My prejudice until starting this Grad Dip has been that technology was important in other kinds of classrooms, but not very useful in Drama, one of my subjects. It’s about vocal and physical storytelling…right? Then I thought about all of the light and sound technology that’s been standard in theatre for a century, and I felt rather foolish. I’ve used video cameras to introduce students to acting techniques for the camera, and to help them study their performances. Revelation: I only think of something as “technology” if I don’t understand it or haven’t integrated it so deeply that it’s no longer new! So I’ve got lighting, sound and audiovisual technology already in my practice, but what other opportunities could there be to use ICTs in the drama classroom for students of all levels? And how will it help them?“Drama Online,” by Jennifer Nicholls and Robyn Philip (Australian Journal of Educational Technology 2001, 17(2), 150-168) describes a 2-year study (1999-2000), in which an existing course called Elements of Drama at Macquarie University was modified by “the introduction of a compulsory, online collaborative assignment,” and the results for learning outcomes and student satisfaction were studied, with the following powerful results:
In summary, the authors noted the following learning outcomes for students in terms of the curriculum as a whole:
· a stronger grounding in the discourse underpinning successful play production;
· greater confidence approaching and effectively completing the more substantial final assignment (Director's Project) as a result of exposure in the first online task to a variety of views and opinions;
· for weaker students, exposure to and support from the more competent writing styles of other students (scaffolding);
· reinforcement of the skills required for group work; and
· the development of computer literacy. “
Obviously, this is in a tertiary context, but I believe there are clear applications in a secondary setting.
Students used a very rich website in multiple ways--to post their performances as Quicktime movies, to post their written assessment tasks (e.g., reviews of professional productions), and respond to threads. The authors emphasize how “collaborative” they found the online work to be, because students were engaged in “an authentic task, it actively engaged the students in the construction of knowledge via a process of contextualised and shared meaning making, allowing students to test and evaluate their own hypotheses” (Nicholls and Philip, online).
Collaboration is one of the fundamental features of theatre work. We know that many different artists work together to produce big shows; but even at its most essential, theatre is collaboration between audience and performers, who all agree to play their respective parts in the interaction. Constantin Stanislavsky, the grandfather of modern realist acting, based his famous methodology on ensemble-building, and worked closely for decades with the great playwright Anton Chekhov, so collaboration is in the foundations of the art form as we know it. When drama students begin to think of themselves as part of an ensemble, they bring greater trust, openness, flexibility and empathy to the environment, and the quality of their work improves. I found these collaborative possibilities of web-based learning very reassuring. Learning to work together has clear benefits in a drama classroom.
I had a reservation: this is an inspiring way to use ICT in activities around seeing and critiquing theatre, or researching and discussing theatre history, famous productions or world theatre styles for example, but could you conduct an acting class online? Acting for the camera and stage acting are not interchangeable; they’re usually taught as separate courses. Still, ICT’s would be a great way to bring drama to students in rural settings, or to enhance the work of a class on campus. I’d like to know if anyone is using ICT’s in acting classes specifically, and how.
The authors point out that ICT’s are used by theatre artists “to create art, to retrieve and store information, to publicise and exhibit their work, and to administer arts organizations” (Nicholls and Phillip, online). It’s easy to see that for al students, ICT skills are highly valuable in life beyond school. This has personal resonance for me; I spent seven bumpy years as a professional actor, and if I’d had great computer skills, I imagine I would have had better support-jobs open to me and things might have been a lot easier. “The lack of consistent and reliable access to a computer, failure of the technology, and poor self efficacy in regard to the ability to manage the technology successfully are sufficient reasons for students not to choose an online assessment, given the option” (Nicholls and Phillip, online). How could I, with my poor self-efficacy, expect to get a different result from students? So this kind of use of ICT has to be compulsory, for the benefit of students and teachers alike. The fact is, there is no career that doesn’t require ICT skills (including teaching!), and we have to give all of our students a shot at sustainable futures, even those crazy drama kids.
Nicholls, J. and Philip, R. (200). Drama Online. In Australian Journal of Educational Technology 2001, 17(2), 150-168.
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