Oxford Picture Dictionary recently sponsored a student film contest based around their text (Oxford University Press, 2014). Such film integration is keeping in step with more and more educators whom I have found are having their students create multimedia assignments in lieu of more traditional models of presentations. While these projects are excellent examples of employing cutting-edge technology in the classroom that benefit both the students’ language skills as well as their life skills, these student-generated multimedia tasks are not revolutionary. The pedagogy behind them is not cutting edge. A French educator first implemented student-produced media all the way back sometime between 1924 and 1925 (Acker, 2000, 2007). The ninetieth anniversary of Célestin Freinet first employing technology in the classroom to promote student-generated media leads one, however, to ponder what technology students could have had access to in 1924 and 1925?

1925

Four years after beginning to teach, Freinet purchased a basic printing press, one that could be manipulated by school children, and introduced it to his students (Acker, 2007). Technology, both now and in the past, has always been a tool in aiding the teacher to better educate his or her students. Freinet wrote in his book Education Through Work (1993), that educators had the responsibility to broaden children’s technical knowledge as well as their rudimentary knowledge. He saw the value in not only preparing his students’ minds but also their life and job skills so as to be able to have better prospects after graduating.

Instead of a teacher-centered, rote-learning approach to writing, Freinet created an atmosphere where students could produce “free texts” (Legrand, 1993; Acker, 2000). Freinet was a follower of many education theories originating in the socialist east. One key idea came from Fritz Jode (Acker, 2000, p 3).

In the school, the teacher who prepared his lessons planned everything based on teaching plans. Where was the spontaneity, the independence of pupils? We have only considered education as a necessity for life. They were annihilating the soul since educating the intellect was not even a consideration!

Freinet wanted to encourage the soul and thus increase the motivation of his students in their pursuit of improving their language skills. Through their free texts, they could take a more proactive approach while also possessing a feeling of ownership of the work. This did not, however, mean that the students were able to relax their mechanics of writing. Legrand (1993) notes that, at that time, print shops were the definitive businesses where form met precision in writing. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar were all held sacred to printers. By having his students create a “professional” paper, Freinet held his students up to the same standards.

Merely writing stories about what the students were interested in and printing them in booklets and newspapers was not the entire scope of the project. He then created a network to exchange his students’ professional-looking work with families, friends, and, most important, other schools around the country; he called these exchanges Interscholastic Exchanges (Acker, 2007).

Creating a student-generated piece of media and distributing it to a wide audience was part of what Freinet centered his classroom around, but beyond the fun factor of creating an authentic-looking periodical, the educator’s pedagogical foundations for this curriculum still resonate with teachers today. Acker (2000) details six main elements of Freinet’s pedagogy.

Frienet shifted the balance of power from the teacher to the student. He created an environment where one could hear the voice of the students, not just the teacher’s. Through free texts, students were able to focus on content they were interested in, thus raising their motivation to excel in their work. Through their free texts , students were given liberties that they might not have been able to experience in more traditional classrooms. They were allowed to work individually or in groups. The increased motivation and added freedom also built up their confidence. Freinet believed all students could progress, but not all in the same fields or skill areas. The educator extended his classroom beyond just the school building; he aspired for it to be part of the greater world, and he achieved this through the Interscholastic Exchanges. Finally, and this should be fairly evident by now, Freinet believed in a classroom where students actively participated instead of merely recording what the instructor dictates.

Freinet stressed the rewards of his student-generated media (Acker, 2007). The students took pride in finding a new discipline, a new outlet, to express themselves. Other educators before Freinet had their students create newspapers, but those same educators did the lion’s share of the actual production so that the students never had a real sense of accomplishment in producing something “professional” (Legrand, 1993; Acker, 2000; 2007). As previously mentioned, Freinet’s students were more motivated when allowed to have a greater voice in what they chose to write about. In the end, despite the students’ hard work at regularly producing such an achievement, they found it fruitful in that the medium was not easily or commonly achieved at that time. They felt that they were cutting edge, creating something that few other school-age children were able to.

2015

No matter the technology, be it a printing press (some teachers still adhere faithfully to Freinet’s work!) a camcorder, or even a smartphone, the approach of the French pioneering educator still remains sound and applicable: give students tools that they will use beyond the classroom to prepare them for life beyond school, give students the freedom to pursue their own interests to increase significance in the work, and publish the end results beyond the classroom to build motivation.

For the past 9 years, my students have created multimedia for language learning purposes. These projects have enabled Japanese students to explore interests and topics within their community in the process of producing more than 100 video podcasts. These projects have provided opportunities for nonmatriculated international students in the United States to interview native English professors all across campus for the creation of audio podcasts, and these assignments have facilitated students in discovering their imagination and ingenuity in generating original works of fiction.

While creating the audio podcasts and videos, the students focused on their English not only in front of the camera but behind it as well. They navigated their second language in spontaneous ways in order to communicate their ideas, concerns, and directions. They concentrated on numerous areas of pronunciation so that when their family, friends, and classmates listened or viewed the finished products, they would be proud. Finally, the students gained a real sense of accomplishment in that others respected and valued the work that they had spent so much time creating, developing, and publishing.

A current movement increasing in popularity in and out of education is the “Maker Movement.” In essence, it is giving tools and resources to children to create new things. In The Maker Movement Manifesto, Hatch (2014), CEO of Techshop, provides the movement’s core values: make, share, give, learn, tool up, play, participate, support, and change. While the movement primarily focuses on physically building things and do-it-yourself projects, its principles can definitely be applied to digital media creation in the classroom as well.

In moving forward, we should all embrace the past; adopt Célestin Freinet’s spirit to give students freedom, and encouragement and support to pursue their interests. Embrace the present; employ Mark Hatch and the Maker Movement’s philosophy to have students start creating and producing their own original work. Embrace technology; digital equipment (cameras, voice recorders, smartphones) is cheaper than ever before, and students have greater access to their own equipment that they can also use in the classroom. Merge all of these together and create class assignments and projects that will equally challenge, reward, and inspire your students.

References

Acker, V. (2000). Célestin Freinet. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Acker, V. (2007). The French educator Célestin Freinet (1896-1966): An inquiry into how his ideas shaped education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Freinet, C. (1993). Education through work: A model for child-centered learning. Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen.

Hatch, M. (2014). The Maker Movement manifesto: Rules for innovation in the new world of crafters, hackers, and tinkerers. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.

Legrand, L. (1993, March 01). Célestin Freinet. Prospects, 23, 403–418.

Oxford University Press. (2014, March 13). Oxford Picture Dictionary video competition. Retrieved from https://elt.oup.com/teachers/opd/competition