Field Trip: New Media in Martin Luther School

Introduction

We did a field trip with the New Media Seminar to the Martin Luther School in Marburg to find out the technical equipment in this school and the use of new media in the classroom.
First of all, it is to say that this school has a lot of opportunities to use new media, because they can use lots of money for that. This is definitely not the case in every school.

Their equipment

There is a big flat screen in the entrance hall. Every student and teacher has the ability to check there which teacher is ill and which lessons will be replaced by someone else. Furthermore, this digital plan is also available in written form at a pin board in the stuff room. There are also two computers in this room, which the teachers can use. Apart from all this new technical stuff, there is one old method for the exchange of information, namely the boxes in the stuff room. Every teacher has one and when there are important messages, they will find it in their boxes.
There are big cupboards in the stuff room, where you can find data projectors, cameras and cases which include a data projector, a notebook and a loudspeaker for 4000 Euros each. You can take everything you need for your lessons, but you have to book it.

The booking system of the equipment

There are two possible ways of doing this. You can either book it in school via a table on the school homepage, or you can book it at home, because you have the opportunity to get access to it from your home pc. It is possible to book the portable notebooks or the use of a computer room for certain lessons. Furthermore, the teachers have to fill in their dates for tests so that there is not any overlapping. A special quality of this system is the fact that parents have also access to this program so they can see whenever their children write a test. Whenever it is necessary they can ask them to learn.

The internet in the MLS

There is also a library for students with four computers in this school. One big disadvantage is the fact that this school has not a wireless lan internet connection. But in 85% of all rooms is an internet connection. It is to say that the internet in this school works very slowly because they have only a 6000 and 2000 DSL connection for the whole school and bordering houses.

Interactive Boards

The Martin Luther School has two interactive whiteboards. One is installed in the biology room and the other one is located in the art room. Every board is connected with a laptop so that the teacher can project internet pages or prepared word documents. It is possible to write in these documents or to delete it. It is very useful to ease some working processes.
One interactive board costs around 4000 Euro so you have to think careful about whether you need it or not. Furthermore, it is useful to install a smart board and a normal blackboard, because there are some situations where you as a teacher write something on the blackboard which should be present during the whole lesson. You can write those things on the blackboard and go on working on the interactive board. Moreover, a big problem is the fact that older teachers have problems with this new technology so it is useful to have some normal blackboards in school. It is also possible to arrange training courses for these teachers.

Training courses

At the MLS there was a short introduction training for all teachers to get them in touch with the new interactive white boards. The biology and art teachers meet to train themselves with the new board and to get more experiences in working with it.
Furthermore, there is the opportunity to take part in training courses offered by the producer of the interactive whiteboard or to participate in training courses lead by 2 experts for the topic New Media, who come to each school and train the teachers.

Technical box in the classroom

There is one special box in every second classroom including a flat screen, a DVD player, an amplifier and a connection for a notebook, for the internet and for an iPod. This box is lockable and every student has a good view on it from every place. The teachers who teach languages inspired these boxes to facilitate their lessons, because it is not necessary to carry a music player or a TV into the classroom anymore. Everything is already there.

EDV room

In the EDV room you can find computers which the students can work with. The teacher has one computer for himself and everything he does on his computer can be projected to the wall. That is very useful when he wants to explain the students what to do. So they can see where to click on. At the MLS there is a special technology for the students’ control. It is often difficult to control whether all students are doing exactly what they should do and not surfing through the internet. Therefore, the teacher can check on his computer what every student does on his or her computer, because he has access to all other computers.


If you want to know more about the MLS, just visit their website!
http://www.mls-marburg.de