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Howdy Folks,
In the case of school closure, has anyone got continencies in place for keeping things rolling?
SEQTA offers a good space for dissemination of information, but I’m looking for an acceptable forum application or service for ongoing ‘classroom’ activities, such as discussion and feedback.
Our students have access to software, so can continue with production, but I’m also looking for a good way for them to upload and for the rest of the group to be able to offer feedback and discussion.
I’m interested in whether FrameIO would do this, and would love to hear from anyone who’s really familiar with it. I used it a little bit a couple of years ago, and it’s certainly got a good reputation for a collaborative space for video production.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,
Owen.
Hi Dr. Owen,
I use Google Classroom and I am currently setting up Google Meet for myself and my students so that we are capable of doing video conferencing/classroom discussions via messaging if necessary.
The Google Apps also offer a range of options as well such as Google Slides - so essentially you can set up a document/assessment for students to work on, export as "copy per student" and then you are able to watch students work on the document/assignment live as they update it. You can then add comments and annotations as they go along and this allows for a little more student accountability in the wake of a closure.
Hope this os of some help.
Many thanks,
Chris
Microsoft Teams looks like a pretty good platform for this.
Mathew de Byl
I’m just going to take things into my own hands and use Microsoft Teams. The ‘Meet Now’ function at the bottom of the group/team posts discussion area allows for what are essentially group skype calls and the name of students who are ‘present’ is shown on the right of the screen, making it easy to take attendance. Combining that with SEQTA is my plan for the time being!
Hi all,
We use Canvas as our LMS and this facilitated discussion and sharing of work.
Andrea 😁
Hi Atomers,
This is a good (and timely) thread and one which has caused a good bit of discussion in our learning area.
I think the issue is a bit broader and more complex and there are some other issues. When you come down to it, we as Media arts teachers should be school leaders in this area. We are probably fairly adept already in creating online content and issuing it through various sources whether those be blogs, OneDrive, Google etc. However many of our colleagues in other areas may not be and therefore it may be useful if we offer the option to our principals of running PL in these to help prepare teachers. Of course these need not be in just how and where to post content but how to create, such as in doing some simple workshops in using Quicktime to screen or voice record and for those more adventurous souls iMovie to edit these lessons. Having a series of online lessons rather than face to face can also have advantages..students can pause us and rewind! That's quite a common university model (possibly over-relied up by some but that is another issue). Remember that schools often will adopt a 'best fit' model for the majority of staff so if the majority of staff have these skills then we won't have to offer a service less than one we know we are able to.
Seqta and Connect both offer good dissemination and retrieval for lessons and student work. For 'live feed' you could try Skype or Zoom (the latter I haven't tried but seems to be popular). There was a good article in the ABC news this morning on a high school principle and teachers from all over the world running their Beijing school remotely from around the world after an 8 week closure:
Of course, remember that we have SIDE (school of isolated and distance education) here .Distance learning is their bread and butter. Are there any SIDE teachers here on ATOM? I'm guessing that you'd be the experts here. If not, do we know anyone who is? DET might decide to run with the model they already successfully use.
The stumbling block to any decision may be the disparity of technology available to our students. Many school provide laptops to their students but many schools have only a small proportion of students who have one or a computer at home. So how do we continue to instruct and have students producing work in this environment? The answer I'm guessing will be to do the best you can based on the capacities of your students. Most families will probably have a phone or a tablet, so at least the ability to stay in communication. Then there may be a desktop computer or laptop owned by a family member. Possibly they can arrange to pay the $10 annual student fee and install Adobe so they can work from home. Even if they have a school laptop, is Adobe installed? My kids all have laptops and don't use Adobe much so they don't currently have it and are only able to install it while at school...so possibly if this is your situation you should do a check to make sure they have it.
Finally there is the question of whether the production tasks we have assigned them are safe. If there are planning to go film in crowded environments or inside spaces with limited ventilation or close proximity to people should they be doing this at all right now? We may need to look closely at our programs. The old mantra of 'no filming within school' for productions (certainly for upper school) may need to be re-examined. Though of course with ATAR that leads to issues of identifiability and possible breaches. If there is a delay due to school closures then of course this puts into question current SCSA deadlines in any case as there is a minimum mandated time for instruction in all the courses. Maybe in the case of school closure we focus on analysis and written pieces for our students, which can be achieved with access to Youtube etc and paper and pen if need be.
Tricky questions and no easy answers. However the earlier I think we start pre-planning on these things the easier I think our students will be able to cope in the next few weeks in a worst case scenario.
Regards
Lev Vykopal B.A Hons, PGCE (London)
Senior Teacher in Media, Design and Visual Art
John Curtin College of the Arts
Hi everyone,
SIDE MPA teacher here (for 2019). Ok so after talking to colleagues here are some points that may hopefully be of benefit-
1. SIDE uses Moodle as the classroom and delivers once a week lessons via WebEx the DoE web conferencing platform, which then records lessons and can be emailed to lesson participants afterwards to download or rewatch. The notion is that students can successfully complete whatever course/subject they are enrolled in through the Moodle classroom (I am talking primary school Languages through to Year 12 ATAR Physics), and WebEx is a learning supplement.
2. If I can draw parallels it’s similar to an online learning style at a university.
3. Irrespective of being a government or non-government school if you end up moving towards an online learning delivery system some things to consider-
· Whether you use Google Classroom, Canvas, SEQTA (oh how I miss thee!) etc., don’t just have a repository of documents for students (or a document dump as we call it). Develop a systematic process of content and task delivery setup (for example structure a course with tasks then align content to that task or have sequential steps students need to work through to complete assessment). I’m not trying to tell anyone how to suck eggs, but this is something that underlies writing courses in Moodle for successful student learning here at SIDE.
