Digital Teaching Learning Abstract This case study is about using some different digital resources as teaching tools to aid the teachers in teaching students. The case study looks at both demonstration video and virtual environments for teaching individually and how they would work together. Both elements have been backed up with facts and #quotes to justify the existence of this case study. Introduction This case study will be on Digital Teaching and Learning and how different methods can be used to enhance the student experience and learning. The research within this case study has come from a variety of sources as well as firsthand experience within the subject matter. I am currently the Foundation Degree (FdA) in Digital Media and Television Production course leader and with this course; we are offering the students to study both full and part time. This option is available for this course as the course is open to all individuals from the age of 18 to undertake the course even if they are in full time employment. I have a degree in Computer Animation and Special Effects and I am about to start a PhD in Animation, so digital teaching and learning is something that I feel I have a good knowledge and understanding of. People involved Currently involved with digital teaching and learning, there are 6 members of college staff interested in this area and undertaking our own research into different areas. I am looking into virtual environment teaching using software such as Second #life and Open Sim and demonstration videos for teaching, my colleagues are looking into Virtual Learning Environments (Moodle) and Demonstration Videos. Learning & Teaching Environment As this is still in research stage and not being tested, but the modules that are being looked into to deliver this way are digital graphics and 3D animation. The level of learning this is being looked at for are level 5, second year foundation degree students studying both full time and part time on the new FdA Digital Media and Television Production course. The resources required for the software are a standard PC, a broadband internet connection, mobile phone with video recording capabilities and the appropriate software. All resources are made bilingually and all text size, font and colour are carefully considered for all ability of students. Some disabilities will not be able to use these are resources due to the nature of the disability, such as blindness, people who are blind won’t be able to use these as they will not be able to visualise what is being shown / demonstrated. Issues with current teaching / learning method(s) With both digital graphics and 3D animation both being made solely on computers, it sometimes is hard to visualise the work in its intended location. Some graphics work in only created for computer games, animation and online environments such as Open Sim. Once a student has created a graphic on the computer, is can only be seen on that computer and printed out, this is sometimes not its final location, so meaning and feel is lost. Current ways that students are taught are in a class room where a task can be demonstrated on the board by the tutor and students have to remember what they have seen and then try and do it themselves. This is usually supported by detailed handouts explaining how to create the intended outcome, but explaining via a handout and visually demonstrating are two very different methods and suit students differently. This way of teaching is good in its own right, but having a demonstration video to hand to review as and when the students wants and needs is beneficial as the student then takes control for their own learning. Currently students are show only once or twice then expected to complete the task on their own with tutor support on a more one to one bases, some students don’t like asking for help and they feel that people with judge them for asking for help. Once a student has completed a piece of work, it is always nice to see the piece in its intended environment, but currently we ask students to submit the completed work on CD/DVD and printed out so it can be marked. Having the piece submitted in this way means that the piece cannot be seen it in intended environment and sometimes meaning is lost and the tutor may feel the student has not completed the work to the standard required. Research into new teaching / learning methods There are a number of individuals working within the digital media and web 2.0 field, and with that, a vast amount of research is being carried out to enhance the experience of the individual. What is digital media? Digital Media also called New Media is a term used to include digital, computerised information and communication technologies. What is web 2.0? Web 2.0 is an area on the internet, in its simplest sense; Web 2.0 is the social networking side of the internet. Social networking sites are sites such as Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and Second #life to name a few. These sites allow all users of all abilities to interact with family, friends, and even make new friends in the digital world. Marc Prensky the author of “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” is a practitioner in education and he has carried out research into students and how they have changed over the years. “Today’s students – K through college – represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of a digital age. Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives.” (Prensky, M, 2001, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, NBC University Press) To back up this, a report for Gizmodo found this shocking statistic: “99% of boys and 94% of girls in their teens in the US allegedly play games on at least a semi-regular basis, covering 65% of households across the country. The most popular games seem to be racing games or puzzles, though rhythm games like Guitar Hero also came high up in the rankings. Despite fears of kids locking themselves into virtual worlds though, only 10% of people said they play games like Second #life”. (http://current.com/items/89316047_just_1_of_american_teens_don_t_play_computer_games) With the research carried out by Marc Prensky is it safe to say that because students have changed, we as practitioners need to change the ways in which we teach these students and start thinking about teaching and getting messages across on their turf. Findings With the amount of research that I have read about and also carried out myself, I am seeing that as a lecturer, I need to keep my options open and make sure I am up to speed with new advancements within my field digital media. Due to working in digital media, it is always nice to bring something different to the teaching table, take the students out of their comfort zones, just to embrace new styles of learning. Students are using more and more technologies and software then we ever will within an educational establishment. We need to make sure we bring learning to the students on their turf. Students wanting to try out something tricky will always use the internet as a resource for finding out how to, they will also check video sites such as youtube for a demonstration that can be paused, played over and over again until the student has concord the task. Video demonstrations are a new method and they still have plenty of #life left in them until something better comes along in the future. Video is something that can be created quickly by either the student or the tutor, as long as the quality is there and that they are relevant then they will work. Open Sim works in a similar way that second #life does, but some of the benefits are that Open Sim has a restricted network like a VLE would and the content on the virtual environment is that put there solely by the teaching team. Within Open Sim, you can make lecture theatres where students can attend in digital a seminar / lecture on a topic and then complete a task, quiz or test to show that they watched the whole seminar. This would mean that the student would not have to attend the college and they could stay and work from home on a particular topic / module. The blocks can be put within the environment where the tutor / student and write and leave messages, it will also allow you to apply pictures and textures that the students have created and seen in its intended environment, also you can put videos within the environment where it can be viewed at a later date. So using demonstration video on a VLE or virtual environment would benefit the student as they would be able to easily working within the environment, be able to have the videos on demand as and when they need them. Current methods of teaching are good, but they need to be better and having a demonstration video to hand to review as and when the students wants and needs is beneficial as the student then takes control for their own learning. This then makes the learning experience more personal and the student is able to study at their own pace. One thing that I have noticed from observations of students working and also what students have said to me is that they like the control of what, when and how they learn. “our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach”. (Prensky, M, 2001, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, NBC University Press) Marc Prensky also sees that students are changing and he thinks that the current ways that we teach do not fit today’s students. I only half agree with this statement. Long gone are the dictatorship ways of teaching where a teacher stands at the front of the class and recites Latin or English Literature at the students and then the students have to recite back. We have move on a long way, we now get students involved with their learning, get students working in groups, moving around the classroom etc. Some of the current ways we teach work well and won’t change, but some the do work but need to be better, we need to chance and adapt to future proof the students. Reflections Main aims in choosing this strategy and rationale for choices of tools, resources, etc. Assess what worked well, and what didn’t. Any problems or risks identified. Recommendations for colleagues undertaking a similar strategy. “It has also been shown that adjusting teaching materials to meet the needs of a variety of learning styles benefits all students.” (Agogino & Hsi 1995; Kramer-Koehler, Tooney & Beke 1995) I see teaching as a war; we as teachers come up against a group of students who are at the college, some want to learn where as other don’t, they are there for other purposes. We fight the students with education and guidance, and ready for the next battle, their future. “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved”. (Sun Tzu, http://www.brainy#quote.com/#quotes/authors/s/sun_tzu.html) With this in mind, I read this as we have a tool, trick, styles and ways to teacher students and we are always learning to strengthen and broaden our skills to teach, these are the things that students see. But underneath we work hard on planning and preparation to actually teach and this, the students never see. Conclusions What I have learnt from the case study is that you can never know what the outcome will be, but you can have an educated guess. Students will always throw things in that you don’t expect or haven’t accounted for and this was true with this case study, students told me that they wanted more control over their learning; I just thought they were happy with how things were going currently, but liked the occasional extra, the bit we call excellence. As for what would I do differently next time, I wouldn’t, I am really happy with what I have found out and how it will work together, I just like to get a working example and see if it something that I can use for teaching higher education. I have read about theories and theorists, but I have tried by best to keep them from the case study as I wanted to get my opinion written down and then see if we have the same views, the only person I seem to share views with is Marc Prensky but I expected that. I would like to develop this further and see if this is implementable across a college as a whole, but that is a long term project.