Weekly Reflection (Wk 9)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:
1) Using scenes for Teaching and Learning

2) Hands-on activity using MASH (Microsoft Agent Script Helper)

From point no.1, I learned about the following:

1) Scene is a small segment in a movie or play with a purpose to provide audience additional information to help move the storyline. Scene normally consists of the following:
a. Dialogue
b. Actions and gestures
c. Expositions
d. Setting
e. Plot advancers

2) Dialogue is a conversation between people. It is used to enhance event development and deepen the audience’s understanding of a particular area. It must be well-scripted and free from error, like what we hear in the movies. In Scene, any dialogue is meant for the audience, not for the characters in the scene e.g. When A speaks to B, it is not meant for B but for the audience.

4) There are 4 Microsoft Agents for us to be used in Scene. 'Peddy' is the most powerful among them and it can do at least 70 actions.

5) Through conflict & paradox e.g. why these two characters cannot agree on something, the audience can learn something from the conflict.

6) Constructivism: When we use Scene, great emphasis is placed on constructivism, whereby learners construct their own knowledge. We learned that constructivist learning must take place in a certain context. Learning has very much to do with the environment and setting e.g. two persons arguing in the scenes, so that audience can learn from the conflict (must achieve something in the end). A plot must be present to connect the scenes.

From point no.2, we had hands-on activity using Microsoft Agents to create simple dialogue and actions. For scripting, we were encouraged to use VB script, rather than Java Script, because the former is supported on all Microsoft platforms. Mr. Woo also showed us a sample of a website using scenes, whereby the main character had a dilemma of whether he needed to go for a slipped disc operation. In the scenes, a contradiction was stirred up; there were both pros and cons for the main character to consider for the operation, and after evaluating all factors he must make a painful decision. The evaluating part served as a learning process for the audience, who would later give their opinions on the character's decision.

Before we had hands-on, Mr. Woo briefed us on the process of using scenes for our project:

1) Come up with comprehensive Lesson Plan

2) Storyboarding

3) Create Scene 1/2/3

4) Create meaningful tasks for students e.g. Students to write Web Blogs after watching the three Scene.

What I learned most from this lesson: the purpose of using Scene is to stir up learning. If Scene is not organised or properly scripted, there will be no pedagogy implication behind it and the audience would not be able to learn anything out of it.