I was reading The VP Debate: Candidates, questions, and queries which analyzes the Google searching habits during the debates and I could not help remembering my experiences in most of my K12 history classes when movies were shown. Basically I slept through most of them. This might be a little more surprising to you if I mention that I was also the class valedictorian. Or it might not, if you also hated movies in history class. One teacher warned that the content would be on the test. My arrogant teenage reply was ‘Yes, but it’s in the book and I can read’. I am not particularly proud of that moment.
However, I cannot help but be jealous of the opportunities today’s classes have. Having grown up a bit in 20+ years, I can see now that seeing a movie of an event might be better than just reading about it. Although with the lights out and the passive viewing mode, I might still fall asleep. It occurs to me though that just the chance to look up terms and content during the movie could change it for me from passive viewing to a more active experience. Students could be asked to blog about the movie while viewing, even if they are just recording questions or terms for later research. Students could be asked to report their own search terms after the movie. Teachers could then have some objective evidence that learning took place (rather than blank stares or actual closed eyes) and possibly a method for gauging the relative effectiveness of the media.
The next thought I had also makes me pause. I am going to admit that I have tried to watch the entire debates and I failed. No, it isn’t because I am not interested. It’s because they end after my bed time and I struggle to stay awake. It sounds like a theme with me but really I don’t sleep as much now as I did in my teens; it’s just that I start my day at 5 am and 10 pm is a limit that is hard to overcome. Anyway, I will also admit that I find myself not recognizing some of the references or events discussed during the debate (maybe because I slept through the movie the day it was introduced?) My approach has been to actually use paper and pencil to jot down hard copy notes. So my question is this: why did I not think to research during the debate itself? Is that evidence of my previous conditioning to use only one media at a time? Luckily, there is another debate tomorrow so I have another opportunity to compare my experience. Although it will be just my own subjective evaluation, I will be interested to gauge whether I think I learned and absorbed more or if the computer was a distraction.
If any teachers read this post, I would love to hear if you have tried showing a movie while encouraging students to use a laptop or even a cell phone to look up content? If so, what were your experiences and do you have any data on the effectiveness as compared to the movie alone?
Filed under: Teaching with Technology
