As a newcomer to the world of MRT I am reluctant to say too much, but here goes.  For the last 20 or so years I have produced non-fiction television: news magazine stories, documentary programs and documentary series.   Reading through the statements of the other participants I am very curious to see how my experience conceiving, producing, editing and writing programming is relevant to creating MRTs.  At first glance the two uses of media seem quite different. And yet, one of the most fundamental lessons I have learned in producing television, that story is key, would seem to have a place here too.

 

Human beings are natural story-tellers and listeners. In television everything else is secondary: shooting, editing, writing, music…all are in service of the story.  A story pulls together the facts, figures, and other information and makes it real.   As it was described to me at one news organization, “hook ‘em with a good story and they might accidentally learn something.”

 

Certainly there are situations when storytelling is less relevant.  For example, one MRT statement suggests a future in which there could be cameras in every classroom, constantly recording.  Teachers would have the opportunity to watch themselves later, like a football team reviewing the day’s game.  In this case, simply documenting reality, in real time, is enough to provide a powerful teaching tool, allowing teachers to carefully examine what went right, and wrong, and to modify their techniques accordingly. 

 

But there are other applications in which I imagine story telling techniques could prove very helpful.  One example would be a program whose purpose is to examine methods of teaching in which engaging viewers is necessary.  In the same way that an episode of Project Runway shows a group of hopeful designers fulfilling a common task and being judged on their accomplishments, a group of teachers would be given the same teaching assignment, filmed in a class as they performed it (with multiple cameras), and then evaluated on their performances.  The final, edited, segment would consist of the most relevant events.  The teachers would be interviewed about what they were thinking, and judges would speak about the effectiveness of their teaching, pointing out what was successful and offering suggestions about what could have been done differently.  In the end a teacher would be voted out. (Just kidding.)

 

Whether ‘Project Classroom’ would ever become a reality or not, I am looking forward to learning more about MRTs, exploring how they will/can be used, and bringing a different perspective to the table.