Manipulating Digital Images

It’s taken me awhile to post this item on my blog for reasons which I hope will become apparent to readers.

On Friday morning, 30 September 2011 on Daybreak, the early morning ITV news magazine, I listened to a news item about the influence of digital images on young people.  The news item reported the emphasis being placed by Government on the need to educate children in schools about the uses made of air brushing and other digital tools to enhance and manipulate images of celebrities.  The report showed a teacher discussing with a class of young children, “before and after” images of Brittany Spears in a bikini.   I was immediately struck by two thoughts:

Firstly - it’s about time!  Have those in power only just realised the impact of this kind of thing on the learning of children and, lets be honest, many adults too?  Its not new and, no doubt, has been going on since the advent of print media.  In and of itself, manipulating and changing images is not a problem.  There are, for example, lots of perfectly valid reasons for changing images; and we all want photographs to show us at our best don’t we?  Brittany Spears is no exception!  What matters though, is whether viewers are aware that images can be changed, and know of the use to which the changed images are being put.  This is particularly important when the purpose is to influence opinion, attitude or behaviour, hide the truth or misrepresent people or events.  Maybe its time for images such as those that appear in the glossy magazines to come with warning labels, just like we do with food!

Secondly - I felt justified in the programme of teaching I began more than 5 years ago with pupils in a special school to deal with issues of reliability and validity when using the Internet and other media.  I used before and after images of celebrities to develop pupils awareness and understanding of ways in which they can be manipulated or mislead and their skills in using computer software to change images in a variety of ways.  I felt this was especially important given the increasing importance of multimedia computers and other digital devices in pupils present and future lives.  The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the work and I was congratulated by a number of teachers within my own and other schools for the innovative work I was doing.  Brilliant? Well … not entirely!  As teachers, we can never assume that others will place the same value on our work as we do.  Despite my success with this work, I was threatened by my employers with disciplinary action for using inappropriate images with pupils.  The two images specified in the threat were those I reproduce here.  Both had appeared on the Internet and in well known magazines at the time and one was similar to those images of Brittany Spears used in the news item on Daybreak. 
 

The threat was eventually withdrawn but not before I experienced significant stress and anxiety about my future and status as a teacher.  It was this that was a significant factor in my decision in 2010 to resign from the job I loved doing and the kids I loved teaching. 

Readers will understand that the news item on Daybreak brought back many unhappy memories of that time.  I worry for the poor teacher in the news item on Daybreak and others developing similar kinds of programmes with pupils and hope they have better informed managers.

Technology: significant benefits but …

A friend of mine was recently bemoaning the large numbers of people who appear to have lost the art of conversation and being with people because they spend much of their time accessing various electronic devices such as music and video players, mobile phones, portable gaming consoles and the like.  To be honest, I had to agree and added the difficulties that I’d experienced with interrupting people concentrating on surfing the Internet, playing the latest console game, listening to music or talking on the mobile phone.

 

The technology is clearly bringing significant benefits for many people but only the other day, I was reminded of the negative impact of the technology on learners in schools.  I asked a group of older students to carry out some research as part of an assignment for a course they were following.  Two things happened. 

1. When we discussed possible sources of information, the first thing mentioned was – no prizes for guessing – the Internet.  The Internet has justifiably gained ground as a important source of information.  However, a significant number of the group failed to identify books as a source of information and most failed to identify other people – some even refused to acknowledge books and other people as reliable and valid sources of information!  There is clearly something wrong with what we are doing with ICT in schools if pupils regard the Internet as the only source of information and see it as a source that doesn’t have to be questioned.
2. The second thing was perhaps more worrying.  I asked them to organise themselves so that each person took responsibility for researching an aspect of the task which they could then feed back to the rest of the group in whatever form the group decided was appropriate.  Many of them were reluctant to do this, could not see the point of this way of working and simply wanted to get back to their computers to use the Internet and “get on with the work”.  Few wanted to visit the school library to do research and even fewer were prepared to take responsibility for questioning the people identified as a source of information.

The Internet and other forms of technology are set to become ever more important and quite right too.  However, if one of our responsibilities as teachers is to prepare learners for life after school, then it follows that we have a duty to know the technology, its benefits, limitations and drawbacks and help pupils use it appropriately, safely and securely. How we do this is subject to debate but failing to do so is inappropriate, ignores significant opportunities for learning and many would claim, dangerous.

Long live learning! Long live technology!

The Curriculum for ICT in Schools

There is significant evidence to suggest that learning is a search for meaning.  If this is so, then the ICT curriculum in schools needs to be built around those things that students are interested in.  Whilst there is clearly a case for helping students – or any learner for that matter - appreciate aspects outside of their experience, my anecdotal experience suggests that this is more likely to come about through activities, tasks and approaches which begin with those things that are of immediate interest to them.  There are a number of arguments, I think, that support this view of ICT in schools, i.e. the need to:

• help pupils become responsible users of the technology, including appropriate use and keeping themselves safe
• find ways to encourage pupils in, and excite them about, their learning
• provide increased scope for creativity and imagination
• implement what we now know about the learning process through recent developments like active learning, accelerated learning and the like. 

 So what influences learners in schools?  My experience with young people with learning difficulties and special educational needs (SEN) may be somewhat limited but suggests that young people – perhaps all of us - are strongly influenced by the media in all its forms, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, images, music, video, games and so on.  This influence can be manipulative and result in all kinds of difficulties that individuals have to contend with.  Add to this, the needs of learners to communicate, share and make a contribution, their longing for success and to feel valued, their desire to learn and achieve, their search for happiness (whatever that might mean) and a life free from fear, anxiety and worry and the task for teachers is much more complex than the traditional focus on delivering someone elses’ view of the ICT curriculum suggests.  I admit that these additional aspects are not always apparent in the daily life of schools, but they are there nonetheless if we just take the time to look. 

Building a curriculum around the interests of young people means talking to them and finding out about them, their interests and aspirations and adapting tasks and activities, material and resources to suit their needs.  For teachers, learning should not start with the technology but with developing a relationship which is supportive of individual learning and development.  In this way we can match the technology to the learner and avoid the pitfalls of “one size fits all” and creating barriers which limit the ability of learners to follow their interests and achieve the meaning they are searching for in their lives.  If we do it this way, we can provide for young people the kinds of learning experiences which for many will have a positive impact on the rest of their lives. 

In future blogs, I intend to develop this theme and look at ways in which we might secure the interest and commitment of learners and motivate and excite them about their own learning!  To those who are interested, I invite you to let me have your thoughts, ideas and comments to help me with my own learning in this increasingly important area of school life.

Long live learners!  Long live the technology!