Field Trip - MLS
The field trip to the Martin Luther Schule was very interesting. My expectation for this field trip was, to see in how far New Media has changed since I left school. As you can read in the first task of my portfolio, my experiences with new media were already up to date when I entered University. Therefore it was quite interesting to see how classrooms have developed and how students and teachers work with new media today.
The first room we got to know was the big teachers room. Here we could see teachers working on laptops and searching the net via wireless internet access. However also two installed computers should provide better working conditions. By now, the school has its own intranet from where teachers can reserve all the media they need for their classes, such as cameras, DVD-players, projectors and laptops (even from home). This is one helpful media upgrade which we did not had in school six years ago.
The most astonishing aspect was that all classes had their media closet, equipped with a big flat TV, DVD-Player and a sound system. From that media system, they had the possibility to access the internet and to illustrate presentation results by connecting a laptop to the TV screen. Moreover, the school has a computer room with about 30 computers which are all connected to a system called “Mastereye”. From the main computer where only a teacher has access to every step a student does can be watched. However the system is not only used for monitoring but also for projecting a presentation via a projector from one of the students computer. If the computers in the computer room are not sufficient, teachers can access the netbook trolleys for one more class.
An interesting fact was that the school owns only two smart boards, which is a controversial thing because of the high valuation the school has for new media. The reason however is very simple and calculated. The teachers have no use for smart boards because of the low contribution they have for their teaching. This attitude showed me that it is not just about to own the most upgraded versions of the media support so everyone can say “we are the best new media school because we have everything”. New Media has to support the everyday life of school and the MLS has found a perfect solution for their learning environment.
The first room we got to know was the big teachers room. Here we could see teachers working on laptops and searching the net via wireless internet access. However also two installed computers should provide better working conditions. By now, the school has its own intranet from where teachers can reserve all the media they need for their classes, such as cameras, DVD-players, projectors and laptops (even from home). This is one helpful media upgrade which we did not had in school six years ago.
The most astonishing aspect was that all classes had their media closet, equipped with a big flat TV, DVD-Player and a sound system. From that media system, they had the possibility to access the internet and to illustrate presentation results by connecting a laptop to the TV screen. Moreover, the school has a computer room with about 30 computers which are all connected to a system called “Mastereye”. From the main computer where only a teacher has access to every step a student does can be watched. However the system is not only used for monitoring but also for projecting a presentation via a projector from one of the students computer. If the computers in the computer room are not sufficient, teachers can access the netbook trolleys for one more class.
An interesting fact was that the school owns only two smart boards, which is a controversial thing because of the high valuation the school has for new media. The reason however is very simple and calculated. The teachers have no use for smart boards because of the low contribution they have for their teaching. This attitude showed me that it is not just about to own the most upgraded versions of the media support so everyone can say “we are the best new media school because we have everything”. New Media has to support the everyday life of school and the MLS has found a perfect solution for their learning environment.