The Digital Schoolbag (Digitale Schultasche)
Image taken from Medienzentrum Kassel (click to get redirected)
The Digital Schoolbag is an idea I came across during our field trip to the Martin Luther School this semester. After having discussed the concept again in our seminar, I decided to inform myself a little bit further and checked the homepage of the Medienzentrum Kassel. This website provides detailed description, gives answers to the most important questions and lets you download the software free of charge.
The overall concept is quite simple yet really useful both for teachers and students. All you need is a USB flash drive (at least 2GB) and internet access to download the software. Once you have installed the package on your flash drive, all applications can be accessed from the flash drive without installing them on your computer. In other words, the programs are all portable and run on every compatible computer with Windows operation systems. Moreover, you can save your work and files directly on your flash drive and continue working on them at home or elsewhere. That way, schoolwork becomes more flexible and and students, having their data available at all times, can create their own personal learning environments, while teachers get the opportunity to give new teaching approaches a shot.
With regard to possible fields of application, the Digital Schoolbag offers a large variety of freeware applications ranging from office pograms (text editor, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.) to image processing, audio editing, mindmap tools and courseware. Especially for FLE, there is a vocabulary trainer and a media player to watch videos in a foreign language.
The overall concept is quite simple yet really useful both for teachers and students. All you need is a USB flash drive (at least 2GB) and internet access to download the software. Once you have installed the package on your flash drive, all applications can be accessed from the flash drive without installing them on your computer. In other words, the programs are all portable and run on every compatible computer with Windows operation systems. Moreover, you can save your work and files directly on your flash drive and continue working on them at home or elsewhere. That way, schoolwork becomes more flexible and and students, having their data available at all times, can create their own personal learning environments, while teachers get the opportunity to give new teaching approaches a shot.
With regard to possible fields of application, the Digital Schoolbag offers a large variety of freeware applications ranging from office pograms (text editor, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.) to image processing, audio editing, mindmap tools and courseware. Especially for FLE, there is a vocabulary trainer and a media player to watch videos in a foreign language.
Collage created with Photovisi (images are royalty-free)
In addition to the applications provided by the Medienzentrum Kassel, there is a wide range of other tools for all purposes and subjects, i.e. teachers can compose their own software collection according to their preferences. The "Geo-Stick", for instance, is a custom-made derivative of the Digital Schoolbag which, among other things, can be used for project work in geography lessons.
One major downside, though, is the restriction to Windows. I personally prefer Mac OS would not be able to work with the Digital Schoolbag if I had not installed a Windows partition on my computer. That is, a cross-system version of the Digital Schoolbag would be desirable it executable on every computer regardless of its operation system.
To sum up, I consider the Digital Schoolbag an excellent idea for schools. The software provided covers a large variety of possibilities and the software tools are suitable for all kinds of subjects. This paves the way for more innovative and motivating teaching approaches and both students and teachers enhance their competences in terms of media and computer literacy at the same time. A simple yet handy tool, the Digital Schoolbag and its portable applications make schoolwork more flexible and versatile.
One major downside, though, is the restriction to Windows. I personally prefer Mac OS would not be able to work with the Digital Schoolbag if I had not installed a Windows partition on my computer. That is, a cross-system version of the Digital Schoolbag would be desirable it executable on every computer regardless of its operation system.
To sum up, I consider the Digital Schoolbag an excellent idea for schools. The software provided covers a large variety of possibilities and the software tools are suitable for all kinds of subjects. This paves the way for more innovative and motivating teaching approaches and both students and teachers enhance their competences in terms of media and computer literacy at the same time. A simple yet handy tool, the Digital Schoolbag and its portable applications make schoolwork more flexible and versatile.
Further information
- Digitale Schultasche (Medienzentrum Kassel): http://www.medienzentrum-kassel.de/kasseler-schulen-am-netz/digitale-schultasche/digitale-schultasche
- Digitale Schultasche (ZUM Wiki): http://wiki.zum.de/Digitale_Schultasche