Tuesday 12th February

This week the focus was on using the app iMovie. For this class, as a group, we had to create our own iMovie on internet safety. I think this was a very good topic to pick as it is such a big issue in today’s digital world. Our movie was pitched at primary school children aged 10+ as we felt that nowadays, this is how young some children have online accounts and social media.

At present, children are much more exposed to social media and the internet than before. As educators, it is important that we do not tell children that they cannot have these accounts, but that we educate them on how to be safe while using them (Beauchamp, 2012). With the use of digital technologies increasing, we need to make sure that not only children but also parents and carers are aware of the dangers that you can face while being online. It is imperative that accounts are kept private and no personal details are shared. Most importantly, only befriend people that you know and trust. By following these simple steps, you are already keeping yourself somewhat safe.

For our movie, we based it around account cloning (where someone else makes a fake account pretending to be someone they are not). In the movie we see Ross taking pictures from Chloe’s Instagram account and using them to make a fake account, as if he is Chloe, using her name, some personal details and pictures she has uploaded of herself and her friends. Ross then gets in contact with Lynne, an old friend of Chloe’s. They chat and Chloe (who is actually Ross) suggest they meet up for a catch up. Lynne quickly agrees. We then see Lynne leaving her friends to go and meet Chloe and to her horror, she sees that it is in fact not Chloe waiting and a stranger. At the end, we included our top 5 tips to staying safe online. I have inserted an image of our plan below. We felt this was a good storyline to base our movie on as Instagram is an account that is more common for younger children. Their naivety causes them to share personal details such as date of birth, school and the town they live in. This is a topic which I do feel quite passionate about and I want to ensure that when I become a teacher that internet safety is talked about openly and regularly and children are fully aware of the dangers but most importantly know what to do when something goes wrong.

As much as the lesson was based around educating children about internet safety is was also about how iMovie as an app can be used to enhance learning. This could possibly be a good lesson idea for children to be working in groups and prepare a presentation on a topic they have been studying or acting out scenes during a health and wellbeing lesson. The possibilities are endless and the teacher along with the class could have lots of fun using this app. Once familiar with the app, it is very straight forward and easy to use. There are many features available within it such as inserting text, images, video clips, colours, backgrounds, sound clips, the list is endless. At first it is difficult to see how an app like this can have any benefit to teaching and learning rather than just being a fun activity. However, when we were making our movie, every so often we would stop to discuss the skills we were using and how this might also reflect skills children would be practicing in the classroom during a similar activity. Some we have come up with include:
• Collaboration skills
• Listening skills
• Talking skills
• Acting/drama skills
• Creative skills
• Literacy skills
• Problem Solving skills
• Research skills
• How to work with iMovie

The CfE Experience & Outcome we used during the session was:

“I can explore online communities demonstrating an understanding of responsible digital behaviour and I’m aware of how to keep myself safe and secure” – TCH 2-03a

This is not something I ever imagined being useful for a lesson and I feel like this class in particular has really allowed me to think outside the box and see the real benefits and possibilities of using such technologies in education.

References

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.