World Ecitizens

schoolscape @ future project, an EU Minerva project

a. World Ecitizens

Adviser Christina Preston

Many teachers and heads who have been promoting a culture of active citizenship are feeling that their work is more necessary than ever in the international climate.

Teachers who wanted to share ways of meeting this professional challenge attended two workshops. In the first session on March 4th there were presentations about citizenship including suggestions for local projects and practical advice about finding citizenship web resources as well as hands on using the UnITy website, the free citizenship website which has been designed by teachers of citizenship for the EU Unity project.

Active Citizenship: Teacher briefing pack one

Introduction
The project the project the teachers devised in workshops is explained below by the leaflet they distributed to colleagues.

World Ecitizens - Giving students a voice

The Unity of Identity website provides extensive free learning resources about citizenship designed by teachers as well as selected web sites. Each student also has a private web space where they can draft course work for the teacher to mark. There are also public exhibition areas and places for debate.

International students at all key stages are now invited to add to this celebration of citizenship by creating written statements, illustrations, video clips, comic strips and digital photographs that promote their ideals and aspirations for citizenship - one screen to make their point.

As soon as they register on the UnITy site students can start to make contributions in the closed area.

Thanks to our Partners: EU Minerva, Creative Partnerships. Promethean and Crisis for resources.

In the second workshop on April 1st the teachers will share the results of their project and advise each other on new ways forward. All the work produced by the children will be celebrated on the Unity of Identity website.

Here is the detail of how one teacher has interpreted this material for his pupils.

Active Citizenship
An opportunity for you to have your say!
A new Domex Unity of Identity Citizenship website has been created to give access to new free learning resources and selected web sites provided by teachers.

You are now invited to add your voice to the UnITy website. You are being offered the opportunity to add your views about: International Citizenship

What you have to do!

Search through the Domex Unity of identity resources to learn more about world citizenship and choose a topic which interests you after your search.

• Your views on citizenship in the UK, or in London - why are people homeless in a rich country? What can be done to solve the problem?
• Your views on immigration or asylum seekers - how should we deal with these issues in the UK? What are the implications for the world?
• How should people of different races or religions live together in our country? How can we live in harmony and peace? Your views?
• Your views on the role of women in our society and how women can change the future of the world. Why are women so important?
• What should be the role of teenagers in creating a better society in our country and the world? What can you do to help?
• How should parents bring up their children and what values should they teach them? What kind of parent would you be?
• Your views as a Citizen of the World on world issues such as:
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • The Aids epidemic
  • Religious tolerance
  • War
  • Famine
  • The role of education in creating a better world
  • Your hopes for the future of your world
  • Your fears about the future of your world
  • Why young people are the hope for the future of our world
  • How should adults treat children
  • How should adults be a positive role model to children of how to live and of positive values?

Remember you will be writing for other young people so make your writing interesting and fun.

10 schools are engaged on this project who will each be contributing to the final schoolscape @ future report.

The learners

• The London teachers planned an activity related to the Iraqi war which was impending and causing the pupils distress at both the primary and the secondary stage.

The technology
Using the UnITy website as a publishing focus, teachers choose to help children to develop written stories, drawings, or picture to scan and web publish, sound recordings, digital photos, video clips or multimedia forms on computers.

Mobile computers and interactive whiteboards have been used as learning devices.

Key issues
Citizenship studies are very new in the curriculum. This opportunity to use the website gives schools materials and exercises that were very useful. The intention is to save classroom teachers from preparation so that they can concentrate on the children's learning in class since they were fully engaged on exploring the resources. Students had also not published work on the web before so this was an added bonus.

Interim conclusions

• Reports from teachers about learning outcomes and social development

Learning outcomes

"Children seemed very anxious and were talking quietly among themselves. They were separating into groups based on nationality, speaking in their first languages, and it was feeling very divisive. When the children started, with the teachers' encouragement, to ask questions she helped them to research the issues themselves. "

"Out of all the suggested resource on the Unity website they found the BBC Newsround site the most useful. Questions included- Is it about oil? How did a bad person like Saddam Hussein get into power? What is the history of Iraq and Iran? Where do they get their arms from? Suzanne did an assembly on war and read out an essay from a child who was a refugee from Kosovo. "

"As teachers we learnt the usefulness of prepared materials and resources on the web. The citizenship materials on the Domex website were of a very high standard and kept the children fully engaged."

"The children were also motivated by the chance to create learning materials for other children. Since many children are Bangladeshi the link with the MirandaNet chapter in Bangladesh inspired them to think what they could send to peers in their own country."

"The Interactive whiteboards increased the pupils' ICT knowledge and encouraged them to present their work on citizenship to the others. Teachers used the IWB to present their projects to colleagues showing project photographs, maps, highlighted text, graphs, instructions for citizenship activities and the learning objectives for the students."

