Video in Learning

A recent and interesting paper by Henderson, M. et al. (2010) Students Creating Digital Video in the Primary Classroom states "Student-created digital video is not a new idea but it is taking a remarkably long time to be integrated into the classroom as a common tool across the curriculum". This paper, accessed through the Australian Council for Computers in Education site, goes on to suggest this slow uptake may be due to hardware cost and teacher training but these issues are fortunately being eroded. I am in agreeance with the authors and over the last few years particularly have seen a significant increase in video production (by students) at my primary school. Personally as a Teacher Librarian, I have been an avid consumer of online video but a reticent producer. This week's analysis and exploration of media technologies has boosted my confidence in this aspect of my pedagogy to the point I believe I could now instruct students to create digital video artifacts.

This is my first attempt at placing personal video on YouTube. It is a snippet of my recent dolphin encounter. I used Screencast-O-Matic and played the DVD on my desktop to copy. I added music in YouTube.
It took me HOURS, but boy didn't I learn a lot after many failed attempts during all stages of the process.
Video recording of experiences by students allows later reflection and analysis of the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj2a3XT0tys&list=HL1397367980&feature=mh_lolz

A plethora of instructional video can be located on the net with YouTube being the most popular in my home. My husband has replaced 4 iPhone screens using YouTube How-To! The advantage being he could pause and replay as many times as needed to be successful. In the classroom context this affordance is of high value in catering to the various learning pace of different students.

The University of Queensland discusses the Flipped Classroom as a way of shifting learning from the passive to the active so class time focus can be on around the higher order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. I feel as long as the learning from the video is used to scaffold and support more complex tasks it is a valid tool.

A quick example of how video can be utilised prior to in school learning.
Year 4 Food Chain studies from the Science curriculum.
The majority of students have the misconception that the food chain begins with plants. Assigning the viewing of the edTed video Dead Stuff as a homework task prior to a field excursion to locate brown matter in the school grounds would allow students to come to the task with some background knowledge they may not have otherwise had. The problem of ensuring the school gardens contain brown matter is a real life issue at my school.Students could produce educational video around the production of brown matter at the school (worm farming)to encourage other students to sort lunch litter correctly into bins to be recycled by the worms.

An easy way for students to create video is to convert a PowerPoint slide presentation to movie as I have below. I have taken one persons experience as a real life example to stimulate a problem based project.
This application of a Web 2.0 tool for storytelling allows the learner to make decisions in relation to their audience at all stages of the process. A reflective cycle of thinking would be repeated throughout the process of production.

The affordances of video are a combination of those associated with images and audio however, the combination of moving images with sound makes it a strong pedagogical tool. Through video recording students can relive moments and events to later reflect more critically. People around the globe are learning through video at home, in the workplace and in educational institutions. Digital video makes learning for all possible.

Sandy Shannon in her blog post Media 6.3 Video has demonstrated how video (around Top Level Reading Structures) can reinforce prior learning through revision. These videos would be great as part of a warm up routine in a reading session.