Journal 2 YC NETS-T IV & V Finding Students Who Learn with Media

I read and reflected on this article from the ITSE (International Society for Technology in Education) website and also used Citation Machine to cite the journal in APA format.


Bull, G., Alexander, C., & Ferster, B. (2010). Finding students who learn with media. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(5), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201002#pg38

In the article, Finding Students Who Learn with Media the author took a closer look on how we can enhance learning by using student authored media. This article touched on how a source called PrimaryAccess is being used to allow students access to all sorts of media. Students take that media and use it to put together their own movie or storyboard.

One of the tools that students used was PrimaryAccess MovieMaker. Students could take information of their choice and make a short movie or documentary on that subject. This allowed students to be engaged, interact with the specific subject, and use their personal creativity. It took an additional 3 class periods to teach students how to put together their movie. Students can now use PrimaryAccess Storyboard to have the same experience without having to take the additional time to learn how to use this tool.

This concept allowed students to interact and learn in a more creative way and teachers learned how to monitor student learning. Now teachers had data that allowed them to tell how long a student was working on a project and what kind of progress they were making. With this information they came up with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. This system was designed to help teachers identify where each student is excelling or where they were lacking. By doing this a teacher could design the best way to teach that student.

By the use of technology students were able to learn in ways that are impossible by traditional teaching. Not only do they have access to an unlimited amount of information on any subject but with PrimaryAccess they were able to be creative. This same technology allowed teachers to be more in tune with what students were learning. Teachers were also able to zoom in on the needs of each child and find more effective ways to teach each them. All this points to a better way to learn, a better way to teach, and a smarter society.

QUESTIONS:
What do you think are the advantages to PrimaryAccess for students?
Students now have an outlet to not only learn but be more creative. They can use PrimaryAccess to access information from all over the world and put that into a storyboard or movie that can be used to teach other students.

Why do you think it is important to have a Classroom Assessment Scoring System?
I believe it's vital because it gives us another way to measure the effectiveness of a student's learning. By being able to identify what areas students are excelling in and what areas they are lacking, teachers can tailor their curriculum to what is most effect for each individual.