Monthly Archives: March 2019

Movie Making

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Tuesday 12 February 2019

In today’s session we had to create a movie on the app iMovie which was linked to internet safety. We connected our movie to Internet Safety because it is very relevant in schools today as so many children have access to the internet, in fact 73% of UK households have internet access according to (Beauchamp, 2012). There is such a vast amount of information available online that children can access quickly so it is important they know how to use the internet safely and know when they need to tell an adult.

Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally in the month of February which is another reason it was appropriate to make a movie regarding internet safety. Safer Internet Day is great because it highlights the positive uses of the internet and doesn’t focus fully on the negatives. It looks at how to stay safe online and what is good about the internet. “At the heart of all our work is the belief that when used properly the internet is a wonderfully positive tool for children and young people” (Childnet International, 2019). I agree with this and think Internet is such a great place for the children to learn. It is so easy to watch an engaging informational video on Youtube and you can learn almost anything from facts about space to how to play the guitar.

Our movie was looking at keeping safe while playing the game Fortnite. We picked to do our movie on this as it is huge right now and all the children love it, so we knew they’d be engaged and more importantly we knew it would be an important area to cover seeing as though it is so popular. Throughout our movie we have used positive language and reminded the children at the end that Fortnite is a really fun game, but they have to use it properly.  We kept in mind while making our movie that e-safety was about educating them and not restricting them (Beauchamp, 2012). It was important for us to educate them on how to stay safe on Fortnite instead of saying ‘DO NOT play this game’.

I had a look at the ‘ThinkuKnow’ website while looking at other resources which could be used to teach children about Internet Safety. I accessed this website through the ‘Children’s Workforce’ portal and also through the ‘Child ages 4-7 and ages 8-10’. The Children’s Workforce part of their site was great as it gave you access to their resource library and offered guidance. The children’s sections of the site that I looked at were formatted completely differently, they had a game for ages 8-10 which would give you questions about what the character should post online. In this game the children had to say whether the character should and shouldn’t post online and this part of the website also had an advice section. This website brought education about the Internet together in a really fun way with games, and also provided advice and support for any children who had a ‘funny feeling’ about something they seen online, and I really liked this resource and think it would be really effective to use with children.

We made a quick plan of what we could cover in our movie and as I mentioned we used Fortnite as the focus of our movie. We decided to focus on how the avatars provide little information about the player and how you should only add people you know, we also covered how to block someone and how you shouldn’t use parent’s money to purchase game extras.

I had previously used iMovie before, so I had basic knowledge of how the app worked, I knew how to insert clips and audio. I like iMovie because it is very simple and easy to use unlike some other video editing apps. I did develop new skills using iMovie while doing this task as I learned you could change the transitions in between clips, and it didn’t have to just be a simple jump cut.

There are multiple things I enjoyed about iMovie such as its simplicity, how you could separate the audio from a clip and how you could change the pitch of your clips to make them fast or slow. I don’t like how there isn’t a huge variation of font and you could only place the text in the centre or at the corners of your video which sometimes didn’t look good on clips.

I think our movie turned out well, it covered aspects of how to stay safe when playing Fortnite while also having engaging music and visuals. I do however think there are some parts of our movie that move on too fast and its hard to read the text. There is also a particular clip that is too slow. Generally, I think our movie would be engaging in the classroom as we have shown the game and the characters in our movie which children will see and instantly get engaged. I believe our movie is a good way of educating children about Internet Safety as its presented in a fun and familiar way.

It would be useful to use iMovie with the kids and actually get them to create their own movies. As a lesson it would be good to look at literacy and storytelling. The children could write short stories in a separate lesson and then get into groups and combine their stories to plan for a movie. Children who perhaps don’t like literacy and writing would be engaged in this as they might be inspired and excited to turn their ideas into a movie and so it gets these children writing. There is actually evidence that using digital technologies can support educational attainment in literacy (Scottish Government, 2016).

A lesson like this for level one could fall under the following experiences and outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence:

  • I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.    (TCH 1-01a)

 

  • I can write independently using my knowledge of letter patterns and spelling rules and use resources to help me spell tricky or unfamiliar words. (LIT 1-21a)

 

I think the children would really enjoy making movies of their stories and it would encourage them to not only be creative but allow them to use digital technologies in the classroom. Getting the children to use iMovie would also allow them to work collaboratively and I think they would be really engaged and enjoy this task. I do think like with most digital technologies, the rules and the learning should be very clear, so the children do not get distracted or miss use the technologies.

Overall, I think today’s session helped me to get a deeper understanding of iMovie and how it can be used in the classroom. I was also able to look at Internet Safety and how you can use technology to educate the children on how to positively use the internet. I feel as though iMovie would be great to use in the classroom as it is engaging and allows the children to be creative while supporting learning in another curricular area.

online safety with fortnite

REFERENCES

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy top Practice. Pearso  n.

Childnet International. (2019) Safer Internet Day. [Online] Available: https://www.childnet.com/resources/safer-internet-day [Accessed 16 February 2019]

Education Scotland. (2019) Experiences and outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes#arts [Accessed 16 February 2019]

Scottish Government. (2016) Enhancing Learning and Teaching through the use of Digital technology: A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. [pdf] Available: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/publication/2016/09/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technology/documents/00505855-pdf/00505855-pdf/govscot:document/?inline=true/ [Accessed 15 February 2019]

ThinkUKnow. (2019) Welcome to Thinkuknow. [Online] Available: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ [Accessed 17 February 2019]

 

 

eBooks

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Tuesday 5 February 2019

This week we were looking at creating eBooks using the IPad application Book Creator.

