- What kit will I need, and what will it cost?
- What if we don't have PDAs or GPS in school?
- How do I teach with this?
- How long will it take to make a mediascape?
- How can this be assessed?
What kit will I need, and what will it cost?
- Recording equipment - (Video camera/PDA/PC etc.)
- A PC
- A PDA (In August 2006 these cost from around £240 each - see www.amazon.co.uk)
- GPS unit (In August 2006 these cost from around £100 each - see www.amazon.co.uk) (better still, get a PDA with an integrated GPS unit).
- Headphones
What if we don't have PDAs or GPS in school?
You can begin to build your mediascape on the PC, and also test out the mediascape on it, but you will really need PDAs and a GPS device to get the full experience. You could use a PDA and click on the screen to trigger sounds and other media when you are outside, but the GPS connection allows the mediascape content to be triggered automatically as you walk around, which is much more effective.
Try asking your local CLC (City Learning Centre) if they have a bank of PDAs that you can borrow from. Ask around your local cluster of schools - perhaps you could club together to buy a set of kit to use in turn, that you can use at the beginning of your project to demo the concept to the students, and towards the end of your project when you want to test what you have done.
How do I teach with this?
Mediascapes can be used in so many ways that really it is up to you. Start with simple projects. See our Scrapbook and Forums for ideas.
You can also download Worksheets to help you.
How long will it take to make a mediascape?
These times are only guidelines, but may help you schedule the project:
2 hours planning your mediascape
2-4 hours creating images and sounds, depending on their complexity
1 hour creating the mediascape, followed by 1 hour testing
1-2 hours experiencing the mediascape outside and tweaking it
How can this be assessed?
Listen to how students talk about/reflect on what they have done or experienced.
Students could set their own assessment goals, for example, if they decide they want to create a mediascape that explains the local wildlife to young children - they could also run a quiz afterwards for their audience.
Other user's views of the mediascapes are useful feedback - students could design an evaluation questionnaire or interview users after their mediascape experiences.
Regardless of whether the mediascape is created by teachers or students, , ask the users to write a story about moving through the mediascape after they have experienced it. This is a great way of checking that they have grasped the concepts that the authors were trying to get across to the audience. It will also help you or the students to plan the next mediascape better!