Teacher Made Digital Content_Workshop Report (1)
Transcription
Teacher Made Digital Content_Workshop Report (1)
REPORT 1 Educational Technology and Management Academy 2 Workshop on Personalized Digital Content Generation Executive Summary Educational Technology and Management Academy (ETMA) conducted a 3-Day workshop on Personalized Digital Content Generation (PDCG) for 28 teachers sponsored by Gurgaon Progressive Schools Conference (GPSC). The participants chose a chapter from their own textbooks prescribed by the school; reconstructed curriculum the way they would like to, wrote audio scripts, identified and accessed visuals from open education resources (OER), recorded commentary and mix-n-match with visuals. They created either in batches of two or individually digital contents that cover the entire chapter in less than 25% of the time and also represent their very own personal styles. They were thrilled, “we could do it”. But also lamented, “Wish this was a 4-day programme” Backdrop Young persons, students included, are immersed in technology – cell phone, computer games and simulations, WhatsApp, Chat, Net surfing, video conferencing, digital book reading, graphic designing, etc. They collaborate and solve problems (home works included) on phone through sms and mms, transfer of visuals and videos through WhatsApp and variety of other apps. This is not true for elders – teachers included. The gap is visible and widening. Schools are adopting and absorbing technology. Finance, administration, personnel and examination management are favourite areas of technology intervention. This is not true for classroom processes. The ‘private space’ in education is where teaching learning processes go on. That private space continues to be guarded by conventional lectures or paraphrased textbook conversation. Though there are classrooms fitted with smart boards, there are few smart classes as smart classes are made of smart teachers, and not smart boards. Progressive schools are committed to development of higher order thinking skills among students. Teachers are also aware that only by involving and engaging students directly into learning tasks, HOTs can be developed. With the overwhelming burden on ‘covering the syllabus’ teachers are clueless how to find time to engage students in learning tasks. The secret is in covering the syllabus more efficiently in shorter time span to create time for activities. ETMA developed the new pedagogical model of ICT Integrated Blended Learning Design (iBLD). One important and inseparable component of iBLD is digital content. The digital content takes care of ‘covering the syllabus’. A chapter that requires upto four periods (140 minutes) in conventional teaching format can be completely covered in 12 to 15 minutes of digital content. This generates time for engaging students into a well chosen set of learning tactics (activities). ETMA identified as many as 70 learning tactics. ETMA successfully experimented with iBLD with more than 1500 teachers from public schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas and state government schools. But then key factors are a. Quality and relevance of the digital content; and b. Matching of the digital content with the very personal style of the teacher. Educational Technology and Management Academy REPORT 3 Large number of public schools possesses a large number of educational videos, but grossly underutilized because the contents do not match the syllabus and textbook that a teacher is expected to transact; and teachers don’t affiliate themselves with such off the shelf digital contents. Every teacher has a unique personality and style of her own as a teacher. If she can develop digital content herself, it fulfils several requirements: a. b. c. d. e. She can create perfect fit with her syllabus and textbooks; She owns the digital content with pride because it is her own CREATION; She situates it to her school and background of students (builds in situated cognition); The Digital Content represents her personal and instructional style; and She proudly uses it in her classroom. ETMA, with its mission of pioneering innovations, tried its hands on creating Personalized Digital Content Generation (PCDG) by teachers. ETMA’s next effort was to diffuse the innovation to teachers – they should prepare their own digital contents. Thanks to GPSC, it took up to promote the innovation. ETMA conducted a 3-Day workshop on PCDG at Salwan Public School Gurgaon, attended by 28 teachers from 25th to 27th May, 2015 (Appendix II). The programme comprised 8 steps: Viewing and reviewing experimental PCDG; Case Study of an iBLD Selecting a topic either individually or in a batch of two teachers; Curriculum Development – redefining the contents; Script writing Accessing open source visuals from the Net corresponding to the frames of the script; Voice recording; Finishing 1. Viewing and reviewing experimental PCDG: ETMA has prepared few PCDG and some of them are on the chapters like ‘When the earth shook’, ‘A Snake Charmer's Story’, ‘Super senses’ from NCERT Text book of EVS for class V. The workshop commenced with the viewing of video on When the Earth Shook. Teachers were allowed and encouraged to buzz among themselves. They appreciated the quality and the short time within which entire chapter and more was covered in just 14 minutes. They appreciated PCDG and confirmed that students will learn better with this media. 