An interesting and very exciting thing happened in my VCE Physical Education class today. The group, which are apart of a one to one MP3 player/Voice recorder program, blew me out of the water when they suggested that rather than having me go through what we learnt last week as revision, they could simply listen to the 8 personalised audio recordings they each created during the previous week. Although the idea had occurred to me, the fact that they suggested it highlights the fact that the MP3 program is doing exactly what I had hoped….and more.
The students were taking responsibility for their own learning and clearly understood the importance of revision before progression within the course. The next exciting thing happened when they asked to move away from the standard desks within the Library to the comfortable reading couches spread throughout the room. Some students even elected to casually browse through books while they listened to their own audio recordings. I was truly blown away by what I was witnessing, as this is exactly the type of classroom I want to encourage within my senior classes, classes where the learning can occur anywhere and anytime.
After the students individualised revision sessions they then moved to the area of the library with computers where they worked through a PowerPoint presentation I had created and uploaded to my website. This again allowed them to work through at their own pace, completing the activities as they were required. Some of the activities called for voice recordings, whereas others required downloading from the class website.
On Thursday the students will be applying the theoretical component of the class within a practical swim session. They will also be using the voice recorders to record immediate responses that can be utilised as prompts when they are completing their practical session write ups at a later date. Overall I left the class feeling extremely happy and satisfied with how the MP3 players had successfully altered and improved the way in which I teach the VCE Physical Education unit. I also know for a fact that the kids are enjoying it and are looking forward to completing exam revision as a casual bike ride around the lake listening to their Mp3 recordings.
