Saturday, February 7, 1998

Video production beyond the classroom
Andrew Agostino

agoa@netcom.ca

Video Production beyond the classroom: A brief look at Media Studies at the high school level.

Media literacy is an nebulous term often used to describe a variety of programs and approaches intended to diffuse the harmful effects of media (especially television) on young audiences.Originating in Australia and Europe, the study of media at the high school level has become an integral part of many school systems.While the Ontario ministry of education has published specific curriculum guides and objectives to define its media program, the Ministry of Education in Quebec has simply mandated that part of the language arts curriculum be allocated to the study of non-print media.As such , high schools in Quebec have adopted a wide interpretation and diverse application of this requirement.This session will briefly consider some of the work being done in the area of media studies at a local high school.Three or four students from this school will accompany the presenter in order to share their classroom experiences.Sample tapes of productions emanating from this course will also be presented.As the theme of the symposium is 'Beyond the Classroom',the work presented will be video productions that have extended beyond actual classroom activities.

More than a helping hand
Jeanette Caron & Carole Bamford (553-2)

More Than a Helping Hand:Mentoring as a Professional Development Strategy for Integrating Technology into the Classroom

The professional development of teachers plays an integral role in any school's computer integration plan.An interesting strategy which has been found effective for in-service professional development is the use ofmentors/tutors (MacArthur et al, 1995; Gray & Gray 1985).

Mentoring is increasingly being used with teachers (Ballantyne, Hansford & Packer, 1995), both for pre-service and in-service teachers.The use of mentors/tutors in professional development for teachers has been found to often improve channels of communication as well as encourage peer support and reflection (Feiman-Nemser & Parker, 1992). There is however, very little in the literature about mentoring with regards to the integration of technology into the classroom.

A team of Concordia graduate students and representatives from partner school boards are involved in the development and delivery of professional development training for teachers which incorporates the use of mentors in the different training models.

Although still in the preliminary stages of research, our models for professional development include such elements as: whole day training sessions, afterschool and lunch hour workshops, weekly meetings with mentors and ongoing needs assessments. The focus of our workshop topics include:understanding the potential of computers, developing basic computer skills, developing pedagogical applications and peer support.These elements coalesce into our model of professional development, through the use of mentoring strategies.Our training model is evaluated during workshop sessions through the use of questionnaires, observations and informal interviews with the teachers, however the mentoring process is not isolated within these evaluations.We will discuss the results of our evaluations and conclusions as well as ways to develop better measures to specifically evaluate the mentoring process.

Our next step is to further develop our mentor model from a workshop setting to weekly meetings with teachers who are in the process ofdeveloping classroom projects.The aim of our research is not only to develop strategies to assist our partner schools with the integration of computers into their classrooms but also to develop a model that can be used by other institutions undergoing the same process.

While we may be able to get teachers started on the road to integration, research has shown (Giilmore, 1995; Willis, 1993) that on-going support is essential to the success of integration technology within classrooms.Given the financial as well as time constraints experienced by all schools, continued external support is not feasible.For these reasons we are now exploring the possibility of moving from external mentors to internal ones, whether they be teacher-to-teacher or student-to-student.During this roundtable we hope to discuss the pros/cons of: external mentors, on-line mentoring, teacher-to-teacher mentoring, student-to-student mentoring.In addition we hope to discuss effective transitions (from external to internal) as well as mentor training.

References:

Ballantyne, Brian Hansford & Jan Packer. (1995). Mentoring Beginning Teachers: a qualitative analysis of process and outcomes. Educational Review, 47(3), 297-306.

Feiman-Nemser, S., & Parker, M. B. (1993). Mentoring in context: A comparison of two U.S. programs for beginning teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 19(8), 699-718.

Gilmore, Alison M.(1995). Turning Teachers on to Computers: Evaluation of a Teacher Development Program, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Spring, 27(3), 251-269.

Gray, William and Marilynne M. Gray. (1985) Synthesis of Research on Mentoring Beginning Teachers,Educational Leadership, November 37-43.

MacArthur, Charles A., Virginia Piato, et al. (1995) Mentoring: An Approach to Technology Education for Teachers. Journal of Research on Computing in Education. Fall 28(1), 46-62.

Willis, Jerry. (1993).Educational Technology: Issues and Innovations. Computers in the Schools, 9(4), 13-31.

R.M.S. Titanic
Barbara Viola & Roberta Marshall

R.M.S Titanic: Infusing technology into an already-existing lesson plan - presenting our practical approach!

Our Powerpoint presentation of an integrated lesson activity revolving about the R.M.S. Titanic is meant to demonstrate that any lesson plan, new or old, can be infused with technology, adding another creative dimension to the entire project. We plan to demonstrate exactly how and where in the lesson plan a teacher can implement computer technology and peripherals, such as the digital camera or scanner, to make the whole process more dynamic both for the teacher and the students.

Our topic relates to this year's Symposium theme because technology is becoming more and more implemented in the classroom and teachers may feel that they have to start over when this is not the case. This presentation explores both practical issues involved in taking an existing or favourite lesson plan and playing with it to see where technology can play a role in enhancing the learning and teaching process.