here’s the link:
It would be nice if you could check it out and tell me what you think about it. The website is about Quidditch and if you don’t know what that is I suggest you just have the website explain it to you!
I plan on posting something about working with weebly sometime after next weekend maybe… so if you’re interested stick around!
Two weeks ago, our New Media course went to the Alfred-Wegener-School in Kirchhain. The school is known for its investment in and use of new media (also it is not far from Marburg 
).
Our ‘tour guide’, Mr Schouler (he teaches PE and English at AWS), showed us the school, its computer rooms and explained to us the school’s concept on new media.
The school has, like most schools, classical computer labs, that are used for computer science courses, but additionally to that, it has slightly different computer rooms. The computer labs are arranged for individual work with the computer. They look like a typical class room, except that the tables are not parallel but in a right angle to the teacher’s desk.
Another computer room we got to see was the so-called “Werkstatt” (=workshop) that combines old and new media, because it is integrated into the schools library. The computers were arranged in u-shape along the walls of one part of the Werkstatt. I especially liked this approach because research is much easier when you have as many sources as you can use at hand. It is also very practical, because this way, there is always someone there to have an eye on the students and the computers (so you don’t have to find an extra supervision). What I liked even more about the Werkstatt was that it had additional small rooms (with glass walls so the librarian could supervise them) for small group discussions. I think these rooms are an excelent idea, because they encourage students to sit together and discuss their ideas and findings AND they help to keep the noise level in the Werkstatt down.
The last computer room we saw was again a combination of old and new media. The focus this time was less on computers and more on books (sorted by different subjects). Small groups of computers – Mr Schouler called them “Inseln” (= islands) – helped students to optimize their group efforts for research. In addition, the room had a large table circle for large group discussions and presentation of results.
To be able to deal with all the computer power offered at the Alfred-Wegener-Schulem, every student is trained in using computers and basic programms at grad 5, which in my opinion is a great idea, because not all students have experience in new media (even in higher grades). I think it’s really great to have such effective and extensive use and training, and I very much would have liked to have a simmilar project at my old school.
Yet, not all schools are equally well equipped – of funded for that matter – and since the AWS is known to be very much involved in new media, this means that most schools are far less computerized (which really is a pity because nowadays you need experience in computers and basic software to be able to compete in the job market).
What is your experience of the use of new media in school? Was your school equally well equipped?
Hey Guys,
I just found this little treasure, and I didn’t want to keep it from you:
so, here it is – I admit a little late: A Happy New Year 2010!!!
by the way: where do I put the ‘belated’ in the headline? Happy belated New Year sounds like the callendar was late… or is it Belated Happy New Year? Does anybody know???
Hey Guys!
Just wanted to wish all of you a merry Xmas and a happy New Year 2010…
Hope you’re all enjoying your holiday break
Howdy!
Just a quick announcement here: I’ve added another page (“In Case of an Emergency…“), which deals with technical difficulties (as a topic ) that you might come across when using new media in class… enjoy!
Hey guys!
Last weeks lesson was about how games can make learning more effective and fun (I’m sure you have read some of the articles on that, e.g. at Teaching New Media To…), so I’d like to tell you about the webgame that I took a closer look at.
It is called Bookworm and I think that it is great fun. The player has to find words in a cluster of letters. Each letter has a certain worth (just like in Scrabble) and you can score points for each letter you can use. There are additionally green letters that score bonus points and red letters. Those red letters move towards the bottom of the cluster and once they reach it, the game is over.
The game was really fun to play although I am not really convinced of it’s educational use, since you do not learn anything new (e.g. new words) but simply search for words you already know. Another disadvantage is that apparently the words have to be at least three letters long (words like “so” “or” and “do” do not work). Also, the English version of the game cannot be linked, so you have to switch the language each time you start the game.
I looked around the page a little more and found another game called Typer Shark, which is also very entertaining. Here you have to type in words, letters or symbols on sharks an piranhas, before they eat you (that is your diver avatar). The game appeares to be less about learning English and more about learning how to type correctly.
Both games are tremendously funny to play, but their educational value is more than questionable.
Since this is my first blog the last post also included my first time ever embedded video. So for all of you who (like me) have no clue on how to embed a video into your post: Here’s a step-by-step instruction:
Go to the page with the video that you want to embed (e.g. a youtube video), copy (=mark it, then press ctrl/strg and c) the URL (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4i8SpNgzA4 ).
Edit or create a post.
Press this symbol on your dashboard:
Press From URL
Copy the URL into the field URL, then press Insert into Post:
Marke sure the URL is in the position you want it to be!
Publish or update your post.
On your dashboard, you will not see a video but only the URL in brackets, so don’t panic! If everything works out the video should be visible in your post, e.g.:
In generall, if you encounter problems using wordpress, check out the 24/7 Support on their main page.
There is also a video on how to insert videos
A few weeks ago Ms Gallus introduced us to PodCards, which turns out to be very useful if you have to prepare a session last minute. I decided to create a short session on US-cultural studies, in particular on The Simpsons:
The lesson starts with a youtube video as an opener to get the students’ attention towards the sessions topic:
After that, they are supposed to fill in the worksheet (which was also provided by PodCards) using either their knowledge or the internet for research.
I decide only to have them work on Activity 3 (listening to an online mp3 an fill in gaps in the text) if there was enough time left, as it seemed to me that the speaker’s voice and the information he gives on The Simpsons would not be able to hold the interest of the students for very long.
What do you think about this lesson (considering that I had only about 20 minutes to prepare for it)?
Feel free to comment!
I added Blogs: New Media in Foreign Language Education as a new link category. It includes links to other blogs (group blogs as well as e-portfolios) for the seminar.
I finally found the time to work on the blog again, so I added a new page named Tools for Teachers which lists links that I find useful when preparing lessons etc. I also added a new link-section on the right of the page with links to online dictionaries and under Blogroll you will now also find a link to Teaching New Media To…, which is the group-blog that I’m participating in.
I’m very sorry about the delay, but with the semester starting and my schedule being a little overpacked this semester I really didn’t find the time to post something earlier.
C Ya
Sarah
