Journal#4

Journal #4 – Finding Students Who Learn with Media

Bull, G. (2009). Finding students who learn with media. ISTE, 37. 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 concerns itself with student created media. It compares the interest level and engagement of students  who use PrimaryAccess MovieMaker and PrimaryAccess Storyboard to create a documentary to students who use a more traditional classroom setting to learn about their subject.  The article discusses the advantages and disadvantages inherent in using online technologies and concludes that “With careful planning, it is possible to increase student engagement by incorporating student-authored media into a formal classroom setting without increasing the amount of class time required to complete the projects.”  I think his findings are quite significant considering the struggles that many teachers face on a daily basis with student disengagement.

Is there anything in the article that you learned that could make you a more effective teacher?

Yes.  I was surprised to learn that there are online movie applications.  I assumed that all movie applications required so much memory that they would have to be on the hard drive of a computer.  I think that if the technology is user friendly enough for my students that it would be a great way to have students engage a subject and not lose interest.

Is there a risk that your assignment will become more about learning how to use computers than the original assignment?

Yes.  But I’m not sure if that is entirely a bad thing.  When I was a student, often times I felt I was learning more about how to use a library than the assignment itself.  And while I did learn about the assignment I think it was a  good thing that I leaned about the Dewey Decimal System and how to make use of a library.