ED-MEDIA Conference 2003

The 2003 Ed-Media conference began with keynote speaker Larry Cuban, Professor Emeritus from Stanford University, and the author of Oversold and Underused – Computers in the Classroom. (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/CUBOVE.html) Later on the first day John Bain from Griffith University wondered if the “the guide on the side has moved too far to the side.” These cautionary tales were perhaps the most conservative opinions I heard for the four days of the conference. It may have just been the sessions I attended but this conference truly reflected its title. It was not so much a conference about e- or online learning as a conference about the use of media in teaching. Media, and not just the Internet, was the focus.  Perhaps the most controversial session was a keynote by Elizabeth Daly, Dean of the School of Cinema at the University of Southern California, who argued for an expansion of the concept of literacy in the modern age. This she said should be reflected by ALL teaching staff becoming proficient in the use and creation of multimedia materials. We have become too dependent on words to make meaning, and many younger students are well versed in the use of multimedia to demonstrate and promote learning.

My own session on the use of voice online (see http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/edmedia/mcsession.htm) successfully played out to about 40 people, half of whom were online.  My session, and another by John Southworth and colleagues from the University of Hawaii in which they demonstrated the use of web based video conferencing technology to link several education centres around the Pacific, highlighted the advantages of synchronous engagements online. This session would have benefited from more pedagogical substance, but having one of the presenters continue his participation from a taxi on the way to the airport via mobile phone was impressive! Another presentation from Japan demonstrated the use of mobile phones as polling stations to provide feedback on points raised during lecturers.

Derek Stephens from the University of Loughborough in the UK on the other hand confiscates mobile phones used in class, but showed how classrooms can be augmented with the use of professional video from external sources.

A refreshing aspect of the conference was the broad recognition that students need help in acquiring the skills to study online and participate effectively in collaborative work – referred to as meta-learning or meta-skills. Students need to be taught how to be collaborative. The Australian Catholic University has a novel solution to this problem. They have their students do a unit on Teamwork and sign contracts saying that they know and agree that they are expected to work in groups in the rest of their courses.

A number of institutions around the world are creating their own rich media products. Some are creating 3D worlds (eg the Shrine Educational Experience from Italy), and others like Massey University (NZ) have created their own virtual classroom tool which attempts to combine the strengths of both face to face and distant learning environments. It consists of live video and audio, a notetaking tool accompanying each slide viewed, and a threaded discussion attached to the lecture or class notes. Alas, it requires broadband to function reliably.

I attended an excellent session by the Executive Director of Merlot. Merlot is one of partner EdNA’s partners that share stored learning materials, and I recommend spending some time browsing the resources at Merlot. It has an appealing personalized peer review system of rating the resources it houses, and so, like EdNA can be relied upon to only store resources that other educators have used and approved.

Another eye-opening session was from a group of Hawaii locals who have been grappling with incorporating IT programs into depressed communities. In accordance with the concept of service learning, they place students in the community as part of their study program. This notion of service learning (for the benefit of the community) actually has college credits attached to it so the more time you spend on community service the more points you get towards your qualification! Community service can mean sitting with villagers and instructing them in the use of PCs, or helping out with the upkeep and maintenance of computers in community centres.

On a general note it was amusing to see some conference delegates using digital cameras as note takers. Instead of taking notes by hand, they simply point their digital camera at the screen of the slide with information they want for later referral and click. And in the breaks between sessions the armchairs and the floors of the corridors were littered with people tapping away at laptops connected to the Net via a wireless network. No Internet café where PC work takes place in a discrete and separate space, but right in among the social spaces of the conference. I was impressed by the wireless technology, but somehow saddened by this image of people working away on these machines on their own in public spaces.  Susan La Joie, keynote speaker from Canada urged us to see “computers as partners” but this is taking things too far!

Another sad fact is that such conferences have such full programs that they run sessions until 7.00 pm. If it is summer time in Hawaii and the conference venue is practically on the beach are you going to attend a 6.00 session? No, and not many did. It can be the case that people come halfway across the world to do an excellent presentation to just four people, and that is a very disheartening experience for presenters.

Still, it was an excellent conference. Venue and location doubtless helped, but the array and quality of practice on show was broad and rich. Where does Australia stand in all of this? I’d say theoretically we’re up with the leaders, but we have plenty to learn from others around the world about innovative uses of media in education.

 Quotable Quotes:

“The film will get rid of the textbook.” (Thomas Edison); quoted by Larry Cuban.

“Email has not replaced talking, but it has replaced talking about minutiae.” (session on Leadership Development from University of Virginia)

“Create meaning from the human, not the technological connection.”  

“The Internet has made possible interpersonal real life activities that were impossible in the traditional classroom.” (Uschi Felix from Monash)