Why do a video project?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Zo53M0lcY
Crowd Accelerated Innovation is at the heart of why you should give your students the opportunity to create a video project in your class. Wired Magazine had a great article in its December issue coining just this term. Our students are trained to watch videos constantly and judge their value, if we take advantage of this in the classroom and give them structure to create their own videos we can create a culture of innovation and creativity in our own schools.
TED Curator Chris Anderson on Crowd Accelerated Innovation | Wired Magazine
Wired – Crowd Accelerated Innovation [pdf]
Where to Start?
Begin with the end in mind. How long do you envision your students to project to be?
1 Minute : 2 Days of Class
3-5 Minutes : 6 Days of Class
10 – 15 Minutes : 2 -3 Weeks
Be Deliberate about your Groups.
Survey your students on how comfortable they are with technology. Then break the students into groups based on this knowledge in order to balance groups and help students teach each other the basics of working through this and similar projects.
Don’t worry about the Camera!
Teachers worry about the equipment but we tend to forget our audience. In general, these projects will be published on the web, and for that we definitely don’t need high tech equipment. Cell Phone and Digital Camera video functions are perfectly sufficient.
BUT leave the cameras and the cell phones out of the classroom until the students turn in a rough draft of a SCRIPT/Storyboard. This is the heart of the project. Just as most good papers have a solid outline, a script for the video is critical. You can provide a lot of advance feedback on the script and then weight it heavily in the grading process.
This Leads us to the RUBRIC.
Script #1 : 15%
Storyboard #1 : 10%
Script #2 : 15%
Quality of the Video Shot : 10%
Editing : 10%
Script Final : 15%
Peer Review : 15%
Teacher Input : 10%
The above suggested rubric is intended for a class’s first attempt at creating a video project. Try to keep the majority of the points out of the technology (footage & editing) and on the scripting in order to avoid unfair advantages for groups with tech-savvy students. This also reassures students who are less comfortable with technology, leaving them open to the experience as opposed to fearful.
LAST & MOST IMPORTANTLY – GET THE PROJECTS to MR. ALEXANDER!
You want no part of listening to the students mumbo jumbo about file types and watching as your classroom computer deals with decoder issues. And even if you have absolutely no issues, why waste time exchanging media (reinserting DVDs or USB drives)? Simply make the last assignment of the project instructions for your students to drop their work off with me. Then give me at least 24 hours to compile them onto on DVD. I will happily compile a DVD, or multiple ones for you that all work and can easily be archived.
Examples :
Mettee – French Revolution Documentaries
French Revolution Documentary – BooneD & Co.
Assignment Sheet 2011 – MetteeJ
Weekly Syllabus Template 2011 – MetteeJ
Script Template 2011 – MetteeJ
Storyboard Template 2011 – MetteeJ
French Revolution Documentary – ChungD & Co
Cianciulli LAB Prep Demos :
Lab #5 Centripetal Acceleration
Peer Review – Physics Lab Setup
Connors – Foundations 1 – Spring Project
Group Participation Survey – via Survey Monkey
Kern – Anatomy Project
Anatomy Project – DawsonC & Co.
….
Resources for the Students :
When you are done editing and compiling your project, you should have exactly 1 file to pass to me. If you are unsure how many files you have make sure you somehow export your file. In general, under the file or share menu, you can export your project to a movie.
i.) Those of you using Windows Movie Maker, click here.
ii.) Those of you using Apple iMovie, click here.
iii.) If you are using Linux, or need more help ask Google first then come find me if that didn’t work.
- Dump video, using slow motion, transitions, etc…
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I hope this page helps.
This page is to help create a jumping off point for teachers to set up a video based project for their class. Feel free to contact me as you create your own rubrics or assignment ideas. – alexanderv@ashevilleschool.org