2. Case Study of an iBLD This case is on the same theme -- ‘When the Earth Shook’ mentioned above. Sequence of events in actual classroom in ETMA School is given below: Educational Technology and Management Academy 4 Workshop on Personalized Digital Content Generation Period 1 1. Video was shown to students without any interruption; 2. Video was shown after a brief buzz session allowing interruption by students; 3. Home work: Please glance through the chapter if you wish to. Period 2 4. Video loaded on laptops; three children per laptop allowing move forward-backward, discussion, taking notes, etc. 5. Home work: Consult elders about their experience about earthquake; Period 3 6. Team of three surfing internet for Earthquake in Japan; History of Earthquake and Seismograph; 7. Presentation of reports of consultation of elders and web surfing; Period 4 8. Formative Assessment 9. Interaction with teacher 10. Revisiting the video. 3. Selecting a topic: The topics were selected from the textbooks of publications like NCERT, Oxford, Ratna Sagar, DAV, Mathsight Britannica Publication, etc. used by the teacher as prescribed by the school (Appendix I). The teachers worked either individually or in a batch of two teachers from the same discipline. 4. Curriculum Development- redefining the contents: As part of curriculum development, teachers carried out content analysis of the chapter identifying the concepts, and corresponding examples, and illustrations; teachers were encourage to add more examples from their and students’ experiences for enhancing situated cognition. The content was further enriched depending upon the teachers’ perception and understanding what the content should be. Teachers then re-sequenced the contents according to her understanding and specialization. Teachers had to assign weightages to each concept in terms of time and emphasis. 5. Script writing: Teachers, then, undertook script writing for the digital content. They spelt out – ‘what will they speak if they had to teach in the classroom’ each content and their associated examples and illustrations. As they wrote in the form of statements, they were introduced into the concept of frames, and the structures. Teachers practiced editing their writing to convert into short frames with carefully chosen vocabulary. Frames were made short. Sentences were simple and short. Vocabulary chosen had to be within the reach of the students; yet offering brevity – using least number of words. It was not easy for the teachers. It’s not surprising. Script writers hold the key to quality of a programme. It’s a specialized job. But majority of the teachers did reasonably well. Educational Technology and Management Academy REPORT 5 6. Accessing open source visuals from the Net: Corresponding to the frames of the script, teachers had to access visuals for illustrations. Teachers were shown how to access open sources on the net. Issues were choice – still pictures and cartoons, video files and animation, relevance of the visuals, number of visuals, resolution and compositional quality of the visuals, shaping and reshaping the visuals, e.g. cropping, trimming or muting, etc. A special training session was devoted on Composition and Quality of Visuals. To create effect, teachers were recommended to use one visual for every 4 to 5 seconds (approximately 8 to 10 spoken words). Teachers seemed to be more excited in this activity. 7. Voice recording: Teachers had to now merge the audio with visuals. There are several ways. One teacher presented her visuals as PPT slides explaining each slide as per her script. ETMA videographer shot her as she spoke. Majority of the teachers read out their script on the computer using recording facility. They had to change the visuals to correspond with the audio. Not very easy. But majority of the teachers were grossly involved in the activity. They kept trying till they were satisfied. For a better understanding, teachers were asked to be careful about the pace of recording, not to exceed 100 to 120 words per minute. There are different ways of recording the voice over -by using microphone, using laptops or smart phones. 