On our first field trip we went to the high school “Martin-Luther-Schule” (MLS) in Marburg. Our goal was to find out as much about the schools media equipment as possible. The schools vice principal showed us the school and told us all about the schools media equipment.
The school has an online system where the teachers have to book the portable media equipment. The huge advantage is that the teacher can check the availability from home and if they have booked it no one can come and take it away. There are also two computers in the staffroom where the teachers can book the equipment as well. In the staffroom there is a cupboard with important media equipment like cameras, notebooks, video projectors and a facilitator’s toolbox.
The school has also a digital bulletin board with all the important information for the students. The students can read everything about the school day as well as about activities, special offers, the meals or other announcement.
The school has no Wi-Fi but in 85% of the class rooms are computers with internet access which can be used by the students. The MLS has 16 notebooks for classes in which teachers want to work with the students on computers and don’t want to go to the computer lab. Nevertheless the schools internet connection is very bad.
The school has an online system where the teachers have to book the portable media equipment. The huge advantage is that the teacher can check the availability from home and if they have booked it no one can come and take it away. There are also two computers in the staffroom where the teachers can book the equipment as well. In the staffroom there is a cupboard with important media equipment like cameras, notebooks, video projectors and a facilitator’s toolbox.
The school has also a digital bulletin board with all the important information for the students. The students can read everything about the school day as well as about activities, special offers, the meals or other announcement.
The school has no Wi-Fi but in 85% of the class rooms are computers with internet access which can be used by the students. The MLS has 16 notebooks for classes in which teachers want to work with the students on computers and don’t want to go to the computer lab. Nevertheless the schools internet connection is very bad.
The MLS has two interactive whiteboards – one for biology classes and one for art classes. The advantages of interactive whiteboards are that they are permanently; teachers can save the content and upload it to a homepage or send them to the students via email. You can read more about interactive whiteboards and my opinion about their use in school in my section interactive whiteboards.
Picture source: http://blog.svconline.com/briefingroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/smart-board-600i.JPG
Marburg has two expert advisors for new media who will go from school
to school and inform them about the latest media equipment available for
schools and also offer further education.
The school has ten rooms with a multimedia corner – these are especially used for foreign language classes. Because todays text books always have an audio cd, as well as a dvd-these corners are really helpful for the teachers. Of course the schools also has the usual computer labs for computer science classes.
All in all I think that the school is well equipped but not ‘over-equppied’. If I compare the equipment to my former school I must say that in only three years there has been a massive change and progress in the media equipment in schools. My old school only had a couple of TV’s and cd-players, but no SmartBoards or digital bulletin boards.
I expected the field trip to be more focused on new media in foreign languages but instead we got a general impression of the schools media equipment. I still really liked the trip because I learned many new things which I didn’t know before.
At the end of our trip the vice principal told us that the city of Marburg has € 100.000 available to spend on new media for the next year. At first it sounds like a lot but this is the amount of money for all schools in Marburg and if you consider the price of circa € 2000 for one SmartBoard then the money isn’t as much as you first might think.
The school has ten rooms with a multimedia corner – these are especially used for foreign language classes. Because todays text books always have an audio cd, as well as a dvd-these corners are really helpful for the teachers. Of course the schools also has the usual computer labs for computer science classes.
All in all I think that the school is well equipped but not ‘over-equppied’. If I compare the equipment to my former school I must say that in only three years there has been a massive change and progress in the media equipment in schools. My old school only had a couple of TV’s and cd-players, but no SmartBoards or digital bulletin boards.
I expected the field trip to be more focused on new media in foreign languages but instead we got a general impression of the schools media equipment. I still really liked the trip because I learned many new things which I didn’t know before.
At the end of our trip the vice principal told us that the city of Marburg has € 100.000 available to spend on new media for the next year. At first it sounds like a lot but this is the amount of money for all schools in Marburg and if you consider the price of circa € 2000 for one SmartBoard then the money isn’t as much as you first might think.
