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March 4, 2005
What Makes Educational Content Educational?
In the last session earlier we saw a series of presentations on examples of educational content development here in India. Unfortunately I didn't see anything that seemed to be breaking new ground. One project developed a series of educational CD-ROMs that converted textbook curricula into multimedia modules that you could play, rewind, fast forward and stop like a video recorder. We saw a clip from an anatomy module in which there was an animation of a skeleton flexing its knee joint. Meanwhile, a voiceover explained how the joint worked. Once you were done viewing the clip, though, your only options were to replay it or to move on to the next clip. What does a student do if they don't understand the voiceover explanation? The module offers no ability for the student to manipulate the stimulation, ask rudimentary questions or demonstrate that they've gained any knowledge from viewing it.
It seems the problem here isn't a matter of programming skills; the animations were quite well done, and the interface was simple to use. But the curricular model simply takes the content once contained in a text book, and animate it with accompanying narration. The same teaching method could have been seen in the 1970s with film strips I saw when I was in school.
I don't want to belittle the enthusiasm seen here regarding the development of educational content, particularly in local languages. But it's such a shame that the multimedia content we've seen so far doesn't demonstrate any interactivity, real or imagined, nor does it give students the tools to demonstrate what they're learning or how it applies to the real world. In one case we did see how students were being asked to create Powerpoint presentations after surfing the Net for information on a particular task such as "Learn something about Russia," but again, all this demonstrates is a student's ability to search the Web and do a book report presentation with the Powerpoint substituting what might otherwise be a handwritten report.
The next session, though, seemed to offer some more compelling models. Ana Maria Raad of CDI Chile gave a presentation on charter school-like information technology citizenship schools in Chile that use community-centric authentic assessment to teach students. Their education model, inspired by the "social education" work of Paulo Friere, is based on the notion that every child can be a social actor within their community, and that they have the responsibility to transform the world around them into a better place.
"We understand that technology should only be a mean to do something and not a goal in itself," she said. "We use computers while discussing issues of particular interest to each community."
When students learn to use Excel, for example, they do it in the context of debating human rights, so their spreadsheets become a tool for engaging their classmates on what rights they believe they have and which ones they don't. And when they use Powerpoint or a desktop publishing program, it's in the context of communicating to the class certain policy goals they'd like to see advocated in their community. To date, more than half a million students have learned to use computers in the context of discussing social justice, citizens rights and civic engagement at nearly 1,000 citizenship schools across South America. These schools, she said, are giving students learning opportunities to liberate them and become civic actors in their community rather than restricting them to a limited, old-fashioned curriculum that doesn't educate students in a socially-relevant context.
Next, Shilpa Uttam of Enabling Dimensions conducted a demo of an Indian CD-ROM called SpellWell. The program, designed for the visually impaired, is a tool for improving English spelling proficiency. Because the blind experience greater problems with homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like sight and cite) and face other spelling proficiency challenge, the software is designed to teach visually impaired people better spelling and the ability to type. It's also seen as a tool for improving the job prospects of the blind, who statistically are more likely to face significant employment challenges. The interface is designed so that it can be used by people who cannot see a screen at all, as well as for individuals who have enough visual capacity to make out large words with strong screen contrast. The game features well-produced audio recordings with hip music and entertaining voice-overs, helping younger people with visual impairments stay interested in the software.
The CD-ROM is also trying to redefine pricing models for educational software, with a target price of less than 300 rupees (less than $8) per unit. The disc is distributed through educational institutions for the blind, advocacy organizations and other NGOs that work with the disabled. The packaging also incorporates Braille, so a visually impaired user can take it out of the box and find usable instructions on how to begin the software exercises. Interestingly, the developers of the software see non-impaired users as a target audience -- the audio content is compelling and the user interface simple, allowing anyone who is interested in approving their spelling ability to benefit from the software. They've even created an online community, EnableAll.org, to offer tech support with experts specialized in assistive technologies, as well as provide an online community for users to discuss their learning experiences and create new word lists.
The next challenge, she said, was making the software work with speech-recognition software. Not only would this open it up to a broader disabled audience, but to illiterate audiences as well.... - andy
Posted by acarvin at March 4, 2005 7:18 AM
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