Thursday, April 28, 2011

February, 2011, Collaborative Inquiry, 2011

February, 9, 2011

The Skype ended up being a fantastic and positive learning experience. However, I was unsure of the reaction that my students would have the next day in class, immediately after it was over. Although both groups of students had prepared questions ahead of time, my students and Kendra’s students, the students were a bit awkward when they were live on the screen. But they were both awkward. I guess it is the teenager thing...it was interesting because both groups behaved similarly, even though they are miles apart with quite different backgrounds. In any event, the students talked for about an hour and seemed to enjoy it. The conversation was mostly about similarities and differences in activities/lifestyle in and out of school. 


When asked how the Skype went, my students were overwhelming positive...they loved it. Read their feedback here.



We finished the semester with another project titled, “ Culture Clash”...the students took photographs from the Beijing students and combined them with their own, using Photoshop...The purpose was not only to learn some basic tools in Photoshop, but to also really pay attention to and look at the differences between our cultures and surroundings.


After looking through the students end of the year portfolios and feedback, I could see the influence that the collaboration with the Beijing students had on their learning. See examples here.

Kendra and I decided that we would continue this collaboration this semester...we decided that we would try to Skype twice...once at the beginning of the semester to introduce the students and again in the middle/end to discuss photo techniques/strategies...

Closer to the end of the first semester we both did a photojournalism project. Kendra's students went into a small village near their school and photograph what life is like for these people. They shared their images in animoto.

My students did a project, titled, "who are you?" They photographed images that described who they are, specifically to an audience that knew nothing about them. The students put their projects together in an imovie; we posted them to the Ning and shared with our friends in Beijing.



Kendra and I have had many challenges along the way, especially with our differing schedules and time zones. However, we both see the benefits of our collaboration and continue to persevere when things get crazy busy in our personal and professional lives.

No comments:

Post a Comment