Digital Video

I grew up with macs at school and at home, so it only seemed right to continue owning Apple computers when it was time to buy my own. I started playing around with more of the applications that come standard on the computers when I was in college. Granted the ibook I had is nothing compared to the macbooks out now, but I got an idea of what I could create. When I had to retire that laptop after I graduated college, I purchased a newer powerbook, which I bought right before the first macbook was released. I had just started teaching when I bought my new laptop and started to get into photography towards the end of my first year of teaching. The next year I started to explore what I could do with imovie and idvd, applications that I did not have on my previous laptop. I taught myself how to use imovie and how to use pictures and some video to create movies. I fell in love with the program and continued to use footage and pictures I had taken at school to capture school events on dvd. Several years later when the memory was almost at full capacity on my laptop and Apple had come out with better computers with updated and new programs and a whole lot more memory, I decided it was time to get a new computer. I had just bought a professional camera and was becoming more interested in photography. I also got a video camera that was better quality than the video feature on my old camera.
After deciding on a desktop because it had more memory, I went straight to exploring the new features on my imac. Video editing has taken on a whole new meaning to me with the updated version of imovie. I've updated it a couple times over the past 3 years I've had my imac and the experience of editing movies has impacted some projects that I've done in the classroom. I combine pictures and video into most of the movies I make because I'm more of a photographer than a videographer. Many of the 10,000 plus pictures I have on my computer are of my students or school events. The only time I take videos, which is even more simple with the flip video that I recently upgraded to, is at school. My students have taken videos and pictures on field trips that I have edited to show their experiences. My students have performed plays, some of which involved a lot of editing. I have had students create videos of their spelling words to show them the effects of filming. I have created numerous dvds of their videos and picture slideshows for them to keep at the end of the year. Throughout all of these projects I have learned so much about digital video editing just by experimenting.
After reflecting on my experiences with digital video and my knowledge of integrating technology, I have realized that there is so much more potential to using digital video in the classroom. Students can not only learn how to film, but also how to edit their own movies. Digital video is a great tool to use to create commercials, advertisements, role play historical and current events, perform plays, digital scavenger hunts, and the list goes on. I have never thought about having students edit their own videos because the software I was using at home was not in my classroom. After exploring Windows Movie Maker, I have discovered a way for students to edit their own movies, even if it is nowhere near the quality of imovie and higher end editing software. I am excited to design lessons in which digital video editing can be used as part of the project and to see student using their thinking skills as they piece together the parts of their movie.

Podcasts

I still haven't found the extra time in my schedule to explore podcasts. I think podcasts are a great way to listen to a series on basically any topic you can find. Apple has made it very convenient to access and listen to podcasts through itunes, and the iphone, ipad, and ipod. You never have to worry about missing a radio segment again. I think I could get more into listening to podcasts when I have some more free time. For now, I think I'll stick with creating podcasts and figuring out how to get students involved with using them. I had no idea how easy it was to create a podcast until experiencing it first hand. Owning a mac, I also realized the full potential of some of the programs to create podcasts.
Since creating a podcast in class, I have been thinking about all the ways that podcasts can be used in the classroom. I never thought about having students create a podcast and the impact it can have on learning. While I probably won't have much time to teach with podcasts this school year, I am already brainstorming the possibilities for next year. Podcasts are a great tool to conduct historical or character interviews, tour a place students are learning about, record science experiment findings, and the list goes on. Students also get a chance to become very creative in planning their script and very animated in recording the podcast. I'm excited for the numerous ways podcasts can be an asset to learning and can't wait to incorporate them into lessons.