The use of New Media at “Gymnasium Ernestinum” in Rinteln

December 4, 2008 at 11:05 pm (Course work)
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schule

Before I will give you an impression of my personal experiences with New Media at “Gymnasium Ernestinum” which I attended from 1999 to 2006, I will present you an excerpt from the “Schulprogramm” concerning New Media, which I found on our school homepage.

THE AIMS:

  1. „Bewährte und zeitgemäße Inhalte mit angemessenen Methoden und Medien unterrichten […]“
  • Wir befähigen die Schülerinnen und Schüler zu einem kompetenten Umgang mit alten und neuen Medien.
  • Auf der Basis unseres Medienkonzeptes erlernen die Schülerinnen und Schüler ab der sechsten Klasse die computergestützte Informationsbeschaffung, -verarbeitung und -präsentation.

PERSPECTIVE
Im Schuljahr 2006/2007 entwickeln die Fächer ein Medienkonzept, um so die gute Ausstattung des Ernestinums an neuen Medien optimal zu nutzen.5sinne

  1. „Mehr als Wissen bieten – mit allen Sinnen lernen […]“
  • Layout-, Design- und Multimedia-interessierte Schülerinnen und Schüler arbeiten regelmäßig an unserer Homepage, der Schülerzeitung und dem Jahrbuch.

PERSPECTIVE
Das Ernestinum beteiligt sich und bereichert das Leben in Rinteln und im Landkreis Schaumburg.
Wir wollen unseren Internetauftritt professioneller gestalten.microsoft_powerpoint_20001

As you can see, the school suggests media competence to be taught already from the sixth grade on. Students are supposed not to be taught research techniques only, but additionally information processing and presentation techniques. In my opinion this is quite a useful target to prepare students for their later career at the university or other institutions.

What I lacked during my school time is exactly the presentation techniques which are required to, for example, create power point presentations. In my opinion, this is one of the basic skills which is obligatory to study in a university and which I had to figure out for myself in the course of the time.

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However, since I graduated in 2006, I unfortunately was not among those lucky students who are taught media competence from the school year 2006/07 onwards.

For the second point, it is true that pupils who are interested in media and web design are free to join an extracurricular activity which is meant to enhance the school homepage. However, as I can remember there are only five to ten pupils who join this activity – but what about the others? Will they be discriminated in their future jobs just because of their lack of important media competence? I will leave this question unanswered.

WHAT MEDIA TOOLS does my school actually offer to its students? This is…98142d48bce698a84d3f

  • Beamers
  • Overhead projectors
  • input devices: keyboards, mice, approximately three cameras, one digital camera, several microphones and headsets
  • output devices like: monitors, at least two printers and one scanner and sound speakers •beamer-sanyo-plv-z5 Two classes with computers and internet access
  • Two computers in the library with internet access for at least 10 minutes
  • CDs and DVDs which can be borrowed from the library

WHEN, WHERE and HOW OFTEN have they been used during my school time?

  1. In our lessons, the beamer and the overhead projector were used quite often.
  2. The computer classes were either used….
    1. …to do some research especially in the subjects History, Biology and Politics, which anyway was not very often.

      2. orkamera3

    2. …to draw diagrams/ graphs and calculate something with the software “Derive” in mathematics.
  3. The camera and sometimes the digital camera were used quite frequently to record plays in the subject “Performative acting”.
  4. The microphones and sound speakers were mostly used to perform songs at concerts.
  5. There are some classes which have an internet access by themselves, thus it was sometimes possible to search for simulation processes or diagrams within the lesson.
  6. I think that in almost each subject we watched a film.
  7. CDs were mostly preferred by foreign language classes where we listened to listening comprehensions, songs or dialogues.

bunte_cdsIn retrospect to my school time, I believe that there was an average of media tools which have been used to support my school career. The presentations which I had to give at school made me familiar with the use of the overhead projector and the beamer. However, most of the knowledge about new media such as the use of search engines on the internet, chat programs and online dictionaries I acquired by myself.

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Mark Bauerlein’s interview on his book “The Dumbest Generation”

October 21, 2008 at 7:19 am (Course work)
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In this post I would like to take a closer look at the first part of the interview, Mark Bauerlein is giving on his book “The Dumbest Generation”. He builds up his argumentation on the observation that media and especially sources like the internet, cell phones, i-pods and other new technologies gain more and more importance in adults’ lives. Actually Bauerlein perceives digital culture as a source of danger for America’s future, as he believes in teenagers abandoning reading books or going to museums and thus, as a consequence, become stupid and ignorant. He blames them in spending too much time with chatting and exchanging information via social networks instead of using the time more reasonably, like for instance, for the purpose of studying.

In my opinion Bauerlein makes an important observation which either corresponds to European adults. It is true that teenagers preferably spend their free time hanging up in chat rooms, playing video games or phoning their friends. And this tendency is rather natural, as friendship and social interaction ranks first, as long as no greater responsibilities have to be taken over. However I would agree with him in this aspect only.

What I would like to criticize about his statement is his narrow-mindedness about the young generation. He does not make any distinction between individuals who use the internet for research on certain topics and those who just need it to check their E-Mails and chat with other teens. In my opinion it is wrong to treat everybody as equal, because each person has his or her own character and hence individual attitudes towards life.

The second aspect which I would like to criticize is his claim about the youths’ lack of interest concerning books and museums. Bauerlein blames the media for their disinterest towards culture, but what about students’ apathy towards reading etc. in the past, before the internet came into being? I can hardly imagine that those adults who were interested in culture ten or fifteen years ago abruptly changed their opinions in favor of the internet. It is the same with those who did not like cultural events before the internet was invented. I am sure that they spent their time playing soccer or listening to music instead of going to museums or reading books. Why should they suddenly have changed their habits in favor of cultural events?

In addition Bauerlein states that teenagers lack creativity and new ideas because of hanging up in social networks. I would disagree with him, since among simple messages like “hello” and “bye bye”, both the ability to express one’s opinion on different topics and argumentation techniques can be practiced. These skills are quite important for students’ later careers, especially for those who plan to study or work in a concern there writing skills are required.

Taking all pros and cons into consideration, I can conclusively say that Bauerlein makes an important observation which however does not hold for everybody among the youths. As by now I do not have much background information and statistics on which media youths are foremost using, I hope that the PS “New Media in FL classroom” will reveal some facts about adults’ preferences concerning digital culture. This information might be very useful for my teacher career, for then I will be able to apply certain media for intended purposes and also show my students how it can be used more reasonably.

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