8. Finishing: After the recording of the audio script the audio and the visuals (still pictures and videos) has to be synchronized so that there is no mismatch between the visuals and the audio recorded. Trainers from ETMA mentioned that they used editing table to give the finish. Outcome: All the teachers were able to do curriculum development, script writing and part of visualization. Some of the teachers, either individually or in group, were able to generate their digital content. They presented their digital contents to the whole group. Participants appreciated and cheered each other. They were given a good feedback by the experts on how to improve the quality. Educational Technology and Management Academy 6 Workshop on Personalized Digital Content Generation Appendix - I List of topics and textbooks Sl. No. Topic Chosen Textbook 1 Water OXFORD 2 Motions of the Earth RATNA SAGAR 3 Formatting in MS Word BRAINY MEGABYTES ,MB PUBLISHING 4 Lost spring NCERT 5 Carbon and its compounds NCERT SCIENCE 6 Keeping it from Harold NCERT 7 Reflection of light NCERT 8 Water NCERT 9 Resources NCERT 10 Generations of Computer BITS AND BYTES, PM PUBLICATION 11 Life in deserts NCERT 12 Understanding quadrilaterals NCERT 13 Light NCERT 14 Time MATHSIGHT BRITANNICA PUBLICATION 15 Food and health DAV PUBLICATION 16 Resources & development NCERT 17 Money NCERT 18 Components of food NCERT 19 Environment NCERT Educational Technology and Management Academy Appendix - II REPORT 7 List of Participants Sl. No. Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ms. Bharti Arora Ms. Seema Gaur Ms. Pinky Shekhawat Ms. Shweta Gupta Ms. Runa Chattejee Ms. Pooja Yadav Ms. Navina Das Ms. Farah Awasthi Ms. Neetu Bhateja 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Ms. Arshi Nagpal Grover Ms. Rubal Dudeja Ms. Neena Bhaskar Ms. Sujata Khanna Ms. Sushma Sharma Ms. Vandna Daroch Ms. Harsh Vandana Ms. Tuneer Rana Ms. Shubhra Verma Ms. Alka Vinaik 20 Ms. Sonia Behal 21 Ms. Shivani Chawla 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Ms. Deepa Aneja Ms. Roma Panwar Ms. Henna Daryani Ms. Neeraj Kapoor Ms. Prativamayee Marimganti Ms. Geeta Sehgal Ms. Sheetal Jethi Kapoor School S.D. Adarsh Vidyalaya, Sector-47, Sohna Road, Gurgaon S.D. Adarsh Vidyalaya, Sector-47, Sohna Road, Gurgaon S.D. Adarsh Vidyalaya, Sector-47, Sohna Road, Gurgaon S.D. Adarsh Vidyalaya, Sector-47, Sohna Road, Gurgaon S.D. Adarsh Vidyalaya, Sector-47, Sohna Road, Gurgaon Rotary Public School, Sector- 22, Gurgaon Meenakshi Public School, Sector- 10 A, Gurgaon Meenakshi Public School, Sector- 10 A, Gurgaon Salwan Public School (Afternoon), G.L. Salwan Marg, Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi DAV Public School, Sector-14, Gurgaon Summer Fields School, A block, DLF Phase -1, Gurgaon Summer Fields School, A block, DLF Phase -1, Gurgaon Summer Fields School, A block, DLF Phase -1, Gurgaon Summer Fields School, A block, DLF Phase -1, Gurgaon Rotary Public School, Sector- 22, Gurgaon Lion Public School, Sector -10 A ,Gurgaon Summer Fields School, A block, DLF Phase -1, Gurgaon Salwan Public School, Mayur Vihar- III, Delhi Salwan Public School (Morning), G.L.Salwan Marg , Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi Salwan Public School (Morning), G.L.Salwan Marg , Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi Salwan Public School (Afternoon), G.L.Salwan Marg , Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi DAV Public School, Sector-14, Gurgaon DAV Public School, Sector-14, Gurgaon Rotary Public School, Sector- 22, Gurgaon Lion Public School, Sector -10 A ,Gurgaon CCA School, Sector- 4, Gurgaon Rotary Public School, Sector- 22, Gurgaon Salwan Public School, Mayur Vihar- III, Delhi Educational Technology and Management Academy 8 Workshop on Personalized Digital Content Generation Annexure - III Evaluative Comments by Teachers It was a very enriching workshop, we really learnt a lot from it. Work shop was very inspiring, we realized the importance of personalized digital content and we will prepare more such contents for use in the classrooms. We are really excited that we were able to complete the video. Earlier we used to prepare Power Point Presentations, but during this workshop we learnt a lot about the visuals, its quality and how to search them from open sources. It would have been more useful, if the workshop would have been for 4 days. Educational Technology and Management Academy T-6/1701, Valley View Estate, Gwal Pahadi, Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, Gurgaon – 122001 (Haryana: India) Tele/fax: 01242588559, Website: www.etma-india.in E-mail: [email protected] Educational Technology and Management Academy