My first video

Reflecting on creating a video

The actual creation of the video using iMovie was much easier than I expected it to be.  The hard part was embedding it into my blog.  I ended up googling how to embed an iMovie into Blogger and came across a website that talked about changing the quality settings.  I changed the quality settings, and lo and behold, it actually worked that time.  This is what I'm finding so frustrating about this course - the little things that should be so quick and easy, have been taking me so long to work out.  Once you've got it though, it seems very straight forward.  I enjoyed making this video, and think it would be a very useful tool in the classroom as well as something I will use in my personal life.  Sending a video to my mum with audio explaining the images, would be so much more easier to comprehend and much more personal.  In the classroom setting, I think the use of video is pretty much unlimited.  School excursions, sports days, class presentations would all be great ways to use video, but even making a video of the students doing everyday things could be very effective.

Pluses

• Easy to use. My son who is in grade 3 watched me creating my video, and then promptly created his own (better than mine of course - little show off!)
• Lots of fun
• Unlimited use. Would be awesome for school excursions, sports days, class presentations to name a few.  Limited only by the user's creativity.
• Cheap to make.  All you need is a digital camera, smartphone or ipod to create the image, and then the app to make the video is free.  I used iMovie on my mac and found it very easy to use.

Minuses

• Embedding the video into a blog was very problematic and time consuming for me.
• There is potential that students could misuse this technology by embarrassing or harassing other students.  Appropriate video etiquette would need to be discussed in advance.

Implications

• Students would need to have access to a digital device for taking photos, and then have access to a computer with a video app on it, such as iMovie.
• Appropriate sequential scaffolding is required from the teacher to ensure students are able to create their video without unnecessary frustration and time delays
• The video could be used to highlight important information/facts/ideas about a particular event, which would be useful in helping students to remember and store this information in their long term memory
• The teacher would need to monitor student videos to ensure content and language is appropriate.