Due to the fact that I could not participate on the field trip to the "Alfred Wegener Schule, I asked my cousin, who is in form ten in a "Gymnasium", to answer my prepared questions. (I had to modify my original first question, because he is not attending the " Alfred Wegener Schule").
In what way do the teachers at your school include new media in their lessons?
My cousin reacted quite amused to this question, because he had the feeling that most of his teachers only use the blackboard or copied worksheets in their lessons. Even a teacher using an Overhead Projector would be something special. After this statement, he admitted that there were certain teachers, who were mostly younger than the major part of the staff, actually use new media techniques in their classes or encourage their students to make use of them. He added that this had to be limited on two teachers, both teaching the subjects of Politics and History. Therefore, he gathered a little bit of experience of learning with new media techniques in these two subjects. Additionally, the framework conditions were insufficient, there was only one small room with four outdated computers which the students were allowed to use. He had regrets that he could not tell me more about this topic, but he concluded that new media techniques played a minor part during most of the lessons he attended.
What kind of new media techniques do you (your teachers) use at your school?
As my cousin mentioned in the first answer, he knew of only two teachers who used new media techniques at all. One of these teachers used new media qite often, for example he prompted his students to use the internet to find information about the project they were working at. Moreover, it was normal for him that he gave homework which was based on an internet research, for example, "Collect information about Aristoteles in the internet! Please focus on his biography!" In my cousin`s view,the other teacher used new media techniques in quite a similar way. He laid emphasis on the fact that the teachers themselves did not make use of new media on their own. They were only encouraging their students to use it. He added that this could be accounted for by the fact that the equipping of the classrooms were inadequately.
June 23, 2009 at 6:36 am |
Good morning Christoph,
it was interesting to read something of someone who was not with us at the Alfred Wegener school. I am sure that there are still schools which use almost no new media in their lessons, like the school your cousin goes to.
To inform you a little bit about the field trip, “our guide”, Mr. Schouler told us that it was a lot of work and that it took a lot of his leasure time to provide the possibility of new media in school. I think to get new media started it needs a lot of motivation from the school and the colleagues and you always have to update your programs. But it is a big help for pupils and makes learning more interesting.
Birte