I really like George Lucas' viewpoints on visual communications in education. He brings up a good point about it not being very easy to measure progress and competency when using visual communication. Does anyone have any ideas on how this could be standardized, at least within your own classrooms? I think he made a good correlation between grammar and film rules. That made this a lot easier for me to understand. I also liked how he says that we should be spending more money on developing education rather than the military since it is education that makes the nation, not strictly being able to take over the world. I didn't really think he made any concrete suggestions on how to incorporate visual communication into lessons or really any ideas on implementation. What do you all think?
The Digital Directors' Guild was very helpful to me in answering my previous question. After looking at the website, I would like to incorporate some means of visual communications during the school year. Looking at some of the example videos was very helpful too. Do you all think you might try this at some point? I also think that it's very cool that Dr. Hofer and other people from Virginia are involved with this project.
Podcasting sounds really cool to me. I will admit that I have zero experience with them, but I think I will look into them more. I don't know about you all, but the science people have to teach a lesson this semester and videotape ourselves. This podcasting information has been and will be helpful for me with videotaping. I really recommend looking at the tips in the booklet if you all have to videotape yourselves.
The first thing that struck me about podcasting though, was how the "Learning at Hand" site said that teachers could have their students posting their videos worldwide. That would make me kind of nervous, especially after our last class on copywriting and not posting things to the internet, only to an intranet. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?
See you all tomorrow,
Melissa
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I think that podcasts are great ways for teachers to get their students involved. I think that the copyright issue would not really come into play if you had the students create something of their own. For example, for any of the subjects, you could have students create a play or a radio show and have them broadcast it to the other sections of the class or have individual groups present projects to the whole class via podcasts. I also like the idea of doing weekly podcasts in order review what the students have learned. I would want to have the students get in pairs or groups and each one be responsible for a weeks worth of review. This review could be a ten minute podcast where students get an overall summary especially if they missed a few days of school. This would also be a great way to help parents know what their students are learning on a basic level. You could also include announcements for the next week such as when quizzes, tests, or projects will be due. I am not sure I would use the podcasts on a larger scale than just for school purposes, but again I think it is a great way to connect members of the school community.
ReplyDeleteIn "Life on the Screen" George Lucas makes a compelling argument for using technology in the modern classroom. He points out that in many respects we are still largely operating schools the same way we did in the 19th century and change is necessary. The key to this is enhancing opportunities for visual communication. As harsh as it sounds, I think Lucas is correct when he says that the field of education more often that not strives to protect the status quo in a dynamic world. We as future teachers need to make sure that we work to enact change whenever possible to avoid our teaching from becoming stagnant or worse, irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteI too think that podcasts are an excellent and underutilized tool in classrooms. Making podcasts is a frightening prospect for me personally as I don't always have confidence in my oral communication skills. They should only be used for presenting information that is covered in the classroom just in case some students do not have the available resources to listen to a podcast regularly.
It might a good project for my students to try themselves once or twice a year. Having students develop scripts and create their own enhances both their technological and communication skills, which was the heart of Lucas' philosophy about the purpose of education.
Podcasts have a place in our education system. They seem important for developing the skills of students in today's world. I really like the idea of using them and support George Lucas's passion for bring education into the twenty first century.
ReplyDeleteI could use them in my classroom as way for students to show understanding of the material. I could have groups of students select certain literary works (poems, short stories, novels, or plays) and act them out to help students better understand the plot. This is could be very helpful for sections on Shakespeare, where the language can be very confusing. I could even take the opportunity to dress up as characters to explain texts to my students via podcast. There seems to be endless possibilities if used with purpose and skill.
I do not think copyrights will be an issue, especially if it is student work. As long as parents and students are comfortable with sharing their projects on the internet, I do not foresee any issues. Teachers just need to monitor student work and the maintain the site.
I agree with Melissa that George Lucas did not make any concrete suggestions about how to incorporate visual learning into the classroom. However, the videos and podcasts that we saw in the other websites gave great ideas. I like the idea of students creating their own presentations and podcasts. Any time that a student has to reword material and apply it to a different context, they are heavily engaged and therefore learning.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how we could standardize the evaluation of visual learning. Unfortunately, until the state makes this a priority, teachers should probably not spend a lot of time and energy evaluating the use of visual imagery beyond the normal grading of presentations. I agree with George Lucas that it is important that education continue to adapt to the changing times, but at some points in the interview I thought he was a little too extreme. I still think it's probably more important that students know how to write well than make a video. Certainly, however, the skills needed to survive in the 21st century should be incorporated into education.