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eZedia News
T.H.E. Focus - eZedia
By Dr. Geoffrey Fletcher
Executive Vice President of T.H.E. Institute
T.H.E. Journal Online
June 2003
Despite some claims in education circles that the classroom of today looks exactly like the classroom of 50 years ago, we have made some progress when it comes to technology. It is true that in some classrooms desks are aligned in rows, a teacher is at a chalkboard in the front of the room lecturing, and students have their textbooks open answering the questions at the end of the chapter.
In reality the classroom of today is significantly different from 50 years ago. According to MDR, there is a 3.8 to 1 student to computer ratio, virtually every K-12 school building is connected to the Internet and more than half of the instructional classrooms are connected to the Internet.
Yet even with all this effort, some argue that we have not changed the fundamental approach to teaching and learning. The curriculum is the same, the instruction is the same, the standards are the same, the evaluation of the extent to which the student has mastered the content is the same, the evaluation of how the teacher is performing is the same-all is the same as it was before the introduction of technology. I was reading an article in the paper the other day about the 20th anniversary of the Comdex computer show. One line in particular struck me: "Driven by leapfrogging innovations, the Internet and declining prices for raw computing power, personal computers have revolutionized the way hundreds of millions of people work, shop, communicate and entertain themselves." There was no word about education, because technology has not revolutionized education. As an illustration of this, I asked the principal I was interviewing in an evaluation project how well he thought teachers were integrating technology into the classroom, and he responded, "The parents really like those clear, crisp worksheets that came off the laser printer."
Why hasn't technology revolutionized education as it has other aspects of our lives? Because we have not completed any of the job. We have not acquired enough hardware and infrastructure. Business has a 1 to 1 - or better-ratio. Business spends from 1 to 3% of its payroll costs on training each year, and that training is specific to the task that a person is to perform. The technology works in business and it gets replaced every 3 years with new software that is faster and better and the users are trained to use it effectively and efficiently. And we have not had the tools necessary to create classroom activities that fully engage students, or that lets students create their own technology-based products.
The tool part is changing. Tools such as eZediaMX, eZediaQTI, and eZediaMotion allow students and teachers to author and edit multimedia easily. More specifically, eZediaMX allows teachers and students to create digital portfolios, presentations, multimedia slide shows, animations, etc. quickly and easily. eZediaQTI is QuickTime authoring software that teachers and students can use to create web sites, online presentations, and interactive movies. EZedia's video editing solutions, eZediaMotion for iMovie and eZedi Plug-ins for iMovie lets students add and animate text, graphics, and movies; create picture-in-picture and blue screen effects; or add watermarks, frames, borders, themes, and logos - all with Apple iMovie.
Why are these tools so important? First, kids' lives are very different outside of school. As an example here is a list from the Bell South Foundation from a report on their Power to Teach program:
"The average 15 year-old
- Has never dialed a phone
- Purchases movie tickets from the Internet rather than standing in lines
- Plays computer simulated games rather than board games
- Downloads music instead of playing records or tapes
- Fell in love with Barney instead of Captain Kangaroo
- Pays with debit cards rather than checks."
The constant underlying factor in this list (and other lists like it) is technology. Add to this list the fact that over 13 million Gameboys were sold last year, targeting 7 to 11 year-olds. Students are immersed in technology and media outside of school. In school, they need similar experiences and to create similar experiences to connect the outside world with school.
Second, the eZedia tools are important because students are experiencing a convergence of media. According to an article in the April 24 issue of the San Jose Mercury News, kids now expect things to be interactive and for them to control the experience. Convergence of media - TV, video, computer, video-game, the stereo - is not just happening on devices such as a cell phone, but also in the minds of kids. Lilo and Stitch is not just an animated film to be viewed in the theatre, but an iterative entertainment experience that includes a CD soundtrack, a DVD home movie and an interactive web site. As a result of this, some researchers say kids will not be satisfied with traditional, linear storytelling.
Pokemon is another example. In what researchers are calling "trans-media storytelling" Pokemon "sprinkles elements of the Pokemon universe across the media spectrum, spanning cartoons and feature-length films that follow individual narratives; trading cards and books that allow fans to learn about origins of each of the hundreds of Pokemon creatures, and video games that let kids interact with the creature and engage them in mock battles."
Compare this with traditional textbooks. Students are immersed in media every day outside of school. School needs to connect to the rest of a student's life, not exacerbate the difference between their perceived real world and school.
A third reason for these tools is the digital divide. Surveys from MDR and other sources shows that students in less affluent schools have similar access to technology in school as students in more affluent schools. However, research from the Maryland Business Roundtable and other sources shows that the students in poorer schools tend to use technology for drill and practice on basic skills where the computer controls their actions. Students in more affluent schools tend to use the technology as you and I do-for productivity, research on the Internet, and creating final products. EZedia tools can help overcome this digital divide of use by providing opportunities for all students to control the technology and create exciting projects.
A fourth reason for the importance of eZedia tools relates to constructivism. A common approach to teaching in the constructivist style is to place students in small groups and ask the groups to study, and perhaps solve, real world problems. They typically are graded on a variety of things including their approaches to solving the problem, their ability to function as an effective team, and, of course, their solutions to the problem. This emphasis on small group work, real world problems and creative thinking is what business wants from graduates of today's schools. It also is exactly the kind of activity that students engage in when they use eZedia tools to create multimedia projects. Unfortunately, this approach to teaching and learning and grading is significantly different from a focus on acquiring easily measurable skills and discrete facts and then measuring this acquisition by multiple-choice tests. Thus we are hearing the common complaint from many teachers about standardized tests: the tests measure a limited set of skills and, because of the accountability system with which they are associated, they force an approach to instruction counter to constructivism.
On top of this dichotomy is the notion of technology. Henry Becker has discovered an interesting link to technology in this conflict. According to some of his research, "The more a teacher uses computers, the more likely he or she is to be a strong constructivist. This relationship is perhaps due to the fact that technology provides students with almost unlimited access to information that they need in order to do research and test their ideas. It facilitates communication, allowing students to present their beliefs and products to broader audiences and also exposed them to the opinions of a more diverse group of people in the real world beyond the classroom, school and local community - all conditions optimal for constructivist learning...we are finding that the more important, and the longer teachers have regarded computers as important to their practice, the more likely they are to be strong constructivists."
In short, we need to balance the emphasis on basic skills as measured on standardized tests with more constructivist approaches. eZedia tools provide a mechanism to create that balance.
In summary, using tools such as those provided by eZedia will help teachers integrate technology throughout the entire curriculum and thus make lessons more engaging and motivating to students. These tools will also create situations in the classroom that are more like the real world students will enter after they graduate; a world of working in small groups using the Internet for research and creating digital presentations illustrating solutions to real world problems. We owe that to our students.
Copyright © 2003 T.H.E. Journal L.L.C. All rights reserved.
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