Media & Learning News June 2017 Published by the Media & Learning Association

Media & Learning News

10 ways to use video to enhance learning and teaching in your university

Looking for inspiration as to how academics

can use more video to enhance their teaching

practice? Then look no further than this

succinct blog post with examples posted

recently by Jon Walmsley, Senior Media

Advisor at the University of Derby, UK in which he describes 10 ways in

which video can be used to enhance learning and teaching. John posted this

blog to support Digital Learning Week at his university and it includes short

descriptions of different types of applications from using video to introduce

modules to using video to increase motivation and encourage engagement.

Read the full post here.

Creating common Media Literacy standards

EMELS, is a new network of media literacy

focused organisations in 7 countries

supported under the Erasmus+ programme

funded by the European Commission. During

the lifetime of the project which began in

January 2017, the partners plan to learn from

one another, to exchange experiences and to plan an innovative media

literacy training programme called the European Media Literacy Standard

for Youth Workers. The partners believe that the creation of the Standard

as a new, innovative catalogue of competencies will help recognition of

skills and qualifications and improve the quality of youth work and training

in the media education field. Find out more from the lead partner Fundacja

Nowoczesna Polska, in Poland.

Want to know more about 360˚ imagery?

Elizabeth Woyke in a recent MIT

Technology Review provides an

excellent summary of where we

currently are with 360˚ imagery and

hints at how it can be used in

education. This MIT review lists 360˚

imagery as a ‘breakthrough

technology’ and in her article, Woyke describes the pros and cons of

different cameras and describes how they are being used by journalists and

others to provide a more realistic view of the world in which we live.

Reporting the story without targeting Muslims

Writing on the Ethical

Journalists Network (EJN)

website this week, Aidan

White provides guidance on

how reporting stories in the

wake of recent terrorist attacks in the UK can avoid making the situation

worse. Along with his colleagues in EJN, Aidan argues strongly for “careful

and sensitive reporting of terrorism which is often linked to Islamic

extremism, but we are against acts of self-censorship that undermine the

peoples’ right to know about the circumstances of terrorism when it is

inspired by a tiny minority of religious extremists.” You can read the full

article here which can be a real help when organising media education

sessions in formal and informal learning sessions with young people.

Winner announced in Evens Media Literacy Prize

The fifth Evens Prize for Media Education

2017 has been awarded to Zalab, Rome,

Italy for its Project Otherness. The

international jury praised it for its exciting

approach to media literacy as something

connected to lived experience, participation

and production, all based around a hub in

the community and addressing key issues of

our times. The standard of entries was so

high that the jury also awarded a Special Jury Prize, which went to the

Association for Communication and Media Culture in Zagreb, Croatia for its

project Djeca medija (Children of Media). The jury were impressed by the

way the project involves both academics and volunteers, how it approaches

the media as part of lived experience, its importance in the context of

Croatia, and the impact it has on both participants and volunteers. For more

information about the prize, the laureate projects and the award ceremony,

visit the Evens website.

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Featured Articles The story behind ‘Écoute cette histoire’ –

winner of this year’s MEDEA Awards

By Aurélie Garnier, Francolab, TV5 Québec Canada

Since 2012, TV5 Québec Canada has provided French

language teachers with educational audiovisual

material specifically conceived for use in the classroom.

Offered for free, this content is accessible on a platform

named Francolab and addresses various aspects of

Canadian Francophone culture. In this context, and to

respond to a specific need expressed by teachers, TV5

Québec Canada naturally sought to develop a video

series project about literature.

Linking language learning and culture

Indeed, in the realm of language learning, it seems essential to associate the

linguistic aspect with the culture to which it relates. And what better

reflection of a culture than its literature?

Based on this thinking, Écoute cette histoire (Listen to this story) presents

excerpts from influential works of Canadian Francophone literature in the

form of audiovisual capsules. Thanks to the talents of the two narrators and

an artist, the texts leap off the page as illustrated narratives.

Aurélie Garnier

Media & Learning News June 2017 Published by the Media & Learning Association

In preparation for this project, excerpts from various works were carefully

selected by specialists in the domain of Canadian Francophone literature.

To ensure their relevance in the context of a language learning program, a

group of teachers was asked for their input to choose the final six texts.

Particular attention was also paid to the themes addressed and the linguistic

complexity of the texts, while also considering the richness of the imagery

these works could stir in the imagination.

