Throughout my practicum with a year 3 class, I often generated activities that involved students creating their own videos. For example during a science unit, which focused on living things, students were required to create video demonstrating the life cycle of a seed. This task strengthened student understanding of these concepts, however also demonstrated to me what they understood and what they did not. iMotion was an application I frequently employed. I specifically utilised it during an activity, which involved the dramatisation of the fairy tale ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’. In groups, students were required to rewrite the story, with a twist, and generate a stop motion video of their story. Throughout this project, I observed a handful of students learn a variety of new technological skills, often through the guidance of their peers, who were more experienced with technology. I witnessed critical thinking and problem-solving skills develop within students, as they found solutions to issues such as noise level impacting their video quality and compromising within their group. I also maintain that video-making tasks can promote collaboration and activate students as learning resources for one another (Wiliam, 2017). The students’ stimulation of creativity throughout this project was evident and empowering to perceive, as was their sense of achievement when they completed their video.

 

My experience with video making in the classroom, emphasised video as an inclusive tool for students with additional needs. There are many accessible features that can be incorporated into videos to cater for students with additional needs. For example subtitles to assist students who are hearing impaired or voice-overs for students who are visually impaired (Morgan, 2013). This experience also highlighted the importance of sharing student-made videos with the whole class. It enables reserved children, who typically reluctant to participant in whole-class discussions, to present their thoughts and showcase their understanding and abilities through video.

 

I strongly believe that student-created videos of specific concepts can strengthen their understanding, whilst also becoming a learning resource for their peers (Wiliam, 2017).  I also maintain that generating video making tasks can also enhance creativity and provide students with a sense of ownership (Koteswariah & Basavanna, 2016, p. 9; Kennedy, 2017). These ideas draw upon features of both the humanist and progressive teaching approach.