Digital Video Goes to School

Assignment Seven

Hoffenberg, H., & Handler, M. (2001). Digital video goes to school. Learning and Leading with technology, 29(2), 10-15.

What skills are students developing in the process of making a video?

In the process of creating a video, students are practicing many skills, including: 

• the technical skills involved in making and editing a videos
  
• visual literacy skills
  
• the higher-level thinking skills of analyzing and synthesizing the information they want to present as they come up with a point or focus for their work and as they decide what details to include in their videos
  

What type of video formats fit well as a culminating activity?

Formats for a video as the final reporting of a project—whether a project-based learning experience or a traditional research project—include:

• video newscasts
  
• documentaries
  
• infomercials
  
• video clips for a Web page or multimedia Presentation
  

What types curriculum characteristics make sense for video?

Video is a natural fit when you want to capture:

• emotion
  
• heritage or culture (the story and the storyteller)
  
• memorable experiences
  
• change over time
  
• a process
  
• a phenomenon in nature
  
• a process slowed to view frame by frame to better understand it
  

Briefly describe the guidelines for video use.

Teachers are now responsible for helping students learn and use the guidelines for communicating with audiences using what we know about the rules and guidelines for visual communication tools. To start your video project, choose a subject with which you are familiar. Consider the audience and purpose and spend time planning and storyboarding. These steps are critical to the movie’s ultimate success or failure. Thinking about the kind of shots required to best convey the videographers’ message should be done beforehand as well. Throughout the planning, students must consider the relationship between visual communication and the content as they organize their work. Once they have completed planning, they can begin to shoot the movie using the camcorder. Once they’ve finished shooting, they can begin the editing process.

Teachers can have students could use Kideos.com for brainstorming ideas for video ideas. Students can also submit their videos for Kideo's video posting and provide extra credit if their video is selected.