Adding a visual dimension to words to ensure comprehension

By its nature, video helps make certain content more accessible to learners

than they might usually find between the pages of a book. Indeed, especially

with regard to second language learning, a pupil might feel daunted at the

prospect of tackling a literary work. But by selecting adapted excerpts and

giving them screen treatment, the learner’s interest can be piqued more

readily, even encouraging them to discover the work in its entirety.

Moreover, by reinforcing the core components of the narrative thread with

a visual dimension, overall comprehension of the full work is facilitated from

the first reading.

Finally, thanks to an introduction and conclusion, each excerpt is situated in

the broad context of the work. With the help of these videos, pupils are able

to grasp the essence of these influential works in a matter of mere minutes.

Facilitating classroom use

The use of videos in the classroom often proves challenging for teachers,

who must find time for a screening and propose strategies to help learners

develop their oral comprehension skills while developing proficiency in

complementary aspects of language learning.

To facilitate classroom use of the project, downloadable files are provided

along with the videos to guide teacher interventions. The files are offered

in two segments: one for the student, which the teacher can print and hand

out in class, and one that proposes strategies for the teacher, presenting

recommended activities, goals, corrections and the video transcript.

Finally, an oral comprehension quiz adds an interactive dimension to the

content and opens an avenue for an individual learning process that can be

pursued in a multimedia room or at home.

With its videos, quizzes and downloadable files, Écoute cette histoire is

therefore a valuable educational resource for teachers who are keen to

educate their students on the richness of Canadian Francophone culture.

This approach is at the heart of TV5 Québec Canada’s educational mission,

which has generated other equally valuable content offerings on Francolab.

To cite but two examples: an interactive series on Canadian legends and an

interactive module on song. In order to fulfil its mission to develop and

promote the French language and the Francophone world, it is certain that

TV5 Québec Canada will continue to pursue its focus on the inexhaustible

universe of culture and the constant development of new technologies.

Digital storytelling, a new pathway to counter

radicalisation in the classroom?

By Veronique De Leener, Maks, Belgium

Brussels, 22nd of March 2016: three suicide bombings

occurred in Belgium, two in Zaventem airport, the

other in Maelbeek metro station. Thirty-two civilians

and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300

people were injured. Brussels reacted with fear and

horror, asking how could those things happen?

A few days later, Maks received a phone call from a

schoolteacher. Do you have a program to discuss

radicalisation. My class is the class of Bilal Hatfi, who

blew himself up at the Bataclan in Paris.

Maks doesn’t have a specific program about deradicalisation, but we have

a methodology that enables us to use digital storytelling for all kinds of

societal issues. We contacted 4 schools and since then, 5 classes have

enrolled in this programme. Here is how the programme works. First of all,

the students meet Saliha Ben Ali, the mother of a youngster who went to

Syria.

They search for information on the net

about the bombings, about the

numbers of Belgian youngsters

travelling to Syria. In the story circle,

little groups of students discuss the

issue of the story, giving each other

feedback, trying to find a way to express their opinions. After the

storytelling, students edit their story, with images from the internet, record

the voice, looking for music to finalize the digital story. Up to now, 34 stories

have been created. Here are links to two examples, BILAL – Terreur in de

wereld and De rugzak.

Veronique De Leener

Media & Learning News June 2017 Published by the Media & Learning Association

Maks vzw has different objectives with a project like this which we share

with the Radicalisation Awareness Network who recommend that “All

schools have the objective to provide a safe and respectful learning

environment for their students. With regard to radicalisation leading to

violent extremism, schools should make ‘prevention ’work fundamental and

a priority“.

Maks want that youngsters from disadvantaged groups see the Internet as

a public space where they can publish their opinion and make unheard

voices heard. We believe in the power of technical environments as

described by a group of Finnish researchers in the Journal of Creative

Education who say “In technological environments, learners are both

content producers and consumers. As such, they need the skills to study and

work in digital environments. They must also assess critically and validate

the knowledge they find and create; they must be accountable to the norms

of discourse and argumentation established by the adult communities of

practice in each discipline. They also need skills in creating and discussing

social media and in promoting ethical behaviour in these media

environments. Mediation of digital media competencies and literacies

consists of the following skills that schools should provide to students:

content creation, with critical content interpretation and validation, and

social media skills that are part of digital environments.”

The future labour market needs youngsters with all kind of soft skills and

emotional intelligence. Digital storytelling is a way to enhance those skills.

