Let's Make Movies

Posted by arvind s grover Wed, 02 Mar 2005 04:10:00 GMT

Video. 21st century students are multimedia children. They are plugged in from video on their phones to their computers to their high-definition televisions to the video screens in elevators, parking lots and train stations. Let’s engage them with language they understand (or at least are interested in).

Video projects can be powerful for exploring any topic. Video can be studied from an art perspective, or it can be a tool for investigating another curricular topic. A mini-film on gravity, a documentary on local historical figures, a modern-day rewrite of Shakespeare.

Students can be involved with video production in many ways: storyboarding, script-writing, shooting, directing, editing, casting, acting, producing, music composing, editing and more.

The good people at the San Mateo County Office of Education have put together a Video Guide that covers much of what you need to create video projects. One of the most important part of these projects is giving sufficient time for the students to work on them. This is not the last half hour of class on Friday. This may be a month-long, semester-long, or year-long project. Students must be given enough time to create a work that feels like real work, and not just a digital posterboard.

The skills that can be learned are invaluable—team work, leadership, digital tools, communication of ideas and concepts, creating timelines, revision of work—all of this happens while studying an important part of your classroom curriculum. Students have to become masters of the content in order to prepare a video that is compelling. If the topic is Shakespeare, then all along the process the class could be breaking down and examining Shakespearian work, methods, metaphors, etc.

With the advent of free tools like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, there is just no reason to wait. Let your students run with it. Technically you just need a camcorder and a computer. As always, the real power is in the curricular integration.

Posted in resources, teaching, net generation, media, software | 2 comments | no trackbacks

Microsoft Photo Story 3

Posted by arvind s grover Tue, 01 Mar 2005 02:53:00 GMT

Microsoft has a iPhoto-like product out called Photo Story 3. It is free to download, but Microsoft makes you jump through a few hoops first—you must go through their innocuous-sounding Genuine Advantage program first. This is so they can certify that you are not running a pirated version of Microsoft Windows. You may also have to “activate” Windows XP.

Wow, giving away good, free software is great. But it seems to be that Microsoft is more interested in catching pirates then spreading good software. A lesson from Apple would go a long way here. Make good, free software, give it to us, and create loyalty. Don’t try to bait thieves with your product; figure out another way to catch the thieves. As long as you keep them connected, the missions of the software-developers will always be cloudy. Are they trying to make the best product, or make the best bait?

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Get Inspired with Project Based Learning

Posted by arvind s grover Tue, 01 Mar 2005 02:50:00 GMT

Seymour Papert gets project based learning. That is not hard to believe. He has been one of the foremost thinkers on educational technology for decades. He is constantly thinking about ways to to enhance learning with technology. Watch this Edutopia video where he describes a recent project with students in a juvenile detention center.

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Abusing the Photocopier

Posted by arvind s grover Sat, 26 Feb 2005 02:09:00 GMT

Our friends in the Legislature created law that allows educators to use copywritten material in their classrooms—it’s called Fair Use. There are restrictions of course. With those restrictions comes an hyper-complicated set of rules that you need a team of lawyers to decipher.

There are some good groups out there trying to make these rules as easy to understand as possible. Try these if you need some help:

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Rubrics Rock

Posted by arvind s grover Sat, 26 Feb 2005 00:50:00 GMT

Constructivist education calls for students to construct their own knowledge. When discussed, constructivism often comes off as an idealist bent on education. One problem that arises is assessment. How can a teacher assess a student who is guiding their own learning? A fantastic, empowering tool for students in a rubric. If a teacher constructs a rubric for students, then all expectations of the student are clear, totally spelled out.

RubiStar is one of the best resources on the web for creating rubrics. RubiStar lets you start with a subject area, and then choose how many categories to place on your rubric. Try choosing the “Making A Poster” link and you are presented with pre-made categories to use on your rubric, or just type in your own. When you are done, you can save the rubric on their server, print it out, or save it to your computer in Excel or HTML format. Here is my example rubric:

Take the next constructivist leap and let your students make their own rubrics, then assess them with that. Talk about really directing your own learning.

note: when making your own rubric, don’t forget Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences – students can display their understandings in many different ways.

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