1. Making Media, Making Sense, Making
Change: Digital Projects in a Facing History
Classroom
Deb Chad, Director of Program Technology
K.C. Kourtz, Senior Program Associate for Technology
Our Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/debchad/making-media-making-sense-making-
change-masscue-2014
2. Agenda Questions:
• What is Facing History and Ourselves?
• Why do we care about digital projects for
students?
• What did we try?
• What did we learn?
6. Digital Media Innovation Network
• Build capacity to integrate digital technology
into our classroom resources and professional
development
• Experiment with innovative uses of digital
media in the classroom
• Learn and network with leading scholars,
researchers and practitioners of new media
8. 4 Stories of Many
• “Reporter” (DMIN I)- Video, audio
• “Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness”
(DMIN II)- voicethread
• One Person, One Vote- online learning, video
• Radio Rookies- journalism, video, audio
9. Intro to the film video clip
Reporter Resource website
16. Recommended Resources
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything:
http://www.schrockguide.net/digital-storytelling.
html
• PressPass TV: http://www.presspasstv.org/
Editor's Notes
DC- Welcome and get started
DC- Four questions we hope to share the answers with you today
Reminder to have a sign in sheet go around
KC- Face it video- good bridge to what FH is and the goals we have in the classroom that shaped our choices in the projects we will share today
KC- quick overview of FH scope and sequence or the “journey” we have students and teachers who take FH use. This model correlates with evaluation data we have- I would say keep it as short as possible
KC- quick overview pedigogical triangle and the tree points we try to reach- seems like this may be more important than scope and sequence
DC- One big committment we took in helping us learn and understand the landscape of technology in education was to form the DMIN. This began about five years ago with funding from the Righteous Person foundation and the Ford Foundation. FH has had a long history of teaching with documentary film and we wanted to explore how this might look different using new media. This pilot year culminated in over 550 kids from classes in the US, S. Africa, China, and England in an online exchange of classroom video projects.
Extensive evaluation taught us a lot about not only the training, skills, and new ways of thinking about new media that are important for educators- but also how students are using and learning with technology. There are opportunities to bring students together around meaningful learning and resources to create a true global classroom. In addition, we learned the empowerment and voice students are given with creating their own media to share.
Reference book article (add in title)
- We have kept the DMIN group together to do subsequent projects as well.
Some goals of DMIN
Provide teachers with the opportunity to experience new media applications and reflect on their roles in students’ lives
– Help teachers gain a better understanding of how the use of technology in the learning process can change the dynamics between teachers and students
– Increase teachers’ skill and comfort level with digital technology
– Model and provide opportunities for teachers to integrate technology-based activities into their teaching
– Identify the media literacy skills needed in today’s world and provide guidance on how they can be taught and experienced in a classroom
– Create safe online environments for students and teachers to express and understand different perspectives
DC- quick overview- we will share what can and in all of these thing about the idea of student media as an agent of making change
DC- article available for the details- amazing evaluation
Talk about evaluation that shows positive results. “Dialogue Across Difference” chapter from Becoming Political in a Digital Age.
DC- Let’s hear from one of the teachers involved what the project meant to him and his class.
I could go for ages about this particular project- and Im happy to talk about the projects- close to 600 students- over 65 media projects
And at the end we will tell you how to find out more too.
Pass to KC for next two project-
voice thread- follow up on the Reporter project- taking what students liked in the evaluation of getting to know one another and where they live-
700 pictures in the flickr feed- over 400 students- post in audio, video, text
Over 400 students participated- This was one of our first student projects- valuing the importance of story and voice – we set up a platform for students from the US (Memphis and Boston) to talk with students in S. Africa about the history of voting in both countries. We had them interview people in their communitites around the same three essential questions on voting, community and sharing of stories. FH then used its network of speakers and asked the same questions- Terrance Roberts, Albie Sacks and others…..
Therefore forming a digital library of over 70 voting stories – from students, parents, to well known historical figues….
DC- I will do this quick- Partnership- in NY- putting students in the role of journalist- building off the DMIN learning
