AV-media, AV-central; they have different names depended on which part of Sweden Kalmar
AV-media´s mission is to inspire teachers and educationalists how digital tools and the use of film can create more instructive teaching.
What can AV-media offer?
- Pedagogical and educational films - You can stream a film to your classroom. To do this it requires a computer projector and connection with the Internet. If you do not have that, you can get a DVD-disc by mail to watch through a DVD player or on a computer. A tip is to watch the film before your students do; all films are not so instructive and useful as they claim to be. You can also find great instructive films for teachers. For example, there are films how to get your English lessons more successful.
- Technical articles - iPads, speakers, film cameras, microphones, data projectors and voice recorders etc. that you can borrow for a period of time.
- “Read a film” - You borrow a class set of books and tutoring, inspiration booklet and the film. It can be very instructive to read and discuss the book with the classmates and watch the film based on the book to compare them.
- Muzzy Online - Here you can watch the Muzzy Story and play interactive language learning games and do vocabulary lessons in many different languages. This program you can have for free in 3 months if your AV-media do not has it online.
- Skolplus - This is a website with a lot of educational programs in different topics, especially math, but also some English.
- WebMath - The website is intended as a support for teachers, student teachers, parents and students. With the help of animations, you can better understand mathematical concepts and calculations.
- Educations to inspire and develop the educators. If the school can afford, you can order an education in a subject you decide and they can come to your school in person. You can also see recorded educations (learning cafés) about different subjects, for example making a film and geo caching.
AV- media can make the education more fun in some cases and make it easier for me to achieve some of the goals in the syllabus, especially since I work in a small school with limited financial resources. Thanks to AV-media my students can create their own music on iPads (as the school has few musical instruments for them to be able to play live), borrow a film camera to make a film or borrow the speakers and microphones to our musical. The list can be longer. Unfortunately, all technology usually takes time to learn and time to fix when it do not work… But we need to try to use the new technology around us to make the learning more fun and varied. And not least to keep up with our students! And when we have learned the technology it will become fun and stimulating even to us! And when we have learn the technology it will became fun and developing even to us!
Malin Svensson
I think you have chosen a very useful way of English teaching. AV-media is very useful to compare with other classroom activities. It´s easy to use, especially when ou can stream a film and get it immediatley. Thats very useful when you work in a school far away from a city.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the Muzzy Online. I will try it in my class.
By using films or other parts from AV media, you can compare your lessons so you can be sure you do it after our syllabus.
Thank you for your tips.
I agree with you.I think AV-media is agreat resourse.I use it almost everyday and I find new uses very often. My main use is the filmstreaming but also Skolplus and "Världens djur" .
ReplyDeleteI have also borrowed smartphones when we tried geocaching.
They also have great workshops and other educations for teachers.
Thank you for an intresting blogpost
Hello Malin!
ReplyDeleteI found your blogpost about AV-centralen very interesting and useful! I have been ordering films from AV-centralen , or “Lärmedia” as it is called in Linköping, during almost all my years as a teacher. I once worked at a school where the principal thought “Lärmedias” fees were too expensive and cut it off the budget so for one year I was unable to show my students films and then I realized how important it is to vary my teaching! I really missed that dimension of being able to show how animals, landscapes, or cities, for example, look like in real life!
As I said, I found your blogpost very interesting since I didn’t even know that “AV-centralen” had all these different resources. I was not aware of that they had so much of the technical equipment and not that you could borrow it! I was amazed when I read about these recourses such as “Read a film”, Webmath and “Skolplus”. It also seems that you found many areas in your teaching where you use these recourses in order to stimulate your students and also making their learning more fun.
I have only contacted “Lärmedia” in order to borrow their films. First by having the videos sent to me and then by using the streaming- film- option. This has worked sufficiently. However I have wished many times that “Lärmedia” would purchase more recently made films. Many of the films “Lärmedia” offers are really old. (This regarding “Lärmedia” in Linköping.)
However, I do agree with you that even if it takes time to learn to handle these new recourses you do as I teacher, have a fantastic opportunity to vary the learning and by that make learning more fun for you students.
I must when I’m back in Linköping, find out if “Lärmedia” in offer as much resources as “AV-centralen “ in Kalmar does and if they do I will start to use them immediately…at least I will try…
Marika Nilsson