Tom started by giving us a brief introduction to his current role and C.V. of materials design. The first project that he worked on was one that was free of remit and was told do what he liked. Tom mentioned that it was nice to have the shackles of a traditional coursebooks removed and could consider his own beliefs and theories behind designing and producing materials. The intended audience was for out-of-school children during their summer holidays to engage and get them to keep using English. The materials were heavily influenced by film and the presentation was clearly aimed at its intended users.
An interesting point that Tom made was about the use of video in course books and those publications trying more mixed methods and approaches to input. He suggested that some, if not most, publishers go for a 90 – 10 split when deciding on the type of materials. The 90 percent is the usual and ‘conventional’ way and 10% is a new or more experimental approach. This again is a disheartening critique of the publishing world and makes me question the idea of ‘new’ literacies that seem to be discussed a lot but not put into practice.
Tom spoke about using Brainshark, which is a presentation tool essentially. It uses images (still) and audio to great effect. The content is available online and can bring normal Powerpoint presentations to life. It also enables better pacing and contextualisation.
However, he warned that you must check the terms and conditions, “think about who owns the content?” Where is it hosted? All YouTube videos that a teacher creates and posts on the website are in effect the property of google. He believes that Photo stream with audio is as good as video. He also supports Gavin Hockly’s view that suggests Flickr with audio is a very good option and is compliant with self-created content and Creative Common laws. This is nicely linked to last week’s talk about visuals and the benefits of Flickr as a resource.
Tom gave excellent rationale for using video in the classroom for ELT:
• Motion
• Narrative
• Rich
• Authentic
• Genre rich
• Investment
• Ripe with message
• Full of life
• Accessible and mobile
Another key term that was discussed was Digestibility. This is a key factor when considering the use of video. If a video that is watched by 5 million people around the world why not use it in class?
As mentioned above the autonomy that modern technology and connectivity means that teachers and students can shift from curators of materials to creators. In general, we start off as curators of video content and hopefully can develop into creators.
As mentioned in my video post the pedagogical benefits of motion pictures need to be considered carefully. They are not just for presenting input or taking a fun ‘break’ they need to be applied as part of a structured and layered lesson plan.
Hi Mark, Tom’s presentation made a lasting impression on me too. I read your post and I share your view on the publishers’ 90:10 ‘rule’ when it comes to deciding about new content. Thinking about some of the great, informative and innovative presentations, webinars I’ve watched just during this course and I too am disheartened if I think about when and how these ideas will find their way into our course books. But perhaps it gives us, professionals, teachers a chance to come forward and step onto the bridge by designing, creating, sharing and even publishing our own materials. I guess we’ve all put something on the table during these three months and not just as teachers. If I think about the worksheets, your TEDed lesson, some of the presentations in class or Bea’s video I think that there is potential in most of us to go far and not only as teachers but as material writers and authors too. Don’t you think? And I haven’t even mentioned the blogs yet… I’m very impressed with the ones I’ve looked at so far. Yours too is very informative, professional and thought-provoking. It’s great!