Sample work
Samples of students’ work
Although this degree also includes theoretical and research-based work, you will also actively work with established, emerging and brand new digital technologies to design your own digital educational materials. Always, there is an emphasis on developing applications which meet your own needs, and which you can use in your own teaching practice – maybe even immediately, should you be studying while also working in a school, college or training company.
Examples of software and other digital technologies which you might use on the MA DTCE include:
- Web design: HTML/XHTML, CSS and/or work with web design software, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.
- Multimedia software: Macromedia Flash, Hyper studio
- Video Production: Adobe Premiere, Media Center
- Planning and mind-mapping software: Inspiration, CMAP, Personal Brain, etc.
- For your research, NVivo, SPSS: the university offers various seminars to students on a number of useful software applications, such as Endnote and all Office applications.
- Microsoft Office: Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc.
- Graphics Packages, such as Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop
- Voice and video editing software
- Interactive whiteboards (IWB’s), Digital cameras, iPods and so on
- Social networking /Sharing and other “Web 2.0″ sites like Flickr, Facebook, del.icio.us, YouTube, etc.
- Course management systems (also known as virtual learning environments) like WebCT, Blackboard, Moodle, etc.
- Any other form of software which might be used in a particular specialised field (for instance, clinical software).
You can view some samples of past students’ work by clicking on the links below, but remember these are just examples; you will be able to tailor any work you produce to your own particular needs, and go on to use them in your future teaching or training. We see work produced by students on any and all subject matters, from music to radiography, from storytelling for primary school children to corporate training materials. You may also note that we encourage the development of materials in your own language: one of these students produced both a Greek and English version of the site while the computer terminology website is in Arabic.
Follow these links to view educational software, websites and educational videos produced by students on this degree as their project work on some course units . All sites will open in a new browser window.
- Here are three projects produced in the course unit, E-learning and the Web:
- Interactive Whiteboard Skills (from 2007-8 academic year)
- My first steps on the computer (from 2005-6 academic year)
- Learn Computer Terminology (from 2005-6 academic year)
The Introduction to Educational Video Production course is another popular course unit which gives you valuable practical skills. Here is an example of work from that unit. This video was made by four students (Mauro, George, Eleni, Haya) with the intent to create awareness about STIs and the importance of regular sexual health check ups.
Another student talks about her theoretical and research based work:
“The wonderful freedom of topic choice for my dissertation, lead to me dreaming big dreams. Initially I wanted to do research that would benefit my family in projects amongst the minority group of the Bushmen people (the Saan), in Botswana. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, logistics as well as strict research legislation in Botswana contributed to me following a research topic closer to home. I am from Centurion, South Africa and found myself linked with a group of teenage students from a neighboring area, Tembisa – this is a township, meaning ‘a planned urban settlement of Black Africans or Coloured people’ (CED, 2003) that was set up during the Apartheid era. It is thus characterised by historically being a racially segregated suburb. The community is mostly black Africans, but from many different cultural backgrounds, speaking many different languages or amalgamation thereof. When moving through the streets it is evident that the economic situation of the community is slowly but surely improving, even though talk of lack of jobs and services are not far from anyone’s lips and the neighbouring houses and shacks testify of a growing gap between rich and poor. In this context, I met up with some very enthusiastic youths and we spent a week together exploring radio as a medium, through them, working in small groups, creating ‘internet radio shows’.The study started with the thought that ‘true democracy depends on its citizens being active and literate in various contexts’. Media literacy is one of the multi-literacies required in order to effectively ‘read’ messages from different media texts. My research study aimed to explore the influences of production as a teaching strategy, on the different literacy and skill levels of participants, as well as the effectiveness of the teaching process. The focus of this study was narrowed down to the effectiveness of the process and the influence thereof, rather than focusing on the content of the products. The teaching project, during which students designed and produced radio chat shows for internet broadcasting, was observed and inputs gather from participants using focus group interviews.
A qualitative approach of thematic analysis was used to identify different themes of influence and effectiveness, while keeping Kellner & Share (2005:369)’s definition and literacy levels in mind: literacy as a broad term involves ‘the skills and knowledge to read, interpret and produce certain types of texts and artefacts and to gain the intellectual tools and capacities to fully participate in one’s culture and society’.
Findings and the discussion thereof proved to be not only very interesting but also enriching for me personally and we are currently thinking of ways in which we can use this initial project as a starting block for further literacy work.”
The shows can be found at this address: http://web.me.com/tembisatalking
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Finally, here is a UK-based teacher explaining how she used her experience on the course to construct an in-class learning experience for her pupils:I used my ICT skills to create and deliver a strongly ICT-led English curriculum, based around the new Primary strategy. This involved using the interactive whiteboard to watch adverts online and then Publisher to create an advert for a magazine. This further developed into scripting and performing an advert of their own. Children used windows movie maker and even Flash to do this!
What the MA taught me was the creative use of software and when the use of ICT was not appropriate. I gained not just the ability to use a whole range of software to support the primary curriculum, but the ability to use it critically and to understand its appropriate use, as well as sharing my knowledge with others.
