Week 4, Reflection 3

DIGITAL VIDEO IN THE CLASSROOM

Did you enjoy that? I hope so! Just a little tidbit I found when searching Youtube for different ways to use Digital Video/Media in the classroom. It's only a basic introduction of what you can do and use when creating a digital story, but there is so much more beyond the 3 minutes and 35 seconds of this video that you can share with your students, and even explore yourself for your presentation of lessons!

"...Multimedia is one modality of learning that can help students learn more efficiently when applied properly, because convergence–or sensory input simultaneously combined with new information–has positive effects on memory retrieval. But too much sensory input can lead to cognitive overload, the report cautions, so educators must be careful to use multimedia appropriately." Stansbury (2008)

The three different media tools we focussed on this week in ICTs for Learning Design were; Images, Podcasts and Video. All are very effective tools in any classroom, although some may pose a more 'dangerous' ethical situation than others - e.g. posting images of students on social media, or having students bullied because their photo is on a page that all students in the class can see and comment on, needing specific permissions from Parents/Guardians to use images of students taken in the classroom (or out), for any public/school viewed project. None of these should really be a concern if the teacher has monitored the projects properly however, ensuring all permissions are received for each student, and making sure that no posts by students can be published without first being approved by the teacher, so as to weed out (& essentially block) any volatile/hurtful comments before they reach the rest of the students. Also, if students know that the space is monitored and approved/published by their teacher, they are more likely (I would hope) to not be unethical.

I believe that of the three Media tools Digital Video would be the most effective in both of my areas of teaching - Music and Drama. I know from personal experience that Podcasting would also be useful in Drama when studying Radio Plays, as you can actually create, record and stream your own personal radio play as a podcast online! Very cool, and very fun and interesting for all students!

You could possibly also use this in a music class for students to record their own music, or give an instructional podcast on how to play their individual instrument for a lesson. Podcasts are great because they can be streamed and shared with anyone in the world, as can most media that can be put on the internet. The sharing capabilities of Web 2.0 and the range of interaction opportunities this gives us with people all around the world is absolutely incredible. 

We are able to redefine the previous classroom and record information to share/compare/analyse/reflect with work/pieces that classes have done on the other side of the country - or the globe for that matter! Helping students, and teachers, to "describe the role of drama in different cultures, [and to] learn and share music using practices from different cultural traditions." (Australian Curriculum, General Capabilities, The Arts) This does open up a few more doors for ethical issues here, and both students and teachers need to be careful of multicultural diversity, ethical guidelines of the people they are sharing their information with, and also the laws and general guidelines of the other group as well. Again, I can't express just how important it is to get PERMISSION to use images etc. of your students. Otherwise - Connect and Learn away - with different cultures all around the globe!!!

Digital Video can be used in classrooms most effectively in Drama, I believe. Video can be used by both teacher and student to document improvement; share many performances from professional and amateur performers all over the country/world - especially of the individual pieces that the students need to focus on - they can then compare and analyse the differences between them; to show specific usage/implementation of different dramatic techniques; and also, to synthesise ideas to communicate a message in video form through a particular technique. Video is also very useful in terms of assessment, for both the teacher and student (yet again), as the student has the chance to re-record their work, and really analyse and critique what they are doing before they hand it in to be marked. The teacher also gets the opportunity to see the piece more than once, being able to watch fully the first time (whilst taking a few notes), then marking it the second time ensuring that they did not miss anything. Digital Video recording is also great for teachers for live student performance assessments, as they can do a similar thing, go back and re-watch the piece for a more complete and concise mark.

An example of some assessment ideas using digital recording are as follows; "Students could be given the opportunity to video at least one of their performances during each academic year of their secondary schooling. Students would then produce a written evaluation after a group feedback session in which the teacher would provide a skills' checklist as guideline." (Moore, 2002) In this particular type of assessment the students are able to reflect critically and creatively, both on an individual and group level, about their previous and current performances. Whilst watching previous performances and comparing this with what they will do/have done in the current years class, they can communicate and share their thinking with the class, and also self-assess their improvement over the time -while listening to what others may believe (STRICTLY constructive criticism only).

I will leave you this week with an example (below) of how iMovie/Digital Video can be used for assessment purposes in the Drama classroom - this is an actual assessment piece that I used for my Bachelor of Theatre (specialisation Music Theatre) degree. This particular assessment was used as an acting for camera piece for a theatre class, but could easily be adapted to suit a similar monologue piece in a senior drama class, either one they have written/adapted to relate to the topic of the term. This uses specific creative higher order thinking skills, especially when asked to decide on the topic and create and perform the monologue, as well as analysing which video angles, shots, music etc. would be best to portray the particular emotions/moments of the piece.

RESOURCES

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/drama/drama.htm, Moore (2002)

The Methodological Dilemma: Creative, Critical and Collaborative Approaches to Qualitative Research, Gallagher, K (2008), New York, NY, USA

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/03/26/analysis-how-multimedia-can-improve-learning/2/?, M. Stansbury (2008)