Media Use in Class. Survey & Case Studies Collection

1. Media Use in Class.Survey & Case Studies Collection Nicoleta Fotiade, Sibiu, 23nd of June 2010

2. Context • OnAir: Effective Use of Media in Class, developed in 6 European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania. • Aim&Objectives of the project: • Help teachers discover the New Media potential in their work with the students; • Help students develop abilities to understand, produce and approach media messages in a critical way.

3. I. Survey - Aim • To understand how students and teachers use and relate to media in their free time as well as in class. • Gather information to develop an educational package to promote critical thinking skills towards media messages. • Weblink: www.onair.medmediaeducation.it/useofmedia.aspx

4. Data in Romania • Target groups: secondary and upper secondary school students and teachers. • 7 secondary and upper secondary schools in Bucharest, 1 in Ploiesti, 1 in Petrosani. • Standardized questionnaires (for each target group). • Sample: N1 = 100 students (11-16 years old); N2 = 50 de teachers. • Interviews face to face, computer assisted or handouts. Questionnaires provided by La Sapienza.

5. A. Students’ Responses (1) • Internet – main medium, along books and television; • Students believe that their peers use Internet mainly to communicate through instant messaging (64%), to download (56%) and search for information (53%). • Main activities associated to mobile phones: sms/mms(88%) and listening to music(83%).

6. Students’ Responses (2) • Internet and mobile phones – main media used to communicate and to share feelings and information. • Print media and traditional radio – less present in students’ daily life.

7. Adjectives Associated to Different Media(Students) • Internet - useful, interesting, fun, informative, cool; • TV - informative, interesting, fun, boring, useful; • Radio – both boring and informative, useful, fun, relaxing, interesting; • Newspapers - informative, useful, interesting, boring; • Mobile phones – useful; • Videogames - fun, interesting, boring; • Books - interesting, boring, useful, educational.

8. B. Teachers’ Responses • Cable TV, broadcasting radio, car radio and print media – main media used in their free time. • They all use internet but majority of respondents did not identified it as their main medium to use.

9. Teachers And Media Use In Class • Most used media in class are Internet, DVD, photos, newspapers and e-books – as tools to support the teaching-learning process. • Main issues of the media use: economic and infrastructure issues; lack of cohesion with the official syllabus. • Teachers would like to learn more about: multimedia online teaching; interactive DVD use; audiovisual production; production of news in class.

10. European Research on Media Education. Final Report • Web-link: http://www.onair.medmediaeducation.it/transnationalreport.aspx

11. II. Collection of the Case Studies • Aims: • Identify good practices of media use in class; • To second the data gathered through interviews. • 27 long case studies; 23 short case studies; • 37 participant teachers from București and other 9 cities in Romania; • Email, phone interviews, face-to-face interviews.

12. Difficulties In Gathering Data. Common Reasons for Teachers’ Refusal Use of new technologies and media in class – not within a structured project; Exams sessions; Lack of time or lack of motivation; The form – too long.

13. Media Used in Class Media are used in class mainly as a teaching tool and less as an object of study; Less activities to tackle explicitly development of critical thinking towards media messages; Internet – most used medium (to communicate, document, inform); PowerPoint – most used program to produce multimedia materials.

15. Methods Used and Media Skills Most used teaching-learning methods: case study, discussion, demonstration, working groups; Less used: educational games, simulation, role play; Within majority of case studies: writing and critical thinking skills are aimed.

17. Curriculum Most projects were implemented within Romanian Literature and Language classes as well as Foreign languages and Social Studies; According to the case studies authors, most projects involved use of interdisciplinary skills.

19. Media Issues Most of the projects focused on the production of PowerPoint presentations on various topics and other media products like school magazines, flyers, blogs, short films. Critical analysis of media and advertising messages (in less projects); Less tackled: stereotypical representation, deconstruction of messages.

21. Teachers’ Evaluation on the Case Studies Both simple and complex projects; Much focus on computer use and less on critical thinking analysis; Necessity to take into consideration the final impact of students; Digital gap – an obstacle in developing new teaching practices; Teachers’ lack of availability for voluntary work; Lack of institutional support.

22. Our findings&opinion Media education in Romania – less developed, difficult to identify media projects; Teachers lack new media skills – digital gap; Minimal institutional support for media projects; Media used as teaching tools; media issues less tackled explicitly within complex projects; At this point, teachers’ motivation and media skills – main propeller for such projects.

23. Nicoleta Fotiade nicoleta@activewatch.ro phone: 0040-21-313 40 47 www.activewatch.ro THANK YOU!