Five minutes with David Green

As a special education unit teacher at Arundel State School, David Green tailors digital content to his students' individual developmental needs. He is an ardent supporter of games in learning and digital storytelling, which he finds encourages students' to get more involved in the curriculum. In 2008 David won a Smart Classrooms Teacher Award.

In your Smart Classrooms Teacher Award application, you outlined an ICT activity. What is the activity?
My main activity was focused on a stop-motion animated film produced by a group of Years 6 and 7 students.

What is its purpose?
Its purpose was to engage the students in an activity where they worked in a small group on a long-term project. It was important for students to work on a task that didn't provide instant gratification, but allowed them to discover how the production process can be satisfying in itself.

What resources were required?
Digital cameras, Movie Maker software, Audacity for the voices and sound effects, and a range of set- and model-building skills.

What were some of the difficulties you encountered with this activity?
Students had difficulty visualising the finished product and keeping motivated while performing some of the more tedious tasks required in this type of activity.
Having to take more than 600 photos did lose its novelty appeal after a short time.

How did you overcome these difficulties?
I asked the students to break into pairs and make their own short movies. This enabled them to create a finished product quite quickly. They could see the benefits of taking more time and care in the production process.

What have the learning outcomes been for your students?
The students developed their literacy skills and knowledge through storytelling. They also developed mathematical problem-solving skills when calculating the number of photos necessary for a particular scene, and measuring sets and models during production.

The project also used a range of technology activities to design and build the sets. The Arts were also integral to the completion of the final product in terms of music, the type of media used and the visual effects created.

Do you have any advice for teachers doing this type of ICT activity?
Make sure you have as many cameras as possible. Then stand back and let your students soar.

What's your ICT learning journey been like?
I have been exposed to ICT in one form or another since the late 1970s through hobbies as a school student and in my pre-teaching career. I came to the teaching profession with a wide range of ICT skills, but I'm only new to understanding how those skills can be integrated into learning.

How has Smart Classrooms helped?
Smart Classrooms has provided me with a wealth of resources, ideas and networks to assist in my eLearning journey. The Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework has guided me in developing my pedagogical practices, while the Learning Place has become my first stop whenever I need resources in the classroom.

What's a typical day now like in your classroom?
The diversity of student needs and abilities in any classroom, particularly a special education classroom, means students need as many options and opportunities as possible to demonstrate their learning.

ICT provides these opportunities. For instance, I allowed students involved in a unit on governments and the services they provide to use the computer game SimCity to develop a city and the services necessary to meet its population's needs. This allowed my students to demonstrate their understanding that with a limited budget, their service allocation decisions will impact differently across the population. They also learned they must change their service allocations to accommodate their population's changing needs and demands.

Any advice for teachers who are just starting their journey to embrace digital pedagogy?
Give it a go. Don't worry if your students know more than you do. Embrace the concept of shared expertise and have fun.