Media and Learning Forum: A Discussion of How Student Media Production can Transform Teaching

This discussion covers how student media production can transform teaching and learning. The goal of this project is to reach grades 5-12 by teaching them to use appropriate technologies to organise, integrate, and apply information in problem-solving and communicating; as well as offering media literacy that has them "access, analyze, critically evaluate, and produce media in a variety of forms."

According to Margaret Riel, good teaching and learning includes "a process of action, reaction, and reflection." She believes that in schools there isn't action at the center of learning. When children have the chance to act on their understanding of the world this leads them to reflect. She says, "project-based learning gets kids to connect with what they know and then uses that as a strong base for extending their knowledge to the areas they need to learn."

Riel also points out that "it really doesn't matter what the object is - it could be a newspaper article or a digital video - but the dialogue around decisions to include or not include information, or to put this shot in or not put that shot in, really helps students understand why they are doing things." Having to take a presentation and make it into a video means that "they have to think about what they say, script it, and do the research behind it."

Goodman comments on the emotional side of learning where she's seen a sense of pride and self-confidence increase in children. "Children who never felt valued in their schoolwork before, or never felt a sense of success, realize that they are able to create a video. What happens is that "they become more excited about learning and more competent when they realize there is a public audience. Even though they may have had the intellectual capacity to learn in the past, they may not have had the self-worth to do it. Also, with media, there is always an audience, and the kids will work that much harder knowing that it is not just for the teacher, but it's for their peers or their parents or people in the community."

Roundtables where students show their documentaries to a public audience, and each one presents what he or she has learned, is another example of a benefit that come from media production. Goodman compares this to a "dissertation defense" - where the student must present in front of a panel of parents, teachers, and people from the community.

Chen notes that there is misunderstanding surrounding the subject of media production. In some cases, educators "think it trivializes a topic" by having kids "run around with cameras and have a good time." Working to show why students are doing what they are doing is what turns out to be "most persuasive."