Our task this week:

“Find (online or in a magazine) a report on a teaching project with the New Media that you really liked and you think was a success (not the one you had in-class) and explain it to your readers.”

Now, what I found is not exactly a report on a teaching project with the New Media, but a helpful page for teachers wanting to carry out an Internet project, but don’t know what to do. The page “E-Twinning” gives a lot of good examples of what one can do with the Internet in school. E-Twinning is part of Comenius (the European Commission for Education and Training). Comenius has the following goals:

·         “To improve and increase the mobility of pupils and educational staff in different Member States

·         To enhance and increase partnerships between schools in different Member States, with at least three million pupils taking part in joint educational activities by 2010  

·         To encourage language learning, innovative ICT-based content, services and better teaching techniques and practices 

·         To enhance the quality and European dimension of teacher training 

·         To improve pedagogical approaches and school management “

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc84_en.htm

It can be said that a special emphasis is laid on media competence and multicultural learning. On E-Twinning  one can find a diverse selection of teaching projects involving new media. The projects are described in detail and rated by teachers who tried out the different methods. In addition, it gives interesting information about pedagogical objectives, process, evaluation, and possible follow up-activities. I would like to present one of the projects on this page that I particularly liked. It is called ”E-journal bridges for foreign language learning” and in which classes from at least two schools from different countries create an e-journal together. This could be in form of an online-diary, a magazine or a newspaper. According to E-Twinning the aims are mainly to encourage language learning and intercultural discourse. In addition, pupils shall learn:

 

·       “to develop writing and reading skills in a foreign language;

·        to develop critical thinking skills when looking for, selecting and organizing relevant information on the chosen topic;

·       to write different types of articles (interview, news, reportage, photo-reportage, advertisement, survey, essay, review, announcement, …);

·        to get familiar with the job of a journalist: rights and duties of journalists; respecting author’s rights;

·        to learn basic web writing and graphical design rules;

·        to take digital pictures and use them in articles;

·        to use ICT collaborative tools for publishing, editing, commenting and, if available, rating articles;

·        to communicate efficiently with both classmates and partners abroad;

·        to develop their inter-cultural skills.”

 http://www.etwinning.net/de/pub/index.htm

The learning goals mentioned here are of great significance nowadays and, thus, as Anna Maria Gallus cited in her blog, are also in the Hessian school curriculum:

„Insbesondere hat auch im Englischunterricht die Vermittlung von Medienkompetenz (auch computer literacy) einen hohen Stellenwert. Mit Blick auf die Ziele im Bereich der Medienkompetenz und des fächerverbindenden Unterrichts lassen sich Projekte unter Nutzung des Internets durchführen – mit darüber erreichbaren Partnern und dort verfügbaren Informationen.
Die modernen elektronischen Medien sind im privaten wie beruflichen Alltag unverzichtbar und deshalb zwingend in den Unterricht einzubeziehen, sei es zur Kontaktaufnahme mit anderen Ländern (E-Mail-Projekte), zur Informationsbeschaffung und -bewertung (Internet-Recherche und Nutzung von Datenbanken) oder zur Darstellung eigener kreativer Leistungen.“

http://annamariagallus.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/new-media-in-the-hessian-curriculum-for-english-g8/

According to E-Twinning before getting started teachers must agree on the involved pupils’ age and level of foreign language knowledge. They should also try to link the type of articles to the foreign language curricula in both countries and agree on time lines and on ICT tools used in the project. And, among other things, the teachers must think about how much freedom they want to allow the students in creating the e-journal and how the pupils shall collaborate.

In a next step the students need to collect and organize the information on the topic they want to write about, collect own ideas, and decide on the layout of the article. In the process of decision-making the students learn with and from another discussing each other’s articles, designs, and cultural perception.

E-Twinning sees the following follow-up options:

·         “Pupils may decide to create a paper version of their magazine. They learn about the differences between on-line and paper magazines;

·         They may create a real cover for their e- or paper journal with the help of the application available for free at http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/magazine.php

·         They may translate the most interesting articles in their mother tongue, publish them on the school website or print them, and make available at school or in local community.”

http://www.etwinning.net/de/pub/index.htm

The “Baltic Youth Culture” is an example for a successful collaborative e-journal that was written by students from schools in Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. In their online journal they write for example about themselves and about how they celebrate different holidays in their country.

http://ejournal.eduprojects.net/ipmtools43/

I think e-journals are a lot of organizational work for the teacher, as she/he has to find at least one other school to collaborate with and make all the necessary arrangements with the other teacher(s). Also, the teacher needs to make sure the students acquire the computer skills required for such a project. Still, I think once everything is sorted out, students and teachers can learn a lot by creating an e- journal and also, I guess, it can be much fun for everyone involved!