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the subsequent transformation phase students pair up together and collaboratively
design elements for the web-museum using one computer. When working with the
digital video tool, students are always free to evaluate and revise their evolving
product.
Our major concern was a design task realizable within the constraints of an
average lesson. One thing we did to accomplish this was to relate the content of
the task to educational goals relevant to the teachers and students. We chose the
described topic (historical content and visual/media competence) to satisfy curric-
ular demands. Another equally important aspect was to adapt to the structural time
prerequisites. Our prototypical research task was adapted to the standard German
time-frame devoted to a subject in one day (two subsequent units of 45 min each).
With regard to technical resources, we acted on the anticipation of how schools
(at least in southwest the South-West of Germany) will be equipped in a few years
from now, due to certain governmental programs. Thus, we are able to investigate
several generic aspects of the learning processes that we assume to take place dur-
ing learning with collaborative visual design tasks in the near future. Among these
are the elaboration of content and visual information, the transfer of visual literacy
skills to the analysis of other video sources, and the collaborative negotiation of
meaning during the design activities.
The task was created to be applicable to German language arts and history learn-
ing. The former is the domain traditionally concerned with enhancing the levels
of students' literacy and their skills for cooperative learning (e.g., Blell & Lüdtge,
2004).
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The latter represents a domain where working with constructive video is
considered highly preferable while also providing a challenge for students and
teachers (Krammer, 2006; Smith & Blankinship, 2000). In addition to the new
literacies described above, in history learning, factual knowledge is closely inter-
twined with specific thinking skills, like de-composing, evaluating, analyzing, and
critically reflecting on historical sources—together with (re-)constructing knowl-
edge. These are necessary skills for a full understanding of historical topics (e.g.,
Wineburg, 2001); however, they are difficult to teach in most traditional history
lessons at schools. In line with these educational goals (which correspond to Jenkins
et al.'s, 2006, notions of social and cultural skills for community involvement) our
experimental collaborative task for history learning involves the following compo-
nents: Critical analysis, judgment, collaborative problem solving, and appropriation.
Precisely, the students could learn to use modern digital video tools for critical
1
Reference models relating to the levels of proficiency in language learning and (media) liter-
acy which are relevant for our work include the “Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages” (Goethe-Institut/Inter Nationes, 2001), or the PISA concepts of “literacy” and “reading
competence” (OECD, 2001, 2003). Further on, the general educational standards for the German
Gymnasium include the ability to apply the basic terms of film analysis and to compare film com-
position with other formal strategies, for example, in literature (Core ideas for skills acquisition in
German secondary education,
Gymnasium
, for grades 9 and 10, Ministry of Culture, Youth, and
Sports of Baden-Württemberg, 2004).
