Portable Radio/TV
Founded in May 2006, this blog allows elementary school students create podcasts to give other students, parents and the community a closer look at their learning experiences in three schools – A. Lorne Cassidy Elementary School, South March Public School and Berrigan Elementary School in the Nepean burrough of Ottawa – in the west end of Ottawa, Canada. The site includes both audio and video content created by students and uploaded by a teacher. The 2011-2012 posts come courtesy of Nathan Toft’s fifth graders from Berrigan Elementary School.
Blogging for Education 
I thought that Portable Radio/TV was very creative. It also showed collaboration as there were contributions from a variety of students in the class and their ideas were communicated in the form of an entertaining podcast. The topic for this week was a class Skype conversation with the author of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back. There were video clips from the Skype session, as well as text and original cartoons added. These different forms of communication took creativity and showed that the students had a wide range of abilities and expertise. I was not able to evaluate the content for critical thinking, but there was certainly thought put into the development of the text and the cartoons. Tying the different forms of media together to present an overview of the Skype conversation would also have taken collaboration and some degree of critical thinking.
I found it to be an engaging site that exemplified the 4 C’s.
Janet
What a great idea! I viewed the segment where students built straw bridges and tested them against wind and then determined how many Newtons they could hold until they collapsed. My analysis using the four 4Cs is below.
Collaboration
Students were actively engaged not only in the testing of the straw bridge structures, but in the process of putting together the video to capture the results. Students really looked like they were enjoying science!
Critical Thinking
Students were actively engaged in analyzing and evaluating evidence as they were testing their straw bridge structures. There was no one “right answer” as all the straw bridge structures were constructed differently. It was interesting for students to see how each one passed the two tests. I would envision the next part of the activity would involve explaining why the structure did or didn’t pass the wind test and what could have been done to make it hold more weight.
Creativity
One only had to look at the different structures that the students built to recognize how creative some of the designs were. I think I even saw one that was held together by what looked like chewing gum! It would be interesting to have students try the activity again to see what they would change in their design based on the first trial run.
Communication
Making the video would have required a great deal of communication among students. It also allows students to present their findings in a format that is not the traditional paper report which would appeal to more learning styles.
I thought this was a great example of the 4 Cs and it almost makes me want to go back to elementary school!
Deborah
Great post Deborah! Your thorough analysis speak specifically to how the 4Cs were being used. The students were certainly actively engaged I must agree and they were quite creative too!
~ Shawn
I was quite impressed with the Portable Radio/TV blog as it gave me some great ideas to try with some of my students such as a daily news broadcast for school announcements.
Collaboration – it was quite obvious that the students were engaged in collaborating with teachers and peers in creating the blog. They do not seem to rely on themselves for information but link to many other sites and blogs that share similar interests.
Critical Thinking – I was impressed that an elementary school could put together the videos that are blogged. Authentic tasks like this teach much more that just curriculum content. These tasks teach organization, collaboration, patience and what goes on behind the scenes, as well
Creativity – It looks as though the students and teachers follow what is in the news as current events and create their blog posts around those events. This is a great way to keep up with current events and create discussion around controversial or ground breaking topics. The Radio/TV is an outlet for the creativity of the students, driven by the teachers.
Communication – Video production with solid content is not an easy task but these elementary students do a great job, and make it look like so much fun.
I appreciate what I saw on the site as it inspired me to do more with my students in computer studies as we blog and create videos. When I show them what these young students are doing they will be motivated to be more creative in what they do.
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
I am happy you liked the blog and it is one which is inspiring and quite creative! I do hope when you show your young students they will seek to be more creative in their doings!
~Shawn
This is a great site with lots of interesting videos, podcasts and great ideas for teaching. The children’s enthusiasm is palpable.
I watched a number of the videos including the one where they tested which cups keep water the hottest. I also llstened to some of the podcasts of current events that were then broadcast on CBC radio.
I loved the blog because it did not focus on written skills, like so many blogs,but was a mainly video and audio, with a small emphasis on written..
In considering the 4Cs I would differentiate between the blog itself and the actual activities and learning demonstrated in the blog. The teacher and the teaching methods employed highly support all the 4Cs. One can see all of the 4Cs in each activity and in the development of the actual posts.
The blog itself however supports the 4 Cs to varying degrees
Creativity ++++
The blog supports creativity. Teachers and students who view the posts would be inspired to become more creative in their own classes using some of the learning methodologies demonstrated or by building on these. I suspect too as each successive class posts their audio and video they are challenged to add their own creative flairs.
Communication ++++
The blog effectively communicates with teachers and students worldwide through the site itself and also ITune downloads. Other students classes have taken up “we challenge you” and the results are also integrated in the posts. The students also have a community voice via these mechanisms but also through the CBC radio broadcasts.
Collaboration ++
While there is a great deal of collaboration for learning demonstrated within the posts, the site itself has a limited ability to support collaboration. There is also some collaboration within the “we challenge you” segments from other schools. The comments option for each post is one mechanism to encourage collaboration, but this is used rarely and when it is used is more commentary than collaboration.
Critical thinking +
The content within the posts supports critical thinking eg. research on which cup kept the water hottest encouraged hypothesising, testing and analysing the results. The point of view posts also encourage reflection and critical thinking for the students, and to some extent the blog listeners. However there is no formal mechanism on the blog for supporting critical thinking.
Denise
Hi Denise,
I agree that this blog gets high points for all 4 C’s! Comparing the radio and t.v. blogs to text blogs is like comparing night and day. I find that portable radio/t.v. offers students the opportunity to collectively prepare themes, gather ideas and a creatively voice their opinions. The process of communicating their opinion via filming and recording is in itself a learning experience requiring collaboration between peers in comparison to a writing blog which is normally achieved individually.
This form of communicating is also very visual and other students are more likely to listen to other opinions since these are contained within one podcast or video, compared to text blogs where students might be less attracted to read each individual blog.
The only thing that the site could encourage more are comments on the actual videos and podcasts.
What I was most impressed with is the idea that this blog site attracts students/classes from all over the globe and thus with the click of the mouse your classroom can learn about kids across the globe. This is an absolutely genial idea and can easily be integrated in all school classes since any experiment, opinion, subject, project can be filmed or talked about. This type of radio and filming project really has students owning and sharing their learning.
The only challenge here is that motivated and technology savvy teachers need to initiate and include this type of blogging within their lesson planning. Not every teacher fits this description . . .
Marie-France
I was impressed with the items created by the students over the course of many years. There is passion and dedication to this medium, reaching out to other students around the globe. I noticed the list of top countries who visited the site, the data on downloads, clicks, views, and the breadth of topics that would interest that age group. Within the 4 C’s, this blog has it all:
Collaboration – sharing information, data, topics done through group presentations, challenges sent out to others.
Creativity – topics covered show a broad range of interesting and quirky things. It is evident that the topics that are presented come from the students, not the adults.
Critical Thinking – recording their experiences (challenges, March Break events) and being able to revisit them to reflect on each item created would certainly enhance the next performance. Anyone in Gr. 4 can gain insight from those presentations done by the Gr. 6’s, and vice versa.
Communication – imagine creating something that someone in another part of the world finds interesting and responds. I really enjoyed seeing the ‘challenge you’ items done. Finding something that anyone in the world could duplicate and try to better is certainly motivating for students.
Overall, this blog is one that exemplifies the 4 C’s and will be one I will share with educators to view.
Helen