Since 1993, Yad-Giora Junior High School in Herzliya, Israel, has been conducting a regional computer communications class with a special curriculum. That was the year the school installed its computer laboratory (with 40 computers) and introduced into the curriculum an experimental multimedia program (Cohen and Holzman-Benshalom 1995).
With its emphasis on visual presentation, multimedia computer projects have a number of teaching and learning advantages. Students express what they know in many ways—text, videos, pictures, sound, and animation (using software called Animator and 3D Studio)—and also demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge in a concrete manner. In addition, they acquire the skills they need for independent learning.
A Mix of Abilities
The city of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv near the Mediterranean Sea, has six junior high schools. Yad-Giora, with about 600 students, is one of three that offer special classes for students from all sections of the city. These students are ahead of their peers academically and are particularly motivated to excel.
When selecting students for the multimedia pilot project, the principal and teachers wanted the group to be representative of all classes for each grade, including classes into which special education students had been integrated. Two other selection criteria were (1) student requests (we chose 30 of the 80 students who expressed a desire to participate and who received their parents' consent) and (2) the agreement of teachers to allow these students to leave the classes in the subject they would pursue independently. Administrators also informed parents of the program.
The students' computer skills varied. Many came from the computer communications classes and were highly skilled, while others had much less experience. All 30 students took a 20-hour course in the multimedia software program. They also practiced independently, taking turns using the three computers that comprise the multimedia workstation in the library.
Multiple Teaching Strategies
The principal, Mara Dekel (and her successor, Ora Uziel), organized a team of 12 of the school's 50 teachers to lead the multimedia project. She selected the teachers for their knowledge of computers, their initiative, and their enterprising and flexible approach to teaching. As they guided students in the pilot project, these teachers used the methods they felt most comfortable with. As a result, different styles of research and documentaries evolved.
Research. The emphasis in research was on depth and scope of writing, editing, and the creation of complex hypertext links among the various files (each file contained text, a picture, a movie, an illustration, or a voice clip). Each student was responsible for the pace and scope of his or her work. Some engaged in individual research and others in team projects.
In individual research, students selected subjects that were either part of the curriculum or of personal interest (for example, one 8th grader studied "Early Christianity," incorporating text and pictures).
Team research was organized either by skill or by subject matter. In the former, each team member was responsible for one aspect of the presentation. (A group of four 8th graders in a geography class studied the formation of craters, with one student preparing the text, another the animation, and so forth.)
By contrast, when students divided the research by subtopic, each was responsible for all aspects of a subtopic and for incorporating all the methods of presentation into the work. For example, a group of 7th graders prepared a presentation on water balance in plants for biology class. They divided the subject into topics like water absorption, water loss, and plants with different water balances.
Documentaries. Here the emphasis was on organizing the work to be clear and attractive to an audience. Students produced film clips, animation, drawings, and pictures, weaving the package together with a script. The text was much briefer than it was in the research projects.
For example, teams of students in the 9th grade computer communications class studied ecology as part of a national research project on the subject. They researched air and water pollution and solid waste, exchanging information via computer with students at other schools, for a national perspective. They presented their documentary at several conferences, including one at their school to which parents, teachers, college professors, and people in the media were invited.
Student Experts
The software we used for the trial run was the KnoW program, developed by Hanan Yaniv (1993). We selected this program for two reasons. First, students who had worked with the program reported liking it and clearly were able to operate it and produce a finished project. In addition, KnoW enabled students to map the concepts they acquired in a particular subject so that they could see the information's conceptual organization.
The 12 teachers guiding the students participated in a seminar on how to structure individual projects using KnoW. But in spite of this training, they found that they still lacked the skills needed to operate the program. The software developers concluded that it was preferable for the teachers to spend less time teaching the students to use the program and to focus instead on supervising work in their own fields of expertise.
As a practical solution, the teachers involved selected a group of students from every grade to train as a technical support team for students and teachers alike. We chose the students for both their computer skills and their responsibility and dedication.
Bugs to Work Out
- Not all of the students on the technical support team were as dedicated and responsible as we had thought. Teachers gave students who fell short of their expectations fewer responsibilities and gave those who did measure up more responsibilities.
- Students as well as teachers found the software complicated. Although some problems stemmed from a lack of skill and knowledge, many reflected flaws in the program itself. For example: Program codes and operating instructions were exclusively in English and the software could not make a transition between Hebrew and Latin characters. Packaging the project was a long, arduous process that didn't always work, yet the user was never informed of what caused the problems. To print their work, students had to install another program. And mapping did not give an overall picture of the material's organization, thus hindering learning.The software has since been upgraded twice. Unfortunately, while most of these problems have been eliminated, other problems have been introduced. Students are now creating the text on 20 upgraded computers in the computer lab and saving their work on a diskette. They then bring the diskette to a workstation in a separate multimedia communications lab. There they use a separate computer for each component they add—sound, photo scanning and editing, video sampling, and so forth.
- Because the students had independent access to the computers, technical mishaps occurred. For example, whether deliberately or by accident, files were erased and viruses introduced, leaving many students distressed and disappointed. Our solutions were the same ones we used for other disciplinary problems: consistent, continual education in mutual responsibility and regard for property, as well as close supervision.
- Initially, students implemented all the multimedia functions on one central computer. We thus changed the schedule for sessions both during and after school hours and prepared a more realistic estimate of the time required.
- Some teachers lacked interest in the multimedia environment or had reservations about the enormous amount of effort they had to invest. But even the teachers who participated had no recognized authority to turn to for help in tutoring the students. They had to rely on directions from the software developers, their existing computer knowledge and teaching strategies, and their intuition.Many teachers felt embarrassed and helpless because of their lack of technical expertise. On the other hand, some teachers who lacked technical skills at the outset actually acquired an interest in the technical aspects while tutoring students. Significantly, however, they never did become as proficient and as relaxed with the process as the students did. In the future, we will provide more intensive teacher training.
- Teachers were also sailing in uncharted waters in their control of the teaching and learning process. They no longer were the most significant source of knowledge for students, and the students themselves made the decisions about the content and design of their work. This, too, undermined teachers' confidence.
- Many aspects of the evaluation process remained unsettled. Administrators and teachers had developed a policy for evaluating the projects that differed from the conventional evaluation and examination in these subjects. But the guiding teachers still differed in several areas: the relative weight and criteria for content and design, how to evaluate conceptual mapping, and the criteria for evaluating a student's efforts (time? resourcefulness? originality? creativity?).
A Learning Experience
We had expected the project to serve students at their own skill levels and to inspire interest and commitment in all students who participated. Although this didn't happen completely, we were surprised to discover that both skilled and unskilled students demonstrated their interest in learning in a multimedia environment and managed to produce perfectly acceptable products.
For example, two special education students in a regular 9th grade class prepared a book as their project. Although the content and organization were elementary, the book was well designed and reflected good production skills. The key to their success with a literary subject was their prior knowledge of computers. The considerable time and energy they devoted to the multimedia project was in stark contrast to their lack of motivation in regular classes, where they did not work with computers and needed mentoring for their personal skills.
We also learned that with responsible supervision, students may be given access to and control over high-tech equipment. In fact, as the students on the technical support team assisted both teachers and students, they contributed to an atmosphere of mutual support. For these students, the experience engendered pride, a sense of belonging and significance, and a sense of being a leader.
Finally, the innovativeness of the project charged the school atmosphere with creativity and positive energy. Students were happy to dedicate their time to studies in which they could express their personal interest and skills. Teachers were pleased to find that the new system promoted meaningful learning as it increased students' motivation and improved their relationship with their teachers.