When a student discovers the computer as a tool to produce, he/she can

also move forward to digital learning and use digital learning as a social

mobility tool.

Maks is now conducting two

European projects on digital

storytelling. The first is in a

project called Brights, (boosting

global citizenship education using

digital storytelling) as a partner

with Telecentre Europe. The

second project about

deradicalisation practices is as a partner of the Université de Toulouse.

Find out more about what we do in Maks from our website.

Learning in mixed reality with the HoloLens

By Thomas Hurkxkens, Centre for Innovation The Hague / Online Learning

Lab, Leiden University, The Netherlands

What could be the significance of ‘mixed reality’ for

higher education? With this question in mind a team of

Leiden University’s Centre for Innovation and the

Leiden University Medical Centre, developed the first

interactive mixed reality application for medical

education using the Microsoft HoloLens.

Augmented reality, also referred to as ‘mixed reality’, is

a technology whereby digital objects and information

enhance the physical space. Ideally, in augmented

reality, the digital information is not just an overlay of the physical space

but interacts with the surroundings. When developing the experiment, the

team therefore set out three crucial ‘must have goals’ for the application:

The app should be interactive, allowing students to choose their own

learning path;

The app should be truly augmented, working with the physical space

and people in it;

The app should integrate learning scenarios through storytelling and

case based learning, with technology, putting education at the heart

of the experiment.

So what have we developed and how does it work? Together with teacher

Dr. Beerend Hierck from LUMC, we

developed a proof of concept (app)

with the Microsoft HoloLens, to be

used in Anatomy class. When a

student starts the mixed reality

experience, he/she is presented with

a hologram of an anatomical model

(ankle joint), projected in space in

front of them. The 3D model reveals the muscles bones and nerves of the

ankle. The hologram is interactive and responds to hand gestures, allowing

students to explore themselves and select the structures they want to see.

They can also walk around the model, add or delete structures, and study it

from all angles. When wearing a HoloLens, the same model can be studied

by a group of students at the same time, with the teacher involved. Within

the app the students find buttons to make the ankle move (up and down

and sideways).

As well as studying the hologram, there is a unique aspect in this learning

experience, which is the feature of the anatomical model reacting to the

students’ own body movements, by copying their motion into the virtual

model. It is the first time motion capture techniques are used in this

educational context in combination with the HoloLens. The preliminary test

results, show that students are very positive about this feature and the new

learning experience. Their feedback shows us that studying in 3D provides

new insights students don’t obtain from books. One graduate student

explained he had an insight he did not have during his 3 year bachelor

education.

To further integrate this new technology in medical education, we added a

clinical case in the learning experience. With the HoloLens they can study

the story of the life of famous Dutch soccer player Marco van Basten; his

goals and his injuries. Marco Van Basten underwent ankle arthrodesis. With

the app, they can explore the resulting limitations of ankle movements.

What does this new technology then bring our (medical) education? By

using virtual anatomical models in classroom settings, the technique

stimulates collaborative learning. Furthermore, by linking virtual anatomical

models to the real life human body, a crucial affective component is added

to the learning process. And because students use their own body

movements the technique stimulates explorative learning and boosts

learner motivation. Lastly, students do not have to translate 2D learning

materials to the 3D body, but can study directly in 3D. The potential of

augmented reality to create faster insights, seems to open opportunities for

deeper learning. The educational research into the learning effects of mixed

reality, is set to start in the new academic year. More information on our

project can be found on the website.

Editor’s note: The HoloLens experiment is a partnership between the New

Media Lab of Leiden Universities’ Centre for Innovation and LUMC’s

department of Anatomy and Embryology. The experiment won the Dutch

Surf Innovation Challenge 2016/2017, of which the results will be presented

in Utrecht in June 2017.

Thomas Hurkxkens

Media & Learning News June 2017 Published by the Media & Learning Association

Tools of the Trade

Free Light Meter

By Mathy Vanbuel, ATiT, Belgium

Lux Meter is a free light meter for

measuring illuminances in Lux or

Foot-candles. The app uses the light

sensor of your android device

namely the camera on the back

(display) side of your smartphone.