An eBook is a digital version of a paper book, eBooks can be accessed through a kindle, a computer, phone or IPad. EBooks aren’t like traditional books and aren’t simply just words and some graphics. EBooks can include music, video clips, links to articles and interactive elements such as games.

There has been evidence that most children are more engaged and find interactive eBooks fun (Reading Rockets, 2013). EBooks offer a different reading experience than traditional books as the children can become more involved in the story and therefore understand it a lot better than they might if they were just reading a paper copy that isn’t interactive at all. Using iPads for eBooks is a good thing as generally iPads engage teachers and students. Children believe that using iPads should be normal within a classroom and shouldn’t just be brought out at golden time as a reward, so using iPads for eBooks is another way of integrating the use of technology into the classroom (Children’s Parliament Consultation, 2016). Pupils often like using the iPad as it is an item they enjoy using at home and learning in this way is something they’re used to (Burden et al, 2012). I agree with this and think using the iPad is great when teaching, but children have to be clear on the uses of the iPad, so they don’t get distracted from their learning.

EBooks are good as they are portable, and children can read on them anywhere. EBooks often remember what page you last read so you can just jump back in, whether with a traditional book, some children tend to forget what page they last read and don’t continue the book from the correct page (Jarvis, 2015).  EBooks can be useful in the classroom but there’s evidence children need support from an adult for progress to be made, especially with younger children in regard to their phonological awareness and word writing (Beauchamp, 2012). I agree that lessons with eBooks should still be supported by a teacher as children can often get distracted and caught up with all the other interactive features that they might forget about the storyline and their learning. It is important that the device doesn’t take over and the teacher keeps them on track with the learning.

It could also be a good idea to not only read eBooks with a class but allow them to make their own eBooks on the Book Creator app. As a lesson it could be fun to read a traditional book and then let the children make a continuation of the story or make a new story using the same characters. Allowing children to finish the story can help a teacher to see to what extent the children understood the story. I think the children would really enjoy doing this as in groups they would get to record their voices and make sounds, and this allows them to have some creative freedom. “Class teachers feel the functionality of these devices better supports students of all abilities” (Burden et al, 2012) allowing children to make their own eBook can engage children who might struggle with reading and writing as they can use a digital format which they are probably used to using and might enjoy more. I think eBooks can really enhance learning and make something like Literacy very interesting, but with the iPad there is always a danger that the children get distracted with the digital features and forget to focus on their learning within other curricular areas.

 

If this were a lesson it could fall under Literacy, Digital Technologies and Expressive Arts within the Curriculum for Excellence. I feel as though this would be a great lesson to carry out within first level under the following experiences and outcomes:

 

I have the opportunity to choose and explore a range of media and technologies to create images and objects, discovering their effects and suitability for specific tasks.

EXA 1-02a

 

 

Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts.

TCH 1-02a

 

 

I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience.

LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a

 

Within today’s session we created our own eBooks based off of a traditional book. We used the application for iPad called ‘Book Creator’.

I actually had to miss this session and so I went over the PowerPoint at home and made some notes. I then looked at some Book Creator tutorials and downloaded the app on my iPad and carried out the task at home.

I made an eBook version of a children’s story called ‘The Teddy Show’. This story is about a teddy who enters a talent show doing an act as a magician and it is very much an early level read.

I found Book Creator very easy to use, and I understood how it worked after only watching a very basic tutorial video. I thought I would have difficulties making my eBook since I didn’t attend the session but I was really surprised at how fast I came to terms with all of the features. I inserted photos of the book and edited each page with text, added some shapes, questions and I also added the sounds of people cheering and some music.

I had no idea there was an app which allowed you to edit books and make them multi-modal and interactive this way and I really enjoyed using it. I liked how you could not only insert text, but you could change the colour and font too. I found it very straightforward to use once I played around with it for around 5 minutes and think that it would be a really easy app for children to use too.

While doing this task I noticed how my skills within digital technologies have improved since the first session as I was a lot faster with the iPad and understood some of Book Creators features as they were similar to other apps like Scratch Jr which we used in our coding session.  Much like Scratch Jr, I really liked that there was a feature where you could draw your own shapes or objects and I think that’s something children could have a lot of fun with when creating an eBook of their own but it could also distract them from creating and writing their story as some children could get caught up wanting to draw everything and forget about the learning.

I was impressed with the end product of my eBook and how professional it looked. I really liked how Book Creator let you flip through the pages as if it were a paper book and I liked how the book could also be read out to you by the app.

TEDDY STORIES

Overall, I think reading an eBook with your class, or getting pupils to create their own eBook would enhance the teaching and learning as it allows the children to learn from a curricular area such as literacy while also getting to use technologies which should be integrated and used in the classroom as much as possible. A lot more children would be engaged this way and it can also mean children have the opportunity to work collaboratively. There is a risk that some children could get distracted but as long as the teacher makes the iPad use and the learning clear I think using eBooks in the classroom is a great idea and I would love to do it with a class.

REFERENCES

Week 5 (5th Feb)

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

Burden, K et al. (2012) iPad Scotland Evaluation. [pdf] Available: file:///C:/Users/User/Desktop/Uni%20Work%20BA1/Digital%20Technologies/EBOOKS%205TH%20FEB/Scotland-iPad-Evaluation.pdf [Accessed 10 February 2019]

Children’s Parliament Consultation (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland: The Views of Children. [pdf] Available: https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/REPORT_digital-learning-consultation_Childrens-Parliament-1.pdf [Accessed 10 February 2019]

Education Scotland (2019) Experiences and outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes#arts [Accessed 9 February 2019]

Jarvis, M., (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom. Routledge.

Reading Rockets. (2013) How to Read an E-Book with Your Child. [Online] Available: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-read-e-book-your-child [Accessed 9 February 2019]