Fiona de Villiers reviewsUSING MEDIA IN TEACHING – LEARNING GUIDE by Carol Bertram, Peter Ranby, Mike Adendorff, Yvonne Reed, Nicky Roberts (Oxford University Press, R250)
Published in conjunction with the South African Institute for Distance Education, this book is Oxford University Press’s third module in the Study of Education project series, which was designed to examine the implications of being a teacher in South Africa in the new millennium.
One of the most obvious features of our times is that we live in the information age. Furthermore, our new curriculum and the OBE model adopted in the new South Africa require that teachers teach in ways that actively link learning to students’ own lives and experiences. The popular media in particular provide a host of opportunities that could be harnessed to achieve this.
Unfortunately, many teachers don’t yet know how to use media effectively in their classrooms and study programmes. All too often, they either leave media teaching to the language-learning areas, or they treat media resources in a half-hearted way by, for example, simply inserting a newspaper article into a worksheet as the basis for a dull comprehension exercise.
Using Media in Teaching is set to change all this. It will enable teachers to assist their students to navigate critically through an information-saturated world.
The authors are quick to point out that media will never replace teachers in the classroom. Rather, teachers should use media resources to create learning environments that equip learners with the knowledge and skills to live and work in a changing South Africa.
While this might sound like an enormous challenge to many teachers, this book will guide them through every step to becoming media-savvy in the classroom.
Indeed, there wasn’t a single aspect of this text that I didn’t like.
In terms of design, I found the large format particularly appealing, as it makes the text that much more accessible. The authors have also been sensitive to the way the brain and eye work together to move through textbooks by breaking up the text with helpful paragraph sub-headings.
Readers are also motivated by regular suggested study-time allocations and frequent extra information sidebars. Others will surely be grateful for the short, simple sentences that make the subject matter easier to grasp.
Throughout the book, the authors draw on the experiences of teachers around the country to enrich their ideas, opinions and discoveries. Using Media in Teaching is also not pitched at one particular group. Both novices and more experienced educators can gain equally here.
Overall, starting with a comprehensive definition of media resources, the authors have been careful to construct the resource according to OBE principles. For example, they set out topic ideas clearly at the start of each new section. These make it clear to the reader what outcomes they should be able to reach at the end of each section, and when readers arrive at this point, they are encouraged to summarise what they have learned, and to try to apply it actively to their own teaching. In particular, section one is crucial reading, as it is here that the authors explain exactly how the resource works and how it should ideally be tackled.
They even go so far as to suggest which activities would work best done in conjunction with fellow learners and which could be tried out with teachers. And those who learn better visually or by listening, will find the CD-ROM and audio cassette useful supplements.
I also liked the ‘human touch” offered at the end of this section – the pictures of the authors and brief biographies seem to emphasise their passion for and commitment to their subject matter.
Another mark of success is that each section in Media in Teaching can be isolated from the rest and tackled on its own by, say, teachers whose professional development time is limited.
Section two is a case in point. It links the key principles of OBE to those of media education, and will remind teachers exactly how it is that learners learn by turning abstract concepts into concrete examples and by moving from the familiar to the new.
Section three offers an in-depth look at the potential uses of popular print media in any classroom.Indeed, the authors make the point that effective media use can result in exciting cross-curricular, or integrated, teaching and learning. But whatever learning area uses popular print media, planned and executed thoroughly, teachers can ensure that learners improve their reading, writing and listening skills.
In section four, teachers can learn how to maximise the use of electronic popular media.
The fact that radio is still the most powerful electronic medium in South Africa suggests that here, too, teachers can work together to explore further educational possibilities in all learning areas. Teachers could look to arts and culture educators and methodologies to enrich their exploration.
Teachers will find they are able to fine-tune their own and their learners’ critical media skills in section five, as they discover how reality is constructed and fed back to us via both electronic and print popular media.
I found section six particularly intriguing, as not many teachers would describe textbooks as media resources. But of course they are, and this section provides ways for teachers and students to evaluate the course books they use. This kind of exercise could in turn stimulate other creative exercises to demonstrate to learners how to talk and write about the knowledge and skills they possess.
Section seven will be helpful use to those teachers who recognise the growing importance of computers in education, but who might still feel intimidated by the technology itself. School managers might wish to use this section as the basis for a workshop for the entire staff. Administrators might also find the guide to resourcing schools with computers extremely valuable.
When a resource book like this comes along, I always believe that schools should make sure that as many teachers read and use it as possible.
I also believe that school principals and their management teams are obliged to set time aside to nurture the professional development of their teachers.
Used properly, resources like using Media in Teaching can generate exciting teaching ideas. In fact, the possibilities are endless.