Rock Our World
Two New Zealand primary schools took part in the ‘Rock Our World’ project that saw students attending weekly videoconferences, making collaborative sound tracks and forming friendships with their peers from across six continents.
Maungaraki School and Selwyn Ridge Primary School were two of the eight proud schools whose pupils have been using information and communication technologies (ICT) to collaborate with other English-speaking students from California, Peru, Morocco, Japan, Belgium and Australia.
The project involved each of the classesputting down an audio track using GarageBand, which were then added to in turn by each of the other classes before being returned to the original creator as a finished song. Every class ended up with a 30 second original music piece that had a contribution from each of the others.
However, these students came away with more than an understanding of audio creation using GarageBand. Through their videoconferences via iSight cameras the students have had contact with classes on the other side of the world giving them the opportunity to learn more about each other’s countries and cultures.
Maungaraki School principal, John Western, says that what started out as a music project soon developed into a cultural exchange with students comparing their living and classroom situations and sharing information about their respective countries.
Further to the musical production, these schools have produced and shared short movies about themselves, their class, school and community using iMovie. Western says that through this project the students and teachers alike have made new international friendships and contacts.
Teacher, Carol Ann McGuire dreamt up ‘Rock Our World’ as a means of getting her class of visually impaired students in California to communicate with peers across the globe through music.
Selwyn Ridge Primary School deputy principal, Craig Price, says the project has moved the students to consider how they can use ICT to further the relationships formed, particularly with McGuire’s visually impaired students who have been teaching them about Braille.
A collaborative cookbook has been proposed, as the next part of the project, where students can share favourite recipes and learn about the culinary preference of other cultures.
For more information about the Rock Our World project visit:
www.rockourworld.org/
More about Rock Our World in the NZ Education Gazette visit:
www.edgazette.govt.nz/
