Digital Video

Video is the basis of my major discipline area so therefore I would rely heavily on this tool.

Video can be used for many purposes within my teaching context. It could serve as a means of assessment where students are asked to produce their own video with certain boundaries or guidelines to demonstrate learning, and this will encourage higher order thinking in that they are creating a new production, as well as evaluating and justifying their design choices. There could be a video used to model what is expected of students.

Videos can also be used to help explain different concepts of Film and TV to the class. You can explain what a Medium Long Shot should look like, or the difference between natural light and artificial light, but until they see it for themselves within a film, it is hard to truly grasp the idea.
Videos also encourage higher order thinking in the form of analysis and evaluation. Students are often asked to analyse a video, drawing their own ideas and conclusions and then will need to justify those conclusions (eg. What are their thoughts on propaganda film and media, and what techniques do the makers of such media use to portray their message?).

There are also many other appropriate uses of video in the classroom context. It could be an instructional video where students are shown how to make a chocolate cake for Home Economics, or a music video for students in a dance class to copy a dance routine, a documentary on the building of a famous building for Manual Arts/ Graphics or even a film version of a book to assist students in English with reading difficulties.

Back when I started to develop an interest in Film and TV, digital filmmaking was not even invented. I remember Film and TV in high school (it was only the 2nd or 3rd year the subject was being offered) and using the old analogue editing suits where you had your master tape and you edited through a video onto your edit copy tape. The invention of digital technologies and mediums like You-tube have enabled anyone and everyone to become a budding filmmaker. The link to You-tube is a tutorial on Premiere. This type of video would be priceless in my classroom as students are taught step by step how to accomplish different effects in their productions.

Goanimate.com looked interesting, but again, I’m not sure it would be appropriate in my teaching context. If I were to ask students to create an animation, I would expect that they physically drew the characters, or modelled them out of clay or digitally created them, rather then use a program with pre-programmed settings, characters, voices, etc. It could be a fun way to present information to students, but that is probably the extent I would use it in my classroom.