· Have a plan B, as technology can and WILL muck up
· There are many free technology options out there to deliver courses, it doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be expensive e.g Screencast-o-Matic has free versions for recording the computer screen if working with a PowerPoint. If you’re a Mac school you should have QuickTime for this.
· It doesn’t matter what platform you use, you should support the content with live conferences or recorded lessons using screen recording software.
· Be prepared that the dominant mode of communication with students will then likely shift to email.
I’m shouting out to the phenomenal Neil Berry and Rachael McFarlane who’ve built up Media Arts at SIDE and to add anything else or correct me with their extensive expertise.
Regards
Adrianne Evans
Hi everyone,
Thank you Adrianne for detailing some very effective and practical strategies to deliver courses online, should that need arise. I would echo her advice to approach this situation we find ourselves in proactively and most importantly, think about how best you can ‘teach’ remotely/online, creating extra resources or ‘sharing’ platforms that keep your unique and proven pedagogy alive for your students.
I’ve taken the opportunity this year to move back into face-to-face teaching, so I have been spending any free time this week creating more interactive tasks (forums, screencasts demonstrating practical skills etc) on my Moodle courses AND am starting from today, to train my students in using Webex so that should we experience a sudden closure, they feel confident to access the online classes I may be offering.
Having worked in online education, teaching practical subjects, for quite a few years now, I do have a couple of tips that do not require becoming experts in online pedagogy, design or delivery overnight. As Adrianne said, I’m not trying to teach anyone to suck eggs but I know from experience that ensuring students have access to course materials online does not necessarily result in them being able to independently navigate nor learn from them.
- Keep it simple and stepped out. Ie post a forum or email at the beginning of each week (or twice weekly) explaining what needs to be done and how to seek further help. Write this in steps and if you are going beyond ‘5’ stop…in my experience, even ATAR kids stop reading at that point!
- Think about how you would deliver the content in class – is there some kind of instructional/callaborative strategy you know works well. If so, think about how you can replicate that online. Eg are you going to offer an online lesson where you can share ideas or is it going to be just as effective to do that activity through a forum, blog etc.
- Many schools already have courses established and accessed by students online. If this is not the case, before starting any online course development, check your students have the available technology, connectivity and training to use it. (I have taught students at SIDE who if home sick, cannot join lessons nor access their course as their household simply doesn’t have sufficient internet access)
- Approach this from the perspective of whole class online AND groups of students in self-isolation. How are you going to cater for the latter most effectively?Eg I’m going to trial running a live WEBEX lesson in my face to face classes, wearing a headset (might need to invest in a wireless one this weekend!) so students who may have to work from home can join us too and be part of the class discussion.
- Be mindful of the fact that we may be in a situation where ALL students subjects are being delivered online/remotely and in potentially different ways/platforms depending on the Learning Area. If this is the case, less is most definitely more. Avoid bombarding them with instructions and ‘check ins’ – it can be counter-productive and result in students feeling overwhelmed.
- And finally, give yourself a break – if you feel, given time pressures, that your current LMS contains sufficient course material and your students don’t have the resources at home (technology or connectivity wise) to participate in a more interactive lesson, don’t dismiss the good ol’ email or regular phone call. Infact, some students prefer this individual contact.
Goes without saying, happy to be contacted if you.
Cheers
Rachael
I’m surprised (have I missed it?) that few seem to be sharing contingencies for 12ATAR productions this year –
What you all thinking?
- Forge ahead as planned
- Shoot the whole thing these holidays, just in case
- Adapt script so it’s some kind of domestic drama or something they can shoot nearby, in empty suburban streets
- Write the virus into the script
- Experimental film, potentially including stock footage
- Self-reflexive podcast or documentary, documenting the crisis
- Toilet-paper mockumentary
Maybe add ideas to the list if you have any?
Mark Seman
Digital Arts & Visual Arts teacher
It’s a complex one, with a lot of moving parts to work with, my advice (today that is, tomorrow the floor could be made of spaghetti if the last week is a reflection of the randomness) is
Disclaimer: this is based on my schools context. Yours will obviously be different
- Start planning. If you don’t it will bite you in the arse. The effort now will even be worth it if it doesn’t become a worse case scenario
- if you are a school with rigorous loan out supplies, get them to your twelves as a priority, and expect to be calling parents to make arrangement workarounds (I delivered a bunch the other day to houses. Guaranteed “Service with a smile”)
- If you have less than 1 per group ratios for 12s, or spread gear across years, recall all gear from other year groups and get it to twelves as a priority.
- Pivot year 11 sem one projects to “filmed on my phone” tasks. Make it topical: lady gaga just made hers on an iphone 11
- Remind students that if in doubt on what to study for media, shoot something. Work on a script. Edit if you have access. That stuff can still happen at home. Adapting to situations is a big part of filmmaking at the best of times.
If you are a school that has issues associated with equipment, start thinking of work arounds in your teams that are sensible for your cohorts and fit the instructions you are being given by your leadership, or if its not tangible, feed that information back to SCSA about this issue. You won’t be alone.
Hope that helps!
Brad
PS on the positive, Id imagine there will be quite a few director participant documentaries this year or art films about the teenage struggle with isolation and stress! Yay!
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