Videos in the Classroom

So I realize I have said I would post a link or embed my group video to my blog... unfortunately I will not be able to do this. We edited our video on a school computer. We never emailed it to ourselves and decided we didn't want it on YouTube. Sorry!!

Editing was more difficult then we thought it would be. It took longer to do then we initially thought and adding music was difficult for us. We had to switch computers a couple times and get help from our professor a few times, but we managed to finish it! I was overall happy with our video. It was a ton of fun to do. We got to watch everyone's videos today and they were awesome! Good job groups! They were all really funny and entertaining.

This activity I could definitely seeing students enjoying. It is fun and creative. Students have a chance to act in front of the camera and show their silly, serious, or whatever side they choose! This activity allows students to be creative. I think this activity also encourages higher level of thinking. It's not just about memorizing facts or how to use this. It enables students to think about what they want to do and how they will make the final product. Editing their video encourages higher level thinking because students need to think about the effects they want, the tone of music in the video, their audience, and many more things. They need to use skills that they don't always get to use in the classroom.

I would like to do this type of activity in my own class one day. I think it's important as teachers to think about the time line of this project. I think one class for planning the video is necessary. Students need to think of a topic, angles, lighting, props, etc. This all takes time and everyone will be eager to throw ideas out. To do the actual filming will also take at least one class. Once the filming gets going it flies by! But, you have to remember students may want to do two or more shots of each scene. This allows them choice when they are editing and lets them play with angles. What I found that took the longest was editing. I would allow my students 2-3 classes for this section of the project. It takes time to edit. Students will get the chance to play with their video and adjust things like sounds and timing. This is the part that you want students playing with and practicing the most so I think it is important to allow them enough time to get to know the programs and the different things you can do with them.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I think making videos in class is an awesome idea! I am usually a quiet person and I don't like getting in front of the class and doing presentations. I think making videos is an awesome idea because this is a different way of presenting material. You are still being active and presenting to the class. It is a fun way for students to present, but also fun for the audience!