Introduction

This week’s session was the fourth and final assessment task for this module. For today’s workshop, we were looking at the application ‘iMovie’ and given the task to create a movie linked to internet safety. Personally, I had previously used this throughout high school so I felt very comfortable as it was an app that I found simple to operate and was familiar with using. I was looking forward to this session to explore the different ways in which iMovie can be used to enhance learning within the classroom as well as looking at internet safety and the dangers that children can be faced with while using the internet.

With the rise of technology in today’s society the children we are teaching today need to be equipped with the essential digital skills in order to increase their chances of success. This includes having knowledge on a range of digital devices such as, tablets, smartphones and laptops. (Weiss, 2007). iMovie  is a great application which allows children to become more aware of using I pads as well as developing their ICT skills and demonstrating their creative ability through making a movie. This can also be used within a range of curricular areas and will allow children to put their learning into practice.

Additionally, I movie, when used successfully, is suggested to help raise attainment within schools. There is a wealth of evidence that suggests that effectively using digital equipment and resources within lessons helps to “raise the speed and depth of learning in science and mathematics for primary and secondary age learners” (The Scottish Government 2015). As well as having the necessary knowledge and skills, we need to ensure children are using the internet safety and are aware of the dangers.

With technology being a huge part of the curriculum today it is our job, as teachers, to not only provide children with the essential technological skills but more importantly we need to expose children to the dangers which can be faced when using the internet and social media apps. Beauchamp, 2012 states, “e-safety is not about restricting children, but about educating them”. We cannot control whether children chose to have social media accounts. Instead, we should educate them to make the right choices by making sure their accounts are private and ensure they know to speak to an adult or someone responsible if they ever feel unconformable. Personally, I don’t think enough is being done throughout schools to promote e-safety and it is an area I would want to stress as a teacher.

The task

Prior to today’s workshop, we were asked to arrange ourselves into groups. I worked alongside two of my peers. Before getting started, we created a mind map of various ideas we had and what we wanted to include in our movie. I found this extremely beneficial as it allowed us to bring our ideas together and plan ahead. We decided one of the members in our group would lie about his age and start speaking to a girl on a popular social media app, snapchat. The video started off with me and another group member talking about snapchat expressing our different opinions towards it. In the video my peer (Jenny) was eager to create an account, despite being too young. However, on the hand I (Sophie) was trying to put her off the idea as I was aware of the dangers involved. An example being the app allows you to see people’s location which was a feature of the app we decided to include in the video. In the video, Jenny then decides to get Snapchat, despite knowing the risks and starts talking to a boy called Adam who claims he is the same age as her. Adam then asks to meet up with Jenny after a few conversations, Jenny goes ahead with this despite the risks. Adam turns out to be a lot older than he said, reinforcing the dangers of social media.

Our overall aim for this video was to emphasise to children how easy it is for someone to lie and pretend to be someone else on social media. We hope children seeing a video like ours reinforces the dangers and limits the chance of them putting themselves in a dangerous situation, similar to the one acted out in our video! We also included striking facts at the beginning of our video to grab the audiences attention.

We linked our iMovie to the following experiences and outcomes:

Conclusion 

Overall, we were happy the way our iMovie turned out. Although, as with most things, there is room for improvement and there are definitely things I would do differently if I was to use this application again. For example, I would manage my time more effectively and plan out every scene before starting. Although we did create a plan, it was not very detailed which resulted in us changing things throughout the video. This proved to be quite stressful as we had to go back and re-film some scenes to ensure the video flowed nicely. I did enjoy exploring this app and it is something I would consider using in the classroom one day as I would love to see the children’s ideas and what they come up. It also allows children to work collaboratively and use their imagination. Additionally, I gained valuable information regarding online safety. As a teacher, this is an area I will put stress on within my classroom. I will be sure to teach the importance of internet safety and educate the children on how to stay safe online and avoid dangerous situations.

Below I have attached our final iMovie:

 

 

References

Weiss, D. (2017) Time to Know blog [Online] Available: https://www.timetoknow.com/blog/essential-digital-literacy-skills-for-the-21st-century-worker/ [Accessed: 6th March 2019]

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

Scottish Government (2015) Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching (Online) Available: https://www.gov.scot/publications/literature-review-impact-digital-technology-learning-teaching/pages/4/ (Accessed 6th March 2019)

Education Scotland (n.d.) 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 [Accessed 13th February 2019]