"The pupils were excited by the chance to publish their work on the web which generated a lot of conversations and debate amongst the pupils about content, style and grammar. One pair of learners started to argue fiercely about a full stop because they did not want incorrect text to be seen by others. Students also used the boards to show their projects, to work on the Unity of Identity and to teach other students."

"The school felt it needed to support the arguments for peace as it has done extensive work on conflict resolution. There were real fears in the school which has children from around the world, including a Palestinian child whose father is missing in Kuwait. One Year 6 child asked Gill 'Is this the end of the world?'."

"We have done very little work before about citizenship because it is new on the syllabus and we have not had many materials. We were very pleased to start with this UnITy website because it provided resources and exercises for the pupils. We had not used the Internet either so pupils were very excited to be using this resource. It seemed very relevant to them because it was about current situations."

"Children are asking teachers a lot of questions. The work has led to a greater openness among staff and children. "

"We have decided to develop new work in Citizenship in order to focus on the pupils distress and anxiety at this time and try to help them. The citizenship website could not have been provided at a better time as we would not have known how to find good reliable materials and exercises."

"In our school we have avoided paying lip service to ICT by reducing our pupils activities to 'download the picture and colour it', or filling gaps in a worksheet that could have been printed out and filled in using a pencil just as easily."

"The UnITy website was an excellent example not of replacing traditional activities but enhancing them. The UnITy website activities were the best way of teaching the concept involved."

"The pupils learnt far more than a set of skills, they learnt twenty-first century ways of thinking. Good and relevant use of ICT increased the engagement and motivation of our pupils and was a vehicle for retrieving analysing and sharing information with a real audience - it developed the children's analytical skills in an exciting and relevant way and made them active, critical and self-confident learners."

"In combination with the interactive whiteboard all students were enabled to view the images, then select, drag and drop them into a piece of work for editing."

"Using the UnITy website with IWB has transformed the learning environment by providing opportunities to develop pupil learning and performance. Not only do the activities heighten pupil interest, work can be clearly structured, sequenced and differentiated easily. Citizenship resource images and information can be dynamically generated on a screen, giving a high level of interaction from the pupils in interpreting sources and providing a catalyst for discussion. It has been particularly useful when developing activities, enabling pupils to compare knowledge with others and identifying the relevance and importance of particular aspects of the information. In displaying text and sources key points can be highlighted. Increased student interaction with the website content was important which was assisted by the use of IWB."

"When interactive whiteboards are an integral part of Key Stage 3 strategy teaching aids, with student whiteboards and oral and mental starters, student enthusiasm has increased. In some Year 7 lessons their eagerness to interact with the board has been quite overwhelming!"

"The most useful outcome from this initiative were the well informed class debate which followed when the pupils had seen all the publications on the website. The pupils had learnt a lot of new vocabulary. "

"Several girls who had never willingly engaged in classroom discussion were articulate and enthusiastic about the topics which had inspired them. We will go on publishing on the site and building a strong and effective web presence."

Social development learning outcomes

"Children are talking much more openly. They are able to relate the war to times when they have felt unsafe in their lives. It has greatly deepened the relationship between her and the kids."

"Children are calmer, less nervous, feel they can talk and be listened to. More confident in expressing their views and fears."

"The pupils seem much more aware of life in other countries and much more interested in ethical and moral issues. Their debating skills have improved too. "

"The children were so engaged in the activities that their behaviour improved. They have also been more thoughtful towards each other and more aware of social concerns."

"Students developed an awareness of local history, and their sense of place was enhanced: both factors which could inhibit acts of vandalism."

"The most useful outcome from this initiative were the well informed class debate which followed when the pupils had seen all the publications on the website. The pupils had learnt a lot of new vocabulary. "

"Several girls who had never willingly engaged in classroom discussion were articulate and enthusiastic about the topics which had inspired them. We will go on publishing on the site and building a strong and effective web presence."

Using Multimedia in International Exchanges: Teacher briefing pack two

Introduction
This Schoolscape @ future project has grown out of the school's strong belief in the advantages of international partnerships between schools as a normal part of the education process. Their pupils already work with establishments in the USA and China, and they are now looking for partnerships with schools in Africa. Their ultimate aim is to create a network of schools exchanging projects, news and experiences across the world with the UK school as the co-ordinating hub.

Technology
Teachers have been experimenting with multimedia to communicate with fellow students in Beijing. They are using the exchange of audio visual resources to bring the project to life. Extra visual and sound clues are being used to help students understand intuitively what life is like in another country.

Digital still cameras and a digital video camera complete with editing software have been loaded onto a computer that had a re-writable CD drive. Any videos and stills taken by the staff could now be properly edited, titled and saved in a variety of formats for CD or Web playback.

In line with the schools international policy the first avenue to be explored was the Web because it promised the widest coverage with the least cost of distribution and conversion. Video taken at the May Fair was used as the test subject because it contained both static and moving images coupled with speech and music lasting six and a half minutes.

