Talking to the Media.
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by Sara Goessi. The media team was highly visible at the Ulearn 06 Conference in Christchurch in September. It wasn't just the bright red T-shirts worn by all its members. Or the fact that they were carrying round all kinds of high-tech gadgets - cameras, video cameras, laptops and microphones.

 

It was also to do with the age gap between the media team and delegates. The youngest team member was just nine, the oldest in year 13, and all 34 of them were working at Ulearn during their school holidays. Most of the 1,400 or so delegates were teachers from around the country, who came to the conference to learn about using digital technologies in the classroom. And many of them were interviewed by the students, who turned their sound and video clips into podcasts, video blogs, wikis and newspapers.

 

For much of the three-day conference the team was hard at work at an array of Macs in the foyer of the Christchurch Convention Centre, editing photos and videos, writing stories and putting their work online. Behind them, big screens showed their work in progress, so they could keep an eye on what each other was doing (and so the teachers could also relive their moment in the spotlight).

 

Nick, Phillip and Ben, year 11 students at Cashmere High, had been making their own movie at school when they were recommended by a teacher to join the media team. Their project started with writing a list of set questions during English at school, then doing a series of 30 video interviews at the conference. Working as a team, they edited their videos, added background music and turned out video logs, or vlogs, each day.

 

Did it count towards their schoolwork? "I wish it did, but it doesn't, which kind of sucks," Nick says. "To get some credits for doing this sort of thing would be absolutely fantastic." They do get a letter for their CVs, though. "And we get to keep these awesome T-shirts."

 

Elsewhere in the centre, students were writing up their interviews, editing photos and laying them out in a desktop publishing program to make a daily newspaper about the event.

 

There was teaching going on, too, with students of all ages showing teachers how to make blogs, podcasts, vlogs and wikis. Will they cover Ulearn again next year? "I defi nitely hope so," Nick says. If they're not asked, the students say, they'll volunteer anyway.

 

Links
core-ed.net/ulearn/

 

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