Local Primary School shouts out to the world
By podcasting their weekly radio show, Auckland's Point England Primary School students are not only learning about the latest emerging technologies, they're expanding upon their curriculum education and communicating worldwide!
The radio show, aptly named Korero Point England (KPE), started shortly after the schools ICT facilitator, Dorothy Burt, returned from a conference in the United States where the use of new technologies such as podcasting, blogging and wiki's were being shown off by tertiary institutions. Believing that their five-year-old students had the talent and intelligence to master these pioneering technologies, Pt England Primary introduced podcasting to senior students and were overwhelmed by the results.
Pupils who would have previously avoided visiting the school library at all costs had become regulars and are now often seen perusing the library shelves in search of new content for their book review podcasts,
"Podcasting has been fabulous in getting boys motivated to read", says Burt, "They're not being dragged into the library; boys are going in there with a zealous look in their eye, knowing exactly where they're going - straight to the NZ fiction section."
In fact, the initiative was so successful at getting students interested in literature that before long they had read all New Zealand fiction books in the school library! Luckily Wheeler's Books kindly agreed to come onboard as the schools book sponsor and have provided the necessary resources for continuing to encourage students to read native tales. New Zealand content has been used to date as the podcasters have discovered it provides a point of interest for their overseas listeners.
Podcasting has honed students' literature critiquing skills, but reading skills are not the only academic benefit. The students have learnt to listen to and critic their peer's podcasts, resulting in improved speech as they become aware of the importance of clarity and pronunciation especially in light of their international audience.
The volume of written work they are producing has also dramatically increased. Students are motivated to get their scripts polished and considered for podcasting publication. Even social studies is touched, with the students becoming interested in learning more about the location and living environment of their listeners. Communication with listeners is maintained by email, which the class read and reply to as a group.
Despite their early adoption of innovative ICT, Burt is quick to acknowledge that they are not endorsing the use of technology without focus on traditional education,
"It's got to have profound educational relevance otherwise it's a waste of teaching time" says Burt, "The more curriculum value you can get out of something the more powerful it is."
The Technology
Podcasting caught on incredibly quickly within Pt England School, in fact, it only took two days! By Tuesday of the first week teachers had already assembled the initial podcasts. They were able to achieve this because the children already knew how to use the audio equipment though their experience with the GarageBand software application.
To ensure maximum involvement in the creative process, student technicians are identified within the class. These are children with specific video or GarageBand skills who can assist the others with the technicalities of operating the keyboards, microphones, computers and audio recording software.
All of the technology necessary to create podcasts is available on the classroom Apple Inc and comes free with every Mac. GarageBand, part of the iLife suite of applications, is used not only for voice recordings, but the vast library of Apple loops and software instruments available, allows children to experiment with sound effects, stingers and jingles. And now with the introduction of iWeb to iLife 06, publishing podcasts to the web has become even easier.
Three students are involved in creating a podcast. Selected from the class are a technician, a reviewer and DJ. Creativity is not compromised as the students are unsupervised and not restricted by a template. While the rest of the class continues as normal, the chosen students are let loose out in the school corridor to record their podcast on an Apple iBook. While this may sound like a recipe for disaster to many teachers, Burt has found quite the opposite! Because the students are motivated to create a really great podcast they are focused on the task at hand.
Pt England students are becoming natural presenters thanks to their exposure to digital media. But this is not just limited to audio; they are also seeing much success through their involvement in video. The school also broadcasts television segments called Point England News Network (PENN). PENN started as a simple broadcast of the school notices twice daily throughout the school, but soon evolved to a means of communication with the parent community. Now broadcasted on Triangle TV 5.45pm-6pm every Wednesday, PENN includes the best student broadcast of that particular week, plus sports results, classroom activities and any other school news.
A school with vision
The Pt England Primary School teachers spoken to all agree on one thing. It's the attitude towards ICT and teaching that makes new initiatives so successful.
"It's about vision and attitude. Technology evolves so fast, so to motivate and capture children it has to be cutting edge", says Burt, "All teachers can do 'the three R's' [reading, writing, arithmetic] but we're doing something inspired. You have got to keep in touch with what technologies are out there and then have the vision to think 'kids could do that'."
This school values its teachers' enthusiasm and willingness to not only adapt but also push contemporary technology. They rightly see it as their point of difference and a great advantage for their students, "It's not just the academic students on podcasts; it's everyone. They all get a boost," proclaims Burt.
Being a decile one school, it may be argued that Point England Primary is disadvantaged and yet incredibly, this school is quietly achieving spectacular results and proving the value of modern digital media in the classroom.
To visit the Pt England Primary School website, please click here
To subscribe to Pt England Primary Schools podcast, please click here