Saving this in standard Real Player format produced a 1.7 megabyte file suitable for replaying over a 56K modem link. After loading it into a web directory we tested the replay over a standard BT line and found that the action was stilted like an early black and white newsreel.

The more the camera panned the worse the image became and only static shots produced a watchable result in a small 'normal view' RealPlayer window. However, in the classroom environment where the image is shown on a standard monitor or via a projector then at least a double sized window is needed. In this case the playback was fuzzy and the newsreel effect magnified to the point where much of the detail was lost and the action stilted. Even reproducing this clip in Windows Media Player did not overcome the quality and fluidity problems.

Because of the international exchange approach at our school multi-media communication in the form of video is a fundamental part of the exchange activity, allowing pupils to both see and hear children from abroad explaining their work and environment. Before the introduction of digital technology the school had to convert their work from PAL into whatever format their partner schools use, generally NTSC.

The Primary Head used to take the VHS tapes to the audio visual department of the local University, wait two weeks for them to be processed and posted back, then paid £15 per cassette for the privilege. In the early days when there was only one partnership this was tolerable, but as the volume of interchanges and number of partnerships grew both the time and financial burden became excessive. The EU Schoolscape @ future project has been the ideal platform to buy the equipment and develop the staff capacity to use multimedia communication in school.

This is the kind of equipment for schools who would like to do the same kind of project. The first and simplest form of media, the audio cassette, comes in a light compact case and uses a global standard format which can be heard using a player costing £30 or less. The second form, a video recording, uses a much larger cassette that utilises a format which is by no means global and costs at least £15 to convert from say PAL to NTSC.

An audio cassette is relatively cheap to send around the world, the much heavier video cassette costs significantly more in addition to the burden of conversion. Economic solutions to maintain multi-media contact with partner schools include digital video which has opened up new avenues for processing and sharing educational material easily, cheaply and globally in formats that can be played on any modern personal computer. This means we no longer have to consider which video format the partner school might use or even incur postage costs. It also means professional looking results can be developed with software which is cheap and easy to use straight out of the box.

Key players

• The ICT coordinator of a rural 4-16 years school and the head leading a team of teachers who are working on links with China and the US

Learners

• A staff team introducing multimedia forms of communication to the staff to underpin the school's World Ecitizenship policy.

Methodology

• Teacher action research: The main researcher has been coordinating the results from the teacher research team and working with the MirandaNet team

The key issues
In this citizenship project, the teachers are using multimedia communications as well as promoting reading and writing because better and richer communications are achievable between children in other countries by the inclusion of pictures, sound and animation. They are experimenting to see if multimedia web publication can also surmount some of the issues of language that prevent communication.

Conclusions
The school is aiming to specifically target areas of life which emphasise differences in culture and custom. By combining existing educational practice with the facilities that modern technologies can provide so easily at minimal cost, we will not only enhance the children's learning experience but also encourage and foster greater international understanding amongst our respective pupils.

As part of initiating a relationship with a Chinese school we put together a CD of stills and video to produce a range of 'typical' scenes from the Berkshire/Hampshire and our village countryside. We included the school May Fair sequence, but this time we made use of the CD's capacity and saved the video in MPEG, this time resulting in a file size of over 50 megabytes. In this format the action was fluid and clear even in full screen mode, and the sound was perfect, exactly what we needed for classroom projection.

Having approached this extreme we then went back to the smaller file sizes we needed for our web site and played with the options until we obtained RealPlayer and Windows Media Player files of around 7 megabytes. At this level we had reasonable upload times, even without the benefit of broadband, and kept the format sufficiently compact for playback over a 56k line. As a side effect this also allowed us to have an easy rule of thumb for estimating playback file sizes - one minute of run time produces approximately one megabyte.

In the future Instead of just sending stills and text, the teachers are planning the exchange of voice commentaries about a particular aspect of local history and a short video of our investigation of how caterpillars develop into butterflies. For the Chinese children who are not working in their first language teachers hope that sound and animation will assist understanding.

Our ultimate aim is to collect projects from schools all over the world and categorise them within a simple web site for re-use by the other schools working within the school framework. The material will cover every aspect of the curriculum from studies of 'where we live' through to time delay photography of plants, insects and hatching chicks. In addition we want to produce behind the scenes footage of how project folders are put together before being shipped abroad or how events such as the school play are rehearsed and produced.

Where possible we want to specifically target areas of life which emphasise differences in culture and custom. For example in the USA they pledge allegiance to the flag and celebrate thanksgiving, whereas in the UK we have morning assemblies and harvest festivals. By combining existing educational practice with the facilities that modern technologies can provide so easily at minimal cost, we will not only enhance the children's learning experience but also encourage and foster greater international understanding amongst our respective pupils.

Appendices on the web
Pictures and illustrations

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