The online lesson plan aims to encourage reflection on issues raised in the 'Cliques - Behind the Labels' video.The online lesson plan brings together video clips and related questions to create an interactive experience for student users; the aim is to develop critical thinking skills around themes that would appear in a typical social studies class.
The Cliques Online lesson plan aims also to promote a closer look at different personal situations depicted in the 30 minute video, while encouraging user involvement and critique. To this end, an original element is also introduced in the lesson plan: counselling psychologist, Dr Katie Gentile adds a discursive element to the lesson plan as she casts her views and opinions in to the mix. Salient themes from the video, 'Cliques - Behind the Labels' (based largely on research among 16 year old teenagers) are developed into four main segments: Self-esteem, Identity, Group Behavior and Gender Roles in Cliques..
One of the aims of the 'In the Mix' television series is to develop consciousness of certain social situations........ It aims also to develop critical thinking skills and to encourage discussion around a theme, as directed by the teacher. To a certain extent, the videos can achieve this. In a classroom setting, the thirty minute show is often watched straight through, from beginning to the end. Students may take notes during viewing if they wish to. After viewing, and with prompting or guidance from the teacher, discussion ensues. Discussion moves through the salient points raised in the video. The teacher may even rewind the videotape to certain points so that students can review the material. This process is time-consuming and often tedious. Moreover, in a 45 minute class period, there isn't enough time to explore all the interesting ideas that can be drawn from the video. The online component can deal with both these issues. At the click of the mouse, the students can revise a segment (a video clip), and, the use of multimedia tools (text boxes and still images), allows the user to make a selection from various topics: click and read, click and watch, and prompted along the way by text panels that provide ready information, questions or suggested ideas for reflection and discussion. An additional advantage of the online viewing exercise is that the teacher can set the online exercise as homework, saving classroom time for discussion after students have got to grips with the material, and had time to think about issues outside of classroom and away from their peers. In this way, discussion should be more fruitful. Also, working at home, students will have more time to mull over some of the issues and think things through their own ideas.
Users of the online component to the 30 minute 'in the mix' television show are between 14 and 17 year olds. They require basic computer skills in order to complete the online lesson plan. These include familiarity with keyboard, mouse and skills in navigating the World Wide Web - guidance through the actual lesson plan is provided for users, so teacher guidance is not necessary. The lesson plan is designed to be used in a non-linear format, The exercises are self-contained and so students can access the exercises at random, depending on which topics they wish to tackle first. Also, users can stop at any point during the exercise to review other material, or to key in notes in the notepad. Ideally, users will have watched "Cliques - Behind the Labels" video before beginning the online lesson plan. The 30 minute shows produced for national television by 'In the Mix' provide a slice of life look at social situations which are relevant to teens. - Themes include the misuse of drugs, alcohol consumption and dealing with death are subject areas well suited for television. The 30 minute videos offers students the opportunity to learn from others' experiences. Using the basic television interview, viewers get an intimate view of the characters in the video. After viewing an 'In the Mix' show in class, students are often asked to articulate their opinions about the themes raised in the show through class discussion. The online lesson plan aims to hone in on some of the themes raised in the Cliques video and to delve deeper into the experiences related by the characters in the video.
Each segment is a complete unit. This means that students can access the clips at random, moving from one theme to the next according to their interest. But not all video clips have questions. For instance, 'Cliques Video Intro' in the Group Behavior segment provides a refresher or introduction to the cliques and individuals who are the focus of "Cliques - Behind the Labels". The questions, like the clips themselves are discursive in nature. The video clips are aimed to encourage the user to look closer at the situation played out in the video clip. Students are required to reflect on, to analyze and then write about the scene or theme they have watched and which in most cases includes commentary (also discursive in nature), by counseling psychologist, Katie Gentile. It is pertinent to point out that students are made aware, (through the summaries provided of the video clips before questions), that Dr Gentile's views are an opinion. The value of opinion in this setting is that it sets one idea against another, and therein lies the discursiveness. The video content is about human relations and identity. The themes require cognitive processing at a high level, and students also require time for reflection. The aim of the lesson plan is to create an environment where students, alone can take a deeper look at their own feelings, to question their thoughts, judgments and perceptions. In this context (sitting alone at a computer terminal), users may feel more at ease and willing to be open and frank in their written responses; students are encouraged to take notes as they work through the different sections.
Users may work on the lesson plan at home (recommended where students have DSL connections). Students who do not have access to the Internet at home would use school computers to complete their homework). Approximately 90 minutes viewing is required to view all four segments, including time for writing; a student questionnaire indicated that students would prefer to sit at the computer for up to 30 minutes at a stretch. For this reason, it is recommended that in order to cover all the material at the website, at least two work assignments should be given to students.
Research for Cliques Online was carried out, prior to the design and development of the Website. In October 2000, two school visits were made in order to get feedback from teenagers. In response to a questionnaire distributed among high school students, it became clear that the personal accounts and stories struck a chord with teenagers. Several students indicated that they found the interviews with teenagers of particular interest. They consider the experiences of the characters interesting and relevant to their own life's experiences. While this was true for the majority of respondents, some students, namely whites and Asians, noted that the video did not include minority groups. Also, respondents were positive to the idea of chat rooms where they could discuss (anonymously) clique issues that are important to them. Cliques Online provides an asynchronous chatroom for students, where comments can be sent to the Cliques Online moderator who at his or her discretion publishes the comments students send in at the chatroom page. Questionnaires were distributed among 16 year old high school students at Snyder High School in Jersey City and Hunter College High School in Upper Manhatten. While both are city-based schools they have different demographics. Snyder High School is predominantly African-American. The school is located in a depressed part of Jersey City. Hunter College High School has an exam entrance, and typically, high-achieving students. Of this group, the questionnaire respondents were mainly white and Asian (I could not identify Hispanics or African Americans in the particular group that watched the video and responded to the questionnaire).
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