Gymnasium Saarburg 2.0 – a playground for media education The Gymnasium Saarburg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, has begun to set up an exclusively internal social network. Apart from an enhanced sense of community through a more transparent communication structure, the aspect of media education plays a decisive role.

”Gymnasium Saarburg 2.0“ can be imagined like any of the countless social networks you can find on the Internet. The main difference to Facebook and MySpace, for example, is, however, that all its members do not only meet one another in the virtual world, but in real life, too, since they can be related to the Gymnasium Saarburg as students, parents, or teachers. Our platform is a network built of networks – a cluster. From the main page, where it is possible to create your own personal profile, you can easily enter an increasing variety of sub-networks. Among these you will find several classes and projects as well as after-school clubs and workshops. Furthermore, parents association, students council and staff also have their own networks, just like those students who are taking part in an exchange programme.

While the majority of these sub-networks is restricted to a limited group of people, any piece of information that appears to be relevant to all members is made public in showcases on the main page. This way, the school community is always informed about the latest events, dates, and work in progress. Using a Web 2.0 tool kit, administrators can provide their sub-networks with the functions they consider useful, including weblog, forum, wiki, event calendar or a video and photo module. A lively exchange is particularly made possible by the integration of bulletin boards and the function to post comments.

Students taking part in an exchange programme to England, France or Mexico are thus writing weblogs that any member of the school community can read or comment on. As a matter of fact, young students get a first-hand account of what it is like to go abroad for three months or even a whole year.

A documentary team is present on school events and posts photographs or videos on the platform where any member may post their comments or additional information. Considering the fact that the Gymnasium Saarburg has more than 1,000 students, this procedure helps to establish an overview of school activities which otherwise might not or hardly be noticed. Everyday school life can be discussed in the forums, just like ideas for a further development of the platform itself. In addition to that, members can easily get into contact with the persons responsible for all the different areas. Thus co-operations and synergistic effects are established that are not restricted to the virtual world but have a feedback on real and everyday school life..

This description already hints at our primary objective, namely the provision of an effective platform for communication with the target of strengthening the sense of community at our school. Although media education is not the focus of interest, it is an important aspect. Indeed there is a sub-network exclusively dedicated to this topic. Links to German sites offering information for both adolescents and parents (e.g. www.klicksafe.de) can be found in this network, while there is also a collection of documents that can be accessed immediately. There can be discussions about violence in computer games or addiction to the Internet. Teachers and parents may also use this network to arrange parent-teacher conferences dealing with the risks of the Net, for instance.

Whereas this part of the platform centres on media education, the network as a whole is like a giant playground where learning-by-doing supersedes finger-wagging and a protected area offers the safety to explore the benefits of the Web 2.0. In this area, we are also testing “poking” and other tools related to establishing and keeping up virtual friendships. At the same time, however, students are made aware of potential problems and dangers by experienced users who guide them. If students upload private photographs or show inappropriate or disrespectful behaviour when writing on someone's bulletin board, for example, they are referred to the netiquette by the administrator, host or any other user in a friendly yet determined way. While this is basically happening by accidentally reading such a comment or entry, we will train students from the upper grades to become active hosts and take responsibilities in this respect. Furthermore, we are planning to assign an experienced user as a mentor to every new member.

The virtual meeting of different generations has already stimulated some basic discussions. For example, we have exchanged views on the deviation of the concept of “friendship” in the virtual world from the real world. An exciting discussion about language on the Net and ways of communication has also already taken place. It is fascinating to see how conscious and purposive students are in their use of the adequate register.

In a nutshell, we are approaching problems connected to media education with a transparent way of communication based on equal rights for all its participants, which makes possible that students, teachers, and parents may learn from one another and meet on equal footing. The “Digital Natives” find out that the Internet is neither devoid of law nor values; the “digital immigrants” among teachers and parents lose their fear of contact with the new media and attain an insight of what it is that draws the youths to this medium. Being based on the school community, our virtual community is linked to “something real”.

Right now, with about 250 members, we are still operating at the test stage level, but the platform will emerge as the new website of our school in the next term, accompanied by an area open to the public. Theoretically speaking, this community could then be accessed by more than 3,000 members (1,200 students, 2,000 parents, 100 teachers). With all the good experience we have gained from this pilot phase, we are curious to know what effects the virtual community will have on real school life, and how the platform will finally evolve.