ICT was a topic that was considered important at the February meeting with the main expression being things like Interactive Whiteboards, Edustar, Boardmaker etc.
Today we though we'd take a little different look at a way to approach ICT. One thing we have noticed over time is the somewhat narrow idea that many people seem to have about it. Today we'd like to broaden your horizons!
"Student Generated Content" is creating quite the buzz lately which is why all those audio and video editing programs feature so heavily in the EduSTAR package.
Every Victorian school teacher/student computer or laptop comes with Windows Live Movie Maker through EduSTAR. It's a free downloadable program you can get for any Windows computer with Windows Vista (requires SP2) or Windows 7. Sadly Windows XP is no longer supported though you may be able to track down older versions. You can get Windows Live Movie Maker without the EduSTAR package it by installing it from Windows Live Essentials.
The DEECD has a page devoted to eLearning styles and tools on offer but we thought that because of our recent foray into Youtube we'd focus on using Video Production in the classroom.
With just about every mobile device you can think of being capable of taking digital photos or video it's something that is never far out of reach in the classroom. With video media becoming such a large part of many student's lives with social media sites, youtube and even video game forums it's often an area where they want to excel. It's a medium that they are often more familiar with than pen and paper. It also encourages productive collaborative effort through engagement and has a positive effect on a wide range of learning types (visual, audio, kinesthenic, etc).
So what can you do with it?
A nice video that shows you the possibilities of where you can head with this in a full-time setting. As you can see, exercises like this build up student's Video literacy, help in reading/writing Literacy areas like fluency and cadence and build up computer literacy through research of the content. Of course we are CRTs and it's not often we have the opportunity to start something of that magnitude!
It doesn't mean you can't take aspects of it and use video devices as an engagement tool.
Take a Food Pyramid for example, why not make a video presentation? You might be teaching Food Tech but what is a food pyramid? It is a basic graph so has Maths ideas involved and video adds up time in various ways, all the time working with images of the food pyramid to reinforce that aspect of the lesson. Get them to do a voiceover for the food pyramid so it also encroaches on Literacy in the construction of the voice over, reading it aloud etc, again reinforcing the food pyramid lesson. Why not make it a "food pyramid" lesson that engages multiple parts of their brain and make it something they will never forget?
Here's an idea that allows you to cross art with video called "Video Doodles";
Video Doodles on EFL 2.0 - Teacher Talk for more information.
Of course for the younger children you could pick more appropriate music or simply do nursery rhymes etc. You could have them illustrate a reader primer with the words on the page and have them "read" the book as a voice over. This way students can have the book read back to them by their class, illustrated by them, with a voice over that helps them pick up their sight words.
Keep in mind, as we said before, a lot of this is aimed at Full Time teachers and we are CRTs. Some of this isn't directly relevant but it's wonderful food for thought on what you can do to engage your students and teach them in new and interesting ways. There are many web pages, articles and videos out there on the internet about this sort of technology in teaching! We encourage you to get out there and search!
Further food for thought;
Students make high frequency sight word videos with SonicPics from Robyn Griffith on Vimeo.
Digital Video in the Classroom from NCTE on Vimeo.
Digital Storytelling Exemplar from Calgary Science School on Vimeo.
This is a new type of content for us and something we have been planning on for a while. Please leave us comments on this topic, and this format, in the comments section! We have recently removed the need to sign in to anything to comment to make it easier for you to leave us feedback!
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Thanks for the updates on digital & video resources apllicable to primary & secondary classrooms.
ReplyDeleteApplications such as IPad documentaries & Moviemaker videos can be used to supplement & enhance the teaching of literacy & other subjects like science.
Students need to be prepared for the digital age style world they will encounter after school. Both regular teachers & CRTs should be prepared to provide such technology experiences.