This is really a light meter at its

most simple, so a word of warning,

if you are a professional Director of Photography, this does not replace your

familiar studio or field meter. This is just handy in case you are in a location

without your Gossen or Sekonic where you just want to get a rough idea of

the light levels. The app comes with no information or user guide at all, and

simply does it what it says, it measures light in Lux (remember for ease of

use 1 Lux equals 0,10 Foot-candles). The meter shows also the different

measurements over time but the time line cannot be modified so this

feature is of little use. There is a way to adjust the meter calibration but

without any guidance. You will require a calibrated meter beside this one to

adjust it. Once you know how to use it, you can more or less rely on it in

average lighting conditions, but in extreme conditions, for example in

artificial lighting conditions, where it really could be useful, the results seem

rather unreliable. Free and easy to use but handle the results with care,

acceptable for quick checks when nothing else is available. (Free, Android,

by My Mobile Tools Dev).

Media & Learning Association News

Media & Learning Association AGM

The fifth AGM of the Media & Learning Association was held on 1 June and

provided an opportunity to review the work of the association for the last

14 months along with the plans for the rest of 2017 and 2018. The board of

the association has been revisited and the members voted to accept the

board with two new members; Predrag Pale from Zagreb University in

Croatia and Janne Länsitie from OAMK in Finland. The two retiring

members, Ene Koitla from HITSA in Estonia, one of the founding members

of the association and Blair Stevenson from OAMK were heartily thanked

for their support. Yvonne Crotty was voted unanimously to become the

Secretary of the Association and Mathy Vanbuel to become the treasurer.

Media & Learning Book Review

Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital

Learning

by Renee Hobbs and reviewed by Mathy Vanbuel, ATiT, Belgium

Learning and teaching practice makes use of books, videos, newspapers,

music records... increasingly in digital form, just because of the ease of

online access and use. And teachers, headmasters and students are

increasingly aware of the fact that by doing so they may be infringing the

laws on copyright... almost a paranoia that is often based on myths and

hearsay. Teachers and headmasters are rarely well informed or aware of

what copyright means for them as a user. It is this ignorance or copyright

confusion that is the subject of Renee Hobbs’ book “Copyright Clarity”.

Renee defends in her book a simple and therefore

easy to adapt strategy for educators and learners to

apply with regard to use and reuse of copyrighted

materials. This strategy is based on the knowledge

and application of the Fair Use Doctrine that was

enacted in the USA in 1976 and which is based on

four simple elements (in brief): purpose and use of

the materials, nature of the work, amount and

substantiality of the portion used and effect of the

use on the market (exploitation).

This Fair Use Doctrine is legally restricted and applicable only in the USA and

in that respect this book may seem less relevant in Europe but Renee’s

approach to explaining how and why educators and learners can apply it to

their advantage, can inspire European legislators in how they deal with

copyright for education, especially at this very moment when in the EU

Parliament the Commission’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single

Market is being discussed. The European situation with regard to copyright

is very comparable to the US with one significant difference which is that

exemptions are different country by country and a common comparable

Fair Use policy is not in place. This book can help EU educators and experts

to find inspiring examples and arguments to the case for one system that

can be applied across the European Union.

Published by Corwin, ISBN: 9781412981590

Resources of the Month Here is a selection of resources recently added to the Media & Learning

Resources Database:

Unsplash: a collection of free ("do whatever you want") high-

resolution photos. Post your own photos or use and reuse photos

posted by others in high quality.

Doc Academy: provides free, easy-to-use documentary based

resources for secondary school teachers that can be used in a variety

of settings.

Ersilia: is a digital platform aimed at stimulating debate amongst

young people on the use of images.

Awards Schemes & Events

Media Meets Literacy in Sarajevo 21-22 September

Registration is now open for the second

Media Meets Literacy conference, taking

place on 21-22 September in Sarajevo (Bosnia

and Herzegovina) which will bring together 250 media literacy professionals

from all over Europe to explore the huge challenges of our rapidly changing

media world. The conference is aimed at reinforcing dialogue, cooperation

and partnerships between the education and training sector and the media

sector, as well as other relevant stakeholders, including civil society and

youth organizations. The conference is preceded by the Propaganda Lab:

Seminars on Contemporary Propaganda (19-20 September 2017) led by

Professor Renee Hobbs Find out more on the conference website.

For more information, to submit content or to unsubscribe from this

newsletter, please contact the Media & Learning News Editorial Team.

Address: ATiT, Leuvensesteenweg 132, B-3370 Roosbeek, Belgium

Tel: +32 16 284 040 E-mail: news@media-and-learning.eu